Teen Choices: Cecil the Seal, Second Life & “Owning Your C!”

cvilleMuch like the Verb YellowBall strategy of burying the source and focusing on entertainment, C-ville is counting on kids’ curiosity to captivate in this new cause-marketing virtual city.

Since media savvy teens can sniff out a preach-n-teach method a mile away, the state of Colorado is going for a subtle, over-arching theme  for a positive spin instead of whapping teens over the head. It seems to be a “Second Life” spoof of itself with a Teletubbies flair and wink-wink cleverness that lets teens in on the joke.

While Shaping Youth uses fun ‘aha moments’ tied to media counter-marketing spins, this interactive jewel takes a covert rather than overt approach.

The C in C-ville stands for “choices.” Which ones? Dating? Drinking? Drugs? Do unto others? Elusiveness is part of the buzz, prompting the ‘who’s behind this’ enigmatic intrigue…

Could this be a form of ‘advergaming toward a greater good?’

As they say in ad industry parlance, ‘three makes a trend’…so watch out, it must be tracking!

After all, targeting teens with mystery and clue-finding nebulousness worked all TOO well when junk food giant Frito-Lay put millenials in their scope.

I’m thrilled to see someone using these same tactics to embed POSITIVE cues in an interactive fantasy world. Yippee!

We’ll blind-test it with Shaping Youth teen teams to see if they bite.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed it will have enough Second Life coolness caché to at least hook ‘em for a nibble! The over-riding messages?

“Your C is powerful, use it wisely.”

“Own your C. Your choices define you.”

Sounds heavy-handed in an ‘every choice affects your future” mindset, but it’s not.

In fact, “Own your C” blends an amalgamation of comedic wit and subtext that safely steps off the soapbox without crashing into boredom.

They’ve integrated the usual gaming draws (catching ‘c-coins’ to earn buddy icons wallpaper, iron ons, mobile downloads) with a heavy dose of parody and satire so kids are making fun of the site in the process of enjoying it.

Video PSAs on ‘owning your choices’ range from a quirky Barney parody, where Cecil the Seal marches around chemistry class in singsong style, to a Hitchcock spoof where a girl tries to throw her “giant C” off a bridge as she screams in mock terror complete with screeching violin crescendos seeing the algae-laden, weed-soaked sponge in her rear-view mirror.

“Your choices define you; be careful with them or they may come back to haunt you…” Bwoooaaaaaaaha (insert villainous laugh of choice here)

Choices sometimes veer into wackiness, like the “choose your experience” lever with monsters, romance, citizens and weather being key words (kinda like an odd game of Mad Libs gone awry) Then there’s hokey superhero silliness like “Omnipoteen” to reinforce they’re not taking themselves too seriously. And there’s also artsy user-generated showcases for teen tee-shirts where kids express what “owning your c” means to them, graphically.

Sometimes C-ville floats on the fringe of frankness but manages to hold the surreal quality by keeping the sponsorship curtain closed:

“Everyday, life is full of choices. Some choices are simple (what to wear). Some choices are harder (should we break up). And some choices are huge (what am I passionate about and what do I want to do with my life). One thing is certain. Every choice you make defines you. Own your choice.”

Love that message. A dash of teen existentialism without weighty philosophic musings.

They even have a “share your c’s” forum where kids can share their choices incorporating the ‘inclusion’ rule of teen marketing “Think you’re alone? Think again. See what everyone is saying.” (not sure how much of the chat is seeded, moderated, and ‘color added’ courtesy of the ad agency)

As an aside, I kinda wished the talking sunshine would hush after awhile, because he broke my focus in the forum with distracting tidbits like “Shine on brothers & sisters” “Interesting information awaits” “Let’s go fishing” “Citizens of c-ville, let your C’s be heard” “I hear the fish are biting today” But other than that, mostly faves & raves…

Loved fishing for life answers with a Cootie Catcher in a virtual park. (Again, uncertainty as to who’s behind this gig plays out well here, since Cootie Catcher could’ve easily been an STD cause-marketing message)

“Behold the lost art of making choices—what awaits? Fame? Fortune? Virtual paper cuts? Click here to find out” Cootie Catcher then poses the global, “What do you want to do when you grow up?”

Kids can choose from, “I have no clue…I want to help…Share my ideas…Work with my hands”…& so on. If they click “I want to help,” for example, their choices become, “Anybody…The environment…The homeless…Animals?” as choices continue to unfold with more options.

Ultimately their “choices” direct them to a web link ‘result’ which they can ditch to create a different outcome, much like life itself when it takes on a ‘do-over’ appeal of choosing a different path.

For example, web link results for “I’m an artsy type” might land them at Best Art Schools and sports affecionados might end up with broadcasting tips.

The static site takes all the mystery away, so I preferred to ‘stay in elusive mode’ thinking of potential C-ville sponsors…Careers? College recruitment? A ‘choice’ teen pregnancy prevention campaign? (“own your own C” would never pass political muster on THAT volatile hot button for a statewide campaign) . Even C-ville as a branded entity had mixed meanings, for a Google search pops up Charlottesville as the number one pick. (Nope. Definitely not. This is a state of Colorado effort) The cap-C made me venture toward ‘the big C’ as in “C for cancer” (getting warmer tho…)

And…though I hate to risk losing the viral buzz on a full reveal, it’s no secret in the press, so (drum roll please, ta-da…)

“Own Your C” is a youth tobacco prevention and cessation media campaign sponsored by The State Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and is funded with proceeds from the 2004 state tobacco excise tax!

Go figure. Pretty innovative, huh? Take that Phillip-Morris.

Kudos go to the state of Colorado for avoiding the ol’ cobweb curriculum binder approach to cause-related marketing. And to the creators of this virtual city at AgencyNet and Cactus, who just landed an FWA award for it.

24 hours ago they launched this anti-smoking message via blogosphere buzz, so give ‘em a hand and Digg it!

p.s. I’m headed for the Rockies next week & plan to do a follow up story with the Colorado state client. We’ll see how it’s working. Fingers crossed. Stay tuned…

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