Y’know, while you were goofing around over the weekend, dressing head-to-toe in green, and doing things you can’t tell your mother about, Upshot’s three SXSWi attendees were hard at working keeping you informed about what to expect from the next 12 months in digital.
Okay, we’ll admit there were some benefits. Just let me get [...]

We know we’ve been frequently writing about augmented reality over the last few months, and were thinking of toning down the mentions until we saw the Burger King display ad captured here. If you’re like us, you instantly smacked your head, saying, “That was such a friggin’ obvious idea that I can’t believe we didn’t [...]

We’re starting off the week with yet another addition to our collection of augmented reality goodness. We’ve already covered how these executions are becoming increasingly practical and increasingly delightful. The one thing we haven’t seen is an AR campaign that incorporates user-generated content, despite the seemingly obviously connection.
Well, thank you Cheez Doodles!
The brand has brought [...]

Now here’s an example of an online campaign done right: Green Eyed World. Take a moment to peruse the site, and notice how they managed to cram a ton of social networking / user generated content stuff in there without cluttering the hell out of the page.
For now, let’s go ahead and ignore the content [...]

When trying to ‘organically’ blend in with social networks, marketers regularly stick out like patronizing, brandspeak-laden, hard-selling sore thumbs (with an occassional exception). Ditto for most attempts at connecting with ‘the kids.’ As you can imagine, an attempt to do both of these at the same time will inevitably… work?
The Verb Yellowball project is an [...]

Here’s an excellent video that was tracked down by our friends at TRU (Teen Research Unlimited).
It’s hard to find a more poignant illustration of the optimism that defines today’s youth, especially in the age of Obama. The video also touches on a ton of trends that we’ve been tracking in The Source (particularly the new [...]

Check out our Inform session alumnus House Party making headlines!
House Party helped Microsoft’s Xbox co-opt the former Tupperware Target (uh, moms) by co-ordinating about a thousand Xbox parties across the country. Greasing the wheel with a $150 worth of Xbox goodies (such as trivia game Scene It?, a 3-month subscription to Xbox Live, and Xbox Live points), [...]

For retailers with primarily teen clientele, it’s crucial to recognize that shopping is an explicitly social activity for younguns in that age group. This is especially true for the 16-19 year old demo – they’ve got the keys to mom and dad’s car, but not a whole lot of places they can drive to.
Still, not [...]

For the teen / young adult demographic, we’ve repeatedly focused on their need to express themselves creatively. Unfortunately, we don’t always do such a great job coming up with particularly creative ways to message to this desire.
The above ad from LOVE for STA Travel and the other executions below do a fantastic job, though. Not only [...]