Mobile Youth Consumers

• Published:September 9th, 2008
• Comments:No Comment
• Category:mobile life youth, mobile youth consumers

From Original Post Here

No matter how smart she is, no matter how many interests and hobbies she has, nearly every adolescent girl goes through a stage where she wonders what her life would be like if she was a model… and secretly wonders if she'll have an unexpected growth spurt and wake up tomorrow morning as a leggy six-foot catwalker. And it does happen, albeit rarely. A tiny number of "genetically correct" [by today's modeling standards] people graduate from high school, and instead of heading to college like most, jaunt to Milan, Paris, London, and New York to lead an unimaginable existence as a jetsetting supermodel. Stormstyle.com wants to appeal to the millions of girls who will only dream about such a life.

Storm Models, the agency behind famous faces like Kate Moss and Lily Cole, is launching a digital channel designed to give girls between the ages of 15-19 a behind-the-scenes peek at the fashion industry. In addition to bi-monthly "branded" editorials, the site will have daily reader-generated content (although I think it takes awhile to establish a regular audience that's comfortable enough to begin posting their own content). According to the press release, there will also be "content created by the youth team at LIVE! a magazine written, illustrated, produced and distributed by the young people of south London. All the contributors are mentored and supported by a team of journalists from a wide-range of publications."

Just clicking around the site, you might think that Stormstyle.com is a new fashion magazine - the format is creative and very entertaining. The content appears a little Teen Vogue, but with more of a model slant than celebrity focus. Style from fashion editors, product recommendations from makeup artists, and candid blogs from young models give the reader brief, but revealing glances into an industry that's fascinating but still rather foreign.

The debut of Stormstyle.com comes fresh off the heels of Vogue's Model.Live launch, which is a similar concept from IMG. Pretty young models frolic around in front of a camera, revealing bits and pieces of their behind-the-scenes world. Think "America's Next Top Model" without the TV - and Tyra. Like Storm's venture, branding plays a big part with Express.com as the primary sponsor. Bebo as the "publisher." We were told in an email from Model.Live's publicist that they have had "1.25 million interactions with the series since launch."

While the two have very different formats, they will essentially appeal to the same audience. Unfortunately for IMG, Storm's website is more hands-on, engaging and very imaginative. Pretty impressive for a modeling agency.