"It's completely dictated by what he's talking about on the page," said Mr. Droga, the 42-year-old creative director of the Droga5 advertising agency. "If he's talking about a Cadillac, it's on a Cadillac, and if he's talking about his favorite burgers, we put it on the burger wrappers." The real-life scavenger hunt for pages is linked up with a virtual challenge that sees users uncover and unlock pages on a Web site operated by Bing.com, the Droga5 client that financed the campaign. "Usually these things build, but on Day 1, we had thousands of people playing on the site," said Mr. Droga. One of the players, a Manhattan lawyer named Nadia, had located 306 of 306 released pages. Book wholesalers, he added, have increased their orders of the memoir based on the number of people playing.  

Mr. Droga, an Australian with a handsome, rugged face and spiky hair, was sitting on a low couch in his corner office on Lafayette Street, dressed in jeans and a blue Oxford shirt. He asked if The Observer would be offended if he finished his toast smothered with Vegemite. "I should probably never talk about it while I'm eating it," he said. "It's basically yeast extract. It's like road tar."

Outside his office, well-dressed 20- and 30-somethings were busily moving around. The agency, whose clients include Coca-Cola, Puma and Activision, has grown rapidly since Mr. Droga, a former executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, London, co-founded it in 2006; in the past year, 45 staffers were added to an existing 70.

"Advertising is one of these industries where 90 percent of it is invisible pollution and 10 percent is really interesting and engaging," said Mr. Droga. "We want to be, selfishly, in that 10 percent where people actually want to engage in our work."

Last year, Droga5 became the first agency to win two Black Pencils from the Design and Art Direction Awards in England. One was for the agency's work for the New York City Department of Education; the other was for "The Great Schlep," a viral video sponsored by the Jewish Council for Education and Research featuring Sarah Silverman urging grandchildren to visit their grandparents in Florida to talk them out of voting for John McCain.

"We're not afraid of the obvious," said Mr. Droga. "These are simple ideas. So my starting point is not 'I'm just going to go do something weird and wacky.' There's no gravity to that. With 'The Great Schlep,' it was 'Let's create a relationship between grandparents and the grandkids.' Simple! And that gives you permission to do incredible creative. Jay-Z's book is called Decoded, it's all about decoding and every page is an amazing story set somewhere we know, so why not put it out there? If I was walking down Lafayette and there was something that happened on Lafayette that influenced his life or his music, I would be thrust into his book."

Mr. Droga has never marketed a book before. He doesn't understand how writers ever rely on book sales. "Sometimes I go into the bookstore and I actually think, 'What chance do you have?'" he said. Last week, one of Mr. Droga's employees, copywriter Tim Gordon, published a funny book: People Who Deserve It: Socially Responsible Reasons to Punch Someone in the Face (coauthored by Casey Rand). "I'm excited for him, so I bought 20 copies to give as gifts and help him out. But I think, 'How is that book ever going to get a chance?' If I was the next great writer, I'm not guaranteed anything." 

Mr. Droga had finished his toast and was now seated at his desk. He said that at college he had wanted to be a writer. "But then I had this epiphany and mode of honesty: I'm not sure I had the patience," he said. "I'm more into the instant gratification. Creativity coupled with commerce makes for something really interesting because it has to work. Otherwise, you're not a business."

"I had done this collaboration with a major clothing company," she began. "And the person they hired to do the casting tried to charge me a fee. She tried to rip me off, basically. My friends and I did this shoot together, and one other person and I were the only ones she sent this email to. I checked." 

The week she met The Observer, Ms. Dexter-Jones, a petite blonde with a healthy tan and those squinty, downward-slanting Ronson eyes, had turned 24. Her résumé includes attending Chapin and Dwight Schools, and Bard College; modeling in campaigns for Erin Kleinberg, Hogan, Louis Vuitton eye wear and sister Charlotte Ronson's line; appearing in Teen Vogue as an It Girl; acting in a short film by Theo Wenner; and currently dating André Saraiva, the 39-year-old proprietor of the forthcoming Le Baron nightclub in New York--in other words, the kind of modern, post-debutante existence that has made her fashion sense and bicoastal connections appear "marketable."

