Advertising to Baby Boomers

We have seen the future, and it is old and cool and wise.

2009-11-23T13:21:00.001-08:00

I’ve been doing a bit of research about business etiquette and such in a country where I may be hosting a conference/workshop early next year.

Not that I’m going to memorize dozens of customs and trip over myself. I’m sure they’ll want me to be myself (and that’s what they’ll be getting anyway whether they like it or not).

But some knowledge of cultural etiquette is expected. From what I’ve read, it’s impolite to point at people – and I might have to wear a tie. I hope I can remember how to tie one …

One custom intrigued me: When you enter a room full of people you do not know, approach the eldest person first and introduce yourself.

Golly, gee. I spend half my working life trying to convince advertisers to not only introduce themselves to people over fifty – but to actually acknowledge their existence.

This might change. Matt Thornhill thinks so:

We Have Seen The Future, And It Is Old
Have you seen the advertising campaign for Dos Equis beer featuring "The Most Interesting Man in the World?" Each commercial depicts exploits from the "interesting man's" past, or he offers insight on a particular topic …

When I first saw the spot, I thought it was merely a throwback to David Ogilvy’s Hathaway Shirt and Schweppes campaigns:

Of course, I’m right. But Matt makes some good points:

But what's after "cool?" Actually, something even more desirable for those ever-growing-older Boomers: the mantle of wisdom … Boomers will forever transform the role of older people in America. We will be seen as assets -- heroic, wise, visionary, inspirational.

I’ve talked about this, as have others:

Me vs. We Redux Redux
Today, Baby Boomers are two or three times removed from being a “me” generation. What constitutes self-actualization when you are twenty-five is different than when you are fifty-five. In your twenties a person thinks they are the picture. As you get older, you see yourself more and more as a picture that is part of a bigger picture.

Talk to some folks in their twenties, thirties. They are now in that ‘me’ stage. It’s healthy, smart for them to be so. I was just like them thirty years ago, get a big bang out of them, admire their boundless creativity, energy – and self-obsession. These ‘me generation’ twentysomethings today will become a ‘we generation’ in thirty years.
Page 171, Advertising to Baby Boomers (c) 2004, 2007 by Paramount Market Publishing

From The New York Times:

Older Brain Really May Be a Wiser Brain
When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party, they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong.

Instead, the research finds, the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term benefit.

I hope Mr. Thornhill and the rest of us are on to something. Of course, we’ll have to “sift through the clutter” first, and if we’re lucky we’ll come up with something approaching wisdom.

And – if I agree to do this presentation and workshop, I can always buy a clip-on.

My Ad Council

2009-11-20T11:20:00.001-08:00

From: Hilary R.
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 1:24 PM
To: nyrenagency@gmail.com
Subject: Tina Fey + Social Media + Social Good + Innovation = My.AdCouncil.org

Hi Chuck,

Wanted to put something on your radar that was unveiled last night by Tina Fey at the 56th Annual Public Service Awards Dinner - The Ad Council's “My Ad Council.”

... I've included the press release that went out this morning below:

Ad Council Unveils New Website
Through My Ad Council, users can quickly and easily share the Ad Council's PSA videos and images via social media platforms.

OK – I guess I’m doing that now.

Mostly excellent work from some top agencies. Great to see them pitching in. I liked this one from kbs+p:

Even though “The Ad Council's campaigns are targeted to Americans of all ages” – I really didn’t get the impression that any of the spots specifically targeted an older age demo. (Oh, yeah – that’s probably because Baby Boomers are perfect and we don’t need to see Public Service Announcements.)

Actually, I’d like some PSA’s urging Boomers to volunteer for this or that. Lots already are, and lots more would with some coaxing.

One more I liked from Draftfcb – puts a goofy spin on serious subjects:

Visit my.adcouncil.org and pass along some videos.

Interactive Guide to Baby Boomer Marketing/Advertising Goes Copper

2009-11-19T14:11:00.001-08:00

I made that up.

