Colby Odonis Interscope Records

What a great debut album by Colby Odonis. Sophisticated Bad Girl is my favorite of the bunch but the first single, “What You Got” is a throwback that has a great vibe. Produced by Akon this record is going into heavy rotation at my wifes car. The kids will be singing this in a week. Thats how I know its a hit these days. My three and five year old starts beating the shit out of the back of my seat kicking and hitting to the beat.

College Marketing

last month I get a  call from  company called Digital College Network. The President and CEO Chris Esposito has a very unique business opportunity targeting the highly fragmented 18-24 year old market. You se the kids today are not like they used to be. They may not be smarter than those of yesteryear but they are getting information quicker and have answers faster than ever before. They are trained differently, they are relaiant on the computer and not their brains. They dont study anymore they simply google. They feel that is studying. They can do so much research that it appears they have spent weeks preparing for stuff when in actuality they have shortcut the system. By knowing where to look they can find stuff. By knowing how to keystroke they can expedite stuff faster than someone who can not do computer shorthand.

 

I have been watching my 3 and 5 year old children as they send text messages on my iphone to their grandma. I get an email from my son with all 18 of his classmates names written on a stickie note that he sends to me almost daily. The names are in order like in his kindergarten class. Alphabetical. He writes his name and his sisters name on every email. From Hudson and Ella to Daddy. I love you. Then he lists all the kids. Thats it. Been doing it for a month. How he knows how to spell all of his friends names still amazes me. 

 

Which brings me to my nephew, who at 15 has created a music video, recreated a song and generated awareness. To the tune of over 80,000 people. EIGHTY THOUSAND people know my nephew Jamie? His youtube video got so much attention that kids were copying and making their own. It was again -amazing.

 

Which brings me to the DCN. They have a platform that is a no brainer. Students have to go to school. They have to buy books. There are specific books for each school, and they have to be purchased at- The bookstore. So DCN cuts a deal to put LCD screens in all the schools. At the Bookstore. In front of the cash register. WOW! Why try and find the kids when you can go where they already are- School. Having a HD LCD TV in front of you asking you fun contest questions, showing you the hottest trends, Music Videos, Film releases, sports and other related news while you wait in line – makes time go by faster, makes waiting more enjoyable and makes DCN a homerun for advertisers and content owners to broadcast to the youth market.

The ability to access this ‘don’t bother me’ group of college students is a godsend to brands who have a very difficult time penetrating this group. You cannot force feed these kids. They dont like big business. They like to be notified from trusted friends on whats cool. They don’t like being told what to wear, how to think, and what to do. They would rather hear about a group from a friend tan from the radio. They would rather see a youtube video than a music video. Its not just youtube BS. Its a fact. And others are taking notice as well. ManiaTv is right on the heels of YouTube, and gaining popularity by the second. College kids converse with friends on other continents all day long using SkYPE, for free.  I used to have to ask my parents to call my friends in the next city. That cost more money than it does now. Its probably the only business in the world where the prices have dropped. So whats next for these kids? Who knows? The group changes their minds on whats cool every 5 minutes or so.

 

Street teams, Viral marketing, Social Networking, blogging, all are relatively new ways to catch up with these kids. They are spending less and less time on sites. They are jumping around, with multiple screens open looking at everything for a second, Bookmarking stuff they like and making quick references to things on the fly. Sending text messages and status updates to their friends. Thats what they do. Thats what they like to do. They best way to contact your friends is by posting your status and have them notify you when they are close or when they notice you are available. No more leaving messages and waiting for a response. Now you can go on facebook, see where all of your friends are by the second and hook up.  Its simply – Amazing,,,,