• Business Week, Tuesday, June 26, 2007 11 AM

"Flying blind," says the biz mag, "is the unavoidable consequence of coming to terms with today's most important demographic group: the digital elite who are in the vanguard of a fast-emerging global youth culture." But the risk-reward is very high. Just ask Unilver's Axe deodorant, whose marketing team was quaking in its boots when it green-lighted the catchphrase "Bom Chicka Wah Wah" created by its agency BBH.

That catchphrase was for a largely traditional media campaign; even trickier is the prospect of reaching the digital generation on its own turf: the Internet. Social networking and other Web 2.0 services have created a globalized youth culture. A funny YouTube video could easily make its way from San Francisco to Dubai. These people may one day all become friends when translation services make social networking becomes truly global, too.

Marketers need to understand this demo are used to being marketed to, but they want something in return: entertainment, contests, widgets on social networks, etc. There are pitfalls here though: While young consumers are more connected than ever before, not everything that works for one country will work for another.

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