"I've been offered design collaborations," said Ms. Dexter-Jones. "Companies ask me to direct short films. This week, I had a meeting with a brand because they don't want to be thought of as a mother's brand. They want to access younger people. A TV network that wants to do scripted shows contacted me, asking if I knew anyone who would be great for this or that." 

Ms. Dexter-Jones wants to be an actress. She is working with an acting coach in the West Village and plans to relocate to L.A., temporarily, for pilot season. But while her agent, Emily Gerson Saines, at Brookside Artist Management, handles her acting career, Ms. Dexter-Jones has signed with the two-month-old Collaborative Agency to handle all of her other, well, collaborations. The agency's other clients include Gia Coppola (model, filmmaker and Sophia's niece), Isabelle McNally (actress, model and Keith's daughter), Lucien Marc Smith (artist, model), Tracy Antonopoulos (filmmaker, model), and Alex Olson (pro skater, designer, aspiring fashion photographer.)

A few years ago, this newspaper would have called Ms. Dexter-Jones a socialite, a title that has become increasingly difficult to dispense given how much young men and women have capitalized on their socializing by designing, modeling, acting, styling, photographing and DJ'ing--possibly all at the same time. These are the kids who take lunch meetings at the Smile and reconvene later that evening at the Jane or the Bowery hotel--activities that instead of intervening with their careers have actually helped make them. The marketing departments of companies like Levi's, Club Monaco and Target--eager, in this economy, to re-brand, downsize and cozy up to the buyer looking for their local designer boutique--have begun asking them (often through Facebook, how else?) to lend their distinguished coolness to national brands: Could Ms. Dexter-Jones design a capsule collection? DJ a brand launch? Make a video short for our Web site? What about television--does she want to do television?!

Jean Touitou, the founder of A.P.C., the French clothing brand, mused to Style.com on a recent trip to New York, after attending a dinner hosted by Purple magazine: "There are too many hip kids. Hip is not a job. It makes me worry about the future." And yet his own marketing team might disagree: A.P.C.'s winter campaign last year featured Ms. Coppola. Being hip, it turns out, to Mr. Touitou's dismay, is very much a career path.

"It's kind of a new phenomenon," said Ms. Dexter-Jones. "If you want to record your own music, you can have a studio on your computer. With DJ'ing, you can just use an iPod. There is just access to more fields now, and that's why people aren't defined. They can be a DJ, actress and three other things if they want."

Her older sister, Samantha Ronson, who is considered to be a very good DJ, approached the table, overhearing Ms. Dexter-Jones' last line. "Jack of all trades, master of nothing," Ms. Ronson sighed. Ms. Dexter-Jones became self-conscious and giggled. Ms. Ronson asked her sister to accompany her to the Jimmy Fallon show, where she was booked as a guest, and the ladies hopped into an SUV with tinted windows.

"I think companies see me as being in the demographic they're looking to achieve, people that they want to be watching or buying their products," said Ms. Dexter-Jones. "I'm trying to think of a way to say this without sounding obnoxious. ... I'm not really conscious of what I'm doing; I just do what I do, and if that works for you, and we can do something interesting together, then maybe it's something we can benefit from mutually." 

As the SUV maneuvered through midtown traffic, Ms. Ronson noticed a pair of bejeweled Uggs in a store display window. "That is the scariest thing I've ever seen," she said.

"Oh, the Jimmy Choo Uggs? Yeah, those are pretty bad," said Ms. Dexter-Jones.

Ms. Ronson returned to her BlackBerry, tapping the keys. "How do you spell collaboration?" she asked. Ms. Dexter-Jones rattled off the correct letters.

'C-O-L-L-A-B-O-R-A-T-I-O-N'

"Collaborations are huge right now," said Aaron Bakalar, the 23-year-old founder of the Collaborative Agency, now representing Ms. Dexter-Jones, over coffee a few weeks ago. (The agency doesn't have an office, and he conducts most negotiations by email or phone.) 

