Several thoughtful books have been published addressing noteworthy opportunities to market to Boomer women. Two of the best that I’ve read include Mary Brown and Carol Orsborn’s Boom: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer – the Baby-Boomer Women and Marti Barletta’s PrimeTime Women: How to Win the Hearts, Minds, and Business of Boomer Big Spenders. These books present unassailable business cases for targeting Boomer women and offer a wealth of strategies to be successful.
One statistic from Brown and Orsborn’s book is striking: “Boomer women make up the largest generational demographic of this purchasing powerhouse, currently influencing as much as 80% of the $2.1 trillion Boomers spend on consumer goods and services.”
The authors continue unveiling interesting anomalies supporting the level of impact women are bringing to traditional “male” product categories. For example, women make 80% of decisions involving home improvements and purchase 65% of all new automobiles each year.
This begs a question: With this degree of estrogenic force in the Boomer consumer marketplace, why even bother marketing to Boomer men? A reasonable question. But I can think of a few arguments in favor of developing testosteronic marketing programs to target Boomer men:
Collaboration: The Boomer generation has played a significant role inculcating gender inclusiveness throughout our economic and social lives. While one spouse may have greater influence on the choice of some product categories, say toothpaste, for example, big ticket decisions are usually a byproduct of spousal deliberation and cooperation. Gone are the days when Dad pulls into the driveway with a new car that he has selected and purchased unilaterally.
Metrosexual Men: A new sociological male segment, identified in recent years by British writer Mark Simpson, is not dominated by homosexuals, but, quite counter-intuitively, they’ve embraced the softer, more feminine sides of life while holding onto traditional male identity. As Simpson has observed: “Metrosexuality actually gives men a certain amount of independence from women: after all, they can actually choose their own clothes, operate a washing machine, and maybe even cook for themselves. Whereas the retrosexual depended on women to mother him, the metrosexual mothers himself.” And they shop. He may go to Home Depot to buy a new power tool and then stop by Macy’s to shop for a face moisturizer. The paradigmatic representative of this segment is David Beckham, the famous Los Angeles Galaxy soccer star.
Single Boomer Men: A significant number of Boomer men have never married, and an even greater number have divorced and are living alone or with non-romantic roommates. Although numbers are difficult to nail down, I estimate about 15,600,000 or 20% of the Boomer generation are both single and male.
Men Buying for Women: When was the last time you saw a woman buying an engagement ring? Or sending herself flowers on Valentine’s Day? Boomer men buy a wide range of products for their spouses and significant others, and opportunities abound for clever marketing strategies that simplify these harrowing tasks, often reaching crescendos of anxiety around the holiday gifting season, Valentine’s Day and anniversaries.
Male-specific Product Categories: Many products simply appeal to men, first and foremost. Product categories most amenable to male marketing strategies, for example, include suits and upscale shoes, such as those purveyed by Cole Hahn; male magazines targeting Boomers, such as BestLife and Esquire; pharmaceuticals for male performance, such as Viva Viagra; certain brands of performance cars, such as the new Lincoln MKX; selected categories of sports and outdoors equipment, such as a sizeable male segment served by the boating and fishing industry, under the cross-promotional rubric called Take Me Fishing; and the exploding industry of male grooming and personal care products, now being aggressively addressed by traditionally women-focused companies, including Calvin Klein, L’Oreal, Lancome, and Clinique, as well as male stalwarts such as Gillette. Here, for example, is an ad for an after shave balm my company developed, called FaceMan:
Gay Men: A marketable percentage of Boomer men are also homosexual and rely substantially on male marketing and culture for shopping and purchasing decisions. My estimate, based on studying available GLBT survey literature, suggests this U.S. segment is comprised of over 3 million males.
While the Boomer male today may justify lesser emphasis with respect to marketing budget priorities — and consumer purchasing evidence supports the primacy of targeting Boomer women for mass-market, gender-neutral brands — obviously and rationally, substantial opportunities remain to justify marketing to middle-aged men who have also grown and matured in an aggressive consumer society, just as have their female counterparts.
In my next post I will present an example of one of the most thorough, thought-provoking, and macho marketing communication programs I've discovered targeting Boomer men. And my choice for this case study may surprise you. Any guesses?
Further, on October 15, 2008, I will conduct a worldwide webinar about marketing to Boomer men for the International Mature Market Network, or IMMN. For a nominal fee, or for membership in IMMN, you can participate in this webinar from your office or home. Not only will I address business opportunities presented by the Boomer male market, I will review a number of best-of-class case studies.
What an interesting spin...I think men are taking better care of themselves..and interested in looking younger and feeling good. There are so many opportunities in this particular arena with all the new and revisited solutions...so rock!
Posted by: carol stanley | October 11, 2008 at 08:20 AM