Pete Caban CEO/ Head of Digital Mekanism

Think of someone you know who is graduating from high school in 2010. Maybe it’s your younger cousin, or a niece or nephew. Perhaps it’s your son or daughter. Or perhaps it’s some young folks in your town you may know. Take a minute to think about someone you have watched grow up for the past 15 or so years. Furthermore, let’s acknowledge that your young high school graduate represents, quite literally, the “18” in the coveted “18-35 demographic” that many marketers are constantly trying to reach.

Now think about the fact that the high school graduating “Class of 2010” was born around the time that Netscape Navigator arrived—the time when the Web was born. They were coming out of diapers when Real Audio and Shockwave came out. They were eating square pizza in the 4th grade when Flash arrived on the Web. They were in Junior High when AIM exploded, when Napster was getting shut down, and when MySpace was freaking out parents and teachers around the world. In the past four years (2006-2010) while in high school, YouTube, Google, MySpace and Facebook, iPods, and iTunes were pretty much intertwined with their daily lives, both in the classroom and after school.

Even more specifically, they will have 3G smartphones with embedded video cameras, loaded with hundreds of affordable content-creation and -distribution tools, as well as apps for finding local coffee shops, bars, and music venues to help them explore and express their newly found freedom. They will be watching YouTube HD and Hulu and Vimeo when they aren’t on Twitter and Facebook and iTunes. Since they grew up on DVDs and DVR and on-demand, they are time shifters, and they are going to be the toughest bunch that we’ve seen in a long time to reach via television.

What they won’t be doing however, is paying much attention to paid media. This demographic is doing so much of the content sharing (aka syndication) themselves, that they have become virtual content publishers. This new, real-time communications paradigm makes it generally impossible, and certainly cost-ineffective, to intrusively buy and insert advertising the way that IAB banners and video units managed to do for the past dozen or so years.

Whether they know it or not, these digitally supercharged “kids” are the medium. While the legacy behavior and business models of the traditional media buying/selling industry argues about pre-rolls, postrolls, CPMs, CPCs, etc., “The Class of 2010" has left them in the dust. There is nothing to buy, because the audience is the medium. They are not a Web page to be hacked together with an IAB unit and an Eyeblaster. They are not a video file. They are living, breathing, passionate people who are redirecting traffic and content in real-time, based on personal interests, relationships, and the culture of the moment.

What will leading consumer marketers be doing differently in 2010 and beyond in order to turn this profound challenge into a game-changing opportunity?

Content Syndication Programs vs. Paid Media Spending
In 2010, hundreds of leading brands such as Electronic Arts, Nike, Unilever, Microsoft, Pepsi and Frito-Lay are planning to redirect dollars once allocated to paid media campaigns into digital content syndication programs, The idea is to ensure that they can successfully attract and engage millions of fragmented audiences, such as the “Class of 2010.” These campaigns will continue to include television, mobile, print, PR, and experiential, but the overall mix will hinge on launching and sustaining audience engagement with a “digital content” element being at the heart of the campaigns.

Boutique Content Creation and Syndication vs. Global Advertising & Media Agencies
In 2010, leading brands will actively embrace highly specialized digital-content production boutiques to write and direct long-form, episodic, social-content campaigns as the centerpiece for their launch campaigns. The smartest brands are the ones now pushing their agency and production partners to make ridiculously funny, surprising, inspiring, relevant and timely content. Over the past ten years, they have come to realize the strengths and weaknesses of their various advertising-centric AORs, and are looking for fresh creative talent that can conceive, produce and distribute amazingly strong content.

Digital Content Syndication & Measurement Service Providers
In 2010, category leaders in Consumer Packaged Goods, Technology, Automotive, Gaming, Telecommunications, Healthcare and Entertainment are forging longer-term strategic partnerships with Digital Content Syndication service providers, not only on the creative and distribution side, but also on the Syndication Measurement capabilities and systems side. Leading brands will all be tracking key performance indicators such as audience sentiment, on-site and remote video engagement, reposts and remixes, as well as other metrics for success and ROI.

As we look out, we very clearly see that Digital Content Syndication is the ace in hole for digitally savvy CMOs for 2010, and well into the coming decade. A youthful, invigorated, engaged audience is the best marketing partner a brand could ever have.

More "Digital Marketing 2010" special report articles.