Week Old No News News

I didn’t get around to blogging about some no news news when it wasn’t news a week or so ago.  Now is as late a time as any:

Top retail products being sold to Baby Boomers
Baby boomers are responsible for nearly half of all consumer-packaged goods (CPGs) purchases, according to Nielsen’s August 2012 findings. CPGs include products ranging from foods and drinks, to health and beauty products, to household and pet products.

So along with the obvious stuff, Boomers purchase just about everything else.  Sounds familiar:

14 December 2008
Baby Boomers: A Force to Reckon With
Households with baby boomer members -- born between 1946 and 1964 -- account for nearly $230 billion in sales of consumer packaged-goods (CPG) products and represent 55 percent of total CPG sales…

16 September 2009
Boomer Backlash II
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.   

Automobiles:

Boomers Replace Their Children as No. 1 Market for Autos
The 55-to-64-year-old age group, the oldest of the boomers, has become the cohort most likely to buy a new car…

Sounds familiar:

12 March 2009
Who’s gonna buy this car?
In 2005 on The Advertising Show yours truly had a spirited discussion with hosts Brad Forsythe and Ray Schilens.  A chunky segment was about marketing autos to Boomers.

03 May 2012
67% Of All Sales…
I haven’t invoked NostraChuckus in awhile.  He’s that Great Seer of The Obvious and The Mundane. 

More no news news:

'Selfish' Baby Boomers Give Way More to Charity Than Gen X or Gen Y
… Baby boomers account for 43% of all charitable giving in the U.S., far and away the largest amount given by the four demographic measured in the study.

Sounds familiar:

Me vs. We  11 February 2008

Me vs. We Redux  26 June 2009

Me vs. We Redux Redux 22 October 2009

Or …

Consider this post prophetic, for there will be much more of the same no news news in the future.

»»» Update 15 August 2013
Looks like The Wall Street Journal has finally caught up to what I’ve been saying since 2005:

Who's Buying 'Youth' Cars? Seniors
Boomers Are Prime Buyers for Small Vehicles That Auto Makers Target at Hipsters

Purple Clover.

Not sure what this place is yet.  Let’s just say it’s germinating:

Purple Clover.

An Ad Age article doesn’t tell us much:

BermanBraun Aims New Site Aimed At Invisible Demo: Baby Boomers
Baby Boomers surf the web too, albeit perhaps while wearing bifocals and on a decade-old version of Internet Explorer.

Good start. We know we’re going nowhere with this piece.

Baby Boomers, Luddites? Not So Fast.
… As far as Boomers being tech/web Luddites - I’ve been dispelling that silly myth for years - in my book and blog (Advertising to Baby Boomers, first published in early 2005).

Technology & Baby Boomers

And there’s the brand loyalty silliness I’ve been screaming about for years. It came up in the post last week.

More stuff in the article is old hat, discussed ad nauseam by yours truly and others.

One interesting quote:

"We'll be launching a need-to-know, quick-hit video series that will be distributed not only on the property but via email and ultimately via text as well...with an eye toward ultimately Purple Clover living across all media platforms [including TV]," Mr. Berman said.

Sounds like my advice for another project:

27 September 2010
Next Avenue: Baby Boomers & PBS
…I wouldn’t get all agog over the concept of multiplatform content by making this project a truly interactive venture. Of course, have a web site (PBS usually produces good ones). Mobile apps? Fine. However, don’t be sidetracked.  Concentrate money and energy where the eyeballs are.

30 July 2012
Picking On The Big Boys & Girls, Part III: Next Avenue

The site says this on their about page:

Purple Clover is a new site for people who hate being called "baby boomers"…

…..Okay. Whatever that means. Maybe they’re still talking to themselves, trying to figure out positioning, while not quite realizing that most of us use the term Baby Boomers for news articles and B2B stuff – not when promoting products, services, media. 

