Me vs. We Redux

A colleague sent this email:

Good story today -
This Boomer Isn't Going to Apologize

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.)

This blog gets hits from search terms such as selfish boomers. The googlers usually end up on one of these 2005 posts:

Those Selfish, Money-Grubbing Baby Boomers
Andrea Coombes of MarketWatch has put together a trenchant article about Baby Boomers and their value systems. In this case, it has to do with inheritances … Money is low on the list of what boomers hope to inherit …

Selfless baby boomers switch careers
Kevin Corke of NBC News has put together a short piece about Baby Boomers wanting the second acts of their lives to be more meaningful by finding jobs that are socially responsible. It was prompted by a Princeton Survey Research Associates International study.

Or one from early 2008:

Me vs. We
Last week I read a piece of marketing advice: "Baby boomers have always been considered the 'me-generation,' and that doesn't change with age."  It's this type of reckless gibberish that is useless to marketers, and ultimately harmful to their clients.

And there’s a book.

I explained it all way back in 1998:

Baby Boomer Nutrition  People are always coming up to me and asking, "Chuck, why are Baby Boomers so wonderful?"

How rare it is to have an infinite number of correct answers to a single question! One of my standard replies: It has to do with our alimentary intake during adolescence.

Truth be told, I get queasy reading all the bashing and the defending.  I did like this piece, however:

How Boomers Can Change the World (again)
By Rosabeth Moss Kanter 
World, get ready! The Baby Boomers are becoming the Senior Boomers, and they want to change you again.

So what does all this have to do with advertising?  I’m not sure.  Maybe something, maybe not. A snippet from my book:

More from Matt Thornhill: Blessed or Cursed? Baby Boomers Frequently Unfairly Attacked

The Midlife Gals

From: Kelly Jackson
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 3:17 PM
To: Chuck Nyren

Chuck,

We'd ask if we can call you Chuck, but as boomers, you know that we'd do it anyway.

We're two sisters from Texas. We're The Midlife Gals, who are making a name for ourselves all over the Internet (just google The Midlife Gals and poof ... first two to three pages of nothing BUT us).

We're KEEN to become spokeswomen marketing to boomers. We are presently writing a conversational weekly column and producing and starring in weekly videos for More Magazine online. For More Magazine, we're sort of a twisted, dangerous version of Dear Abby. We know that boomers need humor and react to that type of marketing. We're sort of The Smothers Brothers with bosoms. Please peruse our website/blog:

http://www.themidlifegals.com

How do you suggest we break through?? It's not as if we aren't TRYING!

Thanks,
KK and Sal
THE MIDLIFE GALS®

NostraChuckus Scratches His Head

Who is NostraChuckus?

Another déjà vu …
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 ...)

A recent piece in MediaPost:

Maybe Peter Pan Should Move To Madison Avenue
… Nationwide research by AARP shows that the majority of consumers over 50 feels that advertising and marketing either portrays them negatively or ignores them altogether.

Why? Because it's being created by people at least 20 years younger.

Hmmm.  All points made sound suspiciously like my online and trade mag articles, my blog, my consulting, a big chunk of my presentation when speaking.  Since 2003. 

I’m happy to see all this.  Maybe even proud.  Because  NostraChuckus predicted it all – including the emergence of small-to-medium sized ad agencies staffed with folks who understand that ‘the best advertising is done by people who advertise to themselves’ …

I’ve also yelled it over Led Zeppelin. (audio download)

Related posts here?  Every third one, probably. (And at last count, there are 481 of’em.)

A review of Advertising to Baby Boomers from 2005 – and two snippets:
  

From the book:

  

I guess NostraChuckus is scratching his head because in this age of digital ephemera, where things zoom by, just as quickly zoom into oblivion, are forgotten, or even worse, never seen, when these same things zoom by again and again and again, they’re all, all of a sudden, brand new.

—
Dick Stroud, another brilliant seer of simple common sense, is likewise scratching his head – but for different reasons.
_

Update 7/01/09: Memed again.

Entrepreneurship: The New Mid-Life Crisis

A BusinessWeek blog post:

Entrepreneurship: The New Mid-Life Crisis
This is a guest blog by Emily Schmitt, who joined BusinessWeek’s Small Business team and Investing team in June.
An entrepreneurial boom is on its way, but don’t expect it to be led by 20-somethings. Instead, America’s best economic recovery plan is in the hands of those aged 50 and up, according to a recent study by the Kauffman Foundation.

Not much new, really – but check it out for some good links, including one to The Kauffman Foundation study (PDF).

I left a comment on the blog, along with a few quotes from my book.  A handful of more pulls:

More from the BusinessWeek blog post:

As we see more large firms go under, we may also see a shift toward small businesses—the same ones that drive innovation. And it’s all thanks to the baby boomers.

I’ve also talked a bit about  this – in a few blog posts and in an online presentation.

Universal Design Moves More Mainstream

It’s fun to be quoted by folk I don’t know:

Universal Design Moves More Mainstream
By Home Experts Team
It’s stating the obvious to say that the Baby Boomer generation is aging – we’re reminded often, thanks to the media.  However, it is this generation – or more specifically, their situation and needs – that is paving the way for how the rest of us will prepare for the future.

Thanks, HOMEINTEL.

I do know Dr. Scott Rains.  He picked up on it, nice fellow that he is:

UD: Learning from Chuck Nyren and HomeIntel Blog

But if you take a peek at Rolling’s Seven Principles of Universal Design at the end of the link above, you’ll know that he has nothing to learn from me.  I learn from him.

_____

More Universal Design News: A Free Webinar Thursday, June 18th – hosted by Louis Tenenbaum.