More Housing No News News

Forbes has a brand-new article about housing us old seasoned folk:

Hey Senior Living Pros: Boomers Don’t Want Your Old, Tired Communities

I especially like the Getty photo the editor picked for the piece. Yours truly and everybody else I know who’s around my age dress and act exactly like this guy (except I usually use five straws when drinking out of a glass – not just two).

Opening paragraph of the article:

The Senior living industry needs to wake up and understand that Baby Boomers just don’t want what their parents and grandparents were offered. No matter how fancy the furniture, how many lakes and golf courses they install on the property, and how large the gym and swimming pool are, baby boomers want an entirely different experience.

I’ll agree with that. In fact, I agreed with it over fifteen years ago. From my book Advertising to Baby Boomers © 2005/2007:

Past generations tended to get excited about modern conveniences that would make their lives easier. They'd walk into a planned housing unit and exclaim, "Look! It's got this and this and this and this!" The more features, the better. The more 'planned,' the better. It was time to start a new life. Time to be rewarded for all the hard work, and relax.

Not so with Baby Boomers. We take most modern conveniences for granted. And we don't want to start new lives, but continue the lives we already have.
Baby Boomers will be anticipating a seamless transition. Instead of "Look! It has this and this and this," we'll be sniffing around for friendly, useful spaces. You'll want us to say, "Look! There's a perfect place for my pottery wheel," or "There are plenty of windows and sunlight. My house plants and indoor herb garden will do fine in here," or "Good. I
  can put up big, deep shelves for my books and CDs," or "Here's the perfect room for our side business on Ebay," or "Here's a place where I can soundproof a recording studio or  entertainment center," or "This oversized back door is great because I can roll my bicycle in and out without squeezing and jerking it around - and the extra-wide hallway means there's plenty of room so I can just lean it against the wall and we won't bang into it every time we walk past it."

These will be the selling points. Less is more.

From the Forbes article:

… Communities of people with similar interests and backgrounds will hold greater allure than fancy amenities … How about communities for aging writers and journalists? How about a community for lifelong athletes? What about a community for those who spent their lives in medicine or science or those who want to make and show their art? What about a community of builders and woodworkers?

I’ll agree with that. In fact, I agreed with it over fifteen years ago. From my book Advertising to Baby Boomers © 2005/2007:

Some sociology experts predict that semi-retirement and retirement communities will naturally develop personalities based on shared interests. These could be gardening, motorcycles, vegetarianism, the arts, sports-related activities — even a community where shared interest might be financial speculation.

A PDF culled from the book:

Selling Universal Design To Baby Boomers/Aging In Place

And a (fairly) recent post about housing, retirement communities, etc.:

04 February 2020
Communities for Boomers
The elder-centric housing industry is about to explode every which way …

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.”

There’s a lot of bad advice out there.

Even a jaded, grizzled fellow like yours truly is often amazed at the poop on the web, along with what passes as cutting-edge thought. I’m not talking politics here – but marketing advice.  I expect silliness on political web sites.

The other day I read rubbish. I won’t be linking, simply quoting.  The site/company is all about generational marketing on the web. The quote is from a blog post dated November 8, 2010:

“Despite what you may think, Boomers are not complete digital Luddites. In fact, they are embracing digital social networks with almost one in four younger Boomers active in social networks, up from 15% in 2007. But not just Facebook. They are quickly populating their own corner of the social internet with sites such as Eons, BOOMj.com, Boomster.com and TeeBeeDee.”

No News News. I’ve been exposing the luddite ludicrousness for years:

14 November 2005
My Favorite Cyber-Myth
How I snicker and roll my eyes whenever I read about Baby Boomers fumbling around on computers…

13 January 2006
Baby Boomers Burst Online
For example, she tells a story about her mother-in-law giving the 20 and 30-something youngsters in her family Logitech video WebCams for Christmas, then announcing:
"Now we can all iChat together and see each other wherever we are … Later, I'll show you all how to set it up."

23 February 2009
Snake Oil In Cyberspace
… While it might be tempting to categorize all aging Americans as techno-dinosaurs and Luddites, more than 60 percent of baby boomers are avid consumers of social media like blogs, forums, podcasts and online videos…

Back to that quote:

“… Boomers active in social networks, up from 15% in 2007. But not just Facebook. They are quickly populating their own corner of the social internet with sites such as Eons, BOOMj.com, Boomster.com and TeeBeeDee.”

