Mike Posner is a senior at Duke (via Shut Up We’re Blogging)

Bang-yao Lui is a senior at Savannah College of Art and Design (via Brand Flakes for Breakfast)

And of course, there are these recent Harvard grads who started Unithrive (a non-profit loan program at Harvard) featured in the Sunday Times.

Advertising. While holiday parties are being canceled, scaled back, etc., it reminds me of all the other holiday parties I’ve been to in my 6 years in the biz. Every year some of the geezers (original MadMen) of the industry and even some of the old guys (30-40 year-old’s, that is) talk about parties past. The wild times without worries or inhibitions. The excess. The skinny dipping. The drugs.

No. I don’t want the drugs. But we didn’t get our good ‘ole days or our dot-com boom. People my age came in at the bust, enjoyed a few normal years, and now have to deal with this crazy recession.

So. Realize this: We don’t want to hear about your stinkin’ glory day holiday events. And realize what we’re thinking on the other days when you tell us to pay our dues: “Why? We’re already paying for the mess you’ve made.”

What we’d actually prefer to do is roll up our sleeves and get to solving the problem. What we don’t want to do is roll up our sleeves and do the bullshit work while you get to “take a stab” at solving it.

You taught us this top-down model. AAE to AD eventually. A good idea can come from anywhere in the creative department. You value our understanding of “the digital life” enough to hear our explanation of how we use social networks but not enough to put us in the room with the potential client, to whom you’re selling that understanding.

And not just in the ad industry. You taught my Banking friends that it’s normal to work 90 hours a week, be unhealthy but filthy rich. You taught the Asset Managers to manage relationships, you’ll take care of the investments. You taught my friends in Fashion to sell on shows, showrooms, and parties. You taught those working for Magazines and Newspapers to worry about content, not the medium/delivery mechanism. You taught new Teachers to stick to the curriculum and focus on preparing students for standardized tests if they want tenure. That this is just the way it is; that we should just deal with it. We fell in line and look what happened.

You taught us to respect our elders. We say, “Earn it.”

It’s time for new ways.

[This rant was inspired by this fantastic post by Charles Frith, a responsible "old" guy in advertising (which there are many others including Gen Gifted on right sidebar), who used the word "party" in the title of his post. My title inspired by this.]

I’ve been meaning to post this video (below) for a couple of weeks now since Gonzalo Perez of Motivo Insights showed it at an ESPN off-site. It’s been online since May, so I’m already late to this party. But isn’t that the Latino way! (Don’t worry that’s not whitey speaking out of turn; he and another speaker confirmed this was not just a stereotype that day.) Anyway, Voto Latino teamed up with Declare Yourself to get young (18-29) Latinos involved in the voting process (first and foremost, by getting them to register to vote). This, one in a series of videos, is the result:

“La Pasion De La Decision” definitely seems to resonate with the members of this audience, who embrace their hybrid Hispanic-American lives. They no doubt feel a connection to Telenovelas (whether they grew up with them or through their parents/grandparents) but likely think they are just as over the top as their non-Hispanic counterparts/friends. The message doesn’t get lost in the spoof, IMO, and benefits greatly from the story being played by Wilmer Valderrama (of whom, I’m an unashamed supporter) and Rosario Dawson (of whom, I’m certainly not ashamed fan). Also check out episode 3, for a cameo by Craigslists’ Craig Newmark.

Te sigo amando.

Rather than embed each of the now 4 videos central to this rivalry, I’ll just link to them and describe the history as best I can to get you up to speed.
1st: Ice T disses Soulja Boy on DJ Cisco’s UrbanLegends Mix Tape it gets posted on YouTube by RealTalkNY.net
2nd: Soulja Boy comes back at Ice T through a webcam and posts it on his site iSouljaBoy.net and YouTube
3rd: Ice T responds to Soulja Boy through a video taken in his home by RealTalkNY.net which then gets posted to YouTube
4th: Soulja Boy makes this animated video as a response to Ice T

Whether you agree with T that SB single-handedly killed hip-H-O-P is not important to me. (Rhyming, as always, is!) I’m more interested in how it highlights the digital divide. That is, this conflict seems to really capture the new school vs. the old school mentality not only towards hip-hop but also towards the new digital mindset. This is more than merely the comfort with using Web 2.0 technologies such as YouTube (or as Ice T calls it, “the YouTubes” and such); it is the way that the collaborative nature of the Internet changes our way of thinking and acting.