Mr. Bakalar, who looks so young he can pass for a Glee cast member, has perfect, adolescent skin, dark hair and pursed lips. While at Parsons, where he studied branding and marketing, Mr. Bakalar interned at Radar Entertainment and Shadow PR agencies and worked at the nightclub Socialista as an events coordinator. His clients are his friends or young people he knew socially.

"Gia can make a video for a company and that company can create a screening, use it on their Web site, use her as the face and make her brand ambassador," he continued. "But maybe she doesn't even make anything, and they just use her as a consultant or take her on as co-designer. Tracy and Gia and even Alex can do film work, whereas Isabelle is more of an actress and model but she is creative, too. Annabelle and Isabelle are looked to in New York for their trends and what shoes they're wearing. I can't say what brand, but a certain shoe and clothing company wants to take them on as brand ambassadors and do a capsule collection for fall '11."

According to Mr. Bakalar, the downtown stage of young, painfully hip 20-somethings hasn't been harvested properly for business and marketing opportunities. "When it has been tapped into it, it's been tapped the wrong way," he said. "Like Cory Kennedy and the whole strict party girl thing and nothing else. This article was written somewhere calling us the 'It Kid' agency. But I'm 23; some of them are 24. We're growing up now, and that whole downtown party 'It Boy and Girl' scene needs to grow up. I wanted to get their careers on track and introduce them to people who are working nine to five, marketing for a brand. Just, like, give them an adult self."

Mr. Bakalar declined to disclose his clients' fees, but said that he consulted with modeling and talent agencies when considering pricing. "There is no standard rate. It's like Hollywood-if someone gets paid a million dollars for something, it becomes a new standard. Last week, I had to call this guy and I said, 'Look, they're experienced and unique so if you're going to use them, please try to have a bigger budget because they're not just kids you're hiring off the street anymore.' They're learning they can't low-ball these kids."

But can these kids maintain their downtown cred after signing their names to shoe companies? "They're not a Kardashian that's going to work with TrimSpa," he replied. Later, he added, "The whole downtown scene in New York is pretty sensitive. If someone does a certain project or dyes their hair red, everyone is going to talk about it whether it's on Facebook or at the Jane hotel on Saturday night. They're very cautious."

Selling Blue Jeans

Last week, Ms. Antonopoulos, a former Nylon intern whose close friends include Ms. Coppola and Sage Grazer, Bryan Grazer's kid, spent three days in Bushwick and Williamsburg shooting a European campaign for Levi's that Mr. Bakalar negotiated the terms of. (Ms. Antonopoulos also modeled for Ryan McGinley's "Go Forth" campaign for the denim company when she was his intern.) "Now, I can just focus on the creative side," said Ms. Antonopoulos. "And not have to call parents' friends, asking them for advice on how to handle fees and being my own agent."

Ms. Antonopoulos has also directed a music video for the band the Postelles; modeled in a Club Monaco lookbook; and directed a video with Ms. Coppola for Opening Ceremony featuring Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman. (If you care to keep up: Gia is Francis Ford Coppola's granddaughter, making Jason Schwartzman her cousin. We think!)

Asked whether she was worried the insular downtown world would accuse her of selling out, Ms. Antonopoulos said, "I'm not afraid of that. If you can make something that's commercial good, then that's the best work of art because more people see it. I think it's awesome that kids in Middle America, who don't know about some small indie scene, get to see amazing work, too."

Mr. McGinley's "Go Forth" campaign last year was masterminded by the advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy, hired to reinvent Levi's image. "Part of it is about discovering who makes the stuff," said Tyler Whisnand, a creative director at the agency. "And when it's Ryan McGinley, maybe the consumer is curious that he's an artist and how interesting it is that Levi's collaborates with someone like him and such a young person on a big campaign. ... Whomever we work with is a reflection of Levi's as a brand." 

