Consistently recognized as one of the most active CMOs on social media, you can connect with him on Twitter @ajlucio5 and LinkedIn.
Acknowledgments
When I was growing up, I never imagined I would write a book. I mean I was the type of person that would have trouble completing an essay and many times a simple paragraph. There was one teacher I encountered growing up who taught me that writing could be a place to channel emotion and passion; Norman Walker you were that person. I will always be thankful you crossed paths with me as an impressionable youth. May you rest in peace.
It's fairly obvious that without the formation of Mr Youth (which would one day become MRY, and then spin-off CrowdTap), I would not have realized the experiences that lead to the writing of this book. I'd like to humbly acknowledge the core crew that has largely stuck by me from what feels like forever ago: Dan Lafontaine, Evan Kraut, David Weinstock, Matt Rednor, Vishal Sapra, Eric Schoenberg, and Helene Devries. I'd also like to thank the great new influences at MRY: Clare Hart, David Berkowitz, Cedric Devitt, Ian Chee, and the incredible Laura Desmond. Lastly thanks to the cronies who were with me when this journey all began; I still remember our four-person team trying to make enough noise to matter: Paul Tedeschi, Vinny Saulle, and Doug Akin. Lastly to Brandon Evans and Kareem Kouddous, your feats on CrowdTap have blown me away.
Thank you to those that took big risks on our organization and myself at various points throughout my career. From Jordan Rednor, who dove in and wrote a six-figure check, when I was still working from my Manhattan apartment, to get it all started. To Ed Razek, who gave me my first big break in 2003 in the form of a giant pink gift box in South Beach. To my Seattle friends Lisa Gurry, Tara Kriese, and Lisa Tiedt, whom for over a decade served as a constant foundational client for the agency. To Antonio Lucio, whose belief in me has helped drive MRY and my career to new levels. Lastly thank you to Carson Biederman and Tim Dibble, who decided to make an eight figure investment in Mr Youth the night before the Lehman Brothers collapse; I told you I would make you proud!
I believe whenever you achieve certain heights in your life it becomes increasingly important to surround yourself with others that push you to achieve more, whether they realize it or not. Throughout the writing of this book several people have inspired me, helped me, or otherwise pushed me to get this done. A big thanks goes out to friends, contemporaries, luminaries, and catalysts: Andrew Fox, Michael Lazerow, Jason Strauss, Adam Braun, Dave Kerpen, Sean Christie, Eric Hadley, Avi Savar, Elliot Bisnow, Jeff Rosenthal, Brett Leve, Jeremiah Owyang, and Ryan Schinman.
#TS: you've helped transform my body and cleanse my mind. Brooklyn for life.
This book would simply not have been possible without a dream team, which amassed seemingly overnight to help an inexperienced ADHD-saddled author actually get this thing across the finish line.
Beverly West: You have been a true partner in helping me frame and create this work. Your experience from a completely different angle of culture has given me great perspective as well as great respect for the trade of authorship. It's been a real honor, you are tremendous.
David Yarus: You are the youthful catalyst to my world. Your energy, positivity, and steady grasp on where this industry is going has kept me honest, dynamic, and inspired. I am so thankful for our relationship; the mentorship goes both ways my brother.
Chris Ayres: You will always be the best designer I've ever known. Thank you for designing the cover of this book, and the logos of MRY, Mr Youth, and CrowdTap and for being an overall incredible person.
To my MRY support team: Andrew Udin, Lianne Sheffy, Kate Bryan, Adam llenich, Glenn Grieves, Alyssa Kaiser, Toni Dawkins, and project quarterback Matt Picheny. You kept me on task and provided the needed nudge when we were falling behind.
To my assistant Brooks Credeur: you are the thread that holds it all together —it meaning my life. Thanks for all that you do.
To the MRY internship class of 2014 – thanks for helping this book get off the ground and best of luck in your bright futures ahead: Alexandra, Christina, Collin, Danielle, Deanna, Erika, Evan, Jacob, Jessica, John, Judith, Julia, Kaitlin, Lauren, Leslie, Matar, Neha, Olyvia, Rachel, Rebecca, Rob, and Ryan.
Finally to the team at Wiley Publishing namely Elizabeth Gildea and ShannonVargo , thanks for making my first book such a great experience.
Disclosures
Throughout the writing of this book, I did my best to avoid writing about competitors of clients or otherwise biasing the content of this book with my personal interests. Although let's be honest, today everyone competes and everything is connected.
At the time of writing this book I was a shareholder in the following:
1. Publicis Groupe (owner of MRY and Mr Youth)
2. Facebook
3. Google
At the time of writing this book I was also involved in the following:
I was a major shareholder and chairman of the board at CrowdTap.
I was a member of the board of advisors at Pencils Of Promise.
I was a major shareholder and chairman of the board at Smooch Labs (owner of JSwipe).
Several current and former MRY clients at the time of writing were mentioned in this book; they are disclosed throughout where appropriate, but for an updated and full list of clients please visit www.MattBritton.com/clients.
How to Connect with Me and Learn more about YouthNation
I encourage you to reach out and connect with me to dive further into the topics discussed in this book. Below are the best ways to do so:
Twitter: This is the best way to reach me directly for one on one dialogue; response times may vary. My handle is @MattyB, or visit https://twitter.com/mattyb
Facebook: Follow this page as new topics related to the book will be updated often. Feel free to join the discussion and get involved. https://www.facebook.com/youthnation
Instagram: Follow this page for daily inspiration and new findings: http://instagram.com/youthnation
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Introduction: Forever Young
YouthNation (Yooth-nay-shun)
1. (noun): A highly influential group of over 80 million American citizens born between 1982 and 1998. They are currently aged between 18 and 34 and nearly all of them cannot remember a time when the Internet did not exist.
2. (verb): A movement of influential individuals who possess disruptive power over cultural, business, and political issues in the United States.
Youth is not just a state of mind; it's the state of the art.
YouthNation is a new phenomenon. When America itself was young, there was no youth culture to speak of. There was no place set aside for young people to discuss and share things that were of particular interest to them. In most cases, young people were never really together as a group, and as a result, had no opportunity to form a culture that was unique to them. Historically, children were at home, sequestered away from other kids their own age, and by the time they were 10 years old were expected to take their place in the adult world of work. At the beginning of America, people weren't young for very long.
In those days, the information about the world that young people received came only from adults. When they had problems or concerns, they shared it with their elders. It wasn't until very recently from a historical perspective that young people were able to spend enough time with each other, separated and apart from the worldview of adults, to