Sure, Soulja Boy gets in a few jabs on Ice T like calling him older than the Internet (I don’t even want to know what he thinks of John McCain’s age). Sure, he calls out Ice T based on the things he finds out about T from Wikipedia. Sure, he looks straight into his webcam to make the video and does so with friends around. But more importantly, the Web helps him see the world as a place where we can all win. He doesn’t see the hip hop game as a zero sum game. In fact, we probably have a better chance if we collaborate with others. We actually have an even better chance if we involve our audience, our fans. He redefines the competitive set. He believes in the power of coopetition.

As a Gen GuY and GalYs on the edge of X and Y (see sidebar with links), I feel we are in a unique position to empathize with both sides. We have an ability to understand Ice T’s gripes and Soulja Boy’s retort quite naturally. We feel disappointed by Soulja Boy’s lack of respect and lack of command over the English language as well as by Ice T’s lack of appropriate language and lack of constructive feedback (mentorship or solution). Most of all, though, we want to bridge the digital gap through better, more constructive and instructive communication. On- and off-line.

We’re down for whatever. Holla!

“This is exactly the type of customer we’re looking to reach,” said the campaign’s chief strategist Ben Jacobs, 28. “It’s showing tremendous impact on the cool, media-savvy rebels who distrust authority, prize alternative culture, think outside of the mainstream, and are willing to base their actions entirely on advertising images presented to them on TV. How dope is that?”

So this post is just a reminder for me and other Gen GuY and GalY planners (or creatives or account peeps) out there not to become Ben. And a reminder for marketers to really get to know their audience on a deeper level even if they’ve picked the demographic wisely.

via Someecards. By the way, this was the featured e-card when I just visited the site. Pure gold.

Actually, as I was thinking about commercials that explicitly talk about “doing” (vs. commercials with a strong call to action), I couldn’t help but think about IBM’s recent campaign. So I went to find the latest spot I’ve seen called “Avatar,” which you can see here:

As much as I can’t help but take it personally that this is how most adult businesspeople view young professionals and our Web two dot zero ideas, I do admire that IBM (and agency) seems to really know its target. But as I looked for this video (and found a few that had been removed from YouTube), I also came across an interesting article on CNET showing IBM’s chief executive, Sam Palmisano in Second Life. In fact, it seems he has two avatars.

I read from an article that’s a little more than a year ago, “IBM foresees a sizable business in providing the software, computers, and chips that power 3-D worlds, and in advising clients on how to take advantage of them to market or sell products.” Now, either they are changing strategies (and beliefs). Or the point of the spot was to say that IBM can help you get more out of these virtual world opportunities. If it’s the latter, I have to say that message didn’t quite come through. Oh yeah, and young people explore, try, fail, learn fast, etc. etc. In short, we do!

As John says in his comments he’s going about doing something by first working to create a concise, clear, and compelling video and then when it’s ready, use it to spread the word. I will, of course, pass that on. In the meantime, I have been be considering another one of his comments as well as a recent article by Seth Godin.

Other SG’s post, “Fear, hope, and love: the three marketing levers”. He talks about these three emotions as the primary reasons (individually) that people take action. JG commented, “…but i do know that from academic studies in memetics (ideas that spread like viruses) bad news always spreads faster than good. In the past I have looked at case studies like the Y2K bug.”

So it seems like Fear is going to be the lever we’re pulling for this message in order to get the word out quickly. This makes sense to me. But I wonder if there’s a way to flip the Love switch soon after. And I wonder if an Obama win in November could impact the decision on which lever becomes most effective (vs. McCain, let’s stick with fear or if Hillary could get Gore in the Cabinet). I wonder if fear made An Inconvenient Truth such a hit. And I wonder if fear was the best way to convince people to make the small changes laid out at the end. It seems the type of action we’re asking people to take would impact the approach (lever).

I couldn’t help but think on my way into work today that a problem of this magnitude would need to tons of optimism and love. I think uniting, organizing, and calling my generation to action (and those younger) requires it. We won’t be shocked or scared into making the major changes this necessitates. We’ll, as Seth said, “aim for love.” If the meetings we had for Live Earth at Planning for Good in New York are any indication, we’re looking for our cause (should have found it by now). I’m really interested to hear the specific feedback from Live Earth about all suggestions as well as to know how other city teams tackled the issue. My feeling is we’re ready to be heroes because we love this planet.

Note: Ed has already offered his (and the group’s) assistance, which is great. Any ideas are appreciated.

He’s a lot like the boy-hero in the 1953 musical The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.—the only feature film written by Dr. Seuss, and one of Gondry’s favorite movies. In it, an evil piano teacher forces 500 children to practice at a gigantic piano 24 hours a day. One boy devises a technique to escape the nightmare. ‘The boy and his friend get a pot,’ recounts Gondry, ‘and start to mix everything they can in it. They take a little bone, a little rope, a key, and mix and mix until it becomes gooey and starts to smoke. Finally, they invent this machine that steals sound. I think this way. Just make things and it’s going to work. I’ll make it work.’