On Scribed, my free Interactive Guide to Advertising/Marketing to Baby Boomers now has over 1000 downloads. If it ever reaches 5000, I’ll scream that it “Went Nickel” – whatever that’ll mean.

To help the cause, click:
An Interactive Guide to Baby Boomer Marketing/Advertising News & Resources

And as I type my book has shot up from #5 to #3 on my publishers’ Bestsellers List. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it.

What should I do for an encore? Probably just rest on my wobbly laurels.

No News News Redux

2009-11-18T12:49:00.001-08:00

I’m one of the few bloggers to take pride in bringing you no news news. I’ve been offering my readers no news news for years:

8.02.2005
No News News
If any of this surprises you.....
Culled from a report by Jupiter Research, Internet Retailer reports Baby Boomers spend more online than other age groups.

11.03.2006
Another Same Old, Same Old

6.06.2008
The Crystal Ball of Common Sense

12.01.2007
The Same Old, Same Old Redux
4.17.2008
How Well Do You Know Boomers?

12.12.2008
No News News

Now there’s more no news news (and it’s not news for two reasons – the first being that Dick Stroud gets up eight hours earlier than I do):

Today’s Seniors and Boomers Rival Younger Generations in Online Activities
Boomers are tech-savvy and just as likely as the younger generations to own a digital camera, DVD player and cell phone.

Sounds familiar:

11.14.2005
My Favorite Cyber-Myth
How I snicker and roll my eyes whenever I read about Baby Boomers fumbling around on computers, scratching their heads, totally flummoxed.

Come back regularly. You can always count on me to bring you the newest of whatever’s not news.

Chronologically Gifted

2009-11-15T16:09:00.001-08:00

I was thumbing through (for those too young to know what that means – it’s sort of like web browsing) the print catalog, Signals.

They know their market. Almost everything would appeal to Baby Boomers – and these are the folks who’d still be getting the catalog in the mail.

Even smarter: While they have dozens of T-Shirts & Sweats available on their online catalog, the ones picked for the print versions are the ones that would appeal to Boomers.

And they know what’s on the minds of this demo – age discrimination. That sounds rather serious (it is), but the casual clothing offered is fun, tongue-in-cheek stuff – and that’s great. Even ol’ curmudgeon Chuck laughed out loud at this one:

The digital revolution has done its job with me (and millions of others) – but a big chunk of Boomers and older are still hanging on:

One or both of these pretty much says it all for a lot of Boomers:

But we’re also making sure nobody thinks were giving up or stopping - because there's more to do, and we have plenty of time and energy left to do it:

Henry Stewart Talks: Citations

2009-11-13T14:33:00.001-08:00

From: A___
Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 5:19 AM
To: nyrenagency
Subject: Henry Stewart Talks: Citations

Dear Chuck,

I am writing to update you on citations for talks appearing within The Marketing and Management Collection (www.hstalks.com/go).

The Marketing and Management Collection, of which your talk forms part, is used as an educational resource by academic institutions and commercial organizations worldwide. Following both customer and speaker feedback we have generated citations for every talk in the collection to enable speakers and viewers to reference the use of talks in their academic and commercial endeavours. These citations appear on each individual talk page.

We have also recently created direct links to every talk in the collection which you might wish to place on your website alongside references to your other published works. The link will provide access to the first five minutes of the presentation. The full citation and the direct link to your talk appears below.

http://www.hstalks.com/?t=MM0832173-Nyren

Citation
Stroud, D., Walker, G., Nyren, C. and in’t Veld, A. (2009), "How the older market is evolving internationally", in Stroud, D. (ed.), Latest Thinking in Marketing to the Older Consumer: Marketing techniques to target the fastest growing population demographic, The Marketing & Management Collection, Henry Stewart Talks Ltd, London.

Once again, many thanks for contributing to the Henry Stewart Talks series on “Latest Thinking in Marketing to the Older Consumer”.

