Chasing the next big web thing

There isn't really an Aussie or Kiwi version of cool these days. What is cool is truly global.

We're all on the search for cool. The funkiest new clothes, the most innovative new gadgets, the catchiest new music. "Cool hunting" is defined as making observations and predictions in cultural trends. Or, more simply, discovering what is cool before it is cool - when it is verging on becoming cool.

In a marketing sense, uncovering the aesthetic of cool is all about chasing down the next big thing so "cool" can become a consumable.

Take Tristan Bancks, a Sydney- based author of the Mac Slater: Cool Hunter series, who is soon to release his second piece of young adult fiction about a regular teenager who becomes a professional cool hunter.

Bancks discovered the career of cool hunting when he read an article by Michael Gladwell in the New Yorker magazine, called The Coolhunt. Published in 1997, Gladwell's article referenced the teenagers and 20-somethings with an eye for upcoming trends who were employed by big name brands such as Converse and Tommy Hilfiger.

"I was so intrigued at this notion that discovering cool stuff could be a profession," says Bancks, who upon reading this article scratched the surface to discover the culture of the cool hunter.

"These kids were picked out from the streets by marketing execs and paid to uncover trends before they became trends."

The 1990s saw a change in marketing attitudes. The big brands realised they couldn't just throw big advertising budgets at products' campaigns that they thought would tap into their target market. These brands needed to get into the sub- cultures of cool.

"They needed to uncover up- and-coming movements in style, and be the first to offer a patented consumer product that met those needs," says Bancks. "So they picked out people that had their fingers on the pulse before things happened - those everyday trendsetters who had a sixth sense for what was coming."

Soon advertising agencies were trying the same thing. Companies such as Look-Look, in Los Angeles, were formed with the specific purpose of becoming the brain trust of information, opinions, ideas and trends on global youth culture.

"Agencies like Look-Look pay kids to give up their secrets of what is happening on the streets," says Bancks. "These trends are then crunched into marketing documents, and used to assist clients in developing an understanding of their consumers."

While a decade ago cool hunting was a covert operation, the internet has opened up a world of cool hunting in a more public sense. "With the web, we can all share our own definitions of cool. We can redefine its aesthetic with personal interpretations," says Bancks. Cool hunters are no longer hired professionals.

"The internet has moved us on from cool hunting as strictly a marketing tool. It's now a tool for the public's consumption."

The internet means one's location is no longer an obstacle in becoming a recognised cool hunter.

"There isn't really an Aussie or Kiwi version of cool these days; what is cool is truly global," says Bancks. "You can be anyone, anywhere, and be recognised for unearthing cool."

Blogs, in particular, are a prominent conduit for redefining cool. "Cool is about personal identity, it has to come from the heart," says Bancks. "People can sense when you're trying to capture a market or force something on to them. Blogs give us the ability to be completely open and honest about our opinions on what is cool."

So what turns an average blogger into a cool hunter? "You have to have a strong point of view - if you've got a defined taste then no doubt there will be an audience out there who sees merit in your authority," he says.

"It's then up to that audience of your peers to get on board and turn an individual idea into a trend."

Scott Schuman, thesartorialist.blogspot.com, is perhaps one of the most influential cool hunters. "Scott isn't telling the world what he thinks is cool - that's not what The Sartorialist is about. He provides a viewpoint on fashion, simply photographing street style and what he thinks is new, unusual, and imaginative," says Bancks.

"His audience includes designers from all over the world - they take note of his findings, use them in their collections, and before you know it, trends are born."

Similarly, Bill Tikos (founder of thecoolhunter.net) describes his culture and design website as "a leading authority for what is thoughtful, provocative and innovative, rather than simply cool". He selects what is enduring and beautiful from all that is sought- after. He's not a trend-spotter, trend-watcher or trend-predictor. "I think Bill's mission statement defines the new crux of cool," says Bancks.

"Defining cool now seeds from describing what is new and interesting from a personal point of view."

Cool hunting is about having an eye, it has to work for you. It is through that lense that cool grows organically. "It's about sharing your own definition of cool, simply because you find something exciting.

"Online social networks are now playing a big part in this - when you become a fan of something on Facebook or Mini-URL something on Twitter, you are unconsciously cool hunting," he adds.

"In a sense, I guess that means we're all cool hunters."

* Lee Suckling is a Christchurch- based freelance writer.

- © Fairfax NZ News