Finding your voice.

As the father of two blossoming and burgeoning twenty-somethings, I've learned a lot about brands by helping raise my daughters.

Mostly, you learn that there's enormous pressure on daughters and brands to conform. The cool kids look, dress, talk, listen, opine and think and act alike. It's hard to swim against the tide and to, in the wise words of Apple, think different.

It's hard, in short, for brands and kids to find their voice.

Finding a voice is the most important thing your kid and your brand can do.  A voice helps define behavior, the behavior of everyone associated with either your kid or your brand.

Watching a fair amount of basketball on television this weekend, the generictude of the world as depicted by advertising is appalling. Everything is the same including the jokes. The apotheosis of humor, you know, is an actor who can raise one eyebrow.

BBDO's work on Lowe's and AT&T does better.  They have a voice.

Everything else has a voice that tries to sound like every other voice.

That's not good for kids. Or brands.