The initiative has been called Tag, relating to the name of the game in which one player pursues another until he or she makes contact with them.
It is being headed up by Lori Senecal, who is director of account management at McCann in New York, and Craig Markus, senior vice-president and group creative director.
Although the Tag audience, with annual spending of over $100bn (£62.1bn) and a lifetime of brand relationship potential, is an essential one for marketers, it is notoriously fast-moving, media-savvy and skeptical. The Tag concept involves a dual approach combining proprietary Tag tools to gather insights on, and establish connections with the market, and Tag programmes to help clients reach out to this target.
According to Markus: "We see Tag as not only opening a window on this group of young adults, but also as starting a conversation with them. This is a group with an appetite for speed, change and unpredictability, but they also are genuinely receptive to relevant and original messaging. How we speak to them is as important as what we say. This is an ongoing, everyday exploration of their world and of how brands fit into it. "
The division will team up with Blue Flame -- a division of Combs's Bad Boy Entertainment company and which specialises in marketing to the youth audience -- for urban marketing activity.
Tag will also link up with other McCann-Erickson WorldGroup companies, including Universal McCann for media, MRM Partners for direct marketing, Momentum for promotions and event marketing, and Weber Shandwick for PR.
Jameel Spencer, president of Blue Flame, said: "The youth market is harder than ever before to reach, and we remain committed to working with major American brands to educate them on this everchanging, elusive consumer. From our unique, forward-thinking vantage point in the market, we are pleased to work on the Tag initiative with an established market leader such as McCann-Erickson."
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