Gill Walker of Evergreen Marketing Communications in Australia is
part of a team that has put together a set of very impressive seminars for SouthernCross Broadcasting. Its purpose? To convince advertisers to target Baby Boomers (give or take a few years).

What knocks me out is that these seminars not only talk about obvious products/services (financial, travel) but feature - surprise, surprise - almost all consumer products and services including household cleaners, food, toiletries, etc.

Such audacity. Advising advertisers to sell everyday products to people over thirty-five. I'm fifty-four, and (according to the advertising and marketing industry) I haven't brushed my teeth, bought laundry soap, purchased a shirt, or taken a shower in almost twenty years. And as far as big ticket items - well, those rabbit ears work just fine on my 13-inch black & white T.V. They just need a nudge and a jiggle every now and then, that's all. And if a new needle is needed for my phonograph, I just get in my '73 Pinto and head over to the Goodwill and, when no one's looking, twist one off of a dusty old turntable and put it in my pocket...

Also check out Gill's excellent article, Why Advertisers Keep on Missing Our Target Market.

Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit

Mary Furlong's Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit is June 21st, 2005. It's a follow-up to the What's Next Boomer Business Summit earlier this year in Philadelphia.

I was at the 1st What's Next Conference last year in San Francisco -- and spent lots of time chatting with Mary, Brent Green, David Wolfe, John Migliaccio, and Myrna Blyth.

And it was one of the reasons I decided to write a book about advertising to Baby Boomers.

If you are at all interested in Business 'n Boomers, the Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit is where you should be.

Give Me Flack

I have to do some positive PR for The Flack, Peter Himler's PR Blog.

Peter is one of those 'honest' Flacks (and remember, you're hearing this from an ad hack, so if you're a bit wary about trusting me…oh, well). Mr. Himler's irreverent musings are seasoned with more than a dollop of industry-deprecation (in his postings, he's not afraid to link to places like PR Watch).

An answer of his to a recent comment in his blog:

"There are many, many redeeming aspects of public relations. Richard Edelman (and I) believe that transparency in what we do will be the key to redemption for our industry's reputation. It is one of the reasons I'm penning this blog: to show how PR plays out in what we read and watch."

PR is in dire need of a crackerjack, no B*lls**t PR professional. Peter Himler is just the guy for the job.

Turmoil reigns at Mitsubishi

Here's a fellow who doesn't need to read my book. Good for him.

From AutoWeek a few weeks ago:

Executive departures overshadow launch of redesigned Eclipse … Some say (Dave) Schembri butted heads with the marketing department over how the Eclipse should be marketed. They say market studies showed the car should be aimed at men ages 25 to 40. But Schembri argued for courting baby boomers, too, they say.

And a week or so later, it's obvious that Mr. Schembri won:

The primary target customers are singles and married couples aged 25 to 35. The secondary customers are baby boomers with older children and empty nesters looking for a personal car.

Thanks, AdRants

I'm truly appreciative of Steve Hall's mention of my book in his AdRants blog. I emailed him a press release and he not only tossed something up, but linked to Paramount Books.

AdRants could be touted as the advertising blog, but that somehow sounds rather blah and overblown. It's lots of fun, crammed with up-to-date info and insightful comments about the wacky world of advertising and marketing. A regular stop for me. From their web site:

Adrants was recently named best individual weblog on general marketing and advertising topics by industry publisher MarketingSherpa. The survey was conducted during the month of May with more than 800 MarketingSherpa readers examining and voting on 29 Blogs in six categories.

Other every day stops include Brand Autopsy. I love these guys, John Moore and Paul Williams. No B.S. No pulled punches. And funny.

Although the funniest and most outrageous ad blog around is Hugh MacLeod's gapingvoid. He's trying to get publishers interested in a book idea titled How to Be Creative. I wanna read it. But what I really want is a book of his cartoons.