Poop. Eons is a joke, BOOMJ.com went belly-up over a year ago, and TeeBeeDee’s 2009 demise was well-documented. Dozens of others have come and gone.

I was fiddling around with Alexa and found out that this lowly blog (the one you’re reading now) has a higher traffic rank than general-interest consumer Boomster.com.  (Talk about a sad statistic.)

Digging deeper into the generational marketing site, I unearthed a report that was full of useless, goofy psychographics.  Baby Boomers were stuffed into categories such as Value Shifters, Worker-Bees, Independent Doers, etc. 

From January 2007:

Baby Boomers and The Joy of Tech: Part Two
“Articles (in recent marketing magazines and press releases) inevitably contain the revelation that it is possible to divide older people into strange tribal groups. They are given names like the sophisticated 'Astute Cosmopolitans' and the boring 'Thrifty Traditionalists'. Other than the amusement value, why are consumers … dissected into so many weird sounding segments?” - Dick Stroud

And there are more. I've lost count. It seems that every time a marketing firm decides to specialize in Baby Boomers, we get more "strange tribal groups."

It's quite an odd phenomenon. With tongue firmly in cheek, I warned about this in my book - predicting that eventually they'd come up with 76 million cohorts.

From the book:

67% Of All Sales…

I haven’t invoked NostraChuckus in awhile.  He’s that Great Seer of The Obvious and The Mundane. 

Automobile advertising, marketing, sales – to Baby Boomers.  When NostraChuckus first divined it (and went on divining it again and again):

Car Spots Driving in the Wrong Direction

Coming Boom in Boomer-Friendly Transport

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.

Now it’s some huge surprise:

Baby boomers drive boom in new-car sales
By Greg Gardner
Automakers are turning to buyers like 64-year-old Martin Friedman for the same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks.

That's where the money is.

… Those age 50 and older are buying more than three of every five new vehicles sold, or about 62% … For the Detroit Three, boomers now account for 67% of all sales.

Here’s the best part:

The research raises the question of whether automakers' vigorous efforts to reach younger buyers through social media or targeted reality shows…

Sounds a bit like this No News News:

Ford Fiesta Sales Slump Despite 'Groundbreaking' Social Media Marketing Campaign

NostraChuckus predicted that over two years ago:
… And when it comes to viral videos of the Ford Fiesta – here’s the most popular one of all – uploaded and ‘remixed’ by dozens of ‘citizen marketers’ and seen by millions:

Ford Fiesta

No News News

If any of this surprises you.....

Culled from a report by Jupiter Research, Internet Retailer reports Baby Boomers spend more online than other age groups:

37% of online baby boomers who bought products or services on the web said they spent more than $250 in the prior three months. That compares with 32% of online users in all age groups, Jupiter said. 76% of baby boomers have made online purchases of products or services.

Imagine if a company decided to truly target Baby Boomers, if their site was truly boomer-friendly, if Baby Boomer creatives actually designed the site, wrote the copy... imagine how this product or service would break away from the pack...

The kids are alright.

The Generation Bashers are back. 

OK, they never left.  A bit of history:

Me vs. We 
11 February 2008
Baby Boomers were stigmatized when we were in and around our twenties, early thirties. Sure, we were ‘me’ back then. Barring tragedies like war and all sorts of catastrophes similarly horrifying, most young adults are me, me, me.

Me vs. We Redux
26 June 2009
I did read something about a bunch of pundits apologizing for the recession/depression or whatever we’re going through. Apparently, they think it’s all their fault because they’re Baby Boomers. (Did any generation apologize for The Great Depression? I’ll have to check the history books.  If not, it should.  Some of those evil bastards must still be alive.  Anybody over ninety-eight had better atone.)

Me vs. We Redux Redux
22 October 2009
Baby boomers may be popularly portrayed as whiners, complainers and narcissists, but a new study by University of Massachusetts Amherst psychology Professor Susan Krauss Whitbourne says the 50-somethings are getting a bad rap.

“It’s wrong to say baby boomers are selfish and only care about staying young,” said Whitbourne. “They have a feeling of connection to younger generations and a social conscience.”

But this is all getting old and boring.  Now the pundits have a new generation to bash.  One that’s even worse than Baby Boomers!

Young People Becoming More Focused on 'Me'
Today's young adults are more "Generation Me" than "Generation We," according to a new analysis…

Millennial Generation Money-Obsessed And Less Concerned With Giving Back, Study Finds
… Researchers have found the so-called Millennial generation to be less environmentally conscious, community-oriented and politically engaged than previous generations were at the same age…

Wow.  Real no news news.  From my book © 2005, 2007:

The kids are alright.

