Wall Street Journal article

Wall Street Journal article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125380346993137737.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125422153960048893.html

collection of articles:
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/financial-crisis-one-year-later.html

Compare and Contrast

Compare and Contrast
“The loss of space happens inside an individual; it is colonization not of physical space but of mental space.” (Naomi Klein). Both the documentary of Merchants of Cool, as well as Naomi Klein’s book No Logo put emphasize on the marketing strategies of companies towards the youth trying to take over the mental space. Two important factors were mentioned, cool hunting and marketing teen rebellion. In cool hunting researchers follow teenager’s everyday life to find out what the next cool is going to be. Companies hire cool hunters to make their product cool and The Merchants of Cool even follow one of these cool hunters on his work. He goes and talks to teenagers in their homes; they show him their cloth, video games and talk about their personal life. By learning everything, starting with the time they get up, to the places they go out for dates, these cool hunters can analyze the teenagers, predict what the teenagers are going to find cool and therefore sell them what they want, packaged in a way that the teenagers think it will be cool. Those teenagers who refuse to accept this packaged cool create subcultures, such as the Rage Rock mentioned in Merchants of Cool as well as Woodstock 94, as noted by Naomi Klein, the place where Rage Rock was commercially marketed. The corporations pick up theses subcultures and market them, slowly turning them into one of their products without the rebellious teens noticing it and simply selling it back to them. Bands of Rage Rock signed label contracts and suddenly they were in the charts, street hockey events were sponsored by beer brands and there is no more room for a youth culture created by the youth itself. With all the marketing around them teenagers have no chance of establishing their own space, because their mental space falls victim to colonization.


While both mediums agreed on cool hunting and teen rebellion, there are other marketing strategies where to opinions are going apart. No Logo displays the ironic view of companies on their own product as another successful marketing strategy, for example with Showgirl, while The Merchants of Cool finds it rather short lived. As a matter of fact teenagers are not stupid and after constant bombardment of advertisements they are bound to ask themselves why they should believe what the media tells them. A way of solving this problem is mocking the product, however this can backfire after a while when the teenagers start realizing that it is simply another form of marketing and therefore then rejecting the product. Certainly this also depends on the product itself whether this tactic works or not. Also as shown in this example No Logo focuses more on the companies while The Merchants of Cool view the effect on the teenagers. These two ways of looking at the same topic give if both considered a good overview on youth marketing and that there is not really a way of escaping it.

Le Parkour

Video of le Parkour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjQxIRWZu0c


Websites:
http://www.urbanfreeflow.com/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1939867.stm
http://www.3run.co.uk/

Chapter 3 No Logo

In her high school years she had discussions with her friend that everything had been done already and if one stepped off the main groove one was going to end up on another one. Similar with the merchants of cool, even teen rebellion gets marketed.”It seems that the eternal urge for escape has never enjoyed such niche marketing” Media companies are marketing everything and reselling it to the teenagers. Everything from street hockey to Woodstock 94 was marketed; however there were voices that spoke against it. Not physical space but mental space is being colonialised by the companies and marketing itself became a part of youth culture and any resistance is marketed again.

Before the brand crisis companies were not too concerned with youth culture and there was no mass marketing behind the subcultures. However as the baby boom started to decline and the former Woodstock attendees turned into “yuppies” there was a need for new markets in the early nineties. The teenager population was growing and teen orientated brands were doing better in the recession than other companies. As a result companies changed their target group using peer pressure. They remarked themselves with the music styles and views of the teenager in the nineties. They went back into the schools observed and advertised to market the question “Am I cool?” Only the brands that could link themselves to cool were successful.

