Boomer Films

James Caan, Robert Duvall, and a few others are putting together Boomer Films – ostensibly to produce films for Baby Boomers:

Boomer Films, created by Caan, 66, hopes to break the stranglehold of big-studio blockbusters such as Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean. Helped by an older generation of filmmakers, the company wants to produce movies based on powerful stories that are less reliant on explicit sex and violence.

Colleague Dick Stroud isn’t so sure about it. I’m not sure – but it doesn’t sound like the worst of ideas.

Actually, my feeling back in the 1970s was that the “stranglehold of big-studio blockbusters” was alive and well, what with The Poseidon Adventure, The Exorcist, The Towering Inferno, Jaws and the like. The Godfather (I&II) were exceptions to the rule. Most of the fondly remembered films made by folks like Martin Scorcese, Robert Altman, Woody Allen and others weren’t super-duper, rooter-tooter blockbusters. But I do admit – there were more of them then than now. And unless my memory has completely moldered, I vaguely recall loads of "explicit sex and violence" back then - although the stories were, more often than not, complex and powerful.

In the 1st Edition of Advertising to Baby Boomers (also included in the new edition) there is a chapter about bringing back creatives from that era to help fashion television/video web campaigns. You can read it on The Advertising Educational Foundation web site (click the link to download the PDF). Considering the cross-pollination between Film/TV and Advertising, perhaps Mr. Caan’s idea might be a creative shot in the arm for all media industries.

UD, Aging in Place, and My Dumb Noggin

Wesley Hein at LifeTwo.com has a good piece about universal design and aging in place:

In the post war years, the big market was in small affordable homes that could be bought on a GI bill and were suitable for raising a family. Sixty years later, the children of those GI's are looking ahead a few decades and don't want to be moved into a retirement community.

And he points you to a good piece by June Fletcher of the Wall Street Journal:

Traditionally, the market for these products has been the elderly and handicapped, but builders and manufacturers see a bigger prize: middle-aged homeowners who don't need them yet. The beleaguered housing industry is hoping it can attract these buyers with more stylish, less institutional fare such as "smart" kitchen faucets and dishwashers …

I’ve written a bunch of stuff about UD and Aging in Place:

Baby Boomers and Universal Design

Neighborhood Design, Universal Design

Selling Universal Design to Baby Boomers

Aging in Place (PDF)

And Rolling Rains commented on one of my pieces.

But, like the typical Baby Boomer, I’ll probably wait until I slip in the bathtub and crack my dumb noggin before I get the hint to do some retrofitting.

Interview with Cathy Hamilton of Boomergirl.com

Colleague Brent Green (Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers) has tossed up a blog post and video interview with Cathy Hamilton, founder of Boomergirl.com.

It's worth a read/watch/listen:

This website is the brainchild of Cathy Hamilton, a long-time journalist in Lawrence, Kansas, home of the University of Kansas. With the support of World Media -- a company that owns the community newspaper, The Lawrence Journal World, as well as other media properties -- Cathy and her team have created an imaginative, warm and welcoming place for middle-aged women worldwide to connect and collaborate.

There were real reasons - and a specific plan - behind the creation of Boomergirl.com. Cathy just didn't say to herself, "Hey! Boomers have lots of money! Let's put up a web site for Baby Boomers! Whoopie!!!"

I blogged about Boomergirl.com back in January. I don't know how many people I've sent there to show them how a site targeting Baby Boomers should be done. There are so many horrible ones - with scores and scores coming down the pike - that it's refreshing to have at least one or two thoughtful, intelligent, fun sites around.

Dennis Hopper for Ameriprise

The generally funny and always nutty Radar Online has a piece by Jessica Grose about Dennis Hopper and Ameriprise. A bunch of 'young whippersnappers' weigh in:

"At 71, Hopper looks great and is the right age to be offering advice about retirement planning. But baby boomers who remember this easy rider as a bad drunk and a serious drug abuser may laugh their way through the commercial. If not bingo, Dennis, what? Spin the bong? If not shuffleboard, dropping acid? A gong for miscasting." — Jack Mathews, New York Daily News

While there are strong whiffs of ageism in most of their comments (I certainly don't remember being such a jerk when I was their age ...), I generally agree with them - and Radar's Final Verdict. But for different reasons.

I really have nothing to add. The new campaign is simply a continuation of the old one. I've already said enough about it.

Maybe too much.

Boost Your Boomer Business

In the previous post I talked about the value of marketing/advertising books. This month GRAND Magazine has an article titled Boost Your Boomer Business with reviews of a handful - including David Wolfe's Firms of Endearment, Mary Furlong's Turning Silver Into Gold, Marti Barletta's PrimeTime Women, and mine:

This fascinating book reveals how to rethink current advertising strategies to effectively reach the thriving boomer marketplace. Nyren passes on key information about how the generation responds to advertising, cleverly pointing out that this group grew up during the years when advertising really flourished and expanded. So, their level of advertising sophistication is key to consider when developing advertising strategies and campaigns.

Additionally, a special section of the book focuses on helping baby boomer entrepreneurs jump-start their marketing and advertising.

Here's a PDF of the article: Boost Your Boomer Business.

Thanks, GRAND. And it's a great issue: a profile of Nancy Pelosi, an interview with John Erickson of Erickson Homes and Retirement Living TV, and a bubbly, funny piece by Susan Silver.