From my book, © 2005:

An interview with Ronni Bennett on her blog Time Goes By:

Chuck Nyren on Advertising and Elders (2007)
…Using the term “Baby Boomers” in news articles doesn’t bother me much (except that I’m getting sick of so many news stories lately). But using it in advertising (“Hey, Baby Boomers! Here’s the product for you!”) is pretty dumb. You don’t want to talk at people by defining who they are. This is insulting.

…Again, it’s dumb to call baby boomers baby boomers in ads. The press calls them baby boomers, and when talking B2B (business-to-business), we use the term baby boomers. My book is titled Advertising to Baby Boomers but it’s a business book.

Purple Clover reminds me of a site across the pond:

high50
You’ve turned 50? Congratulations!

You’re now part of the most economically powerful, culturally significant, desired and desirable generation on earth.

Both target the high-end chunk of Boomers and older by being tongue-in-cheek, urbane, mildly irreverent.  There’s little if any talk about the negative aspects of aging. And that’s a smart move. It’s exactly what I suggested AARP Magazine might do for one issue:

02 April 2013
AARP Is All New Redux: Part III (The Magazine)
…Plan an issue with no age/malady related ads…Of course, I would leave editorial in the expert hands of Ms. Blyth and others – but might suggest this: For one issue, no articles about being old or sick…

Purple Clover’s advertising model seems stunted – until it wraps itself around a TV project.
___

Update 31 July:
Dick Stroud’s take on Purple Clover.

New Editor-in-Chief at AARP Magazine

A blog post collection from a few months ago:

AARP Is All New Redux
AARP is ‘rebranding’ itself for the umpteenth time ...

One of those posts:

02 April 2013
AARP Is All New Redux: Part III (The Magazine)
There is a slow overhaul of AARP Magazine going on, no doubt for the better ... Myrna Blyth, former editor/publisher of a slew of top-notch magazines (Ladies’ Home Journal, Family Circle, More, and even more) is now Editorial Director of AARP Media.  AARP can’t do much better than that.

Now there’s news about the overhaul of AARP Magazine:

Bob Love Named AARP Editor-in-Chief
Monday, June 10, 2013
Steve Cohn
Robert ("Bob") Love, whose 20 years at Rolling Stone culminated in leading the biweekly to two National Magazine Awards while managing editor from 1998-2002, was hired June 4 as AARP editor-in-chief. Upon his June 24 start, Love will oversee all editorial content creation and management for the bimonthly AARP, which goes to 22.7 million members of the namesake organization originally formed to serve retirees…During his career, he has worked with such distinguished writers as T.C. Boyle, P.J. O'Rourke, Scott Turow and the late Hunter S. Thompson.

Looks like chunks of the magazine might become relevant, irreverent, entertaining.

 

 

P.S.  That NostraChuckus is pretty good, ain’t he?

The No News News News

It’s always a treat to get up, make some coffee, open the newspaper (pixels or pulp) and read nothing new:

Study: Older drivers more likely to buy new vehicles
Isabella Shaya
May 30, 2013
Automakers and dealers have the best chance of selling new vehicles by marketing to consumers ages 55 to 64, according to a University of Michigan study released today.

The study looked at the likelihood of a licensed driver buying a new light vehicle based on the consumer's age.

Baby Boomers still more likely to buy cars than Millennials
Paul A. Eisenstein
June 3, 2013
While automakers may be focusing on the next generation of potential buyers, they shouldn’t forget about the middle-aged motorists key to the industry’s recovery, according to a new study.

Sounds vaguely familiar…

18 December 2009
What Next From The Crystal Ball of Common Sense?
Famed Soothsayer and advertising gadfly NostraChuckus has been startling the world for years with his mundane prognostications. 

One of his first foretellings is now coming true.  Way back in The Ancient Times (2005) he foretold the redesigning of automobiles for an aging demographic…

31 March 2006
Car Spots Driving in the Wrong Direction
Automakers pursuing the elusive youth demographic are chasing the wrong economic quarry…

16 May 2008
Coming Boom in Boomer-Friendly Transport

12 March 2009
Who’s gonna buy this car?
…If we rescue the auto industry, it must
be able to build vehicles for an aging population.