Increasingly, Mr. Whisnand has seen companies cleverly using local, sometimes recognizable faces in their national campaigns instead of professionals. (Think American Apparel's street-scouting.) "For Levi's, it makes sense to use regular people and cast people who are interesting," he said. "But if you're talking about Ralph Lauren, they're going to swing to high-end supermodels and celebrities. Nowadays, with the way the economy is, brands like J Crew and Tommy Hilfiger and Diesel, even, are thinking, 'Let's be a bit more realistic. Let's not be so high end.'"

Mr. Whisnand continued: "Tommy Hilfiger tapped into that years ago, where basically friends of friends"-Jake Sumner, Sting's son, with Alexandra and Theodora Richards in 2003-"would go on shoots. Then Juergen Teller was doing stuff for Marc Jacobs, and it probably goes all the way back to Andy Warhol and the Factory being something people could market, and the Interview magazine phenomenon. Everyone loves the romantic idea of an artist moving to the city and starting some kind of movement, whether that be in Brooklyn or Jersey City or years ago, it was Soho or the Village, and tapping into those trends. In the '90s it was Larry Clark's Kids and Chloë Sevigny and that Harmony Korine phase."

'Not Going Into a Nine to Five' 

In 2007, a creative director at Urban Outfitters contacted Jack Siegel, a young man who had a Web site called The Skullset, on which he posted photos of bicoastal kids looking beautiful, carefree and remarkably cool. Their request? Take photos of your friends, the way you already do, wearing our clothes. "I was surprised they asked me because I never had a job before for my pictures," said Mr. Siegel, who is 24.

Some of the kids featured in the lookbook were Harley Viera Newton, now a recognizable face (DKNY, Dior, Lexus) and DJ; Ms. Antonopoulos; Mike Moonves, son of CBS president Leslie Moonves; and Clara Balzary, daughter of Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They were paid in $500 gift cards; Mr. Siegel received $5,000 for his photographs. (No one at Urban Outfitters was available to comment for this article.)

"I think it's attractive to see young, good-looking kids and not the polished type of people you see on TV," explained Mr. Siegel. "These kids kind of embody not going into a nine to five. Even if people don't want to live that way, they want to look at it."

It was perhaps inevitable that an agency (and soon agencies, perhaps) would be founded on that word of the early aughts we all memorized: lifestyle.

"Someone realizes that brands are casting street people," explained Mr. Whisnand, the ad agency creative director, "and maybe that can be done easier with an agent to make sure their contracts are done properly. That will grow and grow and become the norm, and then brands will find a new way of doing it-YouYube or Twitter or Facebook casting sessions."  Because once the casting process becomes regulated, what's missing is this: "I think it was Doris Day or another Hollywood starlet who got discovered at the drug store," said Mr. Whisnand. "Just down at the five-and-dime having a malt and then in walks John Huston or whoever and says, 'My God, kid, you should be in the movies!'" 

ialeksander@observer.com

The Observer conducts a brief comparison. ialeksander@observer.com 

[Also, view a gallery of Blow's Greatest Hats.]

Mayor Bloomberg has announced a six-part fashion initiative to strengthen the city's fashion industry in the wake of the massive growth of online retailers. [The Daily]

A lookbook of the Lanvin for H&M collaboration was released this morning, modeled by Irina Lazareanu. [Racked]

Lauren Santo Domingo, Lady Gaga and Madonna go to the same hair stylist. [Refinery 29]

The Accessories Council Excellence Awards last night recognized Kanye West as Stylemaker of the Year for 2010. [WWD]

Designing a line for H&M felt, for Lanvin's Alber Elbaz, as if he were "living in a palace and opened some doors and said, 'Have tea with me, taste the food.'" [Vogue UK]

Olivia Palermo and her boyfriend posed for the new Mango ads. [Racked]

There has been a new wave of fashion networking websites focused on designers and retailers rather than regular users. [WWD]

Rag & Bone opened a shop on the Upper West Side over the weekend. [Racked]

Teen blogger Tavi wrote a screenplay about mutants that has been made into a short film by filmmaker Alia Raza, starring Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, the daughter of French Vogue editor Carine. Got that? [Racked] 

