Cool Market
The early nineties ushered in an interesting phenomenon, the market that mainly catered and accommodated to the baby boomer generation had, like its' target audience, underwent an identity crises. In the ensuing recession, Wall Street noticed that: "among the industries that were holding steady or taking off were beer, soft drinks, fast food and sneakers - not to mention chewing gum and Barbie dolls" (Klein, 68). Finally, it dawned on the manufacturing sector and the entertainment industries that the main correlate to this was the fact that 1992 was the first year that the number of teenagers in America increased, this hasn't happened since 1975. The time came for a complete revamp of the companies' images. If they wanted to appeal to this exploding new demographic, they would have to 'get with it', embody the image of nineties cool, and embrace its music, its style and its politics.But where can one locate the origins of this ever-elusive coolness? The product-driven companies were swift in meshing their products with the identities of the 'in-crowd' by taking their campaign to the schoolyards, inner-city basketball courts and colleges of America. As Klein states: Advertisers, brand managers, music, film, and television prod
ucers raced back to high school, sucking up to the in-crowd in a frantic effort to isolate and reproduce in TV commercials the precise 'attitude' teens and twenty-something's were driven to consume with their snack foods and pop tunes (Klein, 68). Nike coined a term for this custom. 'Bro-ing' is the art of bringing the prototypes of their merchandise to inner city areas and urban centers, displaying the product, and saying things like 'Hey, bro, check out the shoes', thereby effectively drawing the attention to new styles and establishing a word-of-mouth. Aaron Cooper, designer for Nike states: "We go to the playground, and we dump the shoes out. It's unbelievable. The kids go nuts. That's when you realize the importance of Nike. Having the kids tell you Nike is the number one thing in their lives - number two is their girlfriend" (Rose, 111). Nike also sponsors the P.L.A.Y. (Participate in the Lives of Youth) program. For them, this seemingly innocent act of charity simply means more advertising space and extra swoosh visibility in urban basketball courts.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Wall Street, Lives Youth, Polo DKNY, Cape Cod, Revolution Soda, America Anheuser-Busch, Klein Advertisers, Report Bureau, Vodka Levi's, Aaron Cooper, youth culture, college students, thereby effectively, target audience, basketball courts, klein 68, inner city, black youths, 'cool hunters', black style,
Approximate Word count = 1143
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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