As usual, not much new here – but it’s flattering to know that folks are catching on:
Time for 50+ to Make a Comeback
Feb 22, 2010
By Karl Jacobson
… Too often in the ad world, younger people are hired instead of older ones, and there is a belief that youth in and of itself is good. However, the near 80-million strong baby boomer market, of which I'm a part, and where consumers spend billions of dollars, is still very important -- and perhaps should be spoken to by people actually part of that generation.
From an online article of mine published in 2003:
Back Into The Fold
The Giant Leap: There had better be a minor revolution in the creative end of the advertising industry. Talented men and women in their late forties and fifties need to be brought back into the fold if you want to reach us. This includes copywriters, graphic artists, producers, directors, and creative directors.
Truth is, you can analyze marketing fodder all day and night, read countless books about marketing to Baby Boomers, attend advertising and marketing conventions around the world, and soak up everything all the experts have to say. Much of what is out there is valuable and useful, some practically required reading, others instructive and illuminating.
But if you plan on implementing a creative strategy, and turn it over to a different generation of advertising professionals—you'll forfeit the natural sensibilities required to generate vital campaigns.
The 'old blood' has moved on. They're top execs or have retired. How do you get them back? Do they want to get their hands dirty again? These former crackerjack creatives must be convinced that they're needed.
What about new 'old blood'? For example, ex-entertainment industry writers and directors who've been replaced by twenty-one to thirty-five year olds? Or the creative folks who've blossomed late in life—perhaps never 'making it' when they were in their twenties and thirties? Get them involved in the advertising industry.
There are seventy million Baby Boomers in the United States. Within this unwieldy demographic, there are certainly seven thousand who have a grasp of the basic concepts of advertising—and will be Generational Marketing lifesavers whether your agency or production house is large or small.
I’d link to more – but every page in my book, every post on this blog, every presentation I’ve ever given is drenched in this polemic.
OK … one link about a piece by Rance Crain of Advertising Age:
Calcified Advertising Agencies
Agencies like to think of themselves as the last bastion of creativity, but they're in many ways the most calcified part of the process. Enlightened clients are beginning to realize this resistance to change is holding them back; the next step is to bypass their agencies' counsel.
The Giant Leap: there had better be a minor revolution in the creative end of the advertising industry. Talented men and women in their late forties and fifties need to be brought back into the fold if you want to reach us. This includes copywriters, graphic artists, producers, directors, and creative directors.
When can you understand what it's like to be an over 50 consumer? Not one minute, hour or day before your 50th birthday. Creating messaging for the 50+ target is no different than creating it for the Hispanic target, the African American target or the gay target; to do it right and well requires experience being a part of that target.
