Last month we asked readers to tell us about marketers and advertisers who appear to "get it" when it comes to connecting with Boomers over the age of 50 -- marketing to the "Middle Age of Aquarius," we called it.

This may come as no surprise to many of you, but we weren't innundated with submissions. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Seems the consensus out there is that few if any marketers are getting it right when it comes to marketing to Boomers over 50.

And even one marketer, Michelob Ultra, who is often cited as doing a good job, appears to be only targeting Boomers as a niche and not as their primary audience. Read this month's article, "Ultra Misstep."

Since we're on the topic of consumables, "Brown Sugar" reports on the latest trend in food marketing brought about because of aging Boomers: Phood -- or pharmaceutically-enhanced food. It's a tasty trend.

The third article this month looks at another marketer identified by many observers as "enlightened" when it comes to targeting Boomers. "Easy Rider" shares some thoughts on Harley-Davidson and the motorycle market that's being driven by Boomers.

The last piece this month focuses on Boomer Women and how they are changing the rules by which one is allowed to age -- and what it might mean for advertisers and marketers. "Some Girls II" picks up the discussion first put forth last September in this newsletter, presenting more evidence that Boomer Women, and some marketers, are quickly making progress towards a new world order.

We'd love to hear what you think about any of these topics. Just send us a note.

Matt Thornhill
The Boomer Project

In fact, in today's Los Angeles Times, Anheuser-Busch is once again mentioned as courting consumers over 50.

The article says: "After research showed that many boomers had stopped drinking beer in order to stay trim, the company aimed Michelob Ultra - a low- calorie, lower carbohydrate beer -squarely at them."

"'There wasn't a product out there that reflected their lifestyle,' said Mike Sundet, brand manager for Michelob Ultra. The beer caught on quickly."

This is abject bulls**t.

The beer is a success, but Ultra isn't "courting" Boomers. Not by a long shot.

First, here's their "Boomer" ad (click to enlarge):

This 50+ stud-of-a-man certainly doesn't look like the models who appear nightly in commercials airing during the network news, and that's a good thing.

But the truth of the matter is that this is simply a token effort to reach Boomers over 50. In reality, Michelob Ultra spends multiple millions on TV and in print to target the traditional high volume beer drinker: young men 21-30 years old.

In fact, the two current TV campaigns include one featuring 22-year-old professional golfer Sergio Garcia, and another showing twentysomething beautiful people engaging in rigorous athletic endeavors like roller blading or scaling tall buildings in a single bound. It's a "beer-not-Gatorade" pitch. Neither campaign is for Boomers.

Interestingly, Ultra has even gotten themselves in hot water with a watchdog organization for using the barely legal Garcia as a spokesperson.

They are in hot water with us because they are virtually ignoring the consumer who "owns" the brand -- Boomers. Think about it -- have you ever seen someone under 30 drinking a Michelob Ultra?

This is no way to build a brand. In fact, it probably won't take long for Boomers to realize Michelob Ultra isn't interested in them, so they'll then abandon the brand.

The next step is Ultra's.

Remember Tang, the orange breakfast drink so packed with vitamins that the astronauts took it to the moon with them (according to Florence Henderson)?

In the 1960's, just before the natural food craze of the 1970's, the food landscape in America was overflowing with ersatz food products -- Kool-Aid, Jell-O Instant Pudding, Shake 'n Bake fake breading, freeze-dried coffee, Cool Whip and so forth. It was modern, convenient and the future: better food through chemistry.

(Apparently Tang isn't just good for breakfast.)

Anyway, those same Boomers who came of age during that time are now embracing a new wave in food: "Phood" or pharmaceutically-engineered and enhanced food.

Think orange juice laced with calcium. Margarine designed to lower cholesterol. Water with vitamins (we're waiting for the first bottled water to include flouride, just like water from the faucet).

If you thought the "low carb" trend was all-consuming, you haven't seen anything yet.

"Phood" (and "bepherages") will dominate the industry for the next ten years. Especially as Boomers grow older and seek anything and everything to help them maintain their health and vitality.

The phood trends sound exotic and, in some cases, downright strange. Look at this list of topics covered in the "What's Next" section of a $3,000 industry report from Packaged Facts called "The New U.S. Phood Market: Functional, Fortified, and Inherently Healthy Foods and Beverages:"

Nutrient Trends: What's Next

• Omega-3 Fatty Acids
• Expanding Applications for Plant Sterols
• CoQ10: The Next Antioxidant?
• CitriMax
• Chondroitin and Glucosamine
• Black Cohosh: A Natural Remedy for Menopause Symptoms
• Foods That Lower Blood Pressure
• Condition-Specific Products
• Targeted Racial and Ethnic Groups
• Cosmeticeutical Foods and Beverage in Japan and Europe
• Prebiotic Cereals
• Next Up, Functional Snacks?
• Chocolate for Health
• Product Periscope: Bepherages Prototypes
• More Soy Beverages on the Horizon
• Will Coffee Be the Next "Health Drink"?

Last August we said Boomer Women would rewrite aging and beauty. The article referenced some Hollywood types in their 40's who said they were going to age gracefully, instead of attempt the freeze-frame plastic surgery so successfully done by Cher.

Since then, the sisterhood has enjoyed two steps forward and one step back.

One giant-step forward, there's Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty, which has turned the beauty industry on its ear. The reception in the marketplace for the campaign has far exceeded anything Dove or Unilever had envisioned.

A second step forward can be found in articles like the one in this month's Harper's Bazaar magazine profiling 50-year-old actress Ellen Barkin. Some of what she says about growing older would not have been reported just a few years ago (or she would have been ridiculed):

• "At 40, I thought, there's no way I won't get a lift, get my eyes done. But today I look at Charlotte Rampling and think, now, that's a sexy, gorgeous face."

• "The older I get, the more I don't care -- I like my face."

• "Why do I have to have blonde movie-star hair? Enough! Leave that blonde-ingenue thing to Charlize Theron and Cameron Diaz. I want to be mature and graceful -- the same reason I won't wear a slipdress anymore. Grown-ups should look like Catherine Deneuve."

• "I loved turning 30, 35 because I had a child, and 40. And now I love being 50. Look, Kim Basinger is 50, and is that a problem? Are you going to cry because you look like her?"

See, it's okay to age now (thank you David Letterman and Billy Crystal).

The step back can be found in the discussions around a new marketing report called "Marketing to Women." The "experts" quoted offer this perspective on Boomer Women in general, and over 50:

"To make the most of these opportunities," says "Marketing To Women" editor Lisa Finn, "marketing efforts must reflect Boomers' view of themselves as perpetually youthful."

[This isn't true. According to our Boomer Marketing Report, older Boomers don't view themselves as staying youthful at all. They place themselves in Middle Age. They don't see it as a bad thing, just the next thing. Yes, they plan to age differently than their parents, but they aren't going to try to stop the aging process althogether via extreme makeover surgery and procedures.]

Another "insight:"

"Even when Boomers are 80, it is going to be about youth. Not only do Boomer women want to live to be 100, they want to stay young and active while doing it," says Ann Fishman of Generational Targeted Marketing. So, perhaps paradoxically, marketers' chief rule when marketing to women over 50 is to focus on their youthfulness.

[Again, not right. In fact, quite wrong. "Young" isn't the word Boomers use. It's "vital." They want to live to 100 but stay healthy and vital along the way.]

The sooner we can tune out the "experts" talking about how Boomers are all about "youth," the sooner we can turn up the volume on the new rules of aging and beauty put out there by Dove and people like Ellen Barkin.

It may take a few more years.