2008 Review: A PowerPoint

Not necessarily the biggest stories about advertising and Baby Boomers – but ones that intrigued me, that I believe will be influential.

Links to other blog posts, news articles, and sites mentioned in the presentation are listed below the oversized embed.

Running time: 20 minutes

Sources mentioned in this presentation:

10 Ways Marketers Should Grow Up in 2008

Todd Harff Presentation

Diversity = Productivity

Executive Session With Rance Crain

What’s The Word? (Millward/Brown, Nigel Hollis)

Buzz marketing illegal from May, warns IPA

The Crystal Ball of Common Sense

Smart or Sneaky? (Homemakers Magazine)

Eons: Now You Just Have To FEEL Old To Join

WOWOWOW

Vibrant Nation

Demand for older models grows

Chico's and Baby Boomer Women … NOT (Brent Green)

Most Inane Commercial of The Year Award

John Lennon Exhumed

Nuts for Boomers

AARP's Chicken Coop Coup?

Goodbye, Jukebox. Hello, Jennie Chin Hansen.

Older Brain May Be Wiser Brain

Aging Brain Shifts Gears

Brains More Distracted, Not Slower with Age

Baby boomers are smarter than you think

iBrain by Dr. Gary Small

Mushy Brains

Baby Boomers & The Economic Collapse

Ecologies Of Risk (Blog Post)

Ecologies of Risk (PDF)

50 Plus Beurs 2008 Utrecht

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MetLife Mature Market Institute

Institute For The Future

John Lennon Exhumed

OLPC.  One Laptop Per Child.

Watch this:

I’ve seen some beautiful, profound spots for this project:

But a new one is creepy. Cheesy. As much as I loved John Lennon, love OLPC, would have no problems with using Lennon’s music to promote such a worthy and important cause - this spot is spooky, tin-ear pandering:

It reminds me of a dancing skeleton …

I’m not the only one creeped out by it.

Before there was a Martha Stewart Christmas…

Happy Holidays.

AARP’s 2008 Best Employers For Workers Over 50

The AARP “Best Employers for Workers Over 50” is an annual recognition program that awards companies and organizations whose best practices and policies for addressing the issues affecting our aging labor force create roadmaps for the workplaces of tomorrow.

Highly admirable, AARP.  Thanks. And congrats to all the companies. By keeping and hiring employees over 50 they’re  doing the right thing and the smart thing.

Quiz: How many advertising agencies are on the list? 

Hint: You can count them on the hands of Venus de Milo.

Maybe I’m being a bit rough. After all, many ad agencies are owned by multinationals based outside of the United States – so here is the real AARP award program we should keep our eyes on:

The AARP International Innovative Employer Award is intended to recognize employers who have demonstrated innovative workforce or human resources practices that address issues relevant to the age 50 and older workforce.

Quiz: How many advertising agencies will be on this list? 

Anybody want to make a prediction?

Hint: Use the Venus de Milo to make your calculations.
______

Related Posts:

Is technology rewiring our brains?

Ignore the Research and Trust Your Gut

Home Appliances & Boomers

Rance Crain Makes Perfect Sense Yet Again

Deloitte’s State of the Media Democracy Survey

Next month Deloitte will release the State of the Media Democracy Survey, Third Edition.

Along with their teaser presentation, a few nuggets have been rolled out in advance.  Two news articles detailing choice ones:

Deloitte survey shows we’re living in a “media democracy”

Deloitte Study: Millennials, Mobile and More

Smashing open a few nuggets:

Baby Boomers, ages 43 to 61, and the mature generation, ages 62 to 75, continue to read books, magazines, and newspapers. They lag in adopting new technology. The mature generation puts the most importance on television, favors land lines, and is receptive to print ads.

Nothing much new here.  Lagging in adopting new technology isn’t quite the way I’d put it.  From my book:

 
Boomers are also receptive to print ads and television spots.  The 2007 Deloitte State of the Media Democracy Survey found that 67% of boomers visited sites after seeing ads on TV or in print.  My guess for 2009: Nothing much will change.

If you take the population as a whole, television remains the most influential ad medium for 88 percent of respondents. Magazines (49 percent) and online (48 percent) tied for second.

Those percentages are for all age groups – so you can imagine what the numbers would be for Boomers only. 

The willingness to pay for a subscription for ad-free content has declined since last year.

Advertising on the web is becoming accepted, often welcomed. 

Video on the web:

Pre-roll ads were considered more influential than overlay ads.

Most Boomers don’t mind pre-roll.  We’re used to it.  It’s simply a commercial before a show. While overlay ads are intrusive, annoying, and don’t forget this.

Deloitte’s 2007 State of the Media Democracy Survey