Critters and Spectacles

Teen connectors and consumption vs. conservation

Just because I want this website before the other: I Buy Different, from the Center for a New American Dream and WWF-US, is very cool.

I've just learned about a company called Tremor.com, that uses pre-screened teen "connectors" that try out and potentially promote new products. Tremor.com is a subsidiary of Proctor & Gamble. It's premise is that it allows companies to link to teens that are early adopters and promoters of new and exciting products. Teens are invited to join the Tremor.com community by taking an online quiz designed to identify those individuals that seek out the "new and different" and regularly and actively promote what they like to others. These are the leaders of the pack and the kids that set the agenda for their (several) groups of friends. Not everyone who applies to be a part of Tremor.com is accepted. The 10-15% that are accepted receive special promotions, free products and the promise of seeing their ideas in the marketplace. Teens are solicited for their feedback on products (with the promise that Tremor.com does not tell them what to like or what to say about things they do/don't like.

Here's what's so interesting to me. First, the premise obviously comes from Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point, which stresses that broadly-adopted concepts and/or products are typically promoted by three types of people: connectors, mavens (early adopters), and salesmen. Tremor.com's quiz (yes, I took it, all the way up to the point where it asked for contact information) clearly is seeking to identify those three personality types. This system is set up to refine marketing techniques to kids that have great influence over their peers, seeking to build brand loyalty through showcasing what's cool among teen peer groups. But the entire system is set up to promote consumption of products. What about ideas? What about promoting conservation and purchasing practices that encourage wise use and sustainability? In a system where "winning" means pushing more product units or going after what is new and cool, where does conservation come out?

There's a similar, but markedly different campaign run by WWF-US and the Center for a New American Dream (Motto: "More Fun, Less Stuff") called "I Buy Different" that is targeted towards "tweens" with the goal of encouraging wise spending and awareness of the impacts that humans have on the Earth. A brief excerpt from their website reads, "What's not to like about a shopping spree at the mall? The stuff we buy keeps us fed, clothed, and entertained. But did you know that everything you buy has an impact on the Earth? Your decisions give you power! Read on and we'll explain the whole deal: what biodiversity is, why it's important, and how it's affected by what we buy and use. Plus, you'll see how you can help make a difference."

I've been thinking about marketing strategies and what is needed to really sell an idea to the public. Can conservation really compete with the massive resources of corporations that want us to buy, buy, buy so that their bottom line goes up and shareholders earn money? Can we figure out a way to get financial returns on conservation investment? Does the culture of conservation donation (donation, not investment) indicate that any money given to conservation has to be a source-sink situation? How could we mobilize a system similar to Tremor.com for conservation purposes? How is the I Buy Different campaign going thus far? What are their products and results?