The New York Times asks Olivier Theyskens what would happen if Chanel came calling: "This is the question that I hear for 10 years." [On the Runway]

Behold, Snooki's Halloween costume: "A fringed bustier dress covered in green, pickle-shaped sequins and a light-up scepter in the shape of a pickle." [WWD]

Next year, Target will re-release the best of their 17 designer collaborations featuring looks from Luella Bartley, Proenza Schouler, Libertine, and others. [Racked]

Nordstrom is opening a store on West Broadway. [The Real Deal]

A biopic of Isabella Blow is forthcoming with John Galliano and Philip Treacy linked to the project. [WWD]

Lara Stone has won the suit she filed against French Playboy for publishing unauthorized photos of her. [Vogue UK]

Simon, a recent Bennington graduate who makes video art, and who has black hair and a thick mustache, said he did. He had also mashed, strained and stripped a foul-smelling brew that would eventually be distilled into un-aged corn whiskey (or moonshine) or aged into bourbon.

This was late in the afternoon on a Saturday at the Kings County Distillery, which Mr. Haskell and his business partner, Colin Spoelman, registered in April under a farm distillery license, introduced into law by former governor Eliot Spitzer. The 325-square-foot space, situated on the second floor of a nondescript building not far from the English Kills creek, was heavy with the smell of yeast and simmering corn.

"One person has complained about the smell," said Mr. Spoelman, sitting on an oak barrel where bourbon has been aging since May. Mr. Spoelman, who grew up in Kentucky, works for the architecture firm Bernard Tschumi. "But it's an industrial building. People make products here. I think it smells nice. I come here after work, and I'm like, 'Ah. It's working.'"

There were, in the beginning, some problems.

"The floor leaks, so whenever someone spills a drop of water, it goes down to the landlord," said Mr. Spoelman.

"There are a lot of imported ties and dress shirts from China stored downstairs," said Mr. Haskell.

Mr. Haskell, who looks younger than 31, has curly brown hair and dark brown eyes. He is the more serious of the pair. Mr. Spoelman, also 31, is tall and cheerful with messy blond hair and a beard. Kings County Distillery, which the former Yale roommates funded with small investments from friends and family, is New York City's first since Prohibition, the kind of quirky accomplishment that put the partners in the hyper-artisanal Brooklyn landscape of small-batch, hand-labeled (theirs, with a typewriter found on a Williamsburg street), local-ingredient-using purveyors occupied by Mast Brothers chocolate, Brooklyn Brine pickles and Marlow & Daughters butchers. Naturally, their moonshine is served at the sister (brother?) establishment Marlow & Sons, as well as other hip local restaurants like Roberta's and Fette Sau. Meanwhile, Astor Wines and Spirits sells 128 of their 200-milliliter moonshine bottles a month, at $20 each. In November, the spirit will be served at the Modern, Danny Meyer's midtown restaurant.

"David is one of the old Marlow & Sons' core clientele. He's always supported us and I wanted to support him," said Jason Schwartz, a manager at Marlow, where the moonshine is mixed with vermouth and served in a $12 cocktail called the White Manhattan. "A lot of those white, un-aged whiskeys have a high tone to them that's difficult to the palate. Theirs is the most naturally sweet and delicate. I would have probably purchased it regardless."

They currently make two and a half gallons of the moonshine and bourbon a day. The bourbon, they hope, will be ready by December. "It's pretty clear to us that the bourbon will be a more popular product, but we need to make enough money with the moonshine to support the distillery in the meantime," said Mr. Haskell.

Since Mr. Haskell and Mr. Spoelman have day jobs, five helpers like Simon work day and night shifts, seven days a week.

"A lot of them are journalism students," said Mr. Spoelman.

"Some are in school," said Mr. Haskell, "Others were bartending and were sick of customer service. Some are drawn to the chemistry."

Speaking of those day jobs: Unlike magazines or even architecture, whiskey sales are always reliable. Could the distillery ever replace their primary careers? (When The Observer called Roberta's, in Bushwick, we reached an acquaintance, formerly an editor at a Condé Nast magazine.)