Kind regards,
A___
Henry Stewart Talks
Russell House, 28-30 Little Russell Street
London, WC1A 2HN
Website: www.hstalks.com

Makes me feel like I’m an Oxford Professor or something …

Dr. Gene D. Cohen

2009-11-13T10:54:00.001-08:00

Over the weekend I heard through the grapevine that Dr. Gene D. Cohen had passed away.

Colleague Brent Green knew him, and crafted a tribute:

In Memoriam: Dr. Gene Cohen, A Creative, Thoughtful visionary For Boomers and All Aging Generations
For those in business and marketing, Dr. Cohen’s research and clinical observations provide exciting new insights into aging, while creating vast opportunities for new products and services and reframing outdated societal myths.

Here’s a short piece by Dr. Cohen that touches upon much of his research:

A New Perspective on Sustaining and Increasing Learning Capacity With Age
Postformal thought itself often results in new learning strategies, novel insights and creative problem solving. It allows us to examine in new ways information we have had or situations we have been in for some time, bringing new perspectives and understanding into our awareness. In this sense, it can promote creativity with aging -- bringing something new into existence that is valued. It can lead to new breakthroughs in thinking -- not despite aging, but because of aging.

The mainstream press wasn’t jumping all over Dr. Cohen’s passing. I wondered why. I’m still wondering why. But finally:

Gene D. Cohen, Geriatric Psychiatrist, Dies at 65
His outlook was optimistic, which he conveyed in books for general audiences. As research in the 1990s began to show that the brain was less susceptible to being ravaged by age than had previously been thought …

The Washington Post now has an obituary:
"The magic bullets are all blanks," he said in 1998, advising people to rely on "intellectual sweating" instead of pills and herbs for good mental health. "Make it a point to learn something new, instead of turning to hormones or ginkgo biloba."

Although the medical establishment tended to treat aging as a disease when he started his career, Dr. Cohen found that the later adult years can be a time of great creativity.

In 2006 I blogged about Dan Pink and David Galenson and what they were saying about this subject:

What Kind of Genius Are You?
A new theory suggests that creativity comes in two distinct types - quick and dramatic, or careful and quiet …

Veterans

2009-11-11T12:30:00.001-08:00

RT @CreatingResults: Marketing to Veterans As a Subgroup of Mature Consumers: http://bit.ly/40oZGd

Veterans are well-educated and place great value on learning.

The “Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944” – more popularly known as the GI Bill – was one of the most popular and transforming government programs of the 20th century.

A Potential Boom from Baby Boomers: Universal Design & Aging in Place

2009-11-09T14:14:00.001-08:00

For advertising folk, one of the most useful attributes of the internet is being exposed to online trade mags – ones you’d probably never see otherwise. With a new client, or if you’re pitching, you need to find founts of knowledge fast.

I’ve been quoted in a few trade mags I’d never heard of until they contacted me:

Boomers in Candyland

Boomers Beyond: Marketing to a 50-Plus Audience

Savvy sleep that knits the ravelled sleeve of care.

While fiddling with the ether today, I happened upon this piece in Kitchen & Bath Design News:

Look for a Potential Boom from Baby Boomers
DPH Perspectives
By Melissa Allen
Where can boomers turn for help with customizing their homes so they can stay where they are? Big-box stores offer deep inventories and economies of scale, but don’t provide carefully chosen collections of truly outstanding products or the expertise to help boomers combine products and solutions to meet age-related needs.

… Boomers want knowledgeable and trustworthy professionals they can work with in upgrading their homes, and they’re worried that they won’t be able to find them.

This spells opportunity for our industry.

First I had to figure out what DPH meant. Wikipedia was no help. With some scrolling and deep deciphering, my incredibly big brain finally got it: Decorative Plumbing & Hardware.

Television, Movie, Pop Stars Least Persuasive

2009-11-06T18:06:00.001-08:00

Sort of an interesting survey (for two reasons) by Harris Interactive and Adweek Media:

Business Leaders Considered Most Persuasive in Ad Endorsement (PDF)
The issue of celebrity endorsements is something a number of companies grapple with as they are planning their advertising campaigns … One quarter of those aged 18-34 (23%) say television or movie stars are most persuasive while only 15% of those aged 55 and older feel the same way.

