Printed
with permission from TCI
Management Consultants. A group of senior-level management
consultants, offering strategic planning and marketing services
to a wide range of public and private sector clients.
Street
Trends - How Today's Alternative Youth Cultures Are Creating
Tomorrow's Mainstream Markets
by Janine Lopiano-Misdom and Joanne De Luca
HarperCollins, New York, 1997
This book is about ‘street culture’ — that
subset of today’s youth that is expressing themselves
and their values ‘on the street’, i.e. away from
mainstream society and markets. (This notion of ‘on
the street’ may refer to locations literally on the
street and street corners, or it may refer to tucked away
bars and restaurants, people’s homes, unused warehouses,
parks, etc. - anywhere away from the mainstream, especially
the glitz and glitter of mainstream shopping areas, police
patrols, and unwanted prying eyes.)
Operating
on what they call the ‘bubble up’ theory, the
authors look to the youth culture living on the streets
to find the trends of tomorrow. The idea here is that what’s
cool and ‘happening’ out on the streets today
will find its way into mainstream markets tomorrow, by ‘bubbling
up’ through the social hierarchy. The authors are particularly
interested in what is on the minds of the leaders of these
alternative youth cultures, what they are doing, and how
it impacts on their followers.
"Why
is it important to listen to the progressive street cultures?
Because these are the mind-sets — the collective thinkers
and influencers — that are behind youth’s latest
infatuation with digital pets, beverages with floating objects,
wash-in glitters and mascara hair colors, electronic music
that can’t be found on any contemporary music station
— and the list goes on." (pp. xi, xii)
"The
trend in electronic music is a good example of what was
originally considered a street or local ‘thing’
and how it has caught on or ‘bubbled up’ from
the clubs. Usually mixed by a DJ using a synthesizer and
turntables, techno music has filtered into TV commercials
and cartoon themes. Soon most music will be mixed and synthetically
created, as technology brings us to new dimensions that
man can’t mimic with traditional instruments. Look
at the synthesizer as the new electric guitar (and we all
know how that changed rock and roll forever.)" (p.19)
Through
their firm ‘Sputnik’, the authors send young interviewers
out into the street culture to find out what is on the minds
of the youth there.
"Armed
with a video camera, our nationwide network of young correspondents
find those progressive thinkers and doers — young street
designers, club promoters, DJs, web developers, filmmakers,
electronic musicians — and communicate with them on
their level, on their turf. We uncover their belief systems
and translate how their thoughts and actions will eventually
influence mainstream life style." (p. xi)
The
authors identify several ‘segments’ within this
alternative youth culture that are interesting; these are:
•
the Collective Intellect: "They are the group that
are truly alternative; they are the musicians, artists,
filmmakers and social activists. They’re the new force
of what we knew of as hippies, love children, rockers. They’re
the New Thinkers of our time. Ageless, classless, - and
above all else, they believe in integrity. Making a mark
in this world is more important than money to them."
(pp. 29,30)
•
the Soldiers for Culture: These are the individuals who
think and react for the sake of culture. "Their source
is their "industry", whether it be music, poetry
or film….They are the new Beats, … poets, …the
urban performance artists." (pp.31,32)
•
the Hip-Hop Nation: "Hip-hop is the culture from which
rap emerged, a lifestyle with its own language, style of
dress, music and mind-set. Although born from the American
black communities, the Hip-Hop Nation is a melting pot of
African-American, Asian, Hispanic and urban (and suburban)
whites whose main interest is the hip-hop music culture."
(p.36)
•
the Speed Generation: " Playing far away from the everyday,
these are the doers. You know them…labeled as the "skate
rats", in-line "punks" and crazy kids who
push new adrenaline rushes. They’re the "extreme"
target of many marketers…" (p.40)
•
the Club Kids: "The Club Kids get their name from their
roots — the underground club scene….[They] are
the ones who live playfully through their underground music
"family" or culture they embrace." (p.43)
So just
what are the trends and movements that these alternative
street cultures are embracing that may have implications
for tomorrow’s mainstream markets? The authors identify
seven of what they term ‘mindtrends’:
