CultureLab

CultureLab featured on Fox 4 News-Dallas

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:51:00 +0000

Positive things continue to happen for us; CultureLab is very blessed. Here is the video of the news story that ran last night, hope you enjoy!

Revisiting '09 Predictions::Lo Fi Storytelling+Inception

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:44:00 +0000

We work hard to stay versed in all things related to global urban culture, creative aesthetics, and technology. This posting aligns with what we are passionate about in taking notice of the trends that impact marketing, product development, entertainment, and pop culture.

Almost two years ago, CultureLab published its list of trends to watch in 2009. Three of those 2009 trend predictions relate to this post. Specifically predictions #14, #15 and # 18:

http://culturelabcreative.blogspot.com/2008/12/culturelabs-trends-to-watch-for-in-2009.html

2009 Trend Predictions

"#14 Renaissance of creativity in business, politics, music, and entertainment: watch for new music genres, new art forms, new ideaologies, and new ways of film-making"

"#15 Low budget but creative aesthetic in fashion, film, and music, “Thrift Chic”

"#18 The role of narrative and storytelling will grow in all art forms and advertising/promotional outreach"

The last couple of weeks I have been spending a little time researching aesthetics as it relates to web design and music video, and it hit me that we were pretty much dead on in our predictions from 2 years ago. CultureLab knew that we were in a severely depressed economy and that the creative world could not escape the impact of the macro economic climate.

Web Design

Web design is being democratized and less Flash focused. Wordpress and the thousands of affordable templates made available, provide people with the tools to have beautiful web pages without the investment of $400 an hour web designers. Also due to the popularity of the iPhone, web design has to be viewable in Mobile OS and thus less layering of flash elements.

Web design is also getting simpler: less bells and whistles, more photograph heavy, clean design, and social media focused. Take note of the redos of:

Creative Control

http://www.creativecontrol.tv

LA Times

www.latimes.com

Dallas based streetwear brand Unkommon Kolor

www.theunko.com

Inception

Two years ago CultureLab did focus groups for General Mills and Saatchi NY. Most of the subjects were teens from the La Guardia School of the Performing Arts in NYC. I was amazed at how they all seemed to thrive off of the notion of complex storytelling. Narrative and storytelling meant everything to them.

Fast forward to 2010 and the prominent role of storytelling has taken off relating to brands, commercials, and entertainment. It was no surprise to me that Inception was one of the top films of the summer with its storytelling complexity, multiple narratives, and deep dive into the science of sleep. Christopher Nolan proved with Dark Knight that he is the 21^st century storyteller and the financial results of his movies speak for themselves.

Lo Fi Storytelling

Finally, the collapse of the recording industry has decreased the budgets of many artists for music videos but as they say, you can’t keep a good artist down. Erykah Badu’s new video with Rick Ross is proof in the pudding of our prediction that storytelling and a “thrift chic”aesthetic would rise to the top. Directed by the lo fi production duo of Coodie and Chike (pronounced Chee-Kay), Erykah proves again that a fascinating storyline is what you need to keep people interested. This video is a continuation of the controversial Window Seat/Get Munny video and see for yourself what good lo fi storytelling is all about:

CultureLab's Branding Work for InTouch Credit Union

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:55:00 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New InTouch Credit Union TV Spots Let Members and Employees Tell the Story

Dallas, Texas, July 20, 2010-In a new round of: 30 TV spots developed to introduce the general public to InTouch Credit Union http://www.itcu.org, members and employees do the speaking.

The concept of letting members and employees tell their own personal stories involving the credit union was brought to the management team by the Culturelab agency who have been working with InTouch for the last 2 years to help recruit younger members.

CultureLab, http://www.culturelabcreative.com a Dallas based agency focused on insight, intelligence and engagement of next generation consumers presented the idea to ITCU’s management team that the most powerful advertising comes from referrals and word of mouth recommendations from satisfied customers.

Kevin Walker, managing partner of CultureLab, states, “In an era where consumers are so much more informed and empowered it is important to have strong and consistent brand narrative. With InTouch we have a great opportunity to start the narrative off right by letting the credit union members and employees set the tone and articulate what makes InTouch such a great credit union.”

“We have so many terrific member experience stories to share,” said Diane Gerstner, EVP of the Credit Union, “and we feel fortunate that our members are both passionate and loyal”.

The new TV spots feature 3 Credit Union members and one employee who tell their stories of positive interaction with InTouch Credit Union and interaction with Credit Union members. One of the featured members is Abi Ferrin, a Dallas based fashion designer, who benefited greatly from a line of credit InTouch Credit Union provided her.