Sort of interesting survey reason #1:

I’ve talked about this for years when advising clients about reaching Baby Boomers. In an online presentation a year ago there’s a section all about celebrity endorsements. I used Liberty Medical as an example of a company that (at the time) needed to update its image. The section is about 19 minutes in:

Two graphics from the above presentation:

So you don’t have to sit through it, basically I say that it would be a mistake to find a ‘new’ Wilford Brimley.

Sort of interesting survey reason #2:

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS THAT ARE MOST PERSUASIVE

Odd that Harris Interactive would stop delineating demos after age 55, as if all people over that age are the same: simply old.

Of course, this myopia is nothing new:

The Jitterbug Phone
The real issue: Marketers assuming that if you're over fifty you're automatically a member of one and only one age demographic - all with the same needs and wants.

Tungate in Paris. Tungate in Istanbul.

2009-11-05T17:06:00.001-08:00

A few years ago I met Mark Tungate:

ADLAND by Mark Tungate

Mark Tungate, I find out after our brief rendezvous at Bayard Presse in Paris, after returning home and reading his book, after jumping on the web and scurrying around, after emailing a few friends in France and England, is a heavyweight in the ad world. He's written a bunch of books, loads of articles for advertising and general interest magazines, has a TV talk show. He puts together the text for an 'everybody in the industry has to pour over it every year' annual overview of European advertising …

Since then Mark has written two more books:

Branded Male: Marketing to Men
Branded Male discusses the evolution of the male consumer and the desire of marketers to tap into the still underdeveloped male market. Crammed with facts and anecdotes, Branded Male analyses how to effectively brand products and services for the male market.

Luxury World
With wit, accuracy and insatiable curiosity, Luxury World takes us on a voyage around the luxury universe, slipping behind the façades of the world’s most sophisticated businesses to show the reader how they function.

In December, Mark is taking his road show to Istanbul:

The event is produced by IMI Conferences:

IMI Conferences organizes Guru Events, Market Specific Conferences and Up-To-Date Panels … on topics that are of interest to the world and to Turkey. Its most fundamental target is to inform the business circles in Turkey of Global developments and trends.

While probably not quite arriving in the style Oprah did recently, no doubt Mr. Tungate will leave Turkey with almost as many new fans.

Television: It’s still a passive activity

2009-11-02T11:21:00.001-08:00

From The New York Times:

DVR, Once TV’s Mortal Foe, Helps Ratings
By BILL CARTER
Published: November 1, 2009
In what may seem a media business version of the Stockholm syndrome, television network executives have fallen in love with a former tormentor: the digital video recorder … more people seem content to sit through the commercials than networks once thought.

… The most basic reason, according to Brad Adgate*, the senior vice president for research at Horizon Media, a media buying firm, is that the behavior that has underpinned television since its invention still persists to a larger degree than expected.

“It’s still a passive activity,” he said.

I’ve yakked and yakked about passive and active activities and advertising. A few years ago it was about magazines (and television):

Positioning Magazines for Baby Boomers
At some point you have to climb out of your frenetic digital nest and concentrate on one thing. It might be reading a book, watching a TV show or movie, listening to music, looking out the window.

Or immersing yourself in a magazine.

This isn’t ‘down time’ (that would be sleeping), but nourishing your psyche by absorbing and not actively being involved …

_____

* It was 2005 when I first pulled a quote from Brad Adgate:

Over 50 and Out of Favor: by Meg James, LA Times

Another one:

Where’s the TV for us?

