Did a 10year old kid dream this up?

It seems the ten year old kid that lives inside the marketing types who work for Hot Wheels have been allowed to go nuts lately.  As if this stunt isn’t enough, they created quite a stir with a recent ambient campaign.  I have NEVER seen a billboard like this!

It was erected on an overpass in Bogota, Colombia. Even the pics of it being erected drew the internets attention.  I really think that even though Hot Wheels are essentially kid’s toys, these latest efforts appeal to childlike imagination in us all.

A perfect fit for the DVR Lifestyle™ wave!  This is a wave where we get to “pick the good parts”. Whether that means pressing rewind to where we get to feel and act younger, or fast forwarding to experience things that are beyond our years.  I know people of all ages that would be excited by these campaigns.

I know for a fact, that I am never going to dress my age.  I’m a woman in her 30’s that dresses like a teenage boy most of the time… (I certainly bust out the glam when I the time is right, don’t get me wrong.)

Anyway, it made me think of a train ride the other day where I was checking out the tatts on a group of Gen Y’s….  I’m talking about giant ironic “statements” that COVER their bodies that are kinda funny and cool now ie: the Ghostbusters logo, zombie wounds, popular band etc.  You may think: “oh dear, what will it look like when they’re 80?” … but the way fads change these days they will be “past it” in 3yrs!

On the other hand sometimes “cool” endures.  One of the hottest, most stylish fashion shoots I’ve seen lately was the NY Times glam rocker tribute.  Now these guys can seriously teach the young bucks how to wear a sharp suit.

Well, I guess my thought on the subject is: that some thing’s last, and some things definitely don’t.  In my opinion, the things that fall into the “stand the test of time” category are just an authentic approach to life and doing what you do. The: “this is me regardless of what’s in” philosophy.

To me, anything else is like chasing the tail of some fleeting fashion trend that is probably over because you know about it.  With the case of our “rainbow lady”, I’m not sure she really is a bandwagon kinda gal; I think she’s a just free spirit and letting her freak flag fly…. Which is exactly the “eccentric” old lady I intend on being!!

DVR lifestyle is all about “picking the good parts”.  Whether it’s fashion or behavior, I imagine the future to be full of people who refuse to “act there age”.

DVR Lifestyle™ is about “picking the good parts” and is often associated with “aging up” of kids or “aging down” of adults.  But here’s a good example of a brand helping their fans stay loyal for decades by understanding their changing needs over time.  As the Kidults of Gen X/Y continue to “casualize” the work place I sure we’ll see a lot more street/work hybrids.

I happened upon this funny and helpful site today.  It struck me that there are many people out there that don’t have tech savvy, skyping, IMing, texting parents like mine. This time of year is when we want to connect with our family & friends and whatever your opinions about the form or context, sometimes it really can just be “the thought that counts”.

That might seem like I’m making excuses for laziness or maybe a little bah humbug or at least not very warm and fuzzy… but to me it’s just the reality of many people I know.  Not everyone CAN make it home for the holidays and, as I know here in Australia, the international shipping usually costs more than the gift!

If an email, e-gift or skype is what it takes for us to connect… then we should be glad that we can do that in 2010.

But what if your family are luddites??

Then send your parents a Tech Support Care Package!  “This site was built by a few folks at Google to help keep tech support a family business.”

DRV Lifestyle™ is kinda like fwding or rwding to the good parts of life, with age being no limitation.  Why should some people miss out because they don’t know a few simple things and are probably too intimidated to ask -or you’re too frustrated to show them…?

EVERYONE deserves to endure those horrendous Elf e-cards!!

Seriously though, brilliant idea. I can’t wait to do shots of milk; though I do worry about the whole “can’t drink a gallon of milk in an hour” barrier. I would rather enjoy this sickly sweet nectar without worry of time constraints —or vomit!

Here’s the video for it…with music done by the dubiously named funk band “Banjo Drill” apparently.

Well I’ve noticed a few brands increasing their reach by upping their “cool factor”.

A great example is the rad new look that Disney characters have: “Disney has been really good about expanding their brand to include things that would appeal to hipsters of all ages. For the last decade or more everything from their films to their toys, their couture jewelry and collectibles have included modern artsy versions in addition to the classic ones. The latest are their new soft plush toys that were inspired by the urban vinyl toy culture. The modern looking 12″ tall toys called Pook-A-Looz (okay, so the name sucks) were designed to capture the personalities of iconic Disney characters in an edgy, offbeat way.”

Chiquita Banana also updated their image not long ago.  I personally love the new look and can see people wanting to collect all the new “characters.”

Whether it’s the packaging or the actual product or service, widening the appeal is always a great way to approach a “makeover.”  There are definitely people in every age bracket who “think age has nothing to do with how I act or feel.”

Because the truth is, today’s grandparents are every bit as sweet, loving and full of elderly wisdom, they just happen to skydive, Facebook and run marathons. In Japan, senior citizens have become such a target market that entire shopping complexes have been built focused on products that would interest them.

Looking stateside, senior citizens are still primarily viewed as “Ma & Pa”, of the Greatest Generation. Thier kids, the Boomers, have been in the spotlight several times for reinventing thier age bracket. But Boomers aren’t the only ones letting go of “acting thier age”. A new reality show is set to premiere on WE called “Sunset Daze” and focuses on the lives of residents of a retirement community.

The trailer shows everything from skeet shooting to tennis and heated conversation, all the staples of reality TV and what makes Jersey Shore well… Jersey Shore. It’s essentially the same crazy antics and “captivating drama” you’d expect from a house of college students, except they’re all senior citizens.

What I wonder is why the push for “extreme Boomerism” (yep, made up a word there) when we’ve been preached that “70 is the new 50″ and “40 is the new 20″ over and over. We get it, just because you’re an age doesn’t mean you’re limited to what you can do.

Aging up and aging down are rapidly becoming key behavior points in our culture. But, have we hit a point in culture where we’re all just trying to prove to each other that age has no boundaries? If so, then what’s the difference between a senior acting 40, a Boomer acting thirty and a teenager acting twenty? Two are told they have youthful spirit, and one is told they’re not old enough. Why is it we’re willing to push to be younger, but restrict when children yearn to act older?

Ok, so I originally spotted this “toy” on a hilarious website called People of Walmart.  It’s a celebration of the kooks and freaks that tend to grace Walmart with their presence.  Well it got me thinking about the evidence in DVR Lifestyle.  The Human Truth™ is “I want to pick the good parts.”™

It’s like fast forwarding or rewinding to do what you want to do, regardless of age.

You can often come away with the notion that kids are growing up too fast.  But perhaps they are growing up according to the world they live in now.  Maybe it’s just part of The New Normal?

I mean, most of the people I know have tattoos… it’s far from the taboo it was years ago.  If kids grow up looking at Mom & Dad’s tatts, watching music videos and Miami Ink etc… then perhaps it just follows naturally that they want to play with such a toy.

Ok… so this still is quite a wacky piece of evidence but rather than just dismiss it, I like to think of it as another reminder of the evolution of acceptability.  We’ve seen it time and time again: unlikely concepts in the emerging side of life have grown into the mainstream.  So don’t be too quick to scoff at the weird stuff, perhaps it points to a larger social trend?

An article in the New York Times gives us some surprising  statistics concerning the exponential growth of social networking site twitter . The 18 and under demographic, aka the internet generation, is not responsible for the growth of the site, it is, by and large populated and popularized by the 18-35 age group (gen y).

“[The 18-year-old's] reluctance to use Twitter, a feeling shared by others in her age group, has not doomed the microblogging service. Just 11 percent of its users are aged 12 to 17, according to comScore. Instead, Twitter’s unparalleled explosion in popularity has been driven by a decidedly older group. That success has shattered a widely held belief that young people lead the way to popularizing innovations. – New york Times

This is not only true of Twitter, take a look at this information from Facebook’s website…

* More than 250 million active users
* More than 120 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day
* More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college
* The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older
*

This is an important realization, especially in terms of marketing. When we set out to create a campaign that will utilize social networks to carry our message it is important to realize who we are delivering that message to. As it turns out, Twitter is a better place to connect to the 34 year old father of two than the 17 year old who sends out 10,000 texts a month.

This will be increasingly true as time goes on. In ten years time , we will see generation x take the place of the baby boomers in terms of age, social networking will be a communication as foreign of a conceptas the cell phone is today. Gone is the day when we can assume that social networks are for the young.

Maybe even more than other generations the lines are blurring between the end of ‘youth’ and beginning of adulthood. Generally speaking, it’s become culturally acceptable now to have lifestyles that would have been seen as quite “unusual” only a few decades ago. Dressing casually at work, choosing not to get married, renting -not buying a house in the burbs, acting like “kidults“. Well, this site takes advantage of those wistful feelings of not wanting to grow up and take on adult responsibilities… even if one of those responsibilities is to clothe your kids…