Generation O: Multiculturism As A New American Value

Several posts ago, I talked about Levi's new "Go Forth" campaign. I was intrigued with the strategy of equating the values of "pioneer" to the values shared by the Millennial target, and the "find" of Walt Whitman's one-known voice recording reciting his poem "America." That sparked a discussion with my colleague Neal, who was inspired to blog about our core American values (perfect for a July 4th blog on collective-thinking.com). Neal dug up a 1984 paper written by L Robert Kohls called “The Values Americans Live By." Neal and I speculated about how these values have morphed in the past 25 years, and questioned if there was anything new to add to the core list.

Guess the answer is "multiculturism." Evolving from the values of Freedom and Fairness. Everyone knows Millennials are the most multicultural generation in our history. This may be the soft underbelly of the new Levi's work. Some pundits are faulting the new campaign for ignoring this value.

From PSFK's blog: Levi’s and its campaign don’t connect with the great things that are happening in this country, the radiant mix of cultures evolving within it nor the reality of its past. Probably the most appalling ad in the campaign is the one where a young girl runs through a meadow by the words “This Country Was Not Built By Men In Suits”. Now, some of us here (me) didn’t spend a lot of time studying US history but I know that the people who built this country couldn’t even run freely in the fields. Agency Spy spotted graffiti daubed on the ad in New York’s subway which spells out who a little more clearly: “By Slaves”.

Christine Huang, formerly of PSKF, blogs:
I saw one of these ads in NYC’s Spring Street 6 subway station. The copy read, “This country was not built by men in suits” - which someone added to in matching handwritten scrawl: “IT WAS BUILT BY SLAVES”. Up to that point, I hadn’t been able to put my finger on what it was about the campaign that made me feel so uneasy. But with that bit of graffiti, it all came together. Levis (or rather W+K) is glorifying these centuries old American ideals - Optimism! Egoism! Manifest Destiny! - while making paltry gestures towards the reality of American history and what America is today. Besides the few ethnic actors in the video, their print campaign is disappointingly monochromatic and seems almost apologetically alienating. It would have been really amazing to see Levis pay homage to the symbols of true individuality from our past - the freedom riders, abolitionists, suffragists, veterans.”The Frontier” is sexy and all, but how about some real American heroes?

Generation O: Millennials as Pioneer

Levi's is breaking its newest campaign from it's new agency W&K on July 4th. The insight for the campaign links the values of Generation "O," (the progressive Millennials who helped tip the youth vote for Obama) to the brand values: America's pioneering spirit and ingenuity. The black and white film imagery is epic (very Terrence Malik's Days of Heaven). Yet the element that's most interesting is the soundtrack. Someone over at W&K had the idea to use the only known recording of Walt Whitman reciting his poem, "America." How did they think of that? A google search on America values? A youtube search? An idea from a long-ago poetry class squirreled away for future use in an ad campaign? I'm curious!

From what I've seen online, there is no reference in the commercial about the poem, the author or the 1890s recording. If one just happened to see the spot in the movie theater this weekend, I wonder what people would think about the track? I found the track on Youtube, along with an animated Whitman spouting the verse (this is not from the campaign). Maybe the agency is thinking "disruption." Maybe they're thinking buzz value (I'm certainly talking about it, but I'm not the target.)

It will be interesting to hear what others have to say about the campaign. I can't think of any contemporary examples of advertising that has used classic poetry. I do suspect that poetry may be considered "cool" among twentysomethings (contemporary songwriters and rappers are considered poets). Poetry always has been cool--yet niche--among that age cohort.

Whitman certainly is an intriguing fellow--iconoclast, poet pioneer, journalist, politically-engaged, humanitarian, nurse, potentially closeted about his sexuality. Can't you just see Anthony Hopkins in the Whitman bio-pic?

A little known fact about me: I learned and recited one of Whitman's most famous poems when I was seven years old. O Captain, My Captain. I can still remember parts of it. I particularly loved reciting the dramatically ghoulish lines, "o hark, hark, hark o those bleeding drops of red, where on the deck my captain lies, fallen, cold and dead."

Hope & Optimism Still Live: 2007-2037

Way back in 2007, AARP held a YouTube contest asking Millennials to answer the question, "Where do you see yourself when you are 50?" This video is a striking example of the hope and optimism of the Millennial generation. We certainly saw it at work in the Obama campaign. Of course, it was pre-Recession era. However, Yankelovich has identified Hope, Optimism and Responsibility as key values at work in consumer life today, as they track consumer's growing engagement in community, charity and civic life. A coming together for the common good.

A trend that inspires!

The Zeitgeist Now?

This wonderful video retrospective by Slate shows how GM tapped into the zeitgeist through the years of its advertising. GM's latest campaign shifted to what Yankelovich has defined as a key, defining value of our times: "Civic Renewal." Consumers coming together for the collective good. A new focus on community life and civic re-engagement. A time where we re-prioritize what's important. A new context for how we consume and give back.

