English 2790

The Intelligence Group/Youth Intelligence

The Intelligence Group/Youth Intelligence: "'I'm not just pulling this stuff out of my a--,' says Gordon, director
of market research and youth culture diva at Lambesis, an advertising
agency based in San Diego. Gordon's prognostications help movie studios,
clothing stores and packaged-goods companies (she won't reveal which or
how many) develop new products and create ad campaigns. 'The predictions
I make come from careful analysis of mountains of data and interviews
with people all over the world,' Gordon says. 'In a way, I'm like a
journalist.' Gordon recently jetted to Tokyo, where she staked out the
hologram stickers that young Japanese hipsters paste on their cellular
phones, and she regularly rummages through London's Camden Market and
such Paris boutiques as Collette looking for new fashion fads.

If this sounds like a dream job, be advised that Gordon has a lot of
company. In the past five years or so, trend spotting has become a boom
field. Perhaps the world's most famous practitioner is Faith Popcorn,
whose books (The Popcorn Report, Clicking) top best-seller lists and
whose New York company, Brain-Reserve, attempts to divine everything
from why Americans like red meat to why they buy Furbies. But while
Popcorn tends to focus on the cultural shifts of baby boomers, a growing
number of trend consulting firms focus on the youth market� the group
that advertisers look to as the wellspring of pop-culture fads and their
largest consumers."

posted by craniac @