Many companies are now looking for more emotional and authentic ways to connect with consumers. Instead of pushing out brand messages, they are allowing consumers to help define their brands by paying more attention to customer opinion and feedback. This is the approach taken to introduce ITCU and to define how ITCU is a “best in class” credit union when it comes to being attuned to their members’ needs.

The new spots will first be aired during the Dallas Cowboys preseason televised games. There will also be an online component to the campaign, with a heavy Facebook focus.

About In Touch Credit Union:

Headquartered in Plano, Texas, InTouch Credit Union serves more than 71,000 members in 21 locations throughout the United States. The organization holds assets totaling more than $870 million. Customer deposits are insured by the National Credit Union Association.

Media Contact: Kevin Walker, CultureLab, 972.835.2366

Kevin Published Today in Dallas South News Blog

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:43:00 +0000

Here is an article that was published today in Dallas South News:

What does Dallas offer the Creative Class?

CultureLab's POV on the Future of Branding and Urban Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:38:00 +0000

Last month, I spoke at the Dallas Advertising League luncheon on the future of branding and specifically the future of multicultural/urban marketing. Here are the key points that I shared with the audience:

Have A Brand Narrative: In the age of clutter, sub-segmentation, and proliferation of mediums your brand identity has to be consistent and strong. You also have to make it very very clear as to why consumers should care about you.

The Science of Consumer Influence is Here: the methodologies for effective marketing are changing and becoming more scientific. Digital advertising and the results from social media outreach are easily measured. Analytics and rich data enable continual optimization of marketing offers and placement. Soon consumers will be broken down into genomes instead of segments much like what Pandora does for music lovers. The principles of behavioral targeting are continuously refining. Also the science of the influencer and virality will be studied even more as WOM and influencers can enhance the success of products and marketing campaigns. Just reference agencies like Mekanism and the embedded video here of Tom Phillip’s talking about Sociographics.

Understand Cultural and Lifestyle Nuance-It is Never Cool To Market At The Expense of Other Racial Groups: Popeye’s and Metro PCS TV spots are two executions that are ALL WRONG (I tried to find the "Annie The Chicken Queen" spots but apparently the agency has removed them from youtube). These spots unapologetically revel in stereotypes. The new KIA hamster spots, however, are ALL RIGHT, the song choice of Black Sheep’s “The Choice is Yours” and the urban scenarios displayed show real insight and showcase understanding of cultural nuance. The KIA spots are also universal with the use of Hamsters as the subjects.4. There is a Decreasing Need for Ethnically Segmented Creative, MASS is MASS, However Targeted Engagement is Increasing in Importance: For the next generation consumer, ethnicity is not at the forefront of their identity, lifestyle is, so you are out of step if you are marketing to them based on ethnicity only. Furthermore mashup mindsets and cross culturalism make great universal creative ideas even more important in mass mediums like Broadcast TV. However to be effective and engage young urban consumers, research and targeted digital engagement are necessary.

5. The Creative Idea is Still What Matters Most at the Dawn of the Post-Digital Age: Ideas that are status update worthy, spreadable, and buzz generating are more important than the medium. Great copywriting matters even more. Look at the success of Weiden + Kennedy’s Old Spice commercials.

Geo Targeted Apps Are Here to Stay and They Are a GREAT Traffic Driving Tool for Retail: Apps like Foursquare can benefit retailers who embrace all of the functionality of these apps. It can be a great promotional tool, engagement tool, and disseminator of real time information. Ultimately these apps can shepherd consumers to your establishment. For consumers, geo location apps like Gowalla and Foursquare are very powerful WOM tools. Followers pay attention to the influential person’s check ins.

Consumers are your Brand Managers: We are now living in the era of the open brand. As we have become accustomed to open source code, we think it is our right to say what we like and don’t like when it comes to brands that we are passionate about. Consumers are just as important as Brand Managers, and have to be paid close attention to. Pepsi is a large brand that clearly gets this. I referenced this back in the Super Bowl ad review, that they showed they were in step with next gen consumers by creating the Pepsi Project.

Defining CultureLab, From Dallas to New York

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:16:00 +0000

Recently, I took a trip to New York to drum up business and soak in authentic urban culture. Most of my meetings were with Account Planners at large agencies who we have partnered with in the past. (Shout out to Carmen Baez and Alvaro Cifuentes of Omnicom DAS Global, Katy Alonzo of Anomaly, Dick DeLange of JWT, Ted Ellet of Draft FCB NY, and Andre Torres, Michael Coxen Loren Odom, and Adrian Younge of Waxpoetics magazine. Loren and Adrian are incredible musicians who are doin' it in the retro funk genre emerging from NY and LA.)

Check out their Black Dynamite Sound Orchestra:

I came across a very well put together mini-doc on the recording of their Black Dynamite Soundtrack. If there was no Waxpoetics, cats like these would more than likely lack exposure for their work.

This trip totally inspired me and further validated my theory that young creative class workers and creative class industries, even a tight-knit but solid creative class circle in the urban core of any city is important. I visited DUMBO, a creative sector in Brooklyn as well as spent time walking the streets of downtown Manhattan. The energy was palpable and even in this economic downturn, the office buildings of DUMBO were filled with cutting edge publishing houses, digital agencies, and software development businesses that are going to help drive the economic engine of the 21st Century.

The question I kept asking myself was do I need to move CultureLab to DUMBO to thrive and prosper or is there something to starting my own "Digital DUMBO' in downtown Dallas? I think the answer is the latter. Eventually CultureLab will have a permanent presence in New York but Dallas Ft. Worth is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the U.S. according to the recent U.S. Census, so there is much potential here. However, the business and corporate community must foster and patronize businesses like CultureLab in order for us to compete successfully with Creative Class cities like NYC, Austin, and LA. The time is now, and CultureLab is at the vanguard of a budding creative class industry movement here in the core of Dallas. So, I will end this post by explaining to you just exactly what CultureLab is. We are on to great things and if you hire us you will see!

CultureLab is a forward-thinking Trends & Behavior Research, Marketing, and Creative

agency that utilizes the results of current and anticipatory lifestyle intelligence to help

brands and institutions better and more effectively market to their consumer. Our efforts

generally focus on youth and young adult (NextGen/ Millennial's) anthropology and social

media as it continues to evolve in the realm of technology. The name CultureLab reflects

our research based approach in understanding the NextGen consumer.

Simply put, we are strategists, digital comm planners, writers, filmmakers, researchers and

designers that take a look at what’s current, predict what’s to come and use that

information, unfiltered, to create and execute effective marketing and creative plans. Think

of us as a think tank slash marketing agency slash creative boutique.

Our Research leads to Strategy. Strategy to Engagement. Effective Engagement creates a

relevant Experience.

We Already Knew This....Teens Are Not That Into TV and Foursquare

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:23:00 +0000

97% of teens spend two hours or more on social media sites
95% update their status at least once a day
Don't really use Foursquare or Gowalla

Television is out. Half of teen influencers spend three or more hours online while only a quarter spend the same amount of time watching television. (Although time shifting of TV watching online is a significant occurrence)

Click on the link for more:

Study: Teens Who Are Social Online Are Social in Life, But Don't Like Television, Foursquare

Millenials, A Nice Profile of This Diverse Connected Generation

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:29:00 +0000

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/04/millennials.html">

Wocka Flocka x Soulja Boy Tell'em x Roscoe Dash = "Skurban"

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:55:00 +0000

Posted by Kevin Walker

For some time, I have been chronicling the dynamic of reverse cultural appropriation as it relates to black urban culture, and west coast skater/suburban culture. There is mounting evidence that black urban culture is taking as many cues from white suburban culture, particularly the subgenres of skater and punk culture.

There is a word being thrown around, “skurban” which speaks to the merging of “skater” with “urban”. The imagery of Mohawks, skateboarding, punk rock, and slam dancing is different from the gun toting thug imagery of hip hop in the past, Soulja Boy Tell’em and Pharrell Williams have been a big reason why. Consider it a new young urban energy with Soulja Boy Tell’em and Pharrell Williams as the crowned princes of this movement.

Soulja Boy Tell’em is not a one hit wonder, rather he is a savvy pied piper of Black Southern teens much like Miley Cyrus is to young teen girls. Much can be said for his impact on digital hustle, his controversial influence on the sound of southern hip hop, and his emphasis on fun. Love him or hate him he has had a noticeable impact.

One other thing to note is that this young energy urban movement has sprung from Atlanta.

Reverse migration of African Americans to the

Southern states has resulted in the south as being the epicenter for Black urban culture, particularly in music. Atlanta is ground zero. Wocka Flocka Flame’s O Let’s Do It and Roscoe Dash’s All The Way Turnt Up are two of the hottest songs on pop and urban music stations and both artists are Atlanta based.

My favorite of the two is Wocka Flocka Flame’s O Let’s Do It. I love the punk rock energy displayed in the video and the catchy chorus. Hope you enjoy!

The Youth Mashup Mindset-Marketers Should Take Notice

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:33:00 +0000

posted by Kevin Walker

Last week Chiqui Cartagena of Story Worldwide Marketing wrote a very nice piece in Advertising Age’s Big Tent about the ongoing lag between marketers’ cross cultural marketing efforts and the reality of changing demographics in the U.S.