The Millenial generation is on the cutting edge of this new value realignment. Yesterday, I read that most of the 2009 graduates who worked on the Harvard Crimson have decided not to enter journalism, a major shift from previous classes. These grads know journalism is in flux, Many are deciding to "wait it out," by enrolling in civic programs like Teach for America. For these kids, it's not all about altruism. For the very few who have decided to enter journalism, they are keeping it quiet among their peers because they don't want their peers to consider them "schmucks." And for those who are choosing community goodwill, they see this as a productive way to ride out the recession.
Source; Slatev.com, GM The Telltale Heart of America

Food in Bits

FoodTV has just launched (softly) another online food channel targeting younger cooks who are less skilled but nonetheless foodies. The future "celeb chefs" are all twentysomethings, like the dynamic duo of Kelsey & Spike. Or Man Kitchen hosted by The video how-to's are made to order for the Millenial generation. Bit-sized. Fast-cuts. Fast talk. Short ingredient lists. Cheap to make. I have to believe part of the marketing plan is do to some social apps. The network is already signed up as a user with last.fm, flickr and of course twitter (1796 followers as of now).

Last summer, I had the pleasure of talking to Ken Obel (of Cgo's famous specialty retailer Fox & Obel). I told him social networking was still ripe territory for the foodie world since it hadn't reached its full social potential (he scribbled notes as I talked). I think Food2.com has the potential to change the game, just like FoodTV revolutionized food culture back in the 1990s.

Time Out: Today's Working Girls and Guys

MOMA is having a retrospective of Mike Nichol's movies. I know "The Graduate" will go down as one of his masterpieces, but I would put "Working Girl" right at the top too. Both movies are perfect time capsules of 20somethings "going to work" cultures that were in a state of flux. Maybe it's the perfect time for Nichols to write and direct a new movie that captures (for posterity) the culture of today's 20somethings. It could be a Nichols' 20something trifecta I would label: Drop Out, Break Out, Time Out.

Clearly, there's another cultural flux and the meaning of work going on with 20somethings today. This week, Yankelovich announced it is fielding a new study on Millenials and the impact of the recession. Today, Richard Roeper tweeted from the U of Illinois that he wanted to yell out, "There are no jobs!" And this afternoon, I bid goodbye to Matt, a 20something art director , who resigned to go biking in Europe (Jenny, another 20something, took off in January for a New Zealand sabbatical). A headline what's going on with 20somethings today? How about "Time Out."

But, for fun, let's time travel back to the the 1980's with Working Girl (video trailer). Ladies climbing the ladder of the go-go era of biz to "Break Out." Then go back to the 1960s and "Drop Out." Following is an excerpt from the NYTimes interview with Mr. Nichols that tells a cool story about the ending of "The Graduate."

Mr. Nichols is a great believer in the single big idea, the controlling metaphor or idea that defines a picture — the notion that Benjamin in “The Graduate,” for example, is on a conveyor belt, just like his suitcase. But he is also like a psychoanalyst in that he trusts a lot in the unconscious. The point of all the preparation, he said, is to get to the point where you’re surprised. And, he added, “You want to keep doing it until you get to the thing nobody could have planned.The famous ending of “The Graduate,” for example, came about because as it came time to film the scene where Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross get on the bus, Mr. Nichols found himself growing unaccountably irritable.

“I told Dustin and Katharine, ‘Look, we’ve got traffic blocked for 20 blocks, we’ve got a police escort, we can’t do this over and over. Get on the bus and laugh, God damn it.’ I remember thinking, What the hell is wrong with me? I’ve gone nuts. The next day I looked at what we’d shot and went, ‘Oh my God, here’s the end of the movie: they’re terrified.’ My unconscious did that. I learned it as it happened.”

Source: Mike Nichols, Master of Invisibility By CHARLES McGRATH, NYTimes April 10, 2009

Digital Natives: Squeezing 23 hours out of every day

New research from the UK on youth and their digital lives reveal that the act of communicating, in and of itself becomes a form of entertainment or "commutainment." Research found that technology is "invisible" to young people, who are not even comfortable using mainstream tech terms we marketers take for granted, such as "widgets." Even though the study is among UK youth, there are similarities to what we see in the US.

But here's what the researchers say that's so very Jack Bauer:

"Today's restless young person manages to indulge in 23 cumulative hours of activity in every 24 hour day - engaging in up to five activities simultaneously. While this degree of multitasking is only made possible by digital technology, the implication is that (counter to current thinking) a single integrated device with one screen is probably insufficient to meet their complex communications needs - which could entail watching clips, talking, texting and surfing the internet simultaneously."

For more, go to http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/keeping-real-offline-communications-key-connecting-digital-genera

Millenials: Organizing for the future

The Millenials know they will have the power of numbers to create change. Most of them are too young to vote now, but they are beginning to understand their power. Gen We is being marketed as a book and a movement to organize this generation. Howe & Strauss wrote (Millenials Rising) that great generations rise in historical cycles. The Millenials are timed for greatness, and will rise to what appears to be nearly insurmountable challenges.