NABBW Teleseminar: The Path from Job Loss to Re-Employment

2009-11-01T13:23:00.001-08:00

The National Association of Baby Boomer Women is sponsoring a teleseminar this month with friend and colleague Dr. Carol Orsborn, along with Amy Hoster - someone I don’t know but it sounds like we all should:

Baby Boomers: The Path from Job Loss to Re-Employment
Date: 11/17/2009
Time: 3:00 PM EST
Listen in as Boomer expert, veteran marketing executive, and author of The Year I Saved My (downsized) Soul: A Boomer Woman's Search for Meaning…and a Job, Carol Orsborn, Ph.D, discusses the top five things one should do immediately after a job loss or the looming fear of one, and as she explains why attitude has so much to do with successfully becoming employed again. Orsborn, who has appeared on Oprah and The Today Show, and in the pages of People Magazine, Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, understands firsthand what Boomer Women face when caught up in a downsizing, and is ready and willing to share all …

On the call will also be Amy Hoster … who's been involved in the recruiting industry since 1999. Amy promises to give our callers specific tools they need for re-employment; like how to make sure you've got the right kind of resume, the all-important interview; what to say and what not to say, and also how job fairs can benefit you.

Dotsie Bregel founded NABBW.
I remember hearing from Dotsie when NABBW was simply an idea and a web page. Now it’s all over the place.

Watch a ton of videos about The National Association of Baby Boomer Women.

Sign up for the Teleseminar.

Can Boomers Lead an Elder Revolution?

2009-10-30T15:06:00.001-07:00

In response to a New York Times piece in September, I tossed up a post with (much too) long excerpts from my book (first published in 2005):

Late Bloomer Boomers
The Late Bloomer Boomer Movement is going full blast, and there’s no stopping it. The magic equation: Thirty-odd years of experience plus not feeling old and being relatively healthy plus knowing you have another quarter-century of productivity in you equals . . .

Well, we’ll see. Some pundits are predicting that Late Bloomer Boomers may leave a bigger imprint on society than the “early bloomer” Boomers who were at the top of their games twenty-five to thirty-five years ago.

Now Philip Moeller of U.S. News & World Report is contemplating some of these same issues:

Can Boomers Lead an Elder Revolution?
… But what if, instead, an aging world turned out to be a good thing? Is this even possible? Well, nearly 80 million baby boomers are here to say that they've had a great run so far and they expect, no, they demand, that it will continue.

… Roszak, a college teacher and author of 15 books who is now in his late 70s, has issued another rallying cry to this generation with The Making of an Elder Culture, published earlier this year. In it, he argues that the baby boomers are hardly finished making their mark on the world. "Boomers, who will usher us into senior dominance, are the best educated, most socially conscientious, most politically savvy older generation the world has ever seen," he says. "I believe that generation will want to do good things with the power that history has unexpectedly thrust upon it in its senior years. What boomers left undone in their youth, they will return to take up in their maturity."

Requisite cliché:

Okay! Sounds like a plan.

The Joy of Book and Author Promotion Circa 2009

2009-10-29T11:34:00.001-07:00

From: Brent Green
To: Chuck Nyren
Subject: The funny part is it's eerily accurate...

The joy of book and author promotion circa 2009:

Subject: Our Marketing Plan
by Ellis Weiner
Let me introduce myself. My name is Gineen Klein, and I’ve been brought on as an intern to replace the promotion department here at Propensity Books … I’ve attached a list of celebrities we think would be great to blurb your book, so find out their numbers and call them up … We’d like to see you on morning talk shows like the “Today” show and “The View,” so please get yourself booked on them and keep us “in the loop.”

From: Chuck Nyren
To: Brent Green
Subject: RE: The funny part is it's eerily accurate...

That’s great. I’m spray-feeding it on Hoster Broaster.

Chuck

Their personalities are far from grave.

2009-10-28T16:45:00.001-07:00

NostraChuckus nails it again.

A piece from The Boston Globe:

Their personalities are far from grave
Funeral directors humor themselves at convention
By David Filipov
… He has been getting requests for personalized funerals all the time, as baby boomers “come of age,’’ as he puts it. Boomers were raised to have it their way. It is an attitude they take with them to the grave. And it has required funeral directors to evolve.

And a post from last year:

Funerals Are For The Dead
As the old saying goes, “Funerals are for the living.” Not anymore. Now there’s a place where you can theme, decorate, and DJ from the grave (or wherever you happen to end up) – thanks to two Baby Boomers: Nancy Bush and Sue Kruskopf.

… Of course, when I die I want a funeral procession with an old rickety horse-drawn carriage, open coffin, priests with long beards in long robes waving incense, and hundreds of women dressed in black and wailing.

But that’s just me. My personal statement.

AARP Targets Media Planners

2009-10-27T16:31:00.001-07:00

I was going to pass on blogging this – since Dick Stroud already did the honors:

AARP Video – Boomer + Interrogation
The video was created as a way to overcome the objections that AARP heard at the forum. It is sad to say but these objections to the older market have been around since I began writing my book and are identical to the ones I encountered in the UK.

It is astonishing that people are still coming out with these lame excuses.

But a gentleman from AARP Media emailed me and wanted my take on it.

So, here’s the video and the take:

I told him it would be difficult for me to gage the impact on media planners, but was happy to note that the video didn’t do anything stupid – like denigrate the target market they’re promoting.

Way back in 2004-5, AARP was doing just that in a B2B campaign. I wrote a chapter about it in my book, and referenced it in a post few years later:

AARP's Chicken Coop Coup?
… The advertising campaign has one ad with ashen-faced Baby Boomers in body bags ("These days, doctors don't pronounce you dead. Marketers do."). Another shows Baby Boomers acting like testosteroned teenagers ("Outta the way, punks: older racers are the hot-rod kings!").Yet another has one of a middle-aged lady dead in a powder room (probably from overdoing it on the dance floor) with police chalk outlining her body. I don't know what the copy is because I haven't seen it. It's probably something like, "Give me wrinkle cream, or give me death!"

I just couldn’t figure out how trashing your ‘product’ was going to sell any. And even if it did …

More from the chapter:

The problem is that the advertising agency, like most agencies, is very much caught up in the trendy concept of Branding (one of those buzzwords overused in the last few years, and often misunderstood), and consciously or subconsciously did a bit of branding with their client’s product.

They’ve done this by introducing and presenting the product as immature, daft, and half-dead. Quite the product I’d want to buy (meaning: quite the demographic I’d get all hot and bothered about advertising to).

Even if this campaign convinces advertisers and media planners to consider targeting Baby Boomers, these silly stereotypes have been reinforced and will be carried over into consumer campaigns.

The AARP Media Sales Interrogation video stays on message – so other than being a bit long, it’s fine with me. I hope it works.

The News of IMMN

2009-10-25T17:10:00.001-07:00

There’s a new news web page – for the public and IMMN members.

I had my greasy fingers in a few of these stories. But some are new to me. The profile of Stephen Reily of Vibrant Nation is fascinating (and a bit intimidating):

Stephen graduated from Yale College, summa cum laude, and from Stanford Law School, after which he clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.

More intimidation:

Richard (Adler) holds a BA from Harvard, an MA from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MBA from the McLaren School of Business at the University of San Francisco.

Not profiled in the newsletter, but just as intimidating:

Dr. Harry "Rick" Moody, Director of Academic Affairs for AARP in Washington, DC, received the 2007 Outstanding Scholar award from the Creative Longevity and Wisdom program at Fielding Graduate University. Since 2005, an outstanding scholar has been chosen for this prestigious award given in recognition for the recipient's work with the aging population.

Okay … it’s not the intimidation. It’s the quality and expertise of so many IMMN members that makes it all worth checking out.

Me vs. We Redux Redux

2009-10-22T12:28:00.001-07:00

I guess you should peek at the original Me vs. We:

Last week I read a piece of marketing advice: "Baby boomers have always been considered the 'me-generation,' and that doesn't change with age."

It's this type of reckless gibberish that is useless to marketers, and ultimately harmful to their clients.

And Me vs. We Redux:

A colleague sent this email:
Good story today - This Boomer Isn't Going to Apologize
I did read something about a bunch of pundits apologizing for the recession/depression or whatever we’re going through. Apparently, they think it’s all their fault because they’re Baby Boomers. (Did any generation apologize for The Great Depression? I’ll have to check the history books. If not, it should. Some of those evil bastards must still be alive. Anybody over ninety-eight had better atone.)

