Teens and Tech

In her article "Why Teens Are the Most Elusive and Valuable Customers in Tech", Issie Lapowsky goes into detail describing the importance of marketing to teens in the tech industry. She first goes over why teens are an important target group. First, teens are less likely to have formed any brand loyalty yet. Second, like in Merchants of Cool, she claims that teens have a lot of money to spend. She adds that because teens today were born into this tech infested society, they had a better understanding of it. For this reason, it is mostly teens that buy tech not only for themselves but for their parents as well. They are a gateway for trends and new tech. 
Lapowsky then goes into what teens want in their tech and social media sites. This shows how even in tech, teens still have the ability to choose what they want instead of being spoon fed new trends from brands. According to the author, teens have moved from certain brands to others based on what they see as important. In terms of Merchants of Cool, teens still have the control over what cool is, and brands must follow. 
Finally, Lapowsky discusses how tech should be marketed to teens. She observes that, like in Merchants of Cool, brands must not market to teens too directly. Doing so limits the brand's authenticity. She instead says that brands must "do it organically by meeting teens on their turf". Brands must show that they understand teens. In Merchants of Cool, this is described as a marriage between the company and the culture. Even after gaining trust from teens, brands must still change with what they want in order to keep their trust. After all, cool stays with the kids.