The day her article was published I happened to watch MTV Hits channel and was struck by a couple of music videos that played. The videos were Three 6 Mafia with Tiesto, Flo Rida and Sean Kingston’s “Feel It”. This video has 8.2 million hits thus far

and Justin Bieber and Ludacris’ “Baby” with 28 million hits:

It occurred to me that some of these musical artists/hitmakers are savvier marketers than many of us who are MBA trained, and formally trained marketers. They have made a conscious decision to give the marketplace what it wants which is mashup approaches, the mixing and meshing of genres and to appeal across ethnic groups. Is there something to this? The proof is in the hits! This music blurs the lines but is ultimately appealing to the masses: is it Techno? Is it Pop? Is it Reggaeton? Is it Hip-Hop? So, if the lines of music are blurring, what are the implications for other sections of culture outside of music, particularly how it impacts consumer marketing.

I have been documenting this new crossover/mashup mindset that is emerging among both urban and suburban youth for quite sometime, check out these earlier posts: Crossover Dreams, and One Youth Nation Under A Groove. Now there is more evidence that this mashup/crosscultural aesthetic is mainstream and my question to marketers is how will you respond to be more relevant with the next generation of consumers?

To connect to Latino youth, do you think it is relevant to make Latino Heritage month celebrations cornerstones of your Hispanic youth outreach efforts? Based on research we have done, that may not be the most impactful way to go.

From what I have seen, the agency world is still practicing a rigid market segregation, and many of their Client’s marketing budgets reflect this. There is the General Market marketing budget, the Hispanic marketing budget, and sometimes, an African American and Asian marketing budget. The newly emerging “mashup mindset” that we are talking about poses an interesting challenge for marketers in the context of mashup mindsets.

As it relates to connecting to young people, perhaps there should be coherent youth strategies implemented, along with formally budgeting for these efforts. Also, because of the complexity of youth identity, the role of account planning and insights will dramatically increase in significance in crafting marketing strategies targeted to them.

The reality is that for many young people multiculturalism/crossculturalism is organic. If you are a young person who happens to live in Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, New York, the Bay Area, I guarantee there is keen awareness of other cultures amongst young people and the influence of their associates and friends from other cultures on their tastes, resulting in this “mashup” cultural mindset.

Currently, the way the agency world is structured this organic point of view is stifled by the homogeneity of agency staffs and corporate marketing staffs. There is definitely room for innovation and new effort put toward addressing increasing diversity, and the psychocgraphic and demographic shifts occuring with the next generation of consumers. I know I am beating a dead horse but there is so much potential being untapped. I would like to challenge us to begin the work to convince our clients and fellow agency cohorts to put new approaches into play and to take steps to reflect back to the marketplace the organic way in which young people relate to each other and the brands they love.

Digital Engagement-Connecting with Gen Y

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:45:00 +0000

Part of our offering as a youth think tank/marketing consultancy is to study and harness the latest communication mediums to help our clients connect to their next gen constituents effectively. One of our most in demand offerings for Clients is what the industry has pegged as DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT. In terms of next generation marketing, digital engagement should now be considered an integral part of your marketing mix.

CultureLab views digital engagement as an ongoing manipulation of the virtual “toggle switch” between offline and online promotion/events + digital communications. Think of it simply as the leveraging of sales promotion, event engagement, social media content creation, and social media communication.

For the last 7 months our agency implemented and managed a digital engagement outreach initiative for EDS Credit Union (now InTouch Credit Union) called The Arrival Guide. Part of our strategy was to experiment with social media and to implement the process of digital engagement to build a stronger, more authentic connection to young adult members and potential members. Thus, we created thearrivalguide.com as our home base for digital engagement. Along with thearrivalguide.com microsite, we also created a Facebook page, and Twitter account all linked to thearrivalguide.com.

Digital Engagement has been a huge part of our successful Gen Y outreach and has resulted in growth of the ITCU membership base of almost 20% among 18-34 year olds. Our efforts have also helped garner a little notoriety for EDS Credit Union for being social media innovators in efforts to reach Gen Y. (Dallas Business Journal article)

Because of digital engagement, we have also been able to dramatically increase traffic to thearrivalguide.com. When our thearrivalguide.com sweepstakes launched on February 1st 2010, traffic increased on the site by 900%

Here are a few notable results from our effort

• The number of members under 35 have increased by almost 20% since the launch of thearrivalguide.com in August of 2009

• Google Analytics showed that after implementation of The Arrival Guide sweepstakes traffic to thearrivalguide.com increased by over 900%

• Branch managers of the Credit Union also reported increased traffic in branches from younger members due to thearrivalguide.com promotions

Discoveries

• Engagement has to be a two way interaction, one way (marketer to consumer) does not work for younger consumers

• Giving is marketing, you must consistently provide something of value to the consumer first before you can sell.