-Jennifer Hillner with Michel Gondry
(Read the rest of the Wired article here)

In 2007, I was really inspired by other bloggers’ (now friends’) ability to as my current agency’s marquee client would say: “Just Do It.” From Clay’s making a ton of stuff (including a ping pong paddle for me!) to Noah’s multiple hit sites in a single day to Michael’s conference and non-profit organization, I’ve gained a lot of insight into the process of creating and, importantly, a lot of motivation to start making things myself. (As this blog is as much a diary and self-promoting tool as anything else, you can be sure you’ll be hearing more about the things I create in 2008 – yes more rhyming!!!)

Seriously though, I’m constantly trying to figure out what this blog actually is, so I can then better figure out what I want it to be. The only expertise I claim is all things Me (in fact, my what’s in a name post is one of my most viewed) and maybe an out-shoot from that in immaturity. But in an effort to expand my horizons by focusing (I think this is what I’m doing), I have indulged another passion of mine. No, not rhyming, but you’re close… Creating catch phrases. (Note: I’m calling them catch whether they catch on or not – see bevistated.)

So from this day forth (assuming I remember) Wednesday on El Gaffney will be “Do Day”. The quote above is my first attempt, but I’m not exactly sure what Do Day will entail. I’m thinking I will interview (I use this term very loosely) someone of these Gen GuYs (on the left sidebar) about all sorts of stuff, and I’ll interview some others about Gen GuYs and other sorts of stuff.

I don’t want to make it too prescriptive since I already have such a strong commitment to the IOI. (Yes, I realize what “comes out” when you pronounce this new term for Wednesday really fast.) And I don’t want to force it either because as I learned on a Chappelle’s Show look back at an interview Dave did about civil rights “people don’t like to be forced.” (Dave’s commentary: “Oh, you mean like slavery forced.”) Anyone remember that episode? Anyone else miss that show regularly still?

Anyway, we’ll see how Do Day works out and how I gets along without all the humping.

Well in that case, I’ll just start off with the yearly Gen GuY resolution:
And speaking of resolutions, maybe you’ll be inspired by one of the celebrity resolutions on Funny or Die (which is a site to which I’m becoming addicted – wow, that’s a lot of which). Look for a video from FoD (that’s what the cool kids call it) in tomorrow’s IOI.

Feliz Ano Nuevo.

Yes one is older than the others, but still received all three within this past week from Noah, Paul, and James. I’m still sticking to F Everything, We’re Going With 5 Blades as my personal favorite, but these are definitely solid. Thus, as the brand onion seems to fade into oblivion, The Onion is so hot right now. The Onion.

Starting with politics, this is probably one of the funniest things I’ve seen in weeks. John Oliver and the rest of The Daily Show correspondents bring us a political trendspotting segment. Also gives a great word of the week, “Youthanize” – as in, “let’s see if CNN can take the debate and youthanize it.” I am definitely going to start DVRing The Daily Show again:

In case you needed a reminder that it’s also educational.

Onto sports, peep the faces of Ping Pong and just in case you haven’t seen it (in a while), Balls of Fury.

And while the Michael Vick story is upsetting, this group is pretty funny.

Lastly, create your own Simpsons character like I did a couple posts ago if you’d like or just watching this human recreation of the show’s opening.

Sexy-Ugly (adj.)
Someone who is not conventionally good-looking (or any kind of good-looking in some cases), but possesses an appealing personality, style, or talent, and is thus considered sexually attractive by many. -urbandictionary.com

This term was first dropped like it was hot in the movie Kissing Jessica Stein. Mick Jagger is her example. The flick chicks have a vote going with Edward Norton beating out Adrian Brody for the top spot.

Our equivalent may be a SJP (Sarah Jessica Parker) – if you don’t know that acronym, I can’t help you. But overall I don’t think sexy-ugly translates that well in our male vocabs. (No, not because we can’t grunt it.) Perhaps sexy-bitchy is more real. OMG, SMG is SB – Oh my god, Sarah Michelle Gellar is sexy bitchy. You’d say that – right Jay? Maybe we can all agree on sexy-rich – Oprah and Bill Gates?

So you may never hear it but if nothing else, dropping a Kissing Jessica Stein reference on your latest fling will offset the carpenter jeans you rocked on the last date. Good luck out there.

Half-baked thoughts, but wanted to share.