I’m one of the few bloggers to take pride in bringing you no news news. I’ve been offering my readers no news news for years.
The Newest No News News:
NBC Universal says older consumers are a big deal
By Jon Lafayette 11/2/2010Like most other television networks, NBC Universal aims for younger viewers because advertisers and media buyers pay for viewers in the 18 to 49 and 25 to 54 demographic group. But Alan Wurtzel, president of NBCU Research, says marketers and buyers may be laboring under misconceptions about older consumers.
Sounds vaguely familiar. A post from 2005:
Where's the TV for us?
Brad Adgate of Horizon Media and Alan Wurtzel, president of research for NBC Universal, do a good job exposing the silliness of television advertisers (and advertising agencies) targeting only the 19-49 demographic …
That was five years ago. Now they talk about alpha-boomers or leading-edge boomers:
That group of 55 to 64 year olds are the fastest growing segment of the population and are quickly aging out of the tradition 25-54 demo, making them invisible to ad buyers. Wurtzel says these days, Alpha Boomers are very active consumers who have a lot of buying power, respond to advertising, are tech savvy as younger consumers.
Hmmm. Tech savvy. That sounds vaguely familiar. From a post in 2005:
My Favorite Cyber-Myth
How I snicker and roll my eyes whenever I read about Baby Boomers fumbling around on computers, scratching their heads, totally flummoxed. Sure, there is a percentage of any age group that's technologically challenged - but Boomers as a whole have embraced the internet and aren't afraid to plunge into the ether brain first.
Pull quote on the cover of Advertising to Baby Boomers ©2005:
“It will be the Baby Boomers who will be the first to pick and choose, to ignore or be seduced by leading-edge technology marketing. There’s a simple reason for this. We have the money to buy this stuff. Experts say we’ll continue to have the money for at least the next twenty years. Write us off at your own peril.
Culled from Advertising to Baby Boomers (Page 161):
I can’t list all the posts (you don’t want me to, trust me) that talk about tech-savvy Baby Boomers. Just one more:
Snake Oil In Cyberspace
A recent report from Forrester Research indicates that while it might be tempting to categorize all aging Americans as techno-dinosaurs and Luddites …
Back to the B&C piece & Baby Boomers & Television:
These Alpha Boomers are "an important media and marketing target we can't afford to ignore," Wurtzel said …
Sounds Vaguely Familiar Redux:
Study: TV's youth obsession backfiring
The steady glow of the Boom tube
Television programmers take note of the Silver Tsunami
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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.
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. 
Who’s gonna buy this car?
03 May 2012
Or …
For years I’ve blogged about 
… 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 … 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 neuroscientists at Nielsen Neurofocus, having strapped EEG-tracking caps on thousands of people over the years, have good and bad news for marketers about the brains of baby boomers.
The brain, as it traverses middle age, gets better at recognizing the central idea, the big picture. If kept in good shape, the brain can continue to build pathways that help its owner recognize patterns and, as a consequence, see significance and even solutions much faster than a young person can. 
Brand loyalty almost always fades, and hasn’t made sense for decades. 
Hire Baby Boomer Creatives
You nailed it Chuck! My reaction (albeit with an agency skew) is that these spots are targeting BOOMERS, but written by 20-somethings? … Young creatives (are there really any other kind?) can't write to BOOMERS…so they write to please themselves. As a BOOMER many of us see right through this common occurrence.
03 October 2005
It’s amazing how many data firms are out there. I have no idea why there is such an insatiable appetite for jumbles of numbers, slices of shaded pies, arrays of multi-colored lines going every which way. Abstract art at its most incomprehensible.
… After rereading this post, I’m even more confused. It’s difficult to unpack nonsense because unpacking nonsense often makes nonsense more nonsensical, if that makes any sense. 
Twitter Inc.’s shares plunged 12% on Monday as the odds of a sale appeared to dim further, shifting attention back to the social-media company’s troublesome pursuit of a strategy to jump-start user and revenue growth.
No surprise to 
things off with a client breakfast on September 28, featuring the noted Boomer advertising expert Chuck Nyren …
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.
Almost every day, NostraChuckus stares into his crystal ball and sees himself – but in other guises. These strange visages look nothing like him – yet they do. It’s as if his crystal ball doubles as a phantasmagoric funhouse mirror ...
