get out of the way, dinosaur

three billion is back with more on their "kids aren't cool" argument.

This time, and apparently based on the thinking of someone else (who?), they write about the "80:20 Rule of Youth Marketing." Essentially, the rule should be to spend 20 percent of your budget/effort on reaching the cool kids -- as an experiment -- and the other 80 percent on "tried and tested methods."

I like it.

Except I think that it might apply to more than just youth marketing. I feel like I have been in way too many brainstorms with colleagues in which we come up with ideas that sound flashy and fun, but essentially mean that we are going to take ten steps to get from A to B, when it would probably be more effective to take one solid step forward. And the "flashy and fun" ideas are usually anything but cool: they're condescending to the consumer.

I ALSO think it is important to point out that (and I don't think three billion thinks otherwise) the 80:20 rule should NOT be interpreted as a directive to spend 80 percent on old school tactics that use old school media and the other 20 percent on "new" media. To my colleagues in the communications industry who still think social media and is "new," catch up and watch out. You're about to go the way of the dinosaur.