"My day job is a little dead-end," said Mr. Spoelman. "It's a cool job ... but ultimately there is a limit to how far I can go there. So, yes, I hope so."

Mr. Haskell smiled. "I hope so, too. For Colin. I love my job, and I don't want to leave it at all. I think of this as a business I've started on the side."

Since Hugo Lindgren and Lauren Kern left New York and landed at The New York Times Magazine, as editor in chief and deputy editor, respectively, Mr. Haskell has taken a more senior role on the masthead. Has it been difficult to run a distillery on weekends?

"Maybe a little," he said. "But then I look at colleagues at New York magazine who have kids." Mr. Spoelman started laughing before his friend finished. "And, it's like, that's such a stress. Every time I think, 'Can I manage two things at once?' I think how it's just sort of expected when someone pops out a baby and suddenly everyone has to breast-feed and get a babysitter who is puking or the baby is puking. All that stuff is more stressful than this." (Adam Moss, New York's editor, is aware of his employee's whiskey production. "He's curious about it," said Mr. Haskell. "He tasted an early version.")

Earlier, Mr. Haskell walked The Observer through the distillery process. After the corn is mashed and the barley and yeast are added, the porridge-like stew sits in large tubs for six days while the yeast eats the sugars and converts them into alcohol. "It sort of smells like bread. Then once the mash is ready to go, we strain out the solids with these laundry bags," he said, pointing to netted bags hanging by the window. (A farmer from the greenmarket comes by once a week and picks up the strained corn to use as feed for his pigs.)

The strained liquid is twice distilled in 28-liter stills (micro-distilleries typically use at least 400-litter stills), with the second run closely monitored in four phases: foreshots, heads, hearts and tales. "Foreshots is the first alcohol to come out, and that's basically the poison," said Mr. Haskell. "We use it as a disinfectant or a cleaning agent. Heads have a lot of flavor, but it's also the stuff that gives you hangovers, so you don't want too much of that. Then it goes into the hearts, which we keep, and at a certain point it goes into the tails, which we don't keep. The tails have a NutraSweet-y smell to them." Every distillery creates its own parameters for how much heads or tails is mixed with their hearts. "We're very conservative," he explained.  

Once the bourbon is fully aged, they plan to experiment with other whiskeys.

"We've been playing around with making rye, but it keeps burning to the bottom of the still," said Ms. Spoelman. "It's a very persnickety grain. We have other things in the works. ..."

"But not to be talked about," Mr. Haskell said.

"What if the tape recorder was off?" asked The Observer.

"Right," said Mr. Haskell. "So, off the record ..."

The Local, a New York Times blog, has begun doing street style videos. Says Lewis the hipster: "This is a vintage Wrangler jean shirt." [The Local]

A Top Model contestant, a student at Princeton University, was chastised by Andre Leon Talley for not studying the mannerisms of Marc Jacobs, whom she was asked to impersonate for a photo shoot: "I don't get that Jane, who's apparently a Princeton girl, has not done her homework," he said. [The Cut]

Meanwhile, a West Village resident, a freelance writer named Gary Stern, has decided to fight the Marc Jacobs-ification of the neighborhood--six stores with a cafe reportedly on the way--with t-shirts that read: "More Jane Jacobs"--different Jane!--"Less Marc Jacobs." [The Villager]

Karim Samii, a hedge fund executive who lives below Daphne Guinness in the Stanhope Hotel on Fifth Avenue, is suing the socialite for taking too many baths and flooding their apartment with dirty bath water. [NY Post]

Stefano Gabbana has insulted Stella McCartney on his Twitter, writing, "What's she known for?? What's her specialty??" And then: "Yeah, she's upcoming after 15 years doing nothing!! Hahahaha." [The Daily]

Republican  candidates Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Christine O'Donnell of Delaware, and Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota seem to be following Sarah Palin's style cues: "Her bright, curve-enhancing garments and loose, shoulder-grazing hair - even her rimless glasses - have been taken up by a handful of candidates on the climb." [NY Times]