BBDO Singapore interviews youth guru & guiding light, Mr Ian Stewart of POOL.
How has youth of today changed?
I believe that the basics of "being young" never change: the need to belong, fit in, "see and be seen", gain popularity, create identity by aligning yourself with different "tribes" like music, are all the same as other generations. What has changed are the tools that youth of today have to achieve these goals and dreams, with digital clearly the main differentiator. Youth today have 100's of digital friends, which makes them almost a media in their own right.
Issues facing youth today:
Personal issues (as above) remain the same. Society issues are clearly based on what is topical today: the environment, religious wars, digital privacy and safety would be examples.
Youth culture today:
Is more similar than different. because of the Net, young people across the globe are tapping into the same elements of popular culture as everyone else. While they may think they're unique, special and different (don't we all!!) they are wearing the same clothes, listening to the same music influences, and absorbing the same movies/tv/books as others. E.G. Twilight & Vampires, Nu-rave & Electro, etc...
What brands are doing well to connect:
My favorite is Converse, with their use of global pop culture icons and local music. A perfect combination.
Which brands have got it all wrong:
Without wanting to name names, many of the "youth icon brands" of the 90's have either failed to remain relevant to young people today, or are trying to hard to be all things to all people - cool for youth, functional for adults - this never works.
How has social media impacted:
This is the biggest thing impacting youth (and all of us) right now. Consider a 24 hour day; 8 hours for sleep, 8 hours for work/school, leaves 8 hours for "me". With youth spending 3-4 hours of that online, and 75% of online time spend on social networks, this is clearly the dominant medium of the moment. Building digital communities, sharing digital content.
How do I keep abreast of youth culture:
I keep in mind the fundamentals, the things that never change and thus look to the surface for shifts. For me these are changes in pop culture - how can music tastes be interpreted as defining youth? how can movie/tv/book themes be used to define youth? how can fashion/design trends be used? With this in mind the internet is filled with sites that offer clues to these questions.
Must-dos:
Know what you're looking for. The world is swimming in content, so you need to have a goal when you are sifting and sorting thru it all. I also like the concept that you can't chart the future without a map of the past - trends are cyclical so taking the long view forwards and backwards can often be helpful.
all the best,
Ian
- BBDO INTERVIEWS IAN STEWART -
- THE DOPE SHOP
The concierge of cool - DOPE opens their online shop pushing the freshest gear in art + design, travel, music, publications, gadgets, stores, fashion, street culture, drinking + eating, nightlife, people, parties, festivals, lifestyles and alternative cultures.
www.dope.sg
- A NICE SET SINGAPORE, POP-UP EXHIBITION
AWE50ME launches it's POP-UP Exhibition Space with A NICE SET, Singapore.
Customized DJ slipmats by 99 artists for Singapore, Australia and the World.
- PSFK CONFERENCE ASIA 2008 VIDEOS
Jeff Staple on 'The Accident'
Jeff Staple, Founder and Creative Director of Staple Design and Reed Space, talks about his "accidental" career path. Jeff went from hand-silkscreening tee-shirts in school to heading a global design, consulting, apparel and retail operation in 11 years—On his own terms. He speaks to us about lessons learned and knowledge gained in the process.
Rob Campbell on How Creativity Can Liberate Business
Rob Campbell (Sunshine/M&C Saatchi) explains why he believes the future of brands is about creating fate - not advertising. Claiming that ad agencies don’t know the difference between an idea and an “ad” idea, Rob describes why true creativity is more cost effective than common philosophies of formal research & development, distribution and brain-washing media spend.
Rob explains why companies who are looking for the ’single insight’ are wasting their time and that companies who understand people and culture - not category - and who have a way to transform it into something that is motivating, will ultimately win.
Charles Ogilvie on Look & Feel
Charles Ogilvie (Panasonic), Creative Designer and Inventor of RED, the award winning in-flight entertainment system for Virgin America, speaks about service innovation, new revenue models, and the use of airborne technology throughout Asia and the world at large.
From the drab grey seats and drop down projectors of just ten years ago, Charles describes the process he and his team went through when challenged by Richard Branson to figure out “What’s next in aviation?”
Interestingly, Charles explains that in addition to personal entertainment systems, mood lighting, and all the wizzy-wig technological concepts being tossed around, Asian airlines in particular may actually excel best on a service level. Where rules regarding uniforms or service mentality have traditionally held back American companies, Charles encourages any business operating in Asia to take advantage of all that is possible.
Asian Youth Trends
Piers Fawkes (PSFK) moderated a panel discussion about youth culture trends in Asia and how they will impact business around the globe. With the help of trends experts from across the continent, including Achara Masoodi (Mindshare), Michael Keferl (CScout), and Sonal Dabral (Bates141), the panel shares insights and advice about gathering trends, and more importantly, how to best use them to stimulate change.