• The use of video embedded on the microsite helped with SEO and promoted viral embedding

• Twitter and Facebook were our most effective tools for broadcasting our promotions and broadcasting special offers

• Facebook and Flickr provide opportunities to reinforce the “fun” aspects of our marketing effort, younger consumers love sharing pictures.

• Content curation and continuous refreshing of content are key to maintaining interest in your social media properties-this is a time intensive process

• The use of social media alone should never substitute for an intergrated marketing effort-we used tv ads to help drive traffic to thearrivalguide.com

Great Article on Millennial Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:02:00 +0000

This has been a BIG week for Gen Y research and insights because of the Pew Research report on Millennials. Our friend, Prof. Carol Phillips, has also written a nice article on how companies are just coming around to paying attention to this generational shift among key consumers. Will companies start paying closer attention to Gen Y outreach? We think so.

CultureLab on Dieste's Latincast

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:22:00 +0000

On January 25, 2010 CultureLab recorded our first podcast with Dieste agency's Latincast crew: Caleb Williams, Santiago Botello, and Tania Flores. We had a blast! Here is a little "behind the scenes" video from that day.

Untitled from Kevin Walker on Vimeo.

Hope you enjoy the podcast!

It's Our Time!- A 2010 Superbowl Ad Requiem

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:08:00 +0000

Hol' Hol' On.....The Superbowl game ads were aight and all but the GAME was waaaaay better!

We are mocking Kanye West's infamous hijacking of Taylor Swift's MTV VMA moment but, my oh my, how we could have used Kanye creatively in one of those spots last night!

Watching the 2010 Superbowl ads validated why a firm like CultureLab has such a bright future. The ad industry demonstrated that they are struggling with relevancy, and diversity of voice. We also think a large number of ads were really off in terms of tonality. CultureLab was able to share this POV post game on the Marcus Graham Project's blog talk radio show.

Here is a quick synopsis of CultureLab's thoughts on this years' Superbowl ad parade:

* Our favorite spot was the "Parisian Love" Google ad: great demonstration of functionality, clever storytelling, and the spot delivered in adding some much needed humanity to Google.

* Our runner up 1- Kia: finally a spot with real energy, a fun concept, cool Kid Robot inspired toys, upbeat music, and to us, it made a mini van type of vehicle (the Sorento) cool!

* Runner Up 2: Dante's Inferno Videogame. We wish we were the team who sold in using Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" as the music to accompany this ad.

* Runner Up 3: Doritos, The Slap: this was a tad problematic in the premise, the overprotective man/child of a single black mom, but it was kind of funny. I am wondering though if some African Americans cringed a little at the premise as common as it it in real life.

* #FAIL on a glaring lack of diversity specifically, Hispanics and Asians, and over reliance on Black entertainers and athletes for diversity. Double #FAIL on Charles Barkley rapping/rhyming and plugging Taco Bell. Draft FCB, we can do better!

Where is Carlos Mencia when you need him! LOL!

* Beer, this category needs our help.........specifically Anheuser Busch....why do we keep reverting back to frat boy humor? CultureLab can help you evolve your message and make beer a more "inclusive" product. The humor didn't do it for us and you guys even fumbled the Clydesdales! Making fun of Auto Tune is so 2006 and 2007.

* We felt sad for the ad industry by the third quarter of the game. Yes, this was the largest audience ever but what was revealed in a large number of spots is that our industry is in a downward spiral: low production budgets, lack of creativity, and most of all a demonstrated tone deafness (can you say The WHO!?)

*The biggest winner of the Superbowl ad contest for us was Pepsi, who decided NOT to advertise this year during the big game. Their move was brilliant in that the Refresh Project showed real insight as to what is relevant for the core Pepsi consumer. It also is a very smart deployment of money compared to many advertisers who chose to spend big for the slot but put in place low quality work.

Nice move Pepsi and we think next year, there will be even more companies making decisions like Pepsi did when it comes to advertising during the Superbowl game.

An Interesting Article from Mashable and Trendrr on Gaga's Success

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:28:00 +0000

It's funny we had a hearty discussion yesterday about whether social media and marketing was a big part of her success and today we stumble across this article on Lady Gaga's rocketing fame.

After The Grammy's Can We Get Back to Creativity in Music?

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:21:00 +0000

We feel as if we wasted 3 hours of our lives watching the Grammy Awards last night. The music industry is so desperate for money that they have turned the awards into a pure celebration of who sold the most units. What we call the Wal-Martization of music was on full display. Can you say country pop? We apologize to all of our blog readers who like country pop, but it annoys the heck out of us. LOL!

Musicianship, individualistic style, and just overall coolness were missing last night. In our opinion, we might add! The other questionable development with the Grammy's was the awarding of many of the Black and Hispanic music categories in the non-televised portion of the show. Vapid is the word that best describes what we witnessed. Anyway, enough of our rant.

