Dr. Harry “Rick” Moody Joins IMMN

Yours Truly was asked to continue for another year as an International Mature Market Network (IMMN) Honorary Board Member.  It wasn’t a decision I had to wrestle with.

Here’s the list of IMMN members.

Also joining as an Honorary Board Member is Dr. Harry “Rick” Moody, Director of Academic Affairs for AARP:

Dr. Harry "Rick" Moody, Director of Academic Affairs for AARP in Washington, DC, received the 2007 Outstanding Scholar award from the Creative Longevity and Wisdom program at Fielding Graduate University. Since 2005, an outstanding scholar has been chosen for this prestigious award given in recognition for the recipient's work with the aging population.

They Didn’t Get The Memo

I never watched Boston Legal except for catching snippets every so often.  I limit myself to two shows on a regular basis (they’d be House and Curb Your Enthusiasm).   

Obviously, I try to catch as many commercials as possible.  That’s why I don’t have TiVo.  I asked some fellow at the electronics store if you could program TiVo to only record commercials.  He didn’t know – but did seem to know that he was talking to a lunatic.

An article about Boston Legal’s final episode:

Kelley, Like 'Boston Legal,' Won't Go Quietly   
By Lisa DeMoraes

… In last week's episode of "Boston Legal," John Larroquette, who plays Carl Sack, a senior partner in the firm, represented Betty White, who was suing the broadcast networks for age discrimination because they do not program to viewers over the age of 50 … "The baby boomers, now all over 50, earn $42 trillion in annual income. That's trillion!" Larroquette continues, warming up to his subject.

"Madison Avenue is after the discretionary spender," shoots back Bald Lawyer Guy, representing the broadcast networks.

"Yes, and people over 50 account for half of that, too," Larroquette responds coolly. "Choose your statistic. Go ahead. I've got you. We've got more money. We spend more money. We watch more televisions, go to more movies, we buy more CDs than young people do and yet we're the focus of less than 10 percent of the advertising.  All the networks want to do is skew younger. Kids shows for kids. You know, the only show unafraid to have its stars over 50 is 'Bos -- ' gee, I can't say it. It would, um, break the wall," Larroquette says, signaling the wall between him and viewers watching at home ...

Whoever David E. Kelley is, I like him.

I also like this blogger.  He sounds a lot like me over the last five years:

Madison Avenue Just Doesn’t Get It
Richard Ungar
… Once the boomers passed the magic age of 49, our ranks continued to be a very significant economic force-but the current generation of broadcast television programmers didn’t get the memo …

Mushy Brains

I’m still pondering the ponderable – and the imponderable.

Recently, for reasons I won’t divulge, I’ve been thinking about brains.  But so have a lot of Baby Boomers. Our brains are important to us.  I remember Woody Allen’s character in 1973’s Sleeper saying, “My Brain. It’s my second favorite organ.”  Thanks to the invention of Viagra this is still true.

The Big Issue: We are now worried about losing our second-favorite organs to fun afflictions like Alzheimer’s.  It’s why we buy brain games.  And watch nutty psychiatrists on PBS. 

I take a contrarian view.  I think we’re doing pretty well in the thinking department.  Our decision-making doesn’t seem to have been affected by the aging process.  And what many of us want to do with the rest of our lives sounds rather sane to me. 

Then again, all this could be because our brains are turning to mush. But maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe you get a different kind of brain, a more emotionally astute brain with mush.

Ecologies Of Risk

Around this time every year things slow down for me businesswise.  I’m guessing that’s true for a lot of people.

This gives me time not only to ponder the ponderables – but also the imponderables.  With the world the way it is nowadays it’s hard to tell them apart.  Forgive me for getting a bit deep here – but not much seems to be knowable. 

Over the last dozen or so years experts have predicted all sorts of futures for Baby Boomers.  With the economic collapse, apparently everything has changed.  At least that’s what I’ve been told. 

One thing has remained constant: You can still make money marketing to and even investing in Baby Boomer targeted products and services.

There’s a new report about the future of Baby Boomers by The Institute For The Future and The MetLife Mature Market Institute:

Risky times ahead
By Robert Powell
Baby boomers face three new risks in coming decades, but there are answers …

Richard Adler is one of the smartest people I know.  And just the other day I told my buddy John Migliaccio that he’s one of the smartest people I know (but I won’t reveal why I think he’s so smart – or why I told him). 

Download The Report: Ecologies of Risk (PDF)

My favorite quote from the report:

“Boomers believe that their single most important future asset is themselves.”

While this is nothing new, it sums up things pretty well:

“Boomers are rejecting the traditional narrative of retirement as a time of relaxation and winding down; they see coming decades as a time that offers expanded opportunities for self-investment and a chance to develop new capabilities.”

Ecologies of Risk is a worthy read, a must read if you are involved with marketing and advertising to Baby Boomers. The only section I’d take with a shaker of salt is the psychographics at the end (Boomer Action Types).  I’m not a big fan of psychographics.
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More from Brent Green.

Update 12/21/08: Dick Stroud’s take on it.

Baby Boomers: A Force to Reckon With

From ADWEEK:

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, a new study by Nielsen and Hallmark Channel reports.

Not too many ad/marketing trade mags were paying much attention to Boomer buying power three or four years ago.  Now they are. 

However, ADWEEK did.  Something I’d forgotten all about: Over three years ago ADWEEK offered my book as a subscription renewal premium.