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Buy our book, Boomer Consumer, today |
| Voted "Best of the Best" Business Books in 2007 by CORBIS.
Available and in stock online at Amazon.com, BN.com and at Barnes & Noble stores in major markets.
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| Can't Get Enough of that Baby Boomer Stuff? |
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There's more. Oh, yes, there's much more.
On the Web:
Check out the Boomer Project Web site where we archive our published content and tell you how to line up Matt Thornhill and John Martin as speakers.
Visit the Older Dominion Partnership, a Virginia-based consortium of businesses, not-for-profits, universities and government agencies planning 10 to 20 years ahead for the Age Wave of aging Boomers.
In the Boomer Consumer blog, we venture beyond the topic of marketing to Baby Boomers into Boomer finances, family structure, sociology and the science of aging. |
| About Us |
The Boomer Project offers the most thorough and up-to-date portrait of today's Boomer Consumer. How can we help?
We offer consulting to help companies and organizations develop their "50+ plan." If you don't have one, you better. It's the only demographic segment that will increase in size over the next decade, growing some 23% while the 18-49 segment stays stagnant (Census data, baby).
We also conduct on-site programs, where we educate your marketing and/or customer service personnel about how today's Boomer Consumers think, feel and respond to your messages. These day-long sessions include insights obtained from our on-going proprietary national research among Boomers.
Contact us to learn more about all of our services.
Email: info@boomerproject.com
Phone: 804.690.4837
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| March 26, 2009
News & Insights from the Boomer Project
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Dear Matt,
We learned this week of the dismantling of advertising agency giant's J. Walter Thompson's "JWT BOOM" division. It seems the recession has caused the division's largest client to reduce its ad spending to nearly zero and there wasn't enough other business to keep the agency going.
Ironically, in these days of Web sites and automated phone attendants, JWT BOOM still exists, but we have it on good authority that it is now a ghost town.
This follows last year's change in status for Focalyst, the "Boomers and Beyond" initiative by WPP Group's Kantar Group research division and AARP Services. Focalyst has been absorbed into Millward Brown, a marketing research company within Kantar Group. AARP Services has essentially exited stage right. Focalyst isn't gone, just absorbed.
These changes don't discourage us. We know there are marketers and organizations out there keen to learn how to better communicate with today's older Boomer Consumer. It's just that the options for getting that help are changing.
For example, a partner of ours, BCF, a communications agency out of Virginia Beach, Virginia, is alive and well, and doing great work by focusing on clients targeting Boomers.
Plus, we've recently been contacted by a start-up agency, Five-0, based in New York. Their site isn't live, but this site shows the work of the two founders. You'll be impressed, even though they are both over the age of 50 (sarcasm intended).
Bottom line is that the agencies, consultants and researchers focusing on Boomers may expand and contract, but that doesn't change the overarching need for more and better information. Maybe that's why Jumpin' Jack Flash's subscriber figures have grown 7% already this year.
-- The Editors
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Fresh Figures
Permanent "New Fru"
Back in January we first reported on the "New Frugality" we saw sweeping the nation, with the biggest change coming from those spend-now-and-pay-never Boomers. Our partner, BIGresearch, just this week released its latest Consumer Intentions & Actions survey, fielded the first week of March. The survey asks consumers this question for the first time:
Do you think the current economic crisis will impact your lifestyle over the next 5 years?
We can't share all the responses, but know this: Over 50% of Boomers, even Boomers at the upper end of the income bracket, say they "will be more price conscious when buying clothing and food," and "will spend less when dining out," and "will consider each purchase more carefully."
Our Advice: Offer modest prices so Boomer consumers (and consumers of all ages) can live modest lives. You'll make mega sales.
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 Generation Definitions
These days there are lots of "experts" talking about the different generations in the market.
We thought it might be helpful to remind everyone of the definition of "generation" that we use, and the generally accepted ages/years of each cohort.
In fact, Elwood Carlson, the Charles B. Nam Professor in Sociology of Population at Florida State University writes in "20th Century U.S. Generations," published by the PRB, that a family generation counts the years between the births of each parent and child.
People born together in a particular year or group of years are called historical or cohort generations. Our focus is on the cohorts.
Carlson's work (which we mirror) defines the major generations today by birth years linked to strong historical boundaries.
Those birth years are:
- Silent: 1929-1945 -- median member born in 1937, or age 72 now
- Boomers: 1946-1964 -- median member born in 1955, or age 54 now
- Generation X: 1965-1982 -- median member born in 1974, or age 35 now
- Millennials: 1983-2001 -- median member born in 1992, or age 17 now
Within each generation there are differences, but we thought it would be helpful to anchor everyone around the same dates.
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Case Study
"That's the Way -- Aha, Aha -- I like It"
Mutual of Omaha has unveiled a new advertising campaign around the theme of the "aha" moment. The insurance company's advertising campaign highlights ordinary people who have experienced that sensation of sublime clarity -- like Paul on the road to Damascus, Isaac Newton under the apple tree -- when they realize what they want to do with their lives.
