Fox took the early lead in the annual “upfront” ad-sales market yesterday, lining up the first deals for commercial time for the coming TV season at prices estimated to be 11 percent higher than last year.

The network leveraged interest in “X-Factor,” the hotly anticipated reality series from “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell, in its negotiations with big marketers and their ad buyers, sources said. (News Corp. owns Fox and The Post.)

Other major broadcast and cable networks are also negotiating price increases that range from 8 percent to 12 percent, network execs and ad buyers said.

 Fox finished first among viewers ages 18 to 49, the most sought-after group for advertisers, in the traditional broadcast season that ended last week.

“Overall, it looks like Fox is the front-runner,” said Jarrod Moses, the head of United Entertainment Group, who matches marketers with entertainment deals.

Barron’s caught up with Jarrod Moses for this thoughts on the Upfront season:

“In 20 years in the business, this is the most dynamic season I’ve ever seen,” says Jarrod Moses, founder and CEO of brand consultant United Entertainment Group. Pre-season ad buying has been slow the past few years, but Moses says it could rise as much as 30% this year, to $10 billion from $7 billion.

Read the full article here.

Variety covered our collaboration with Pharrell.

Pharrell Williams wants to give people something to tweet about or post on Facebook.

The musician and fashion mogul has paired up with branded entertainment producer United Entertainment Group to launch I Am Other as a content-driven property that spotlights new musicians, filmmakers, designers, artists and innovators through online, mobile and retail channels, TV shows and films.

Venture is being formally introduced to marketers Tuesday as they’re gathered in Gotham to choose which TV shows to advertise around this fall.

I Am Other is courting those same sponsors. It’s designed around products and experiences that Williams will curate and recommend to his millions of fans and followers for them to purchase. I Am Other will also bow this fall, fitting in with the media planning of buyers at the upfronts.

Given the various platforms I Am Other will embrace, Williams and UEG have adopted a lofty tone in describing the concept that emphasizes “championing the creative spirit” by providing opportunities that let consumers “establish their voice.”

“We’d like I Am Other to serve as a giant magnet attracting the most creative individuals who share our view of things,” said Jarrod Moses, prexy-CEO of United Entertainment Group, which is backed by United Talent Agency. “We will find those people and tell their stories in a way that inspires others to dream bigger and go further.”

Launch comes as both Hollywood and Madison Avenue are increasingly frustrated over how to effectively reach younger consumers — especially those 16-25 — and identify new ways to make their wares appeal to that audience.

While I Am Other will produce and distribute content, it will also tap into new commerce models like Gilt and Groupon that have proved successful while drawing on the social networking of Facebook and Twitter.

Venture’s name taps into a new type of consumer that is turning to experiences and stories that help define them as individuals, said Williams said in an interview with Variety from a yacht off the shores of Cannes, where he performed with Kanye West over the weekend at a soiree for film financier Red Granite Pictures.

“It’s for people who think other,” Williams said, with “?’other’ being the operative word.”

Williams and UEG were influenced by how more people are documenting their lives via their phones and posting their experiences on Facebook as proof.

“Stories are their assets,” said Robby Wells, senior VP of strategy for UEG. “I Am Other is about giving them products and experiences that give them stories to tell.”

“The first installment (of I Am Other) is about delivering those experiences through products, excursions, anything that is tangible to a human that can make their life easier,” Williams said. “A lot companies claim they can make the world better. We want to make lives easier and unlock what normally would seem impossible possible.”

View the rest of the article at Variety.

Visiting our friends at Procter & Gamble.

The American Dream is being redefined right in front us. Not by the media. Not by schools. And certainly not by the financial institutions seeking to maintain the status quo.    Marketers give them names like GenY or Millennials, but make no mistake, the American Dream is being redefined by the young people who have inherited an obsolete idea. This is the generation weaned on digital and their dreams have no physical borders.    The new American Dream is largely global and fluid. The need to own a home will be replaced by the desire to live abroad – multiple times. The need to lay down roots will be replaced by the need to remain mobile. This impacts everything from transportation, to dwellings, to the pursuit of higher education.

Personal experiences are the new assets. Individuality is the new wealth.

Working for a number of brands that serve the younger generations of Americans, more often than not, you are presented rather alarming data about kids of the future.  Things like:  The kids being born today will be the first generation of kids that do not have it as good as their parents.   Or:  The recession is forcing entire graduating college classes to sit out of employment, and be passed up by younger grads once the economy turns around.  A lost class if of you will.

Photo of Taj Reid, of WeJetSet.

As dismal as it may seem, I also think that as a society and marketers, we are looking at these kids through the lense of the now antiquated American Dream.   People are resilient.  If the passion is there, or a drop of ambition, I am confident that these kids will redefine the American Dream – make it a global one, relevant – and make it work for them.

I have had the very fortunate situation, in my opinion, to have had a taste of the old American Dream, and now what may be a new one.   I went to school.  Got a job.  Bought a house.   Dogs.   Marriage.  And it really did not even suck.  It was all I knew.  Most of my friends are living that very dream right now.   Many probably assume that some day they’ll sell their house at a great profit, or better yet, simply strike it rich.  Either by the hands of some benevolent corporation, or by the equally likely winged horse that will fly from the sky to deliver them that big pay day.   Somewhere along the way, probably as a Texan living in New York during a time our country divided down the middle politically and rationally, I realized it was time to adjust the mirrors and clean the windshield.  I have found myself in this somewhat migratory/nomadic lifestyle that I personally find pretty amazing.

There is a statistic that measures the number of kids that have moved back in with their parents in their late 20′s.  The number is high.   People who read the stat sit back in their conference room chair and chuckle at the prospects.  I actually think of that scenario – the act of moving back with you parents – as the ultimate gesture or better yet, middle finger to the old American Dream.  It is not a bad a thing… those 20-somethings will emerge poised to take on the world from a new perspective.   The biggest mistake they could make would be trying to jump back into the old rat race.  It is the ultimate opportunity  to rethink your place in the world.   Read books.  Dream big.  Volunteer.  Start over.  It is a beautiful thing.   People that move home now will be the pioneers of the new dream.  Embrace it.  Marketers should not write these people off, but instead seek to understand the great potential of these individuals.  They are the ones starting revolutions in food.  Social entrepreneurs.  They are highly educated with nothing to lose – a powerful dynamic that I don’t recall in my lifetime.

When I wrote the quoted text above for a project I was working on, it was rooted in the observations of the young people I meet, or their blogs that I read.  Perhaps not their actions, but certainly their aspirations.   I am beyond confident they will figure it out.  I hope they let an old man in on what they have cookin’.

• Robby Wells, UEG

Our newest project, Radio Silence NYC, takes off across the blogosphere.  Read more at Teen.com.

Queen Latifah at the People’s Choice Awards nominations press conference.

Nick Swisher of the New York Yankees kicks off the “Movember” campaign for our Art of Shaving client.

Former supermodel and talk-show host Tyra Banks has cut a deal to create a Web-based media brand focused on fashion and beauty.

The modeling icon’s New York company, Bankable, is partnering with Los Angeles-based Demand Media on ventures that will include creating an Internet site, producing online video segments and developing a series of apps for smartphones.

In a statement, Banks said she’s looking to create “an engine that would provide my audience with inspirational and instructional content to help them look and feel their best.”

Read the full article here.