Piers Fawkes on The Creator Class
Piers Fawkes (PSFK) explains how an emerging class of creators is developing that inspire and challenge the way we work today. He describes the intricate relationship between creators, the community, and modern companies - and how we can react and adapt to be part of this new movement.
The Creator Class Panel
At the PSFK Conference Asia 2008, Piers Fawkes (PSFK) sat down with leading experts in Asia’s creative community to explore the emergence of a new generation of multi-skilled creative minds. These young individuals feel they can turn their hand to multiple product and service offerings, often challenging they way established industries operate.
Focusing on how this ‘creator class’ leverage the internet to hone their skills and market themselves to a greater audience, the panel, including Brian Tiong (B-Side), Paul Tan (POOL/AWE50ME), and Jason Anello (Yahoo!), explore how agencies and companies can collaborate with this unique group of talented individuals.
China & Identity
Floydd Wood and Jerry Clode (Flamingo International) look at the specific ways Chinese youth are creatively re-working their identity - an emerging trend vital to those wanting to address this demographic on their own terms.
Focusing on 'retro' and 'youth identity,' the two researchers explain how Chinese youth are re-interpreting their past to construct new identities. Drawing upon historical events and traditional lifestyles for inspiration, today's youth are carefully extracting aspects of the their past to form their own identity. But as Jerry states, "looking back [in China] is not always a comfortable process. Tumultuous events like The Great Leap Forward, the demographic effect of the one-child policy, and the current economic and social transformation have all contributed to influencing a unique group of young people who are delicately balancing an enormous sense of national pride with a growing influx of global culture.
Nick Barham on the Chinese Middle Class
Nick Barham (Wieden Kennedy, Shanghai) explores the anxiety, opportunity and extravagance of the Chinese middle class. Deliberately not speaking about the "Olympics, the Dali Lama, Tibet, the earthquake, their amazing economic growth, or all the reason why the West is scared or worried about China growing," Nick focuses on the aspirations of China's middle class and the broader social changes that are happening at that level.
Noting that the number of new credit cards issued in China jumped from 3 million in 2003 to 90 million in 2007, Nick describes how the middle class are embracing the growing pains of achieving their middle class dream. He explains how the word "nu," which literally means slave, has been re-appropriated by white-collar middle class individuals to refer to themselves - people, who through credit card payments, mortgages, and car payments, use the term in a positive light to assert control over their life and associate themselves with this growing middle class.
He also discusses how the middle class are 'under pressure.' both on a city level, due to the shear number of inhabitants and the speed at which that's growing, but how the people themselves are also under growing pressure to perform and keep up with all the changes that are occurring.
Make It With Us
Colin Nagy (Attention!) interviewed social media/grassroots expert Andrew Hoppin (NASA) and noted architect Mark Dytham (Klein-Dytham/Pecha Kucha Night) on the subject of collaboration.
To get the ball rolling, Mark Dytham demonstrated the format of a Pecha Kucha presentation - a ’show and tell’ slide show where individuals present a topic of their choice and are restricted to telling their story with only 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds - a primer to his topic for the panel: the evolution of Pecha Kucha Nights.
Andrew Hoppin then took the stage to explain how NASA is trying to re-invent itself by engaging their community through everything from virtual meetings and co-working events to robots and raves.
Following their Pecha Kucha presentations, both speakers sat down with Colin Nagy to explore the nuances of collaborative co-working and how companies and institutions can benefit from engaging their audience, staff, partners and the community to drive innovation.
Daryl Arnold on the Digital Mainstream
Daryl Arnold (Profero, Tokyo) explains what the billions of mainstream people are doing everyday on the net, what the secret is behind selling normal stuff to ordinary people, and offers digital experiences for cornflake eaters from around the globe to prove that mainstream really isn't a dirty word.
- AWE50ME Artist ZXEROKOOL does the dead
AWE50ME Artist, ZXEROKOOL's installation art for Helipad Club's DEAD CELEBRITY PARTY.
Who wants a DEAD CELEBRITY tee shirt?
- POOL at Republic Polytechnic, Singapore
As part of RP's Marketing Week, POOL members drop by the campus to spread the AWE50ME word on the 5th 'P' and the meaning of Brands in the life of communities.
VENUE: Republic Polytechnic, Singapore
Love the poster!
- 10 Leading Creators From South East Asia
Piers Fawkes, Founder & CEO of PSFK reports on 10 leading creators from South East Asia.
As part of PSFK Conference Asia, we presented the Singapore Showcase with AWE50ME. The showcase profiled 10 of the most exciting members of the new emerging ‘Creator Class’ of multi-skilled talents and their ambitions. These young creatives have innovatively redefined their genres in New Media Design, Mutant-Creativity, Recyclism, Cross-Over Art, 8-Bit Music Producing and Photo-Documentary Making.
