Whew! Quite a full day, good information, but very straight and not too variegated. It began to look like no one would ever contradict anyone else, more like a `60s Love-In than cutting edge. The Conventional Wisdom was weighing heavy on my head; the kid biz really is a small business, and I guess we all know each other too well. Even when we suggest something new, it appears that we collectively suggest the same new thing. Almost to underscore the familiarity of it all, as I wandered back down the pier past "The Highlander" (the large Forbes yacht anchored at the pier), I couldn't help noticing that its helicopter looked just like one we had used in SWAT Kats.

Day Two - Part One
The weather held for the second day, and again we got off to a rousing start. Joan Chiaramonte, VP, Roper Starch Worldwide, gave us an overview of the macro economics of kid spending - it's big, and it's getting bigger. The population bulge coming in the 2-11 market is not only the biggest since the Boomers, it's actually bigger. More kids, with more purchasing power. Why?

62% of kids are in families where both parents work, and 31% are in single parent households; both these figures are the culmination of secular trends that haven't peaked yet, and both push kids far more into the heart of the purchase decision. As for issues facing kids, AIDS is #1 - frightening, isn't it? - followed by the Clinton scandal (and this was before the Starr Report was published). Pollution is still big, and more importantly, it's the only one of the top three about which kids feel empowered - they can actually do something about it. Joan's closer was simple. Kids will demand: More, Better, Faster.

The next presentation was a joint effort by Julie Halpin, CEO, The Geppetto Group, and Lisa Fernow, Senior VP, Global Marketing and Strategy, Cartoon Network. It was a tour-de-force on pure marketing. Julie did, "How do I build my brand for the long term when the world in which I compete is oriented to the short-term?" while Lisa did (in my words), "How do I take a 30 year-old classic property and make it sparkle in today's market?" What followed was a step-by-step examination of the current re-launch of Scooby, and, while not brain surgery, it sure was complex and complete. I wouldn't know how to do either presentation justice in less than several thousand words, so you'll just have to believe me that if you ever have the opportunity to hear these two, it's well worth it. They spend time developing insight into both the world around them and the problem at hand, and they apply a well thought-out and rigorous conceptual framework to the data uncovered to establish a solution.

The following panel looked on paper to be dry and academic, dealing with Advertising Wear-Out. It was anything but. Lang Rust, President of Langbourne Rust Research, gave a very short overview of his decades of research in watching kids watch TV. He has a very specific testing regimen for measuring viewer attention to the same ad when viewed twice. A few things stand out from his research: boring ads wear more quickly; older kids get bored more easily; and humor works best for repeat viewing. And then we finally entered the future.

Rebecca Randall, VP, Marketing & Brand Development, MaMaMedia, held up the mirror so many marketers want to avoid. Her definition of "wear-out" was a clarion call for quality and intelligence. To her, it's: a) a rationale for going to L.A. to shoot a new spot; b) proof that kids aren't "getting" your ad, a signal that your copy isn't working; c) a relic of a bygone era; and d) an adult media invention, as is "media fragmentation." Don't ask me to explain c), as it may have been a throwaway, but Rebecca was very explicit that in a world of souped-up cycles (attention spans, products, and decision making), wear-out is "an adult, reactive broadcast concept" that will have no meaning in the wired world to come. All media is ultimately experiential and individual, and the advertising world must recognize that the solutions of past media may not fit the new media. Kids' relationship with media has changed: in the `70s, consume; the `80s, choose; the `90s, create. They now control the media, where the media once controlled them. Today's kids have new expectations, new attitudes, and new behaviors. Plus, the future will bring the Clickerati: non-linear, multi-tasking, interdisciplinary, techno fluent, accustomed to control, looking for "hard fun," and learning all the time. (As the guy next to me said, "How the hell do I do a media buy in that world?") Rebecca brought back the ghost of Marshall McLuhan (the media is the message), and I for one was happy for the chance to stretch my brain a little. Is she right? I don't know, but it sure will be exciting to find out.