Oftentimes No News News takes the form of a convoluted zero-sum theory, where contradictions cancel each other and you end up with … No News News:

Boomers aren't working forever, after all
Mark Miller
Baby boomers have been talking a good game for years about working longer and reinventing the last third of life. Now that it's game time, their retirement decisions look somewhat conventional.

Why Boomers Are Ditching Retirement to Go to Work
Steve Yoder
The Fiscal Times
Today’s older Americans are dumping retirement or at least reengineering it to include work.

Some mornings I’d be better off just staring at a blank newspaper or empty computer screen.

Tramping Through The Ether

I’m on the hunt, digging around, stuffing my pockets – but can’t unearth that one big blog-worthy story.  Pixels gathered:

Why are baby boomers leading the entrepreneurial movement?
… Amid economic and social changes, the 55- to 64-year-old age group has had the largest increase in entrepreneurial activity over the last decade.

I’ve heard something about this…

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers
All of a sudden every other news article about Baby Boomers is focused on business and entrepreneurs.

17 September 2009
Late Bloomer Boomers
This isn’t like retired people taking on hobbies. The Late Bloomer Boomer Movement is going full blast, and there’s no stopping it. The magic equation: Thirty-odd years of experience plus not feeling old and being relatively healthy plus knowing you have another quarter-century of productivity in you equals . . . Well, we’ll see.

Dick Stroud visits Arjan in't Veld and De Youngsters.  Amazing stuff, a must-click via Google Translate:

Portraits

Students study baby boomer consumers
Marketing and gerontology graduate students are researching ways to reach the baby boomer generation as a consumer group, as part of a project allowing them to apply acquired skills and build upon industry skills.

Perhaps the curriculum should include a book recommended as a Classroom Resource by The Advertising Educational Foundation. 

News Flash:

Baby Boomers Downsizing Homes, Upgrading Options
The baby boomer generation has made it clear they are not ready to retire. For that reason home builders, designers and architects are continuously modifying floor plans to meet their demands.

Hmmm.  Sounds familiar:

Selling Universal Design To Baby Boomers/Aging In Place (PDF) © 2005, 2007

Aging In Place & Universal Design Posts

 

That’s it.  I’m out of pixels. Unless you want to play some brain games.

We’re hot again.

For almost a month I’ve been on a Large Org Rampage, ignoring all late-breaking stories.  My news aggregator is clogged.  It needs a cleansing:

We’re hot again, wanted again, as we are every year or so for a brief time until everybody who wants us realizes they have no idea how to get our attention.

Dentists want us.

The Clergy wants us.

Book Publishers want us.

Even Hollywood wants us.

And to no one’s surprise, marketers and advertisers want us.  Recent headlines, with no links because it’s all been said before so why waste your time:

Advertising to the over 40s – the new rules of engagement

New Research Reveals Misconceptions of Baby Boomer Marketing

Marketing to Boomers Crucial to Bottom Line

Baby Boom Your Branding Strategy

Advertisers overlooking cashed-up Boomers

People are spending — just look at the Boomers

Marketing to Baby Boomers: A [Very] Valuable Demographic

I feel like Rip Van Winkle – except upon awakening nothing has changed – and that’s even more shocking….

One gold nugget from the sift:

Why You Should Remodel to 'Age in Place' Now
Safety and style should go hand in hand when making home modifications
By Louis Tenenbaum
… In my 35 years as a professional home remodeler, I've found that if I get clients to fold the health and safety solutions into the more enjoyable task of remodeling to suit their changing tastes, they are not only more responsive, but they're also excited and enthusiastic.