MORE PIERS FAWKES HERE.
- PSFK Photo Album
Some great pics of the all the speakers, delegates and of course, the Jeff Staple Workshop.
VIEW THE FULL ALBUM HERE.
- BBH & PSFK TAG TEAM
After a day discussing the cutting-edge online trends and thinking at the PSFK Conference, BBH used the afterparty to unveil 'Wetagyou', a tongue-in-cheek 'analog photo tagging platform'. Reversing the usual tagging process, where photos are taken and then tagged online, BBH asked partygoers to first tag themselves with geek speak stickers and then have their photo taken. With a choice of over 150 nonsensical tags, ranging from memelord to lolcat to pediaphile, partygoers could then search for their photo at www.wetagyou.com
- SG Entrepreneurs at PSFK Asia Conference
"The real oomph of the conference was really the full day of entertaining and informative lectures and panel discussions."
READ MORE HERE:
After PSFK Asia
- Web Standards Group Singapore at PSFK Conference
"The PSFK Conference was easily one of the best conference I’ve ever attended. And that’s saying a lot, considering I’ve been to quite a number both here in Singapore and abroad."
READ MORE:
Initial Thoughts from PSFK Conference Asia 2008
Singapore and the Creative Spark
- Rob Campbell at PSFK Asia Conference
Notably one of the best speakers of the day, Rob Campbell (Sunshine/M&C Saatchi)) explains how the greatest creativity creates fate rather than hopefully encourages something to happen; and how creativity is more cost effective than the common philosophies of formal R&D, distribution and brain-washing media spend.
- Students from Lasalle College of the Arts blog about their experience at PSFK Asia Conference
"We had the opportunity / privilege to attend this event on Friday and it was really an eye-opener. You met people around the world who believe in creative ideas that could change the world for the better."
The student volunteers from Lasalle were fab! Helpful, proactive and just loving every minute of the conference, from listening intently to every speaker to having a great time at the after party, they made a huge contribution to the success of the event.
Here are some of them blogging about their experience with PSFK Asia Conference:
DAVID STEVANOV
JUSTIN JAMES LEBRUN
MENAKA CHANDRASEKHAR
LIM SI PING
MAY CHIANG
IRENE K WIKANTA
JESSELENE LIEW
SHARANYA KRISHNAN
- JEFF STAPLE WORKSHOP, PSFK Asia Conference, Singapore
Jeff Staple is AWE50ME.
"...there are so many talented designers in this world, but they don’t get noticed because they have no public relations or contacts or publicity."
The dynamics of Jeff interacting with the artists was amazing. Here are some links reporting on their experience with the man himself.
PING
BEN QUEK
ANTZ
MUTANTSTYLE
STEVE LAWLER
- EeShaun artwork sells at PSFK Asia Conference
AWE50ME artist, EeShaun SOLD at the Singapore Showcase of PSFK Asia Conference. His artwork titled Party People Actions is a tongue in cheek satire of the political system in Singapore attracted loads of interests from both speakers and delegates at the conference after party at Super Famous.
You can also download the artwork wallpaper and customized Party People Actions icons for MAC and PC HERE.
- MOJOKO artwork sells at PSFK Asia Conference
Steve Lawler aka MOJOKO artwork SOLD at the Singapore Showcase, PSFK Asia Conference. In his own words, the conference was WICKED!
"What a wicked day it was, great to hear some fun presentations by some pretty switched on people. Jeff Staple being the most inspiring personally, listening to his accounts of how he bounced up the food chain with his accidental design career. The artwork above is what I did for the conference which had a fair bit of interest from buyers. Good to get exposure to some out of towners. Look forward to next year, a great day…"
MOJOKO IS HERE.
- ZXEROKOOL reports on PSFK Asia Conference & his experience at Jeff Staple Workshop
AWE50ME artist, Zxerokool tells us about his experience sharing ideas and inspiration with Jeff Staple.
"Jeff dropped us some insights and tips to making our 'creative dreams' a reality, and how the artist/designer should also be aware of the business aspect of things, especially when you're working on making your own pet projects happen...etc...
Despite his fame, Jeff was a down to earth guy who has obviously come up a long way through nothing else but hard work, good timing and determination..."
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE.
- AWE50ME indie travel guide book writer & designer, Linz Lim on PSFK
During our Creator Class panel at PSFK Asia Conference, I pulled out an example of an innovative and successful piece of work by one of our AWE50ME creatives, Linz Lim, which drew some applause from the audience. Here's what trendspotter Jeff Squires of PSFK had to say about Linz who incidentally also won a Red Dot in Design for her indie travel guide, A Little Beijing:
"While visiting Singapore, PSFK was introduced to a young designer named Linz Lim who has created an ingenious travel guide for a seven day trip to Beijing on the road less traveled. Called “A Little Beijing,” the publication stitches together photographs, maps and descriptions of quaint destinations throughout the city in the form of 60 postcards.