Here are a few artist that CultureLab would like to acknowledge for holding up the light of creativity and excellence in music:

This West Coast hip hop production duo get props for getting Kool Keith and Tom Waits on the same track, awesome video too!

We are pumped for the queen of soulful creativity, Ms. Erykah Badu. If this track is any indication, New Amerykah Part 2 will be the hotness. Unique vocalization, unique sound and even L'il Wayne spits a few good verses.

Lupe Fiasco should have been on that Grammy stage last night doing this song!

Update on Trends for 2010

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:02:00 +0000

OK, one month down, 11 more to go! With January almost finished, we are already feeling validated with some of the predictions we made for 2010. Recently a few articles were published that supported a couple of our predictions. Also, recent developments on the political scene give us further validation on our prediction about rage and dissatisfaction with the status quo.

One of the projections we made was that "Out of Brokenness: New Ideas and New Industry" . This article published on January 9th, 2010, supports our point of view.

"The Return of Rage and Dissatisfaction in Music, and Politics:
Frustration at the status quo"

Last Tuesday, late Senator Ted Kennedy's seat was won by a Republican, Scott Brown, who ran as a populist or "man of the people" and won. Massachusetts is an overwhelmingly Democratic state, almost 3 to 1, Democrat to Republican. Analysis of voters however showed that their choice for Brown was driven by their dissatisfaction with what was taking place in Washington.

"Couponing, and Thrift/Discount Shopping are here to stay"

The economy has not really recovered and most likely will not recover with unemployment levels remaining high. This article also published in the NY Times on January 8, 2010 takes a look at the impact of the economy and the ongoing need for discounting and specials at restaurants to keep customers coming in, particularly young people.

CultureLab's 2010 Trends to Watch

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:39:00 +0000

Top Ten Trends To Watch in 2010

CultureLab monitored social media chatter during the last quarter of 2009 to get a grasp on evolving trends. We also conducted in-market explorations in Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York. Finally, our Trend Summit in December was a success and helped us glean even more about the trends expected to make an impact in 2010! From lifestyle, technology, media and fashion to music, politics, consumerism and street culture, we explored it all. We're pleased to bring you CultureLab's Top Ten list of the areas we believe will be noteworthy and notable among the "New" general market -- the young adult, hyper-fragmented, tech savvy, diverse and cross-cultural group of consumers. Enjoy!

CultureLab Trends Summit Link

What to Look For in 2010

1.Proliferation of Netbooks and Cloud computing
The Year of Mobile Computing and the Cloud:

The continuing enhancement and availability of cloud computing will negate the need for storage and applications housed on your pc. Netbooks offer a price point and functionality that is appealing.

Netbook Link

2.The Return of Rage and Dissatisfaction in Music, and Politics:
Frustration at the status quo.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for teens stands at 26.7% (December 2009) College Students are also graduating with little to no job prospects. As this situation continues, there will be growing discontentment among these groups. We think it will surface in the areas of politics (2010 midterm elections) and in music and online social movement. Recently in the UK, we saw evidence of this. Take a look at this CNN video:

Rage Link

3. Couponing, and Thrift/Discount Shopping are here to stay

Money continues to be tight for many young adults due to high unemployment and high levels of underemployment. Young people do use coupons, and the research shows that it is not a fad. Also, Black Friday of 2009 ushered in a new era of people using social media to find the best deals. Promotional codes, online coupons and Twitter will be a necessity for retailers who want to get people to spend.

According to the PMA Coupon Council, coupons are more influential in purchase decisions to 18-24 year olds in four out of the eight retail categories measured than the general population, including:

* Electronics (37 percent vs. 23 percent)

* Apparel/Clothing (31 percent vs. 24 percent)

* Car/Truck (11 percent vs. 8 percent)

* Telecom Services (9 percent vs. 7 percent)

* 54 percent of 18-24 year olds were influenced to purchase a grocery product
(food/cleaning/beauty) because of a coupon.

* 46 percent of 18-24 year olds were influenced to eat at a particular restaurant
because of a coupon.

* 37 percent of 18-24 year olds were influenced to purchase a particular
electronics product as a result of a coupon. (PMA Coupon Council)

4. Out of Brokenness, New Ideas and New Industry

Throughout the course of our research in the last four months of 2009, we were struck by how many times we heard from young people that in their view things were "broken". They have witnessed a near collapse of the world economy, increasing unemployment, bankruptcies of established companies, etc. Brokenness however, is perceived as opportunity. They have the energy to bring forth new business models and new industries. We expect 2010 will be the advent of many innovative and green oriented industries.

