Top of heap, not over the hill Boomers represent '500 pound canary' to 2 marketing experts Wednesday, Jul 25, 2007 By CHIP JONES There are anywhere from 78 million to 2.3 trillion reasons why Matt Thornhill and John Martin have spent the past four years riding the baby boomer marketing wave: 78 million is the number of American consumers in the generation born between 1946 and 1964, when the post-war baby boom ended. 2.3 trillion is the number of dollars they'll spend this year for consumer goods and services. "That's some $400 billion more than any other cohort," Thornhill and Martin of Richmond gush in their new book, "Boomer Consumer: Ten New Rules for Marketing to America's Largest, Wealthiest and Most Influential Group." cjones@timesdispatch.com. Back to Media Coverage