Now there’s more:

Me Generation Baby Boomers Find Fulfillment Through Volunteerism, Family Ties
Baby boomers may be popularly portrayed as whiners, complainers and narcissists, but a new study by University of Massachusetts Amherst psychology Professor Susan Krauss Whitbourne says the 50-somethings are getting a bad rap.

“It’s wrong to say baby boomers are selfish and only care about staying young,” said Whitbourne. “They have a feeling of connection to younger generations and a social conscience.”

Sounds familiar. From my book:

Today, Baby Boomers are two or three times removed from being a “me” generation. What constitutes self-actualization when you are twenty-five is different than when you are fifty-five. In your twenties a person thinks they are the picture. As you get older, you see yourself more and more as a picture that is part of a bigger picture.

Talk to some folks in their twenties, thirties. They are now in that ‘me’ stage. It’s healthy, smart for them to be so. I was just like them thirty years ago, get a big bang out of them, admire their boundless creativity, energy – and self-obsession. These ‘me generation’ twentysomethings today will become a ‘we generation’ in thirty years.

(page 171, Advertising to Baby Boomers)
(c) 2004, 2007 by Paramount Market Publishing

One other pull:

Even more from Richard O. Jones:

The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of the Baby-Boomers
The Baby-Boomer generation had its heyday and now begrudgingly passes the baton to the seemingly irresponsible Hip-hop generation – not that most Baby-Boomers were responsible in their youth because that’s not the case. However, Baby Boomers were the first generation to declare Women’s Liberation and experience the birth control pill. Baby-Boomers were first to experience breast implants, socially acceptable single motherhood, socially acceptable marijuana use, and to invite homosexuals out of the closet.

Kindle Kewl: Advertising to Baby Boomers

2009-10-21T14:46:00.001-07:00

With no warning from them, my publishers just informed me that they’ve made me very, very, very kewl. Kindle Kewl:

Advertising to Baby Boomers (Kindle Edition)
by Chuck Nyren (Author)
Kindle Price: $15.95 & includes wireless delivery via
Amazon Whispernet
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

I hope my wireless ego will stay in check as it whispers through the ether.

Japan: The World's Most Mature Market

2009-10-21T12:31:00.001-07:00

A worthwhile webinar next week:

Japan: The World's Most Mature Market
Tuesday, October 27 Japan is the most severely affected country by demographic change but also the most advanced in terms of product development and innovation. However, they have only touched the tip of the iceberg of the huge potential of this market.

Join IMMN and Florian Kohlbacher, Ph.D., for a webinar on the challenges and opportunities of the silver market in Japan. Dr. Kohlbacher, who is currently conducting research on the business implications of demographic change, will share case studies of leading edge mature marketing activities.

Dr. Kohlbacher is a senior research fellow with the German Institute for Japanese Studies, an adjunct research fellow at the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management at the Hamburg University of Technology, a fellow of the World Demographic Association, and an honorary board member of IMMN.

I contributed to an international business book co-edited by Dr. Kohlbacher: The Silver Market Phenomenon.

So did Dick Stroud:

A chunk from my chapter:

Today’s advertising industry needs a minor revolution. Talented men and women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s must to be brought into the fold if you want to target the Silver Market. This includes copywriters, graphic artists, producers, video directors, and creative directors. If you plan on implementing a marketing strategy that includes Baby Boomers as a primary, secondary, or tertiary market, and you turn it over to only people in their 20s and 30s, you will forfeit the natural sensibilities required to generate vital campaigns.

A free preview (PDF).

Read the Introduction to The Silver Market Phenomenon (PDF).

And don’t miss The Webinar.

Jumpin’ Jack Flash: The Newsletter

2009-10-18T12:29:00.001-07:00

Boomer Project’s Jumpin’ Jack Flash is a Boomer marketing newsletter. I’ve been reading it so long that they still send it to an old email address I dumped years ago – so I don’t always see the newest issues. Through the grapevine I heard that it linked to one of my posts a couple of months ago.