And thanks to two folks for mentioning me in their posts/articles:

Baby Boomer Bashing: I just don’t get it.
by Erin Read Ruddick

BOOMHER: A is for….
By Nancy Hill

AARP Is All New Redux: Part IV (Entrepreneurs, VCs & Health Tech)

In 2005 I wrote Advertising to Baby Boomers.  Knowing a big chunk of the readers would be entrepreneurial Boomers and another chunk would be younger entrepreneurs developing and marketing products and services to Boomers, I made sure chunks of the book dealt with their concerns.

A few grabs, the first from the Introduction:

Page 74:

Mary Furlong has been producing The Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit for a decade. AARP is one of the sponsors. 

Last year the organization plopped headfirst into the Boomers/VC/Start-Up pool. This year’s plunge:

AARP Health Innovation@50+ LivePitch
AARP Health Innovation@50+ LivePitch…is the premier showcase featuring the most exciting start-up companies in the “50 and over” health technology and innovation sector. The pitch event offers the venture capital and angel investor community as well as the media, the opportunity to connect with these outstanding start-ups.

If you don’t know your way around the 50+ Health/Tech industry, check out these thought leaders:

Aging In Place Technology Watch
Industry Trends, Research & Analysis
Laurie Orlov

Richard Adler
IFTF Research Affiliate Richard Adler was born in New York City, raised in Colorado, attended college in New England, taught in the Midwest, and spent most of his working life in Silicon Valley. These many changes of scene have given him a broad perspective on American culture and a strong curiosity about what is coming next.

I’ve always been a big fan and supporter of tech and health tech.  Fabulous stuff is on the way.

But there will be backlash.  A handful of concerns for advertising/public relations:

• Privacy Issues. Big Data is the buzz phrase of the day.  Corralling every piece of medical information about everybody (including DNA profiles) could be a tough sell.
• Monitored. Many will balk at every burp being recorded, analyzed, crammed into an electronic spreadsheet and sent through the ether to who knows where. 
• Wired. It probably won’t be wires stuck into every corporeal crevice, aligning every orifice – but whatever it’ll be will be considered invasive and unnatural by many.
• Anxiety. Wired ‘n Monitored will create a whole new disorder for the mental health industry.  Having a device (probably something like a phone app or Google Glasses) that constantly flashes and beeps your vitals will cause over-the-top anxiety for many.
• Boredom. That’ll be the antidote for all the anxiety. In 2009 I blogged about monitoring during exercise:
  I wonder if most of the above won’t get tired fast.  How biofeedback-onic do you really want to be while taking a walk in the woods or playing some doubles?    

  And beepers going off to tell you you’re a lazybones?  It sounds like fun once or twice, but pretty soon some sweats or tennis attire will be all you’ll put on.  Being wired like an android and having to perform at specific levels every minute while you’re ‘playing’ could cause a slew of new anxiety afflictions.   

  Of course, there will always be a few obsessive-compulsives.

More info:

Why Innovators Get Better With Age
By TOM AGAN (NYT)
Less gray hair sharply reduces an organization’s innovation potential, which over the long term can greatly outweigh short-term gains.

The AARP is looking for some good Baby Boomer entrepreneurs to back
By Ki Mae Heussner
Despite Silicon Valley’s preference for young entrepreneurs, the research may not be on their side.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers
All of a sudden every other news article about Baby Boomers is focused on business and entrepreneurs.

---

For reference:

21 March 2013
AARP Is All New Redux:
Part I
AARP is ‘rebranding’ itself for the umpteenth time.

27 March 2013
AARP Is All New Redux:
Part II
AARP will also step up its efforts to help businesses develop “their 50-plus strategy”…

02 April 2013
AARP Is All New Redux:
Part III (The Magazine)
There is a slow overhaul of AARP Magazine going on, no doubt for the better.

They watch your shows anyway. Part II

It’s a slow news week, especially when The New York Times poses such a moldy query:

Why Don’t Advertisers Care About Me Anymore?

