Celebrity Endorsement and Trying to Be Cool Dead for Brand Marketers

It always amazing to watch brands to be cool and to "resonate" with the teen demo. Most efforts are embarrassing disasters that end up wasting marketers money and diluting the company's brand. McDonald's and Coke are changing their brand so often that it is becoming impossible to really understand what they are all about.

Teens are much savior than in years past and can smell a marketing ploy a mile away. Done right, product integration (product placement), video game advertising, SMS marketing, IM advertising and musical tour sponsorships are the new avenues through which to communicate with Gen Y. Of course, it helps to have a great product in the first place rather then trying to cool up a bad product with an ad campaign that, ultimately, ends up being a lie. Do that once, and Gen Y will write you off for good.