Boomer Marketing Basics

I receive calls almost daily from reporters who have many of the same basic questions about marketing to Boomers. Here are three of the most common questions and the Cliff Notes version of my answers.

1) How is marketing to baby boomers different from marketing to the public in general?

The baby boom generation is composed of Americans born between 1946 and 1964. Post-world War II parents procreated 76 million times during this span (call it pent-up demand), and immigration has expanded the cohort by six to eight million since the end of the boom.

Those born between 1946 and 1955 are called leading-edge boomers; those born during the second half are referred to as late- or trailing-edge boomers. Generation Jones is a new designation gaining popularity to describe the second half of the boom.

Pundits agree that two sociologically distinct generations have been enveloped in this nineteen-year package. The leading-edge boomers are different from their younger brothers and sisters in some fundamental ways.

Members of the older group shared teenage encounters with the galvanizing experiences of the Vietnam War era and the "cultural revolution," including modern feminism, civil rights, and environmentalism.

Leading-edge boomers vividly remember the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK, as well as the debut of Four Lads from Liverpool on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The rest of my comments will focus on the leading-edge boomers because they are nearest to retirement, with bountiful implications for the housing, health, and hospitality industries, to name a few.

Marketing to a generational cohort, as opposed to a demographic or lifestyle segment, draws validity from an observation developed by a German psychologist: a zeitgeist. This simply means a shared sense of a time, particularly the impressionable years surrounding early adulthood.

Leading-edge boomers shared an intense and captivating coming-of-age period, and this has created many common values. Unique generational values and shared life experiences create fertile opportunities for message construction, offer strategies, and product positioning.

2) How much influence do boomers have in terms of numbers and disposable income?

Every eight seconds, another boomer turns 50. That's ten- to twelve-thousand per day and four million per year. Of every three adults over 21 in the U.S., one person is a boomer.

Furthermore, America is getting older every month. We can count on one-third of the U.S. population being over 50 by 2010. By 2020, one in five Americans will be over 65.

Businesses not planning to target over-50 markets are limiting growth as youth markets shrink by comparison.

It's also about the money.

Today, 50+ American adults represent 38% of the population, and that group will explode to 47% by 2020. According to data collected by the U.S.

Census and Federal Reserve, the 78 million Americans who were 50 or older as of 2001 controlled $28 trillion, or 67% of the country's wealth.

In 2000, households with someone in the 55-to-64 age group had a median net worth of $112,048 - about fifteen times the $7,240 reported for under-35 adults. Annually, boomers spend around $2 trillion on goods and services, and by 2010, they will outspend younger adults by $1 trillion.

A huge generation guarantees attractive and sizeable market segments for all comers, whether business-to-consumer or business-to-business. A generation accustomed to experimentation and a surfeit of brand choices since infancy obliterates the myth that brand experimentation hardens with age.

3) What are the boomers looking for in a sales pitch?

Boomers resonate with marketing messages that help them process their lives. Although they still maintain youthful idealism and verve in many ways, they are now middle-aged adults with middle-aged value frameworks.

For example, the quest for self-discovery and self-actualization are fundamental mid-life issues. Boomers are increasingly seeking paths toward self-expression, while advancing agendas focused on balance, core values, and psychological self-reliance. People who arrive at this stage of development become more concerned about relevance and legacies, less concerned about acquisition for purely material satisfaction.

When boomers were young, marketers sold them tailored products - tangible goods such as bell-bottom jeans. Companies then expanded products with services such as the increasing conveniences offered by fast-service restaurants. Today, the newest source of value creation is experiences: promotions, events, and shopping environments designed to engage boomers in a personal and profound way.

The key to marketing with experiences is to position brands as a reflection of unique psychological encounters. Experiences create memories, rich with sensations and personal engagement. Boomers are experience seekers, especially today in mid-life. As I've demonstrated on a number of occasions for our clients, even direct mail can be more experiential.

Finally, aging is often associated with the values of comfort, predictability, and routine, but healthy boomers defy these generalizations.

Many head in the opposite direction and embrace unabashed experimentation as a pre-retirement lifestyle.

Experimental behavior could manifest itself in a number of new ways.

That's why the adventure travel and edutainment trends are gaining momentum in the early years of the new century.

Any discussion about marketing to a generation this brief is of course rudimentary. If you'd like to explore the depths of the topic to enhance your chances for marketing success, then begin by visiting my website: www.marketingtoboomers.com. If you're inspired by the possibilities but really need to dig deeper, then please take a look at the 3rd edition of my book at Amazon.com.