Marketing to the Teenage Crowd

     The documentary Merchants of Cool went deep into how adolescent consumerism is something all its own. One thing it focused on was how the life span of a teen-directed product only lasts as long as its cool factor. The law basically states that once something in the young adult world becomes too big, it wears out very quickly and is left in the dust, but if it is too small it won't pick up any momentum to achieve success. This piece of information tells marketers everywhere some very important tips that now dominate teen products. There are only a few brands that have attained a lasting reputation of cool with teens, and who knows if they'll die out in the next few years? Nike and Apple are the examples I think of, not that they'll go extict or anything, but we all know (and remember) that there are many things that had their run before dying out, usually leaving the company in a bad state. Examples within the last few years are Abercrombie, Myspace, Blackberry, Aeropostale, and more. If we look back, we can see that these things were the epitome of cool, but with every teenager using the same product, they eventually had to move on to the next commodity. If I had to predict the next thing to leave the teen scope, it would be Chipotle. With all their problems and overexposure in the media, I think it might lose appeal with my generation. But who knows what will cycle in and out this year? All I know is that companies should try to keep up with the changes in order to stay alive in the cutthroat teen world. Merchants of Cool touched a lot on how hard brands have to work to be able to sell to teens, but I think it's something some marketers could do a better job of.