Matt Thornhill and John Martin are the principals of Boomer Project. I’ve known Matt for years, and he regularly shows up on my blog.

A few posts ago I said some not-so-wonderful things about a Barron’s cover story. Mr. Martin was quoted in the article, but I didn’t mention it.

Thanks to Dick Stroud, I’ve now read the latest Jumpin’ Jack Flash – and oddly enough, Matt, John (or both) agree with me about the Barron’s piece: not much new there.

They’re more honest than I am. Whenever I’m quoted in the mainstream media, I make sure to toss up a post stating that whatever it is is one of the greatest articles ever written.

A frugal use of flash.

2009-10-15T13:08:00.001-07:00

I’m not a big fan of long, convoluted, meaningless flash intros – which pretty much means I’m not a big fan of flash intros.

Ad agencies are notorious for boring you with graphic noise. I used to have a tongue-in-cheek piece of copy on my business site that looked like a post-it note:

Web Designer: Please insert long, gratuitous, convoluted, meaningless, waste-of-time flash intro HERE.

But I took it down because it was a waste of time.

Friend and colleague Joop Koopman and his business partner Peter VanBloem have formed a PR/Communications firm in New York City – and oddly enough, I adore their flash intro. It’s short, witty, tells the story. I’d call it a ‘frugal’ use of flash. Take a look:

Koopman VanBloom

I often point clients to this one as an excellent example of using flash effectively.

The Pros and Cons of Windows 7 for … Baby Boomers

2009-10-14T16:34:00.001-07:00

I’m not a Microsoft basher. Every so often I might rip into one of their ill-advised PR ploys or marketing campaigns. Yes, I’ve seen this and really don’t know what to make of it:

Then there’s this:

'Family Guy' creator and Microsoft team up for Win 7 promotion

Not being a fully-fledged geek (or even a flimsy-fledged one), I have no major complaints with Vista or Office 2007.

And PowerPoint 2010 looks like it might be fun.

So yours truly has been sniffing around, researching Windows 7.

One redesign pointed out by Michael Gartenberg made my middle-aged eyes shiver:

Opinion: The pros and cons of Windows 7 for business
Gratuitous UI changes
I love the Win 7 UI, but I have a lot of experience invested in the old Windows ways of doing things, and some of the changes just seem gratuitous and make no sense to me. Also annoying are on-screen UI targets that you have to hit with your cursor but that are so tiny they make you think that Microsoft is hiring a lot of young workers who have great eyesight and/or high-resolution monitors. And using Touch and fingers to navigate is somewhat of an exercise in frustration.

If true, if this UI can’t be fiddled with, I’m not upgrading.

What if everybody over fifty who walks into a store and plays with the Windows 7 UI finds it ‘an exercise in frustration’? What if millions and millions of people over fifty purchase the upgrade sight unseen, and can’t quite get a mouse-grip on the ‘tiny’ targets?

Even if you can bump up the graphics/fonts on the interface, why would the ‘default’ setting completely ignore the largest consumer demo for this product?

Time for my ol’ tattered book cover again …

“It will be the Baby Boomers who will be the first to pick and choose, to ignore or be seduced by leading-edge technology marketing. There’s a simple reason for this. We have the money to buy this stuff. Experts say we’ll continue to have the money for at least the next twenty years. Write us off at your own peril.

Wouldn’t it be nice (and profitable) if software designers helped alleviate (and not aggravate) a big issue with Baby Boomers.

Marketing to the Undead

2009-10-12T11:37:00.001-07:00

More international ether, this time from Canada:

John Farquhar: marketing to the undead
I thought I'd watch a little television this week and see how marketers see me, someone over 50. Apparently I'm dying, in constant pain, infertile, incontinent, undersexed and over-pollinated.

It’s one of NostraChuckus’ predictions:

Boomer Backlash II
If every time someone over fifty sees a commercial targeting them and it’s always for an age-related product or service, pretty soon their eyes will glaze over, they’ll get itchy and grumpy.