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June 2006 - Strategy Magazine
Special report: Cannes contenders

Dan Sorotschynski
Cannes contenders [youth demo panel]

by Natalia Williams
page 47

Dan Sorotschynski

Director of marketing, Dose

While new to Dose (he arrived in January) Dan Sorotschynski is no stranger to award-winning brands. Before joining the CanWest youth-targeted online and mobile service, he was brand initiatives manager at Nike, working on programs such as RunTO and Nike Runner's lounge. Despite all the talk today of pushing creative boundaries, when it comes to his target demo and the awards scene, Sorotschynski says that truly breakthrough work rarely gets beyond the brainstorming phase. "A lot of great youth ideas get killed during the creative process due to an unwillingness to take risks."

Pick #1

Campaign: Science World

Agency: Rethink

The concept: A very, very funny multiplatform campaign including TV spots, transit and radio spots surrounding the theme everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-science.

Why is it effective?

Humorous, smart executions that are relevant to a youth audience to demonstrate that science doesn't have to be boring.

What consumer insight has it tapped into?

Science is boring.

Pick #2

Campaign: Contemporary Art Gallery

Agency: Rethink

The concept:

Make a youth-targeted campaign a work of art.

Why is it effective?

It works for a few reasons:

Engagement: The days of passive interaction are over. Youth today want to be empowered and entertained. The wall of buttons was a unique execution that broke through the clutter and drew people in to participate.

Individualism: The thousands of buttons with different words representing one of hundreds of possible responses to contemporary art personalized the experience. Today's youth are all about "customized me"; this catered directly to that trend. Having a takeaway for participants drove a viral, buzzworthy element to the initiative and the buttons are still seen on youth in Vancouver.

On the level: The campaign was executed in their world. All communication was street level, downtown and transit.

What consumer insight has it tapped into?

Art defines culture and is open for interpretation. It is also one of the strongest forms of self-identification, a defining quality of the youth demo. The campaign played off this attribute to draw in new,

youthful members.

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