InTwoFocus

If you’re here you’d better pay attention to what’s happening over there:

InTwoFocus is Europe's first Web video marketing agency specialising in the 50-plus market 
Dick Stroud, the 50-plus marketing expert and Gerald Wortman, the acclaimed photographer and video producer, have  come together to form InTwoFocus - a Web video agency that creates video content that transforms the way its clients communicate with older consumers.

While I didn’t predict that they’d be such a phenomenon on the web, in the original edition of my book I penned a chapter about long-form commercials (or documercials) as the perfect vehicle for reaching Baby Boomers.

I also interviewed Dick and fashioned our chat into another chapter.  Both chapters are available on The Advertising Educational Foundation web site. 

Download the PDF.

Does anybody here smell a business opportunity? 

Probably not. Most advertising agencies on this side of the pond have stuffed-up noses.

Who’s gonna buy this car?

David Foot of Boom, Bust & Echo fame has a piece in Canada’s Globe & Mail:

BAILOUTS AND BOOMERS
Who's gonna buy this car?
If we rescue the auto industry, it must
be able to build vehicles for an aging population
… Boomers will need different vehicles. Many already have difficulty getting into low-slung cars, and they increasingly need bigger dashboard dials. The Japanese companies have a head start in understanding these trends. It will be necessary for North American auto companies to get up to speed rapidly if they are to compete effectively. And quality will be important. Younger buyers are more willing to trade quality for a better price. This trade-off is proving increasingly difficult when customers are older.

I’ve blabbered about this for years.  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.  The complete show is here:

Author/Copywriter Champions Advertising to Baby Boomers

Click here.  It should start playing.

And I’ve tossed up a bunch of posts over the years on this subject:

Coming Boom in Boomer-Friendly Transport
My point three years ago was that Baby Boomers were buying up those mid-priced boxy cars (even though they were being marketed to college kids and twenty-somethings) because they were easy to get in and out of, easy to see out of, and some had large dashboards that were easy to read. So why not build cars with these and more features for older drivers?

Along with ‘green’ – the auto industry had better retool with an eye on the 50+ market. 

Maybe both eyes.

Another déjà vu …

Aside from the obvious reasons (anybody wanna buy a CDO?), it’s been a strange year so far. 

For me, the strangest episodes are happening while reading news articles about Baby Boomers and realizing that I’ve read versions of them all before – in my book and blog. 

And they’ve given me excuses to have tongue-in-cheek fun with my alter-ego NostraChuckus.  But recently it’s been spooky.  I’m starting to believe my own goofy hype – hype I made up myself.  (Or maybe I’m still having tongue-in-cheek fun ...)

Another déjà vu:

This is not your father's old folks home
Boomers' active lifestyles redefining 55-plus housing
By John Handley
… "Over-55" housing has changed. Choices have expanded. Starting in the 1960s, the traditional model was the large, age-restricted Sun Belt communities. Now Sun City-style developments are being built in the Snow Belt.

From my book:

Give Boomers Room for Choices
Aging in Place 
I’ve heard this term defined a few ways. The simplest definition: people staying put in their condos or houses for the rest of their lives. Others refer to “aging in place” as remodeling current residences with Universal Design as the blueprint. Still others use the term to describe Baby Boomers moving into condos or active adult communities not far from where they are now—so they can still be near work, family, and friends.

… As Baby Boomers retire, they will put their special stamp on retirement … maybe with large multi-generational communities. 

There’s more, but I’m too lazy to cherry-pick. Here’s the chapter (PDF):

Chapter 4:
Give Boomers Room for Choices

Small World: I referenced a 2004 Chicago Tribune article by John Handley in my book.

My Barbie!

What’s more Boomer than Barbie?

She’s been through all the cultural upheavals and survived. 

She’s created controversy. 

She’s been embraced and banned by parents. 

She has her own syndrome. 

And she’s still causing trouble.

Even though Barbie was born grown up, it’s her fiftieth birthday today:

Happy 50th to Baby Boomer Barbie
Paul Briand
Baby Boomer Examiner 
Her age makes her a Baby Boomer and -- in a way, despite the ditsiness often applied to her and especially her name -- she is somewhat representative of how Baby Boomers have reshaped, refined and redefined who they are over the years.

Appropriate: Forbes is throwing the biggest media bash for Barbie …

Barbie Turns 50
Edited By Anna Vander Broek and Michael Noer
She is an American icon, a business phenomenon and a real doll. Since her introduction on March 9, 1959, Mattel has sold more than 1 billion Barbie dolls, nearly 100 million of those last year alone.

Back in the dark ages of the WWW, before there were blogs, before there were social networking sites – I blogged on a social networking site and wrote about Baby Boomers.  Here’s a link to my 1998 ‘post’ celebrating Barbie’s fortieth birthday:

My Barbie!
It was (and still is) a phenomenon rivaling the one surrounding the Beatles: A doll not to be fed, cuddled or nurtured -- but a fantasy representation of you in the future!

Here’s how Madison Avenue did it in 1961:

What cultural upheavals?

A Barbie Poem by Amy Sterling Casil.
_____
Update March 10: AdRants’ Angela Natividad posts some great Barbie links – including a video history of Barbie commercials.

Call for ban on use of the word 'retirement'

Again, a NostraChuckus prediction comes true:

Call for ban on use of the word 'retirement'
A LEADING psychologist has called for a ban on the word retirement, saying it no longer reflects the reality of growing old for the baby boomer generation …

The very word 'retirement' is from the French phrase retirer, meaning to draw back from. It no longer represents the hopes and aspirations of the baby boomer generation, according to Ms. Langcaster-James. "The third age will present something of a blank canvas for baby boomers," she said … "They do not see retirement as when they wind down and leave things behind. Instead, it is all about seizing the opportunities it presents."

A quote from my book (2005):

Contrary to popular myth, Baby Boomers do not believe that they are still teenagers or young adults. (Some probably do, but they need therapy.) Boomers are slyly redefining what it means to be the ages they are. Included in this new definition are some youthful attitudes - but the real change is that instead of winding down, many are winding up. We're not 'looking forward to retirement,' we're looking forward to new lives, new challenges. Only a small percentage will opt for pure retirement. (I predict that in twenty years the word 'retirement' will still be in dictionaries, but followed by the modifier archaic.)

Two previous posts about retirement:

Time to Retire the 'R' Word

This sounds familiar.

Dick Stroud says: “Maybe”

I wonder what a psychologist would say about my potent powers of prognostication ...