A Generous Review

I stumbled over a review of my book at GenerationTarget.com. Had no idea it was there, have never heard of the company:

GenerationTarget.com is where people can turn for the most sophisticated and current marketing information regarding our multi-generational marketplace. Thanks to the miraculous breakthroughs of extended longevity during the previous century, America now has six living generations. Each generation is like a separate culture with values and drivers exclusive to their own cohort. Just as one radio station could never resonate with all six generations, neither will business be able to capture all six segments using one approach.

But I have heard of Dr. Bruce Clark and Mark Goldstein. They co-founded Age Wave in 1986.

There are scores of short, valuable articles on the site. I've only had time to read three or four - but I'll head on back there every so often and eventually devour the rest of them.

Thanks for the review, Bruce and Mark.
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Previous post: Newsweek's The Boomer Files

Baby Boomers, Adult Communities, and Education

I did a conference call consult recently with a couple of on-the-ball entrepreneurs. The product/service targets Baby Boomers and their interest in continuing education.

Afterwards I sent them hither and yon. One destination was Campus Continuum:

Campus Continuum focuses solely on developing, marketing, and operating university-branded 55+ Active Adult Communities that are tightly integrated with their academic hosts.

If you are creating advertising collateral for any sort of adult community, and the housing is near a university or college, turn this into a selling point.

And/or check out what's required to be a part of Campus Continuum:

Campus Continuum also works with developers that seek assistance from our experienced team to help them bring their college-affiliated projects to successful fruition. We welcome partnership arrangements.

Newsweek: The Boomer Files

The Newsweek cover story this week is about leading-edge Baby Boomers hitting sixty. It's good - although I could've done without the stupid quiz.

The Albert Brooks piece had me gagging up my coffee, I was laughing so hard. It's a tongue-in-cheek rant about the ad industry — reminds me of a major theme in my book (hire new and used Baby Boomer creatives because the you-know-whos are screwing it up), along with trenchant comments in Brent Green's book (the dumb use of music):

Recently I have been embarrassed to be part of this generation. The reason? Madison Avenue. Madison Avenue is never wrong. They're the neighbor across the street that sees you in the way you don't see yourself. They're young, they're cocky, and what they say about the older generation becomes the truth. People still think there was a real Mr. Whipple, so I know whatever Madison Avenue says about us is what everyone's going to believe anyway.

A few days ago I wrote one of my wacky little pieces because an editor for a magazine targeting the aging industry wanted something from me. But he rejected it. Funny thing is, in my article I answered the main question in the cover story, and in Newsweek's Podcast (at least through the prism of marketing/advertising).

Nice to be two days prescient...

Forbes Magazine Weighs in on Baby Boomers

How To Play: The Upcoming Boomer Boom by Tom Van Riper has some juicy quotes from Brent Green and others - along with perceptive (but not surprising) statements such as:

Despite conventional wisdom, which keeps many major advertisers focused on younger consumers, the boomer generation is not set in its ways when it comes to product choices, according to studies by MarketResearch.com. In fact, their studies show boomers are more receptive to advertising than their Gen X and Gen Y counterparts, who tend to reject marketing claims out of hand.

Old news for a lot of us - but I'm glad the Big Boys are catching on.

Love Those Boomers....

People have asked me why I've kept mum about the Love Those Boomers cover story in Business Week. The answer is this: I'm not telling you why.

But I will point you to a few blogs that are discussing it:

David Wolfe's Ageless Marketing

Brent Green's Boomers Blog

Jacobs Media

Dick Stroud's 50-Plus Blog

And three or four pages of comments about the article on the Business Week web site