Saga Of The Tragically Hip. While developing the, now shrouded in secrecy Mitsubishi campaign, there were certain aspects that we uncovered that stated that the brand's dependence on songs like "Get What you Give" by the New Radicals and "Start the Commotion" by the Wiseguys may have been selling the wrong thing.

The Wiseguys were an obscure "band" (actually a British DJ named Touche)before their association with the Mitsubishi campaign. Before long, the song had climbed as high as No. 10 on the charts with radio DJ's calling it the "Mitsubishi song."

"The ads invite consumers to be part of a youthful, offbeat Mitsubishi "club," said Mike Sheldon, general manager of Deutsch LA. "When you see the actors bopping and singing to the music, you want to be in the car with them. "

Meanwhile, the car company's sales are plummeting like a rock in free-fall. What's wrong with this picture?

According to Mitsubishi national marketing manager for Australia, Richard Emery one year ago today, "By using music, we wanted to position the brand as youthful and fun. But that is starting to wear off because other [car brands] are using the same style of musical connections. That campaign was more about the music and the people than the cars. We now need to have the cars more upfront and the music and people second.Ó

Of course the upshot of that strategy was that Mitsu wound up closing plants and laying off Aussie workers in June. All of this has to do with the sorry attempts of advertisers to market to a population segment that considers itself "beyond the influence of marketing" according to those we talked to in the malls and parking lots of southern and Northern Cali over the Holidays.

You should hear how they denigrate Detroit's Big Three -- and, to be fair, some foreign automakers who have tried to change their geriatric image by pumping up advertising to the youth market. "They think they can just play some whack music with the bass turned up and wham! Instant street cred. Losers. How do these people keep their jobs?" is how one CPA with several facial piercings put it to me. A couple of her friends just told me to "fuck off." The momentum of these so-called "hip" campaigns lasts just long enough to get Gen X and Y to flip on their GameCubes.

Toyota Motor Co. seems to have done things right. When Toyota launched it's Scion brand last year. It was so hip they only launched it in California, delaying national sales for what they call "buzz factor." They hoped that by the time those cars hit the Midwest, Gen Y would be lining up to buy them -- right after the quietly-sponsored Scion concert wrapped up, that is. All of this without one word about quality or efficiency, which is the cornerstone of the Toyota brand.

James Farley, vice president of Toyota and "Mr. Scion" described the boxy new vehicle as a "toaster oven on wheels." The automaker called the marketing plan "subversive" in the Wall Street Journal, And at the press conference I went to last year, the journalists taking it all in were pierced and tattooed representatives of such fringe publications as YRB, a New York lifestyle magazine that covers the escapades of cross-dressers and rappers.

"Pre-drivers are the target" of the unusual marketing effort that unfolded from traditionally conservative Toyota, spokesman Mike Michels claimed in the Detroit News. That group included everybody age 8 through 22. A trip through their website two years later is like a walk through the local graveyard, Broken links, Scion "Teams" with less than four members, or completely disbanded.

Even so, Toyota on Nov. 8 raised its U.S. sales target for the Scion range to 125,000 next year from an earlier forecast of 100,000 as 2004 sales approached the company's goal for the year. And Honda has a similar vehicle launched in mid 2004. I guess they are considering Scion a success.

"We're not measuring Scion's success by its sales," said James Farley, vice president of Scion. "It's a listening post to connect with these new customers." This guy is one smart cookie. They should tag him for the top spot at Mitsubishi.

Art Spinella, vice president of CNW Marketing/Research Inc. said in Automotive News, "You have to stay in the small car game. If you lose a buyer when they are young, you lose them for life." Detroit's automakers have yet to prove they can build a small car that can go toe-to-toe with the best imports in price and quality. The Korean automakers in particular have priced their new cars so low they have gained buyers in droves. "I don't know if they are making any money," Mark Theodore, an analyst from Ford said recently . "All I know is we have to compete."

Now, Generation X is threatening the "Me Generation" values with not only a transition of power but more: a fresh change of course. Gen X represents the 93 million Americans who were born between 1961 and 1981. More than 83 million are alive today -- ranging in age from 21 to 41.

Gen X is replacing boomer values with their own values, attitudes, and lifestyles. By 2008, Gen X, with help from the next younger generation, will be able to out-vote all older generations combined.

Everything we know, everything we're used to, everything we do in boomer style won't work once Gen X takes charge. For example, Xers are America's most savvy shoppers. According to the Power Report, one Gen X consumer researched the car he wanted to buy, figured out a win-win price, then embalmed an offer to all of the auto dealership managers, by name, within two hundred miles. He got the car he wanted at the price he wanted and a smart dealership got the sale.

Design house Attik's campaign for the Scion had both a different look and a different feel. Scion's vehicles often were not even pictured. Instead, and especially in ``teaser'' campaigns before the vehicle went on sale, slogans -- ``Ban Normality'' and ``Rage Against Beige'' -- directed people to Scion's Web site. Once there, they could learn about the car, but just as importantly, ( to Attik) they could play games and download music.

Their Scion campaign also featured lots of non-traditional aspects. Posters that looked like concert posters, light projections on buildings, a Scion magazine, events such as concerts and street parties and street teams with temporary Scion tattoos on their foreheads, handing out Scion postcards and freebies. With its use of graffiti-like images and Scion stuff put everywhere, like magnetic stickers on gas meters, the campaign had an underground, guerrilla feel. According to Lisa Cleff, Attik's vice president of business development and marketing, ``Nothing was random. Everything was incredibly planned, very strategic.''

Which is a few pegs sharper than the obscure music, geeky casting, slam cutting minimalist palette most of Madison Avenue is using to convey, "We get you guys. No, really. We're down." Pitiful.

We all learned an awful lot about what clicks and what bombs with Gen Y. Hopefully we won't make the stupid mistakes our tragically hip colleagues are making on our next pitch. I know we didn't make them on the Mitsubishi campaign that now lies in stealth mode, waiting for the right moment to pounce.