Seems the "quick hits" of our November
newsletter were a big hit, so we're going the same
route this
month. Here are the things you need to know this
December if
you're marketing to Boomers over 50. Or want to.
-
Katie Couric Comes of Age,
So You Can Too
This past Tuesday, during a story called "50 is the
New 30," Katie Couric, 48, gave Boomer women in
America permission to start growing old. I'm not
kidding.
Okay, I'm slightly kidding. But much in the same vein
of David Letterman and Billy Crystal letting us know it
was okay to grow old back on April 12,
2004, we now have a date all women can point
to as the day the rules changed for them.
The story on "Today" featured no-longer-former
supermodels Cheryl Tiegs, 58, and Christie Brinkley,
51, talking about how "50 is the new 30" and
cosmetic companies are using older models and
actresses in their ads in an attempt to appeal to
aging Baby Boomers.
Christie was talking about how Revlon's products are
now scientifically designed to reflect light out of
wrinkles, so you don't appear to have as many.
That's when Ms. Katie stopped her and offered up
this journalistic opinion:
"I have such mixed feelings about this: I'm so happy
that people are embracing women as they age, but
are they really embracing the aging process? In other
words, is this about women in their 50s trying to look
30?
"I mean, everyone wants to look attractive,
but I
just wish that that didn't necessarily mean no
wrinkles, you know, because I think that's a sign of
experience and wisdom and the fact that you've
lived. So do you guys ever think that
not everybody has to look like they're 30 to be really
beautiful?"
What!?!
Katie tells America that "wrinkles...[are] a sign of
experience and wisdom and the fact that
you've...lived."
She wonders if real beauty isn't tied to one's age.
These epiphanies by Katie are ones she couldn't have
had at age 38. She wasn't "mature enough" to come
to this conclusion back then. But she is now.
And mark my words, America listens to Katie Couric. I
bet in the next Entertainment Weekly we'll
see that wrinkles are "In" and botox is "Out."
Cheryl Tiegs answered Katie by asserting that "I
don't know if we're trying to look like we're 30, I just
think we're doing the best we can with our age and
with what we have. I think the days of plastic
surgery, pulling everything back, getting rid of every
single line and wrinkle, are over."
This change in mindset about aging was first
reported by this newsletter some 15 months ago in
this article.
Cheryl went on to say "Women today are doing
something that's never been done in the history of
civilization, and that's looking fabulous until the day
you die."
Then Christie said "I think that 50-year-old
women
today have very full, interesting lives...we're
comfortable being our age, we don't want to be just
forgotten, we don't want to keep seeing 20-year-
olds as the standard for vibrant, important people --
we're vibrant, important ourselves."
You can watch the entire story here
(after you enjoy a :30 commercial).
I'm telling you, this is news. December 6, 2005 will
forever be remembered as
the day Boomer women got permission to age --
thanks to Katie Couric.
Now, if only marketers would notice.
- Results from Latest Boomer Project Study
We have top-line results in from the latest Survey
Sampling International/SIR/Boomer Project national
research among Boomers.
This particular study explored Boomer attitudes and
actions regarding healthcare and
financial services.
We'll be publishing the full report in early 2006. But a
figure that jumped out already is in response to
a question about retirement planning. We asked
about retirement plans and provided three response
choices:
- I will retire at the age of ____.
- I will never retire.
- I have no idea when I'll
retire.
Given the over 60 years of Social Security and age
65 as the retirement age, we were surprised when
57% of Boomers said "I have no idea when I'll
retire."
We're working through the data to uncover why that
number is so high -- perhaps it is because Boomers
haven't salted away enough money to peg a
retirement date, or they don't want to "retire" in the
traditional sense, or perhaps it's something else
altogether.
At the very least, it means any financial planner that
presents a chart depicting how much you need to
save in order to retire at 65 will likely find a
disinterested audience. They'll need to frame the
discussion differently.
Stay tuned for more info in January and beyond.
-
White House Conference
on Aging
Begins
The 2005 White
House Conference on Aging begins
December 12. The purpose of this
once-every-ten-years event is to develop policies
and programs
regarding old people in America and to make
recommendations to the President and Congress.
This year's theme is "The Booming Dynamics of
Aging -- From Awareness to Action."
As an At-Large Delegate, I get to vote to approve 50
out of 73 resolutions across six over-arching themes:
- Planning along the Lifespan (as in financial
planning)
- The Workplace of the Future
- Our Community
- Health and Long Term Living
- Civic Engagement and Social Engagement
- Technology and Innovation in an Emerging
Senior/Boomer Marketplace.
Past WHCOA have pointed the way to sweeping new
legislation like Medicare. Already newspapers and
other media are reporting on the
proceedings. Come January, I'll provide a first-hand
report on my experiences and observations.
- Boomers have been in "Middle Age"
for
15+
Years Already
A co-worker named Lois retired recently at age 62.
When cleaning out her office, she ran across a
newspaper clipping of a story that ran October 18,
1990. At that time, the oldest Boomers were 44, and
the youngest only 26.
Entitled "A baby boomer's guide to adjusting to
middle age," it was written by Al Sicherman of the
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune. I tracked
down Al, who is still writing. He said he was 49 at the
time he wrote it and not all of it is based on personal
experiences.
It's an entertaining piece and worth a read.
The most insightful and accurate comment in it
comes from a professor at Bowling Green State
University:
"Boomers are fascinated with whatever
phase of life they are in. When they discovered
children, we got all these Three Men and a
Baby movies. Problems of aging, which have
always been around, will be around more because the
Boomers are experiencing them."
Boy, was he right.
-
Tap into this Trend:
Maturialism
Our friends at TrendSight have not only spotted a
trend worth knowing, they've coined a whole new
term to explain it: Maturialism.
You can read all about it here.
The nutshell for those who fear to click: "A vital
combination of 'mature' consumers pursuing a
seemingly restrained 'best of the best' materialism is
driving the trend in ditching mundane goods and
services for more professional, premium or sassier
versions. From heavy duty power tools to state-of-
the-art cameras to grown-up ice-cream flavors."
Now that's a marketer's dream -- mature consumers
with money to spend who consume in quality and
quantity.
Can you say profit margin?
- To Blog or Not to Blog:
Here's What You Want
Last month we asked the question "Should the
Boomer Project
operate a blog instead of publishing this monthly
newsletter?"
To be honest, I was expecting a close vote. I was
wrong.
By an overwhelming margin, (85% to 15%) those who
responded want us to keep
publishing the newsletter and leave the blogging to
others.
Of course, the respondent pool consisted only of
newsletter subscribers, so we're not 100% convinced.
Most of the comments were about the lack of time
one has daily to go in search of new, useful
information on various blogs. (Hello? It's called RSS
and it brings new stuff to you auto-magically, but
never mind).
This newsletter, while not even pretending to be
comprehensive, does provide a
nice summary of some key things you need to know.
Given the vast proliferation of blogs, it comes as no
surprise that blog
aggregators are forming. Before you know it, the
daily blogs will be organized and "published" just like a
...newspaper?
Hmmm, what does the crystal ball say?
So we'll keep publishing monthly. If we blog,
that will be in addition to this newsletter.
Thanks for your input.
