I loved this article when I read it this morning.  It's nice to see someone who doesn't live in the world of email comment on fresh ideas and perspectives for email marketing.  There's been alot of conjecture about how to reach the Teen generation.  I wrote abit about the "generations" in Media Post and my blog: http://whitenoiseinc.com/2007/07/09/email--the-generations-media-post.aspx but Tiffany Young laid this out with solid examples in her article today in IMedia.  Definately worth the read and comments are welcome on all ends...

Think outside the inbox to reach teens

By Tiffany Young

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Article Link:  http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/15996.asp

When trying to reach this coveted demo, innovative email strategies work, as do these hot new marketing techniques.

While 89 percent of teenagers have email addresses and check their email regularly, it seems they've collectively decided "email is for talking to old people, like parents and teachers." Being an old lady of 36 years myself, I wondered what the hip young cats are into these days. So not unlike Jane Goodall observing the chimpanzees of Gombe, I set out to observe teenagers in their natural habitat: online and on the phone. What do they do online? How do they communicate simultaneously with 10 friends and yet still tune me out? Do they roll their eyes when no one is watching? Do they get thumb cramps from texting? And most importantly, will they fling poo at me?

Email marketing: Hella lame? Or hella tight?
If email is for old people, then email marketing to teenagers must be "hella lame" now, right? Mmmm, yes and no. I posted a bulletin to MySpace to find out what the few teenagers I know personally think about email marketing. Do they read emails they get from marketers?

"it depends...sometimes its good because its like about a sale or something but other times i just delete them" - Teenager, 16, WA

Being an old lady writer-type person, it took me a minute to get past the lack of capitalization and proper punctuation. I cried a tear for the death of grammar, but I held out hope for email marketing.

It turns out that teenagers, not unlike old people, appreciate emails with relevant, timely messages (No way! That's hella tight!) They're receptive to new products and especially interested in timely information, such as when items go on sale. (But, do you want your brand associated with a medium they equate with old people?)

Even though so much of email is spam these days, if your marketing message can make it through the filters and stand out in a quirky way, you're likely to be noticed above the fray and might even see some unexpected results.

For example, we recently did an email campaign for Nintendo's Super Paper Mario for the Wii that was picked up by bloggers around the web. How sweet is that? The email idea came from PR Group Golin Harris, and we worked with Dan Owsen & Matthew Burke at Nintendo of America to get the campaign live.

Kotaku.com, NintendoWiiFanBoy.com, Gamesradar.com and more all covered this email campaign as if it were celebrity news. Why? Instead of sending a standard email update from Nintendo, we sent a wedding announcement inviting gamers to "the unholy union of Bowser & Princess Peach." Anyone familiar with the history of these characters knows Peach would NEVER marry Bowser, so they were compelled to click through to see why on earth she'd lowered her standards.

Get the rest of the article at:  http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/15997.asp