With the year half over, it's time for fun with dates.

Baby Boomers are those born between January 1, 1946 and December 31, 1964. That means July 1, 2005, marked the midpoint for those Boomers 50 years old and older versus those 50 and younger. The scales have forever tipped towards the over 50 segment. Or has it?

July 1, 2005, also marked the date when the first Boomers start turning 59 and 1/2 years old -- the earliest age for tax-free withdrawals from retirement accounts.

We'll provide some perspective for marketers about both of these seemingly watershed events in our first article, Hold on to your Hat.

Note to new readers: For fun (and to make each issue a challenge), most article headlines are song titles from the Rolling Stones.

The second piece reports on reports on Boomers and work. Back to Zero tells you about media coverage of Boomers and work plans, and what that actually might mean for marketers.

Our rant this month is that there is no such thing as the "Baby Boomer market." You can't treat all 76 million Boomers as one audience. See what we mean in Can't Be Seen.

Can You Help Us Spread the Word?

Regular readers of this newsletter know that we are passionate about enlightening marketers about how to do a better job at communicating to Boomers over 50.

If you know of any company or organization that might benefit from hearing about the findings from our proprietary national research, please contact us at speaking@boomerproject.com. We're interested in speaking to groups large and small, national and local, and sharing our "Top Ten Things Marketers Should Do to Better Communicate with Boomers." It's a tactical and useful list that we guarantee will help you connect with America's largest and most important demographic group.

So drop us a note or recommend us to your organization. Our fees are reasonable and the information in our presentations is invaluable.

And, as usual, if you have a comment on any of these stories, just send us your thoughts.

Matt Thornhill
The Boomer Project

The media has reported on these two events. Even financial services companies have used it as an opportunity to issue press releases (1 and 2) to advise those Boomers 59 and 1/2 to hold onto their money and not start making withdrawals.

Our advice is to not get too far ahead of ourselves here. In fact, hold on to your hat.

The US Census provides insight into the demographic realities of those 76 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 are these: For the first nine years, only some 32.7 million were born. For the second nine years, 43.3 million were born. So the actual midpoint - - the date when half of the cohort will be 50 and half under 50 -- will occur on or about August 15, 2007. Mark your calendars.

Similarly, the excitment about Boomer Number One reaching age 59 and 1/2 needs to be tempered. It will take six years before even 25% of all Boomers reach that age, and it won't be until 2022 when half of all Boomers reach the traditional retirement age of 65.

From our Boomer Project research, we know Boomers don't typically plan more than 3 to 5 years in advance, so 2022, 17 years from now, is years and years away from their radar screens.

What this means for marketers

Like we said, hold on to your hat. We're in for a bumpy ride.

Now, there's no need to panic, nor is there any need to go out with a Chicken Little "the sky is falling" message to Boomers that suggests they need to act now or forever be screwed in their retirement years. Most messages like that will fall on deaf ears. At least 43.3 million pair of deaf ears.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't be planning for Boomers growing older. The earth will circle the sun every 365 days, so growing older is an inescapable future for every single one of them.

It just didn't happen on July 1, 2005.

Thanks to new research by MetLife and Civic Ventures, the proverbial floodgates have opened and consumer media has moved en masse to report that aging Boomers are going to shift jobs towards a "higher calling" in their later years.

We reported that this would be a new trend back in November 2004 when we wrote about the Experience Corps.

This coverage by the media is important because it will help to open the eyes of marketers to the fact that Boomers aren't going to fade into the sunset during their golden years. Instead, Boomers are going to change the world (again).

The more times this is drum-beat into the heads of marketers, the more likely they'll realize older Boomers are still a viable and important segment. One that has many miles to go -- and dollars to spend -- before they sleep.

In case you've missed any of the countless stories, here is a smattering:

• NBC Nightly News (MSNBC text and video) -- Profiles two successful 50-something women executives who are now "giving back" to their communities.
• Harvard School of Public Health -- launches a nationwide campaign to encourage Boomers to volunteer.
• Des Moines Register -- another profile of a Boomer looking for new challenges.