Ad guru taps into young minds
12:00 AM CDT on Monday, August 18, 2008
Paul McEnany's job is to get inside people's minds.
As director of content at Dallas' Levenson Interactive, he's often trying to connect clients' brands to young people. But how do you do it authentically, and when young people aren't entirely tuned into the TV anymore?
McEnany, 28, has created Web sites, developed banner ads and viral videos for clients, and dabbled in social networking. His recently created MySpace page for Gansito Marinela, the mascot of a Bimbo brand of snack cakes, drew more than 2,000 friends.
McEnany's blog on his industry musings, Hee Haw Marketing, was recently ranked by Ad Age magazine as among its Power 150, a list of the top media and marketing blogs.
Here's more from the University of North Texas grad about how he does his job.
Lesley Téllez Q: How would you describe your blog?
A: The only way to really describe it well would be to call it the humblest, greatest and most well-written marketing and advertising blog ever created in the history of the world.
Q: What's the biggest mistake companies make in trying to reach the young demographic?
A: The biggest mistake is to assume that they give a crap about you. This is true across all demographics, but maybe more pronounced or obvious in the younger segment. This group has grown up with total control of their media environment, advertising included, and too many [companies] think they can just stroll in with screeching guitars while adding "for your generation" to the end of a tagline and expect that to connect.
Q: What was the most fun campaign you worked on in recent years?
A: Most fun was probably the Gordon's Jewelers Valentine's Day campaign. We did these man-on-the-street interviews with random couples. We got lots of great video of couples in somewhat candid moments talking about their relationships.
Q: How big of a role do you think social networks will play in advertising in the coming years?
A: An enormous role. Especially as most other publishers begin behaving like their networking brethren. Facebook and MySpace are transforming their sites into platforms for development by allowing all other sites to not only become more social themselves, but to actually be connected to them. But then, all media will begin connecting to and taking on qualities of the Web.
Q: How would you describe your job in one sentence?
A: I'll give you the advertise-y answer. I find ways to make brands easier for people to connect with.
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