Each day, travelers follow pre-determined routes (outlined on a color coded map) and carry with them 10 corresponding post cards. Upon visiting a place, travellers scribble down their thoughts and mail them back home. Once they get back, a complete documentation of their trip should be waiting for them in the post."
PSFK IS HERE.
- AWE50ME at PSFK Asia Conference, Singapore
As part of PSFK's 1st Asian Conference and the Singapore Showcase, AWE50ME profiled 10 of the most exciting members of the new emerging 'Creator Class' of multi-skilled talents and their ambitions. These young creatives have innovatively redefined their genres in New Media Design, Mutant-Creativity, Recyclism, Cross-Over Art, 8-Bit Music Producing and Photo-Documentary Making.
Featuring interviews and works by Mutantstyle, Mojoko, Ikuma, Recyclofashion, Antz, Imaginary Friends Studio, Sean Lee, Joel Yuen, Ben Quek and Ee Shaun.
AWE50ME offers an insightful slice into each member of this group as they inspire us not only with their creativity and authenticity, but by their power of connectivity with their community.
How does the world establish a relationship with this new generation as they continue to grow and self-aggregate to become the pop culture of tomorrow?
AWE50ME is a creative community space where unique individuals share their vision with each other. It is an active black book of exciting people across Asia living their passion and creating the scene around Art, Design, Music, Photography, Fashion, Video, Events and Popular Lifestyle Culture. Our network profiles their personalities, their work and their communities.
The AWE50ME Singapore Showcase was created, designed, written and produced by the AWE50ME Network.
DOWNLOAD: AWE50ME BOOKLET PDF
- Snap shots from A NICE SET, Melbourne
A great turn out at the No Vacancy Gallery for AWE50ME's 1st co-lab exhibition. Photos of A NICE SET, Melbourne courtesy of AWE50ME curator Scott of Supermarkart.
Special thanks to Plus et Plus, IDN and The Reed Space.
View and buy the mats HERE. 
- AWE50ME presents A NICE SET, Melbourne
AWE50ME curator Scott of Supermarkart presents an exhibition by Plus et Plus and IdN of customised slip mats by 33 1/3 international artists joined by local talents Ant Keogh, Ben Frost, Dabs and Myla, Deb, Domenico Bartolo, Drewster, Dvate, Isis, James Gulliver Hancock, Jeremyville, Laura Mckellar, Logan Hicks, Luca Ionescu, Makatron, Marcela Restrepo, Matt Huynh, Phibs, Reka, Rone, Sear, Side Project, Supermarkart, Tom Civil, Wonderlust, Woody and some other very nice designers.
Exhibition September 4 - 7, 2008
Opening party Friday 5, 6-9pm with DJ A-Style (2007 DMC Champ) appropriately playing a very nice set.
Location: No-Vacancy Gallery
Street: 27-33 Red Cape Lane (QV)
City/Town: Melbourne, Australia
Supermarkart is HERE.
- Punk Planner gets AWE50ME
"These guys are popping. I particularly like Steve Lawler's work and don't forget to take a sniff round Poolatwork."
So says Charles Firth, creative Planner in advertising and trends from Beijing in his personal blog, charlesfirth.com
Charles Firth's Punk Planning is HERE.
- RIGHTCLICKA is AliveNotDead
RIGHTCLICKA joins Asian superstar network AliveNotDead and shares mixes with Jet Li, Daniel Wu, Van Ness, Rosanne Wong, Race Wong, Terrence Yin, ALIVE, Lisa S, Kelly Hu and the list of who's who in this network goes on and on and on....
Visit RIGHTCLICKA's AliveNotDead profile page HERE.
Join AliveNotDead.com HERE.
- AWE50ME Stencil Festival
AWE50ME curator, JD Mittmann (Melbourne) brings you the 2008 Stencil Festival. The official Opening Night Party is next Friday, 1 August from 6 pm till late.
This year's event again will be a massive showcase of street and stencil art, with a packed program including new films, talks and lots of live action by local, interstate and overseas artists. Watch the website for up-dates.
Stencil Festival is celebrating its 5th birthday. Be part of it.
The 5th Melbourne Stencil Festival 2008 is HERE.
- AWE50ME Kids hit the Air Rave!
Clash The Disko Kids do their thing really LOUD on Radio Metro, Australia. Nice one boys, you're doing us proud. The opening track just says it all. SHOUT! SHOUT!
Download the ass-kicking mix HERE.