5. Geolocation apps for the Mobile Phone will Explode

The popularity of applications like Foursquare in cities like New York and Los Angeles will gain more traction in other urban centers and become more mainstream. This will be the year of functional geolocation apps for mobile.

Geolocation Link

6. Pop Electro Disco supplants Hip Hop as the global beat

2009 may go down as the year of Hip-Hop's official marginalization. Hip-Hop is not dead it is just not the popular music focal point it once was in the previous decade. Look for more auto tune vox/electro beat/disco to be the dominant genre in 2010- much like it was in 2009. Lady Gaga, and her like minded compadre's will more than likely continue to move people to their beat.

Pop Electro Link 1

Pop Electro Link 2

7. Tried and True Will Be Best

Money-the lack of it-will be the 800 pound gorilla in 2010, people will be extra judicious with spending. Based on our research, people will gravitate to the tried and true. New products that don't address value and immediate and pressing needs will have a hard time gaining traction. Consumers are expected to stick with the classics and what they know. Take note of the Classic Americana fashion trend developing. We also predict that Vans sneakers will be the hot brand of 2010. Vans are classic, inexpensive and are offered in many colors and styles.

8. Technology Will Not Keep Us Together

Katy Alonzo, a social media researcher for Publicis, presented at our Trend Summit. Far from bringing us together Alonzo believes social media is ripping us apart. She spends much time monitoring online chatter, and she spoke ominously about some of the growing hateful chatter as it relates to politics and hate towards people of different ideaologies, class, or ethnicities. Just as in the offline world, people in the online world are comfortable with those who share their values, class, and identity. They tend not to reach out to others who may be different. Look for points of view to harden, and more strife and division to surface.

Technology Link

9. The Young and the Sharp

As times remain challenged and serious, people are going to dress up more in 2010. The era of sloppiness in dress and casual Fridays is so '00's. Young people are rediscovering "dressing up" and it is driven by a new pragmatic sense that to make progress, get a job, and be taken seriously you have to look the part. As one of our speakers at the Trend Summit, Michael Hastings-Black, mentioned, it is the "grown ass man" syndrome that is inspiring people to dress up more. Here is an example of this in the context of menswear:

Young and Sharp Link

10. The General Market Will Be Re-Defined

We predict that the 2010 Census is going to shake things up a bit on the demographic front. Marketers will be confronted with how to approach marketing to the fast growing second and third generation Hispanics born in the U.S. Also, the numbers of bi-racial young people will continue to grow and make an impact. It is our view, that these dynamics will force agencies and companies to redefine what the general market means. In the agency world, the traditional Hispanic agency will find its relevancy challenged as general market agencies will grab more budget at the expense of shops focused solely on ethnicity. Some may argue to the contrary but we support the view that as marketing budgets are challenged efficiencies in advertising will be sought.

General Market Link

Happy New Year!!!

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:13:00 +0000

It’s a new year, and a new era for CultureLab. All I can say is whew! We survived ’09. As many of my peers in the marketing services and advertising industry know, 2009 was a brutal year, but like someone who finishes a marathon we have a HUGE since of self-actualization and achievement.

Despite the tough economic environment CultureLab managed to survive and enhance our service offerings for Clients. We have been at it for four years now, and we realize that we are well on our way to creating a successful track record of doing great work for our Clients, as well as being at the forefront of using consumer research and lifestyle intelligence to build effective marketing outreach.

So what is CultureLab and what do we do?

My answer is, we are a Southwest U.S. based communications agency that focuses on the use of consumer research and lifestyle intelligence to connect brands and institutions to the “NEW” general market.

The “NEW” general market is a market that is more tech savvy, more diverse and more fragmented than in the past. Our niche is helping companies that are a bit challenged in connecting to consumers in this new marketing environment.

There are four key parts that make up the whole of CultureLab:

CultureLab Consultancy
Digital Lab
POS Lab
Experience Lab

To see examples of our work and our specific services, check out our website at http://www.culturelabcreative.com

We are wishing all of our friends, followers, and clients a very prosperous and successful 2010! God bless!

CultureLab Trend Summit

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:30:00 +0000

Last Saturday, on December 5, 2009, CultureLab held its first annual Trends Summit where we brought in talented thinkers to pontificate on what they thought was going to be monumental in 2010. We were thrilled to have academics, social media strategists, culture guru's and art and technology college students from UTD in the mix.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31172651@N02/

CultureLab likes to keep it fresh so we brought a little innovation to the summit by having Fahamu Pecou and Michael Hastings-Black to Skype in from Atlanta and Brooklyn respectively, we also tweeted throughout the event from @clabcreative, #2010 Trends. Last year we did something similar for Saatchi NY and their General Mills client but this year, we thought we would do it for CultureLab's own learning and development.