Although the individuals profiled cover the age spectrum, long-time friend of the Boomer Project and Boomer-on-a-mission, consultant Brent Green, notes that many of them are Boomers, or older. As someone who has experienced his own "aha" moment, Green thinks Mutual of Omaha has crafted a great theme, complete with its own "aha" Web site.
Although the ad campaign may not be targeted to Boomers specifically, Green thinks it will appeal to them. He especially likes the way the company portrays older people as "relevant, passionate and committed."
These consumer testimonials enhance the authenticity of an insurance company in a time when belief in the veracity and altruism of the industry is under a hailstorm of criticism. These witnesses to personal change and growth don't sell insurance; they portray the possibilities for lives grown larger through the magic of wisdom. The campaign ... showcases hopeful, human stories in a time of broad pessimism.
Boomer Line: We know from our work that Boomers no longer trust anyone in the financial services sector. While it will take more than a clever ad campaign to earn trust, this one certainly is headed in the right direction.
A little authenticity these days will serve you well.
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 Case Study Banking on Boomer Nostalgia
Fighting desperately for survival, General Motors is going back to the marketing well: appealing to Baby Boomer nostalgia for a care-free youth by rolling out a revived Chevrolet Camaro sports coupe.
GM originally introduced the hotrod in 1967 in response to Ford's 1964 Mustang. The model enjoyed continuous production for years, evolving through four major generations, but was phased out in 2004 due to declining sales. Fast forward five years: GM has updated the Camaro for the new millennium. The fifth iteration of the muscle car offers high performance leavened with reasonable gas mileage. The base model comes with a 304-horsepower, V-6 engine and has an EPA highway fuel-economy rating of 29 miles per gallon.
According to the Tennessean, the Nashville newspaper, General Motors conceived the idea three years ago and displayed a concept version of the car in the 2006 Detroit auto show when U.S. automakers were hoping to tap the growing market of empty nester Boomers. Preliminary indications are positive, reports the Tennessean: The first shipment of Camaros to Freeland Chevrolet Superstore in Antioch sold out before the cars even arrived. Boomer Line. General Motors better milk this cow before it wanders off the farm. What was a great idea three years ago seems a little frivolous and misguided in times of frugality, $4 a gallon for gas and diminished 401(k)s.
On top of that, Boomers are at the life stage when they are less interested in impressing others. Their attitudes towards automobiles are increasingly utilitarian -- just get them where they need to go. All the better if they can save on gasoline and spare the planet some grief.
This doesn't mean marketers can't still tap into this yearning of Boomers to recapture the lost days of their youth with retro products and services. We're expecting modern twists on lots of popular products and services from that time, except of course, the return of the 8-track tape player.
Once a dud, always a dud. |
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Healthcare
Alzheimer's: Boomer Future?
This week USA TODAY reported on the "Upward Trajectory of Alzheimer's" and the 2009 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures statistics that indicates an estimated 5.1 million Americans over 65 now have Alzheimer's. The article went on to say:
The report indicates that about 2.7 million people over age 85 have the disease, but by the time the first wave of Baby Boomers reaches 85 in 2031, an estimated 3.5 million people that age and up will have Alzheimer's.
It is now the sixth leading cause of death for people in the USA, surpassing diabetes. In people over age 65, it is the fifth leading cause of death.
And while deaths from heart disease, stroke and breast and prostate cancers dropped from 2000 to 2006, deaths from Alzheimer's disease increased by 47.1%.
We know dealing with Alzheimer's is already a part of life for millions of Boomers who are caregivers. The upward trajectory is not surprising, though. A quick search of news stories in which the word "Alzheimer's" appears have skyrocketed over the last 20 years:
1988: 1,990 stories
1998: 12,200
2008: 34,300
While Alzheimer's is part of life today, the real question, we think, is whether or not Alzheimer's is ultimately going to be a part of the Boomer future. The sheer numbers of Boomers means we're facing a rapid increase in incidences of Alzheimer's.
If you're really worried, apparently you can have a DNA test to see what your odds are for getting the disease. Tonight ABC Nightline's Terry Moran plans to reveal his test results.
But optimistic Boomers also believe Alzheimer's will be solved by the time the bulk of them reach very old age. From the USA TODAY story:
"I'm an optimist," says William Klein, professor of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University's Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago. "Though the projections are dire for Baby Boomers, I think there's going to be a handle on it, and we will develop therapies that didn't exist."
Given that Professor Klein is considerably better informed on this than we are, we'll embrace his optimism. The "dire predictions" could also create opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs who are trying to solve Alzheimer's one way or another. Boomers will enthusiastically support any initiative with that goal -- economically, politically, socially and emotionally.
Boomer Line: You won't lose if Alzheimer's is part of your business strategy. | |
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