Cleaning Out Those Dusty Ethereal Drawers

It’s amazing what you find when you’re on a cleaning binge. 
I’ve moved. Not this blog, my business site:
ChuckNyren.com
Bunches of pages were virtually shredded, the (very simple) design tweaked, and now I have a new home. Not much different than my old one. I like it.
Should I have left this on the landing page?

Tossed. It’s vapid and annoying.  But not long or pointless.
There’s an in the news section.  I stumbled down memory lane.  As you might expect, there were some laughs, some gasps, some queasiness, some shocks, some I-told-you-so’s.  A few nooks were empty. I guess news sites likewise do spring cleaning.
I’d been interviewed bunches of times about Baby Boomers, but this was the first news story about advertising and Boomers:

Don't call them old (2003)
By Jean Starr "Not wanting to get/be/look older isn't anything new. However, baby boomers will do it a bit differently," he said. "Looking and being healthy will be more important than toupees and botox. While botox and the like are getting a lot of press, I'm guessing only a small percentage of people are using stuff like that. Being able to ride a bike, play tennis and garden will be more important than looking good and feeling (bad)."

My local newspaper ‘covered’ me:

Ads today often skip over baby boomers
By Julie Muhlstein (2005)
Chuck Nyren is feeling abandoned. It's not about friends or loved ones. He thinks he's being ignored by advertising.
"What's happening now, advertising agencies are pretty much run by kids in their 20s and early 30s," said Nyren, an ad industry consultant who lives in Snohomish.

So much has changed since then.  Like, my hairline.

Ads target empty nests, full wallets (2005)
by Bob Moos "Yes, I have my favorite toothpaste. But other than that, I'm wide open for suggestions," said Chuck Nyren, 55, the author of Advertising to Baby Boomers. "Why do ad execs believe boomers don't switch brands?"
Mr. Nyren said advertising agencies often ignore or misread boomers' preferences because most of their creative people are too young to understand that generation. "The agencies better hire more boomers if they want to reach them," he said.

So much has changed since then.  But not my toothpaste.

Active lives defy aging (2006)
By Bill Glauber
"There will have to be a revolution in the advertising world," says Chuck Nyren, author of Advertising to Baby Boomers. "Baby boomers do not want to be twenty again, or thirty again," Nyren writes. "They want to feel as good as they possibly can for the ages they are. They do not want to be marketed and advertised to as if they were young adults or thirty-somethings."

Don’t tell these people.

A Booming Opportunity (2006)
By Renee M. Covino
"In England, they've done a lot of studies about 'wrap rage,' and it goes much deeper than not being able to open a bottle of medicine, for instance. It's anything, any consumer goods packaging that people have trouble opening, and as Baby Boomers are starting to age, they are very sensitive to this," says Chuck Nyren, who just happens to be another Baby Boomer and also creative strategist and consultant, as well as author of "Advertising to Baby Boomers." According to him, "bad packaging can make Baby Boomers feel incompetent; as marketers, you don't want to remind this group of people that they don't have the physical skills they had when they were younger."

Of course, the above has nothing to do with me. I can rip open any dumb, stupid candy wrapper with my bare hands .... as long as one of my bare hands is holding a pair of pliers.

Boomers: A Web-Marketing Bonanza (2006)
By Olga Kharif
But many sites are still struggling with their identities and have not yet hit their stride, says boomer advertising consultant Chuck Nyron, author of Advertising for Baby Boomers  (Paramount Market Publishing, 2005) "Every site has happy, smiling faces of baby boomers and says: 'We want to inspire you'," he explains.

My name is misspelled.

Trying to catch the wave (2006)
By Bill King
He’s proud that an industry once monopolized by white males opened itself to women and other races and ethnicities under the watch of the boomers. But there was one way in which his generation of marketers threw up a wall.

“Our blind spot was age,” Nyren said. “We were the ones who started only marketing to ourselves. We created the demo. We taught people how to market to it. And now, we’re paying the price, because the agencies have all been brainwashed into thinking that to be worth anything [to marketers], you have to be young.”

Don’t trust anyone over thirty. Unless they’re over fifty.

'Elderbloggers' Shy Away From Money Talk (2008)
By Candice Novak
"Most older people hit that Google button, and in some ways it confuses them more than it enlightens them," Seattle marketing expert and blogger Chuck Nyren, 57, says, "because there's so much crap you have to wade through to get something that is truthful or helpful."