It was clear that the economy, the dearth of jobs, and mobile OS development are going to be HUGE shapers of things to come as it relates to young people and consumer behavior. The word "broken" kept coming up but it was used in the context of out of brokeness good things can come, "a genesis of revolution" so to speak. Also one other striking statement made during the conference by Katy Alonzo who is a social media researcher was that "technology is ripping us apart, not bringing us together". She really made us think differently about polarization that is facilitated by technology.

Stay tuned for our Top 2010 Trends to Look for which will be published in early January. We also shot video of the summit which will be available for viewing by 12/28. A big thanks goes out to our sponsors: 7-11, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Waxpoetics, and Frank 151.

Black Men Under The Radar

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:21:00 +0000

Today, we are very honored to have our first guest blogger, the legendary researcher/ethnographer, Pepper Miller of the Hunter-Miller Group in Chicago, http://www.huntermillergroup.com. She has given us a thought provoking take about the view of Black men as typically shown in the media and how fair and authentic representation of them rarely takes place. We are grateful to Pepper, and welcome your feedback on her post.

Clayton and LaNise Ollarvia’s Atlanta wedding was wonderful. She was the classic beautiful bride and he the handsome groom. The bridal party was striking and the parents proud and tearful at times.

What captured my attention and became the impetus for this post, was the constant conversations taking place from every corner of the wedding reception about Clayton’s groomsmen. Heard at the tables, the bar -- even in the restroom, guests were buzzing about the young men’s charm, intelligence and wit. Importantly, many surmised –unaided by this researcher-- that the groomsmen’s behavior was not uncommon and therefore questioned why more positive stories and images of Black men aren’t seen in the media.

The National Urban League’s annual State of Black America Report typically paints a truthful, but often dismal picture about the current situation and outlook of Black America and particularly Black men.

While this information is not inaccurate, the National Urban League and many service organizations typically rely on the harsh realities of Black America to secure grants and funding for social service programs that are sorely needed and appreciated in Black communities across the nation. I am not, by any means, implying that these social service reports are not welcomed or valued--they are. However, there is another side. It’s the story about Black America and Black men that often does not get told.

In general, Black men tend to be younger (29.5 v.35.4) and as a segment, has been growing three times the rate of the white males. Although educational attainment fluctuates, more are recognizing and embracing education as a means for overcoming societal barriers and advancing oneself. In fact, from 1976-2004, Black male college graduates doubled. Additionally, Black men are taking more responsibility for their families; two parent families increased at nearly double the US rate from the last Census. Many also have assumed significant roles in business, politics, sports entertainment and other areas. Additionally, The Black America Study www.blackamericastudy.com identifies one of its eleven segments as “Black Onliners". This segments includes a majority of Black men who are 97% online, educated, moderate income earners, have a majority of Black friends and respond favorably to targeted Black advertising.

Often copied is Black men’s invaluable influence on global culture. Think: swagger, language, music, fashion and being early adaptors of technology. Importantly, Black men are the arbiters of cool. They don’t own it, but interestingly, they are the only group that looks to each other, and not to others, to determine what is hip and cool-- and the world follows.

Ghettoization of Online Social Networks

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:01:00 +0000

For about a year now, CultureLab has been telling our clients and followers that there is a growing class divide online with social network choice. It was one of the key points I made at this years YPulse Youth Marketing Panel on Marketing to Multicultural Gen Y'ers back in June. Yesterday, CNN reported the statistics around this growing trend.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/10/13/social.networking.class/

Swagger Paris at NYC Fashion Week

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:45:00 +0000

Check out what's shakin' at NYC Fashion Week:

http://www.swaggerparis.com/

Millennials and Financial Fitness

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:07:00 +0000

According to a recent research study conducted by Charles Schwab, 71% of 23-28 year olds polled said they are extremely concerned about the U.S.’s economic future. More than half, 53%, were very concerned about their personal financial future. Needless to say, the economy is extremely challenged right now and the job market is very, very bad.

For Millennials the severity of the economic downturn has been a discombobulating experience, especially in light of the fact that our generation's identity has been shaped during the height of American consumption and excess. So what is going to happen now? Are there tools out there to help us navigate this new economic reality and help us plan for our increasingly cloudy financial future?

One of CultureLab's Clients, EDS Credit Union, contracted us to develop programming and outreach that would help attract younger members to their Credit Union while helping them to become more aware of the importance of financial planning and financial fitness. As a consequence we came up with TheArrivalGuide.com. It is our hope that this is step one to more companies and financial institutions being more sensitive to the needs of our generation. Check it out, let us know what you think, and please feel free to tell us how we can make it stronger.

Financial Help for Young Professionals

noreply@blogger.com (cLab) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:57:00 +0000

If you need help with your finances check out www.thearrivalguide.com