However companies had a problem, the leaders of these companies were mainly over 40 years old, so there was a need for young people to make the business successful. In order to sell cool a company needs cool people. Cool hunters are people both addressed here and in the merchants of cool, researchers are sent out to find cool and bring it back for advertisement. They go in and become one of them knowing their daily routines their closet and their social behaviour, a big advantage over focus groups. The new cool often comes from the poor such as hip hop and rap, used by Nike and Hilfiger. For many super brands cool hunting means black culture hunting, from jazz and blues to rock and to rap. Adidas first sceptical made big profit of the association with Rap and Nike uses bro-ing. When Hilfiger associated itself with the ghetto its sales went from 53 to 847 million dollars within 7 years. A successful strategy is also to go underground, for example with pirate radio stations. Another strategy to get even the sceptical is to display you with irony in order to sell, just as Showgirl did after it flopped in the cinema. Furthermore just like Sprite in the Merchants of Cool, companies hire young people to spread the word about their product, the best advertisement there is for them.

Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann owns five major companies: RTL, Random House, Gruner und Jahr, Avarto, Direct Group

RTL


Medienruppe RTL Deutschland, RTL Television, VOX, RTL II, Super RTL, N-TV, RTL Crime, RTL Living, Passion, UFA Film & TV Produktion, UFA Fernsehproduktion, UFA Filmproduktion, Teamworx, Grundy UFA, Grundy Light Entertainment, Phoenix Film, UFA Entertainment, RTL Radio, 104.6 RTL, Antenne Bayern, Radio Hamburg, Radio NRW, 105.5 Spreeradio, Radio21, Radio Regenbogen, Big FM, Hitradio RTL Sachsen, Hit Radio Antenne, Antenne Meckleburg Vorpommern, Radio Brocken, 89.0 RTL, Antenne Thüringen, Radio Ton, Rock Antenne, Sachsen Funpaket, Oldie 95, Radio Top 40, Universum Film, Cologne Broadcasting, UFA Sports, RTL Interactive, UFACinema, Groupe M6, M6, W9, Paris Premiere, Teva, Serie Club, TF6, M6 Boutique la chaine, M6 Music Hits, M6 Music Black, M6 Musci Club, RTL 9, RTL Radio, RTL 2, Fun Radio, RTL L’Equipe, Fremantle media France, Home Shopping Service, M6 Web, M6 Interactions, Societe Nouvelle de Distribution, Fremantel media, Talkback Thames, Five, Fiver, Five USA, RTL Nederland, RTL 4, RTL 5, RTL 7, RTL 8, RTL 24, Radio 538, Blue Circle, RTL TVI, Club RTL, Plug RTL , Bel RTL, Radio Contact, FremantleMedia Belgium, RTL Tele letzebuerg, Den 2.RTL, RTL Radio Letebuerg, RTL Radio , CLT UFA, Broadcasting Center Europe, European news Eschange, CLT UFA International, Media Assurances, RTL Newmedia, RTL Televizija, Fremantle Productions Croatia, RTL Klub, Magyar Grundy UFA, Ren TV, Klub 100, Russkiy Illusion, Illusion Plus, Detskiy, Zoo Park, Grupo Antena 3, Antena 3, Antena neox, Antena Nova, Onda Cero, Europa FM, Grundy Producciones SA, Movierecord, Alpha Media Group, Alpha TV, Kanali9 Thessaloniki, Alpha 98.9, Palmos 96.5, Plus Productions, Grundy Italia SPA, Fremantle Media Australia, Blu, Fremantle Media North America, Fremantle Media Latin America

Random House

Crown Publishing Group
Amphoto Books, Back Stage Books, Billboard Books, Broadway Crown, Crown Buisness, Crown Forum, Clarkson Potter, Broadway Business, Boubleday Religion, Harmony Books, Potter Craft, Potter Style, Ten Speed Press, Three Rivers Press, Tricycle Press, Shaye Areheart Books, Waterbrook Multnomah, Watson Guptill

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Alfred A. Knopf, Anchor Books, Doubleday, Everyman’s Livary , Nan A. Talese, Pantheon Books, Shocken Books, Vintage The Monacelli Press: The Monacelli Press