Every answer to every question in the article can be found in the Intro and 1st Chapter of my book ©2005, 2007, available for free download:

Advertising to Baby Boomers (PDF)

Two swipes from the book:

_____

___

And/or scroll through some posts:

6 September 2009
Boomer Backlash II
… Why couldn’t it have been a car?  Laundry soap?  Baked Beans? Gender-specific razors? Aluminum foil? A smart phone? Anything but some age-related malady.

08 March 2011
They watch your shows anyway.
… Almost immediately, the gentleman said, “There is no way I could sell this to an advertising agency.  They’re all twentysomethings – and have already told me, ‘Why target people over fifty?  They watch your shows anyway.’”

The Latest Miscellany

Golly gee, there’s no one big news story I can find to write about.  Or I’m too frazzled to concentrate, or senescently scatterbrained, or to put a positive spin on it all, expertly multitasking since that’s what people do nowadays because it’s impossible to focus on one thing what with all the tech chattering going on all around you.

Baby Boomers are wonderful:

Baby boomers have lots more to contribute
Baby boomers have earned the right not to be forgotten for their contributions by the new generations…The national conversation will only be a success if it does not forget to engage the baby boomers.

Focus on the right things, and baby boomers are a model.
I would suggest that the perseverance we used to end a war, and to move the country forward using myriad of social, humanitarian and political actions -- could likely be the kind of leadership that is in such short supply today, both here in Minnesota and elsewhere.

Baby Boomers are horrible:

Elderly go from being perceived as capable consumer to ‘old person’
“Abbie,” an 89-year-old woman from Texas, told Barnhart when she went to her doctor with her daughters, the physician would only talk to her children.

“If younger people bring you in, they think it’s because you’re not, I guess, lucid enough to understand what they’re saying,” Abbie said.

That seems to be the Doctor’s fault. But what do I know.

As Entrepreneurs:

The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur
Tech startup founders in their 20s and 30s make all the headlines, but when it comes to entrepreneurship, increasingly it’s baby boomers who are more likely to be in business for themselves — and creating jobs in the process.

Why baby boomers take the entrepreneurship plunge
The end of World War II begot a generation of Americans that’s starting to make waves in the entrepreneurship scene.

This all sounds vaguely familiar:

ADVERTISING TO BABY BOOMERS
Targets Clients and Entrepreneurs
Paramount Market Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.
… Chuck Nyren's egalitarian approach to advertising and the creation of campaigns is all-inclusive. A large section of the book is dedicated to helping Baby Boomer entrepreneurs get their marketing and advertising up and running. The author as well gives advice and guidance to the small businessperson on how to fashion a handmade campaign.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers: Part I
All of a sudden every other news article about Baby Boomers is focused on business and entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers II
I’ve found that there are two mistakes made by almost every entrepreneur targeting this unwieldy, diverse market.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers III
Lessons for entrepreneurs? Due Diligence, of course. But not everybody is out to steal your your money with promises of fortunes with their marketing/advertising prowess.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers IV
It's counter-intuitive, but the forever work life of older Americans may turn out to be a good thing for young workers.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers V
The theme contemplated in this session is the enormous opportunity and challenge created by the aging demographics of the United States and Europe.

Friend Kevin Lavery tweeted this today:

No kidding.  I can’t keep up with them all.  I tried to years ago:

Sleepy Baby Boomer Internet Villages

Invasion of the Baby Boomer Pod People

A Bit Of Social Networking Site Research
Six sites featured were Social Networking sites.  Of those six, four (BoomJ.com, BoomerTowne.com, TeeBeeDee.com, Boomer411.com) failed miserably and no longer exist.  Millions of dollars wasted.
Update: Make that five out of six.

Advertising to Baby Boomers Can Be Tricky Business
“Here are six slogans, corporate tags, mission statements, whatever you want to call them, for six web sites targeting Boomers.”

You’d better start searching for all these new ones Kevin is talking about because they’ll vanish into the unity before long.