This month’s issue of Wired has a really good article titled “Lost Boys.” It is all about how the 18-34 male is reinventing advertising. I have picked up bits and pieces of this theory here and there, but it was nice to see the argument presented together supported by so many stats and credible sources. I encourage you to read the article if you can, but here is a synopsis (sprinkled with links to some of my posts that talk about the issues).

The young male demographic is the hardest to reach and most intensely targeted group of people in North America. As the young male’s habits are changing, advertisers are forced to change methods that no longer work. People are spending less and less time watching tv, and spending more and more time online. With the decline of traditional advertising, advertisers are looking for new ways to promote their product. Web advertising as well as viral schemes are some of the solutions that are showing promise. I was impressed to see that wired mentioned Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point and Seth Godin’s Unleashing the Ideavirus. It is reassuring to see that I have been reading the right books. My favorite line in the article says “If you want to capture this demographic’s attention, be prepared to entertain and don’t be afraid to polarize the audience. I think this is good advice.

Along the same lines, on Wired’s blog last week they had a post showing some of the ways Hollywood’s advertising is changing.