This is not another "are marketers finally noticing Boomers?" article -- at least not quite. It is, however, an effort to explainwhy some marketers are starting to notice Boomers in 2011.
Boomer experts (not to mention Boomers themselves) have been waiting for decades for the marketplace to recognize the value of aging consumers. And the marketplace has kept them waiting.
While it's too early to predict that this long-awaited moment has arrived, I have seen much evidence over the last year that mainstream marketers are, in fact, working to target people over 45.
Marketers at CPG giants like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Clorox, Procter & Gamble, and General Mills are now investing resources in researching and targeting Baby Boomers (now aged 47-65). Google is helping advertisers understand the ways to reach midlife consumers through search. And mainstream retailers like CVS and Best Buy are building growth strategies around consumers over 50. They're even presenting at Boomer conferences to say so!
Why now? Here's my guess.
How Boomers Are Getting Noticed
The average Boomer is now 54.
There are now more Americans aged 51 than any other age.
No matter how many futurists predict it, the average person can't act on a future trend in advance. It has to become real before most people will actually deal with something new. And what has become real now? No more Boomers are young.
For the past decades, market research showed the growing importance of aging consumers, but it also confirmed that consumers in their 30s and 40s represented the largest market to target. For that reason, it was easy to deny that consumers over 50 mattered because there so many of them were still under 50.
In 2011, market research is showing something different.
Anyone reviewing sales data has to recognize that a giant number of customers (in almost any conceivable category) are in their 50s and 60s. Not just some of them, but most of them.
This is true even in politics, and will change the way presidential candidates are marketed to voters in 2016. Census data just revealed that Americans 45 and older now represent the majority of the voting-age population. As E. Mark Braden, a political advisor, put it, "The center of American politics gets older."
The center of the American marketplace has gotten older, too, and marketers have responded -- because they've had to.
Maybe we were wrong to expect brand managers to lead the way. But we are now seeing that brand managers are really good at responding to facts that they can no longer deny.
In 2011, that undeniable fact is: most of their sales are going to consumers in midlife and older. And those consumers require a different marketing approach, demand different qualities in the products they buy, and value relationships with brands differently than their younger counterparts. They also have more money.
Maybe those of us who have spoken and written books, and commented here, trying to convince marketers to target midlife consumers should have realized: Boomers themselves would eventually accomplish this change on their own by becoming an undeniable midlife buying segment.
COMMENTARY: There are over 100 million Baby Boomers (47 - 64 years of age) and they pack tremendous purchasing power -- $3 trillion to be exact.
In order to sell to Boomers, marketer's need to understand Boomer consumer values:
- Transparency: Show Me The Money Baby. Boomers are looking for practicality, flexibility, and convenience. They already are- and will continue to look for products and services that tell a product or service story as it really is. The olderconsumer is aware of gimmicks, flaws and hidden costs and the recent economic downturn has onlyreiterated the broken promises, murky messages and fine print. 50+ consumers are curating theirproducts and services based on what can be seen; simplicity and clarity will continue to win thebattle for loyalty.
- Efficiency: Skip The Pork. Where’s The Beef? For 50+ consumers, better is better. From easy-to-use interfaces that engage them more fully inonline experiences to cost-cutting measures that deliver only those features they desire, businessesthat demonstrate improvements in product and service efficiency will capitalize on older consumers who want to spend time and money their way.
- Context: Beyond The Empty Nest There is more to baby boomers than growing old, retirement, and pending health concerns. 50+consumers are as complex and diverse a market as any; they have active lifestyles, hobbies, volunteering commitments, second careers and travel pursuits. Just like the younger generation that’sbeing raised on crowd sourcing and co-creation, they want their products and services- especially in financials, insurance, and travel to meet the context of their own very specific needs, desires and lifestyles.
- Security: Putting A Lock On The Future 50+ consumers have been affected by the past year’s economic downturn, but it’s not only theirfuture they fear for but also their kids’ futures. Baby boomers have increasingly been rewarding thebrands and businesses they believe are offering the best value - cultural and otherwise - in order tohelp lead the next generation to make wiser, more secure choices.
- Ethics: Fair Play Wins The Game How businesses do business is a primary concern for the older consumer. Baby boomers wereraised in an era where jobs were more secure and companies were more like families. Ethics play amajor role in their shopping habits. The 50+ crowd values honesty, integrity, employee and consumerappreciation, and will chose brands and businesses that employ these and other ethical qualities.
- Social Responsibility: Purchasing For TomorrowMany 50+ consumers see social responsibility slightly to the left of ethical business practices. How-ever, that doesn’t mean that those boomers to the right are not equally as focused on business be-haviors. Concerned about the future generation, they place equal, if not more, hope on businessesthan they do on governments to lead us all into a better tomorrow. As a result, their product andservices choices are based on the choices businesses make and communicate regarding sustain-ability, stewardship and corporate giving.
Says Lori Bitter, CEO of Continuum Crew,
"For Baby Boomers its not about age, it's about a mind-set. As a generation, they don't like calling attention to age"
According to Lori Bitter, marketer's need to focus not on the 20% of what most Boomers do, but on the other 80%.
A lot of Boomers say, "We're about a lot more than health conditions and retirement plans. There is a lot more going on in our lives." Yet that's the only advertising they really see focused on them. And its sort of like, "Well what about the other 80% of my life? Two minutes of my day are spent swallowing a pill for a chronic condition and after that I'm just a person that needs to buy clothes and cars and shoes and homes and all sorts of other things"
The Great Recession has hit Baby Boomers hard, not just the the younger generations. Many are on fixed incomes, the majority of homeowners are Boomers, but many are underwater on their home loans, and talk of reducing social security and medicare entitlements has them particularly bummed out when they need medical care the most. This infographic says it all.
So what are Baby Boomers buying? The Computer Electronics Show (CES) held a symposium on that subject for marketers. The following is Part 1 of 6:
Courtesy of an article dated May 16, 2011 appearing in MediaPost Publications Engage:Boomers and an article dated October 15, 2009 by Idea Couture titled, "Baby Boomer Buying Power" and an article dated March 4, 2011 by Lori Bitter, President & CEO of Continuum Crew reprinted in eMarketer Intelligence
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