Marketing to teenagers 15 years ago was all about making products cool. In the 1990s and early 2000s, companies would look to teens to see what they saw as "cool" – and instead of creating advertising aimed at the teen market, they attempted to "place" themselves into events that teens saw as "cool" – The teenage market was very adamant about NOT being marketed to, in fact, once something became "cool", it effectively became "uncool" – if that makes any sense.

As you saw in "Generation Like" , teens today are much different. They do not mind being marketed to, and in fact are welcoming some Social Media campaigns, especially anything that is interactive and gives them a feeling of belonging.

1. What most surprised you about "Generation Like"?

2. Companies like Oreo develop social media campaigns (like the one you saw in Generation Like ) around Social Issues to get their product recognized

. Find 2 such campaigns where a commercial product is using a social issue to raise awareness of their brand and list the web address and a 3 sentence description of the issue and the product the company is trying to get people to "associate" with the cause.

3. Companies that are not using social media are falling behind the times. Can you think of a company that has used social media to leapfrog the competition? (In my day Sony was known for quality and was recognized as a leader, and Samsung was seen as subpar to Sony – Samsung has capitalized on and rode the technology wave to position themselves as a leader in electrionic devices today)

4. How will you change your views on Social media marketing based on "Generation Like"

(For those of you who would really like to see how times have changed, you can also go to PBS and watch the Frontline documentary "The Merchants of Cool" which was produced in 2001 – you will really see how teens have changed in the last 15 years…..