The world might become a better place.

I bookmarked this piece a few weeks ago. It keeps pulling at me. While there’s not much new, it has that ‘sums up everything’ quality:

As longevity grows, the world might become a better place
The Washington Post
By Fred Pearce
The longevity revolution affects every country, every community and almost every household. It promises to restructure the economy, reshape the family, redefine politics and even rearrange the geopolitical order over the coming century.

I try to stay on topic with this blog.  So I’ll simply say: The international advertising industry had better pay attention to this article.

Posts/links from the past:

We have seen the future, and it is old and cool and wise.

People generally get better.

Old Masters and Young Geniuses

What Kind of Genius Are You?

Baby boomers are smarter than you think

Fred Pearce also talks about the origins of retirement:

The idea of a retirement age was invented by Otto von Bismarck in the 1880s, when as chancellor of Germany he needed a starting age for paying war pensions. He chose the age of 65 because that was typically when ex-soldiers died … In the future, people will probably be expected to stay in the formal economy longer.

Some worry that an older workforce will be less innovative and adaptable, but there is evidence that companies with a decent proportion of older workers are more productive than those addicted to youth.

More posts and links:

Call for ban on use of the word 'retirement'

Diversity = Productivity

Trust Your Gut

Calcified Advertising Agencies

Rance Crain Makes Perfect Sense Yet Again

Why We Need Aging Workers

Memo to H.R: Older Brains = Smarter Brains

A quote from my book (2005, 2007):

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. Only a small percentage will opt for pure retirement. (I predict that in twenty years the word 'retirement' will still be in dictionaries, but followed by the modifier archaic.)

More No News News

But it’s nice to see people blogging about it:

Baby Boomers: Consumers Ready To Buy
A look at the American advertising landscape shows that Boomers are virtually ignored. A review of numerous commercials finds that, excluding financial firms and pharmaceuticals/OTC products, most companies are doing little in the way of courting Boomers. Older faces are virtually non-existent in commercials and on websites for products and services used by Boomers …

Gee, that’s my book, my blog, my articles, my speaking/consulting since 2003 – in a nutshell. 

I’d link to every blog post about it all – but that would be every blog post. So, just one (although the links to the commercials are gone):

Boomer Backlash II
If every time someone over fifty sees a commercial targeting them and it’s always for an age-related product or service, pretty soon their eyes will glaze over, they’ll get itchy and grumpy.

 The Real Issue: Marketing and advertising folks grasping the fact that Boomers will be buying billions (trillions?) of dollars worth of non-age related products for the next twenty-odd years. If you target this group for toothpaste, computers, clothes, food, nail polish, sporting equipment, toenail clippers - anything at all (almost), and you do it with respect and finesse, they will appreciate and consider your product.   

A quote from my book (1^st Edition published in 2005):

It’s going to be up to companies to be proactive when dealing with advertising agencies. Quality control of your product doesn’t stop at the entrances of Madison Avenue’s finest, or at the doors of small local or regional advertising agencies. If companies put pressure on agencies, and demand 45-plus creatives for products aimed at the 45-plus market, then they will find out that Baby Boomers are still “the single most vibrant and exciting consumer group in the world.”

Baby Boomers as iPhone window … I mean, screen dressing.

A couple of friends in the 50-Plus marketing biz have been talking about an iPhone spot and its age-neutral emphasis.  I’m not sure I see what they see:

I saw this ad a few months ago, liked it, but said to myself, “Did they ever miss the mark. It should have been done from the grandmother’s point of view.”

The spot is part of a major campaign. All the principals are twenty-somethings. In this version it’s a young mother. Baby Boomers and older are simply window … I mean, screen dressing. Marginalized, as usual – especially when it’s a tech-driven product or service.  Remember this commercial from 2005?

I admired the iPhone spot for all the obvious reasons – well done, simple, focuses on the product capabilities – and because I see this scenario played out first-hand. Of course, I’m on the other end looking over shoulders - it's the new grandmother receiving videos of her very young grandchildren. Words can’t describe …

You could categorize this spot as age neutral - but as I’ve said, I wondered why they didn't reverse the scenario - a Baby Boomer grandmother receiving the video and forwarding it every which way (including to her mother). That's what really happens. Of course, a young mom will get excited when her baby starts walking, but it’s the grandmother who goes crazy and sends the video to everybody on her contacts list. 

This would also reinforce the fact that she can do it - which would be the point if you're trying to reach an older demo with primary or secondary age-neutral targeting. 

I guess wrinkly fingers holding this new, shiny gizmo might upset iPhone’s intended target market: twenty and thirty-somethings. 

Here's a spot I love, it’s packed with the emotional wallop I’m talking about, and they do it with humor. From New Zealand:

Growing Bolder to American Public Television

Those actively optimistic and fun folks at Growing Bolder must be more frenzied than ever. In September, American Public Television will be offering The Growing Bolder series to PBS outlets:

The Growing Bolder TV Show Goes National!
The Growing Bolder TV Show has been selected by American Public Television as one of the very few new programs for national distribution …  every PBS Station in the country will receive the show in high definition and many have already indicated that they’ll air it.

Famed Soothsayer NostraChuckus has been startling the world for years with his mundane prognostications – and Growing Bolder’s eventual syndication was divined but partially obscured in his crystal ball. It looked to him like a radio show, not a TV program. 

Listen to the Growing Bolder Interview - 2006. (But please excuse the host and his rather tepid, underplayed introduction. A bit of hyperbole would have been appreciated.)

Growing Bolder Press Kit for PBS stations, local and national underwriters.

Contact your local PBS station and request The Growing Bolder TV Show.

Advertising didn't die with the invention of the telephone.

Another trenchant post by The Ad Contrarian worthy of ripping off:

3 Oddball Ideas About Media
Think carefully about the numbers.  … YouTube viewership has reached 2 billion videos a day. This is absolutely mind-blowing. However, it doesn't  make YouTube an effective advertising medium. There are some media that are universally utilized but are not very good for advertising (e.g., the telephone.)

Along with these:

Is roiling ether the best place for advertising?

Snake Oil In Cyberspace

There’s this from 2005:

There is plenty of marketing and advertising to be done on the Web, and who knows what forms they will take over the next ten years. We'll all be surprised.

But remember this: Advertising didn't die with the invention of the telephone.