Is this the best television ad currently targeting Baby Boomers?

I am sometimes asked my opinion about which national consumer brands are truly successful from a generational marketing perspective.

Matt Thornhill, founder of the Boomer Project and Generations Matter, sent me a recent email to solicit my opinion so he could better inform a magazine journalist about which marketers are most effective. Matt wrote:

The actual major brands that demonstrate intelligence on how to reach Boomers are few and far between. Any that come to your mind? Frankly, I'm pretty stumped.

One problem with the question is that brands shift strategies all the time. A case in point is Fidelity. I admired their 2007 campaign featuring Paul McCartney, which wasn't totally about nostalgia for the Beatles but more about "...never stop doing what you love."

The advertising strategy involved enlisting a Boomer rock music icon as representative of later life reinvention and moving forward with core youthful values still intact.

The integrated marketing campaign hit all the right notes including television, website, public relations, sales promotion, personalized direct mail, etc. The VP in charge of this campaign left the company, and Fidelity then turned toward a more predictable nuts-and-bolts approach about its value to investors as a retirement planning service.

Alas, the marketing quants prevailed over the advertising creatives.

Given that caveat, the brand I'm admiring most right now is Subaru, a perennial Boomer favorite. One could even conclude that Boomer money built the company as we turned away from Detroit's gas guzzlers during the 1970's. We started shopping for higher-mileage, 4-wheel drive vehicles with a premium on safety to protect precious cargo: all those Millennial "Babies on Board."

I like the commercial called "Memory Lane," which clearly involves a bit of stereotyping with a rather ditsy grandmother who is nostalgic about meeting her future husband at Woodstock and sharing this momentous historical moment with her family. (Kids: "Here is where I had a chance encounter with the man who would become your father and grandfather.")

Subtle Boomer humor makes this TV spot work, and I don't grow tired of it with multiple viewings. It's the perfect Boomer context for a multi-generational family road trip. Beyond the obvious allusions to hippiedom, there is something also very powerful in this brief message: generativity.

Generativity appears during the seventh stage of Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development, one of the best-known theories of personality in psychology. This stage takes place during middle adulthood between the ages of approximately 40 and 65.

Contributing to society and taking actions to benefit future generations are important psychosocial needs at the generativity stage of adult development. During this time of life, adults strive to create or nurture things that will outlast them, often by parenting and grand-parenting. 

Consider the relationship between Grandma Woodstock and her precocious Generation Z granddaughter, as depicted so cleverly in this Subaru television commercial. Grandma's motivations for intergenerational sharing of wisdom and family history — such as how to zip line naked in Belize — are also widely shared today among her peers, Boomer grandparents. The strategy probably even works for brand development with Generation X kids who are now the middle-aged adults and chauffeurs.

Do you admire any contemporary TV spots for some of the same "generational marketing" reasons I appreciate the Subaru TV ad? If so, share your suggestions in the comments section. I'll be watching!

Comments

[Brent Green]

Thanks for sharing your opinion, Derek. If you read any of my books, you'll see that I'm usually pretty harsh concerning advertisers that throw down Boomer stereotypes. And, yes, stereotypical ads are often created by those who only have secondhand experience with Woodstock and the sixties.

However, the “Memory Lane” ad inspires me because of the compensating narratives of generativity and family. The humor is not an indictment of an entire generation but rather the story of one zany character from the generation.

Humor simply works in advertising, especially when it hits close to home. I reflect upon at least one longtime friend whose way of reacting to situations is very reminiscent of Grandma Woodstock, and she went to the three-day festival of "peace and love." Yes, the spot veers toward cheesiness, but "it’s in a way that fits the brand well," according to "Adweek."

The ad's essential purpose is to demonstrate in a memorable way that the Outback can “go anywhere.” Mission accomplished.

Concerning your theory that the ad was created by "a bunch of clueless kids age 28," the director was Lance Acord, who was born on September 9, 1964. He is known for his film work on "Lost in Translation," "Being John Malkovich." and "Adaptation." The Executive Creative Director was Randy Hughes who is around age 56 and has been with Carmichael Lynch Advertising, the agency, since 1998. The copywriter was Conn Newton, in his mid-40s, who, in addition to this spot, wrote the highly mature and sobering "They Lived" campaign for Subaru.

My two colleagues who agree with me about this commercial have both written and published books on Boomer marketing and advertising. Everyone is entitled to an opinion when judging art/advertising, and there will rarely be agreement, especially with commercials that are edgy and not entirely PC.

The bottom line in advertising is the "bottom line," and the folks at Subaru America just announced some noteworthy sales results:

*Subaru sets a new all-time sales record in December 2015 of 582,675 vehicles; up 13.4 percent over 2014

*December 2015 marks best-ever sales month in company history

*49th consecutive month of year-over-year growth

*Best December ever for Legacy, Forester, WRX/STI, Outback and Crosstrek

*Best year ever for Forester, WRX/STI, Outback and Crosstrek

*29th consecutive month of more than 10,000 Foresters sold

*22nd consecutive month of more than 10,000 Outbacks sold; best Outback month ever

[Momomentous]

I like your perspective Brent but just have to respectfully differ. My reaction to all Subaru ads is the tendency to upchuck for all their carefully crafted lame attempt at emotional connection. "Love.. that's what makes a Subaru... yeah right - you've got me convinced Subaru! And the hippie stereotype grandma (who is still hot of course for her age) and the dumb tree hugging stuff is so stereotypical it makes me rather ill. And the grandmother who just blabs on without a filter and the poor children have to put a brake on her nuttiness? It just doesn't ring true at all. And like a lot of the horrible TV ads these days, it is obviously created by a bunch of clueless kids age 28 who have no life experience but only experience of hippy Woodstock stereotypes. I find this rather insulting to boomers and anybody with half a brain! Again I really like you Brent and your writings and we have corresponded but I get a negative visceral reaction from the cloying trite Subaru ads. All the best - Derek