15 February 2017

The Age of Portmanteau

If I may coin a phrase, we’re living in the Age of Portmanteau, what with Bromance, Sexting, Frankenfood, and dozens of other blends bandied about – even by reputable news sources (if there are any anymore).

A new one: Boomaissance.

I swear I didn’t make it up.  Some marketing firm did. A humongous marketing firm.

Boomaissance: While the media remains smitten with Millennials, it's the Boomers who control 70% of the disposable income in this country. The tide is turning—older is becoming cooler as Boomers take on a "Middle Aged Millennial" mindset…

Tell me some youngsters didn’t write this. Of course, all us old folks do is just sit around all day wanting to be Millennials…

Such Hubrilescence!  (I made that up. A blend of hubris and adolescence.)

We weren’t that different when we were their age:

11 February 2008
Me vs. We
[mevsyou.jpg]… 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…

But we do not have or want millennial mindsets.  Two quotes from my book (2005):

CVRComp… Contrary to popular myth, Baby Boomers do not believe that they are still teenagers or young adults. (Some probably do, but they need therapy.) Boomers are slyly redefining what it means to be the ages they are. Included in this new definition are some youthful attitudes - but the real change is that instead of winding down, many are winding up. We're not 'looking forward to retirement,' we're looking forward to new lives, new challenges…

There is a big difference between thinking you are younger than you are, and not thinking that you are old. This “night and day” distinction may confuse many pundits, but it does not confuse most Boomers…

Of course, any Boomaissance advertising created by Millennials that assume all Boomers want to be Millennials have failed and will fail. 

And maybe that’s been my problem all along! While I’ve been writing about hiring older creatives for over a decade…

The Human Resources/Brain Power Posts

… I never came up with a proper portmanteau to promote the concept of age diversity in advertising agencies. Let me give it a whirl:

Boomlennial (Boomer and Millennial)

Juveluvian (Juvenile and Antediluvian)

Youngacious (Young and Sagacious)

I’ll keep trying.


Just for fun.  Absolutely nothing to do with advertising:

imageNo Goblins
by Chuck Nyren
…I don’t watch TV shows with goblins. Or draculas or monsters of any kind. Which means I don’t watch much TV anymore...