Random house Publishing Group
Ballatine Books, Bantam, Delacorte, Dell, Del Rey, Del Rey/Lucas Books, The Dial Press, The Modern Library, One World, Presido Press, Random House Trade Group, Random House Trade Paperbacks , Spectra, Spiegel& Grau, Villard Books

RH Audio Publishing Group
Listening Library, Random house Audio, Random House Audio Assets, Random House Audio Dimensions, Random House Audio Roads, Random House Audio Voices, Random House Audio Price less
Random House Children’s Books
Kidsandom (RH Children’s Books)
Golden Books

G+J

Art, Avto magazin, Blickpunkt film, Brigitte, Brigitte woman, Capital, Comopolitan, Mobil auto revue, Baby world, Börse online, Brigitte blance, Bühne, Capital, Claudia, Cosmopolitan spain, Cuisine actuelle dogs, Dvdpremiere, Essen und Trinken Für jeden Tag, Ebay magazine, E Biz, Elle Slovakai, Elle Dekor, Elle Hungary, Elle Dekor Hungary, Eltern, Eltern Family, E media, Emotion, Essen&Trinken, Femme Actuelle, Femme Actuelle Jeux, Femmes, First, Flora Garten, Focus Poland, Focus Italy, Focus Brain Trainer, Focus Domande&Risposte, Focus Extra, Focus Historia, Focus Junior, Focus Pico, Focus Storia, Focus XINZHIKE, Format, Gala Deutschland, Gala Litauen, Gala Poland, Gala France, Gala Syria, Gala LBN, Gala Style, Gala Biografia, Gameshop, Gamesmarket, Geo : Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, India, Estonia, Czchech Republic, Latvia, Lituania, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Slowenia, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Russia, Finland

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National Geographic: Croatia, Germany, Poland, France, Netherlands, Serbia
National Geographic Junior, National Geographic Traveler (Croatia, Netherlands), Neon, News, News leben, News Exklusiv, NG World, Nova, Parents Fumu, Playboy Slovania, P.M., P.M. Biografie, P.M. Fragen und Antworten, P.M. History, P.M. Intelligenz Trainer, P.M. Logicals , P.M. Logiktrainer, P.M. Kreativtrainer, P.M. Sudoku, Prima, Prima Cuisine Gourmad, Prima maison, Profil, Quest, Quest Historie, Rayli Fuschi Meirong, Rayli Jiaju, Rayli Xianfen, Rayli Yi Ren, Rodzice, Schöner Wohnen, Sensa, Ser Padres, Stars, Stern, Stern Fotografie, Stern Gesund Leben, Story: Slovania, Croatia, Serbia, Swarovski magazine, Tele Loisirs, Tele2 Semaines, Top Girl, Treffpunktkino, Trend, Trudnoca, TV Grandes Chaines, TV Media, Videomarkt, Videotipp, View, Voici, VSD, VW Matazin, Woman, Wunderwelt Wissen, Xpress, Yachtrevue, Yo Cocino

Avarto

Avarto Services
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Arvato Systems

Direct Group

Audivle.fr, Belgique Loisirs, Bertelsman Club Schweiz, Bertrand Livreiros, Bol.it, BuchGesichter.de, Chapitre.com, Cirulo de Lectores, Circulo de Leitores, Der Club Bertelsmann, DirectGroup Portugal Publishing Business Unit, Donauland, Doubleday Australia, Doubleday New Zealand, Euromedia Group, Family Leisure Club Russia, Family Leisure Club Ukraine, France Loisirs, France Loisirs Suisse, Glaxia gutenberg, Grand Livre du Mois, Ikar, Liverias Bertrand, Medienshop.de, Mondolibri, Neue Schweizer Bücherwelt, Nionex GmbH, Photocite, Place du Livre, Praxiel, Quebec Loisirs, RobinBook, Swiat Ksiazki, viaSol Reisen, Voyages Loisirs