I was talking more about this – not Google Search.

Baby boomers become the forgotten consumer (2008)
By Jennifer Mann, McClatchy Newspapers
Nyren said he often hears from marketers that advertising isn't effective on those 50-plus consumers, that it's a waste of time and money.
No, he said, they're just not doing it correctly.
"Speaking to the 50-plus, it has to be different in terms of writing and graphics and presentation," Nyren said. "A 20-something is an easier sell - you have to work harder, work smarter to get that 50-plus customer, but the return on investment, if you do it right, can be tremendous."

So do it right.

Adult underwear no longer being given the silent treatment
By Bob Moos (2009)
Chuck Nyren, a Seattle advertising consultant and author of Advertising to Baby Boomers, says the TV spots are carefully crafted to appeal to boomers who, if they don't use Depends themselves, may be caregivers for parents who do.

"Morris got the right people and took the right approach," he said. "Now, if only other advertisers would hire boomers to pitch refrigerators, soap and other products."

No kidding.

Businesses Fighting For Baby Boomer Dollars (2009)
By Mary Motzko Aside from age issues, Nyren added that there are many different personality types included in the baby boomer generation, from former hippies to conservatives. "Evoking the '60s, it's not the smartest thing to do."

No kidding.
Others have vanished into the unity, take advantage of my linguistic illiteracy, are hidden behind virtual curtains.
But you can still hear me being drowned out by Led Zeppelin.

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.

Television Still Shines

Interesting stats and a news story …

The Stats:

In a Nielsen survey … people of all ages said they spent vastly more time watching television than they did using the Internet … In a Multichannel News article, Starz Entertainment executive director of marketing, sales and corporate research Neil Massey said, “There is no evidence that people are abandoning television for other platforms.” He continued to note that “the universe of people who watch no television but watch long-form video online is about 1%.”

The News Story:

Why Television Still Shines in a World of Screens
by Randall Stross
… Television stands out as the one old-media business with surprising resilience. Though we are spending a record amount of time online, including a record amount of time watching video, we are also watching record amounts of very old-fashioned television …

As enamored as advertisers are with the interactive potential of digital advertising, they know that online is a complement to offline, not its replacement … the typical American watched 142 hours of television monthly, up about five hours from the same quarter the previous year. Internet use averaged more than 27 hours monthly, an increase of an hour and a half …

I talk about this in my presentations and consulting. The web is a boon for most traditional media, not competition. With Baby Boomers, advertising should push them to web sites:

89% typically visit a Web site after seeing a print ad, and 83% visit a site after seeing a television ad.

If you want to be confused, surf the web.

Sometimes I yearn for the olden days, when life was simple.  A morning newspaper, an evening newspaper.  Some radio stations.  A handful of news magazines.  Three TV networks – and if you wanted to watch the evening news you could only watch one because they were all on at the same time. 

Nowadays anybody can write, edit, and publish news.  You can consume as much as you want whenever you want.  However, this can get confusing.  I’ve decided that the easiest way to process all the noise is to believe it all.

If I can hear it.  Apparently, I hear lots of it:

Say what?
Overall, the baby boomers had 31% less hearing loss than their parents.

I knew Mom & Dad weren’t playing those Benny Goodman records loud enough.

And not much of it:

Rock music takes toll on boomer hearing
Richard Salvi, director of the University at Buffalo Center for Hearing and Deafness, says many baby boomers have already lost much of their hearing and developed tinnitus -- ringing in the ear -- due to many years of listening to loud rock music.  

As far as life in general, it’s going to be horrible:

Uh-oh. We’re in trouble…
You haven’t experienced cognitive dissonance until you receive a brochure encouraging you to spend thousands of dollars a year for long-term care insurance as you prepare to “defy” old age.

It Gets Worse
By Ted C. Fishman
Jacoby sees a new ageism that doesn’t just stigmatize old people for their years, but blames them for physical ills that no lifestyle adjustments or medicine can yet forestall.

And wonderful:

Boomers should avoid ageism in themselves
Dr. Robert S. Stall, a University at Buffalo clinical assistant professor in medicine and a specialist in geriatrics, says baby boomers should avoid self-prejudice … Aging boomers have a lot to expect in terms of health and well-being, Stall says.

I’ll leave you with some other studies that will confuse you even more – or not, if you believe everything as I do:

We’re all miserably happy, or …

–
Update 3/3/11: Interview with Susan Jacoby in AARP Bulletin