Shaping Youth BETA BLOG

Green Mary, who runs ‘zero waste events’ with biodegradable, compostable greenware, should supply our annual island 4th of July gig, because as I set up for the 100+ families to run our kids games again this year, I’m seeing universal discordance.

Next year, I plan to lobby our homeowners association to order her potato starch utensils, sugar cane hot cups instead of this plethora of plastic. When I Googled ‘sustainable celebrations’ to get some tips to serve up to our board, irony astounded me, as it led me back to one of our own Shaping Youth media mavens, Sara Ost, formerly of Flamin’ Fuji fame and Healthbolt!

Sara, who ranted along with me about kids’ food marketing, has now taken her green scene to a bright new venture as Editor in Chief of the green gathering spot, EcoSalon, which showed up with this article, Sustainable Spreads on the 4th —Talk about ‘what goes around comes around!’ I’m thrilled to see Sara hasn’t abandoned the kids wellness arena in favor of her new green zine.

I’ll interview her soon, to find out how EcoSalon differs from other fresh pickins like Greenzer, EcoMom Alliance, Green Girls Guide, Enviromom, EcoStiletto, and EcoFabulous shopping entities, especially since yours truly will soon be writing for EcoChild’s Play hoping to invite some of the Green Options network aboard Shaping Youth’s team of positive pros. (more…)

“There are people who believe that for-profit marketing and non-profit youth media or education can’t exist in the same place. I disagree. That’s part of the reason why I call these events ‘Mashups,’ said YPulse founder Anastasia Goodstein. “They pull together people who don’t normally attend the same event.”

Whoa, I’ll say. The Ypulse National Mashup is less than two weeks away, and I can’t wait to see the eclectic crew of colleagues from social change agents to techno pros and start-ups. It’s sort of the SXSW for those interested in youth media.

Anastasia has kindly offered me a press pass, since our teeny nonprofit can’t afford another big bucks event. (See my prior post about the launch of YPulse Research, and the finance factor that precludes me from attending many industry functions)

To Anastasia’s credit, this seems to validate she’s truly ‘walking the walk’ via outreach including voices from ‘all sides’ of the media microphone. So, consider this my full disclosure: Cinderella was invited to the ball as press, with no attempt to curb my candor, and I respect this immensely… (more…)

Ruthe Stein, Senior S.F. Chronicle reviewer must be a soul-mate of sorts in the ‘thinking alike’ arena, as her opening marks hit me with a one-two punch over my coffee this morning, having just done a double-take on the four-color, full-page fireworks ad that screamed,

“Celebrate the Holiday with An American Girl!”

“Movies have become adept at sneaking in product placements, but Kit Kittredge: An American Girl may be the first to blatantly shove one into its title,” she said wryly. I thought to myself…

“Nope, not really…Look at Pokémon, Bratz, Care Bears, Barbie TV specials, and all the other merchandising-driven movie spin-offs that originated in the toy aisle!”

Still…it begs the question: “What is the difference between well-scripted literary springboards (Dr. Seuss, Harry Potter, Nancy Drew, etc.) and licensed character opportunities (Spongebob, Barney, Rugrats, and crew)?” (more…)

Well, it’s D-day for driving, teens.

Much like the KFF study on teen media multitasking, lawmakers in California, cellphone capitol of the über-wired, have decided kids are driven to distraction, so it’s now officially ticket-city for teens…even if you’re using hands-free wireless. (DMV details here)

Don’t ask me how the police can tell the difference between kids wailin’ tunes while boppin’ down the highway or chatting to a friend hands-free, but consider yourself warned as the tickets will escalate, and there are few emergency exceptions. (in New Jersey, fines are $250!)

Now, many a teen has already yelped, “Unfair!” And rightfully so if you go by skill sets over statistics…I KNOW I get phone-distracted, and make it my policy NOT to car chat unless it’s full-tilt gridlock. Whereas my tween can thumb text while brushing her teeth with an ipod draped around her neck, concurrently stepping into her night clothes…Still, that doesn’t mean she should…Besides, she’s not encased in one ton of metal wielded like a lethal weapon careening out of control, and, um…she doesn’t drive yet.

Much like the laws of legal drinking age, learner’s permits, and even teen car insurance rates, this will still spawn some ‘road rage’ of its own with teen accusations of ageism. (more…)

We interrupt this series on product placement and new FCC media rules to add a very pertinent voice into the mix, digital dynamo Brian Reich, co-author with Dan Solomon of Media Rules!

Brian Reich understands new media’s opportunity to do positive, GOOD things beyond just ‘sell stuff’ so before I dive further into my Part 3 stance on the need for disclosure and transparency, I thought it would be wise to hear from this noble gent, who also happens to be a young parent, net neutrality advocate, and social change agent in the ‘how to make a real difference’ realm.

Full disclosure will reveal that Brian is also one of my fellow probono co-authors at The Age of Conversation ‘08, to benefit Variety, The Children’s Charity, and formerly the New Media Director at Cone cause-branding, known for its insightful innovation in corporate social responsibility.

Brian Reich parlayed his mastery of emerging technology to be a Principal at the wicked-smart online firm EchoDitto. This dynamic digital agency is all about empowering communities into multi-person conversations rather than one-way marketing projects that tend toward wham-bamm grab-n-go wallet pilfering. They elevate dialogue into a give and take respectful presence rather than a pushy proposition… (more…)

Cruise news, trip tips, kids’ brand loyalty pitches at cheerleading camps, sports and spa getaways…

Who’s sponsoring your ‘fun?’ Are you aware?

Cruise lines are wisely using their own social networking connection as a conduit for repeat business and new referrals, so passengers can share their own experiences with others…Meanwhile, Carnival Cruise line just partnered with web-based Scrapblog so vacationers can create personalized, one-of-a-kind multimedia memories of their “Fun Ship” vacation…

Both of these sound like something I would’ve pitched (if it existed) back in the ’80s when I began as a cruise line specialist, because they’re customer-focused enhancements.

Rewinding history a bit, I started writing for start-up American Hawaii Cruises as Advertising Promotion manager in a door-knocking “I have something you need” guts-ball move that only a collegiate ingénue would readily attempt. Being from Hawaii, (fun Hawaiian phrase site, Keola!) I figured they’d need a ‘kamaaina keiki’ to write with authority about local island nooks and crannies since they were a bunch of mainland PacRim ‘suits.’ Sure enough, I launched my ad portion of my career decades ago writing shore excursion copy, Berlitz travel guides, LeisureGuide editorials and coming up with cool names for the ship’s common areas. (Lahaina Landing and Tradewinds Terrace revealed my love of alliteration early on)

Travel’s always been in my blood so the thought of ‘cross-promotions’ writing for travel channels like Sunset Films/Readers Digest never felt like ‘product integration’ as much as it did a ‘value-added’ alliance that was a win-win to me…So let’s take this notion of branded travel experiences and apply it to vacations for a moment…

If cruisers can easily customize their own Scrapblog with audio, video, digital pictures, the works, via template that’s exclusively destination-driven per the Carnival cruise blog, isn’t that brand-embedded entertainment much like the FCC product placement controversy where we’re part of the consortium advocating for disclosure? No.

It’s not quite the same as product placement. And here’s why… (more…)