Japan: The World's Most Mature Market

A worthwhile webinar next week:

Japan: The World's Most Mature Market
Tuesday, October 27 Japan is the most severely affected country by demographic change but also the most advanced in terms of product development and innovation. However, they have only touched the tip of the iceberg of the huge potential of this market.

Join IMMN and Florian Kohlbacher, Ph.D., for a webinar on the challenges and opportunities of the silver market in Japan. Dr. Kohlbacher, who is currently conducting research on the business implications of demographic change, will share case studies of leading edge mature marketing activities.

Dr. Kohlbacher is a senior research fellow with the German Institute for Japanese Studies, an adjunct research fellow at the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management at the Hamburg University of Technology, a fellow of the World Demographic Association, and an honorary board member of IMMN.

I contributed to an international business book co-edited by Dr. Kohlbacher: The Silver Market Phenomenon.

So did Dick Stroud:

 

 

A chunk from my chapter:

Today’s advertising industry needs a minor revolution. Talented men and women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s must to be brought into the fold if you want to target the Silver Market. This includes copywriters, graphic artists, producers, video directors, and creative directors. If you plan on implementing a marketing strategy that includes Baby Boomers as a primary, secondary, or tertiary market, and you turn it over to only people in their 20s and 30s, you will forfeit the natural sensibilities required to generate vital campaigns.

A free preview (PDF).

Read the Introduction to The Silver Market Phenomenon (PDF).

And don’t miss The Webinar.

Jumpin’ Jack Flash: The Newsletter

Boomer Project’s Jumpin’ Jack Flash is a Boomer marketing newsletter.  I’ve been reading it so long that they still send it to an old email address I dumped years ago – so I don’t always see the newest issues.  Through the grapevine I heard that it linked to one of my posts a couple of months ago.

Matt Thornhill and John Martin are the principals of Boomer Project.  I’ve known Matt for years, and he regularly shows up on my blog.

A few posts ago I said some not-so-wonderful things about a Barron’s cover story.  Mr. Martin was quoted in the article, but I didn’t mention it. 

Thanks to Dick Stroud, I’ve now read the latest Jumpin’ Jack Flash – and oddly enough, Matt, John (or both) agree with me about the Barron’s piece: not much new there.

They’re more honest than I am.  Whenever I’m quoted in the mainstream media, I make sure to toss up a post stating that whatever it is is one of the greatest articles ever written.

The Pros and Cons of Windows 7 for … Baby Boomers

I’m not a Microsoft basher.  Every so often I might rip into one of their ill-advised PR ploys or marketing campaigns.  Yes, I’ve seen this and really don’t know what to make of it:

Then there’s this:

'Family Guy' creator and Microsoft team up for Win 7 promotion

Not being a fully-fledged geek (or even a flimsy-fledged one), I have no major complaints with Vista or Office 2007. 

And PowerPoint 2010 looks like it might be fun.

So yours truly has been sniffing around, researching Windows 7. 

One redesign pointed out by Michael Gartenberg made my middle-aged eyes shiver:

Opinion: The pros and cons of Windows 7 for business
Gratuitous UI changes
I love the Win 7 UI, but I have a lot of experience invested in the old Windows ways of doing things, and some of the changes just seem gratuitous and make no sense to me. Also annoying are on-screen UI targets that you have to hit with your cursor but that are so tiny they make you think that Microsoft is hiring a lot of young workers who have great eyesight and/or high-resolution monitors. And using Touch and fingers to navigate is somewhat of an exercise in frustration.

If true, if this UI can’t be fiddled with, I’m not upgrading.

What if everybody over fifty who walks into a store and plays with the Windows 7 UI finds it ‘an exercise in frustration’?  What if millions and millions of people over fifty purchase the upgrade sight unseen, and can’t quite get a mouse-grip on the ‘tiny’ targets?

Even if you can bump up the graphics/fonts on the interface, why would the ‘default’ setting completely ignore the largest consumer demo for this product?

Time for my ol’ tattered book cover again …

“It will be the Baby Boomers who will be the first to pick and choose, to ignore or be seduced by leading-edge technology marketing. There’s a simple reason for this. We have the money to buy this stuff. Experts say we’ll continue to have the money for at least the next twenty years. Write us off at your own peril.

Wouldn’t it be nice (and profitable) if software designers  helped alleviate (and not aggravate) a big issue with Baby Boomers. 

Marketing to the Undead

More international ether, this time from Canada:

John Farquhar: marketing to the undead
I thought I'd watch a little television this week and see how marketers see me, someone over 50. Apparently I'm dying, in constant pain, infertile, incontinent, undersexed and over-pollinated.

It’s one of NostraChuckus’ predictions:

Boomer Backlash II
If every time someone over fifty sees a commercial targeting them and it’s always for an age-related product or service, pretty soon their eyes will glaze over, they’ll get itchy and grumpy.

More from Mr. Farquhar:

But of course, as conventional wisdom goes, we're not going to spend it on your product. Boomers have made their choices. We've chosen the brands we'll stick to for life. Everyone knows that. So why spend money getting us to change when we never will?

I guess it’s conventional – although I’ve been pricking holes in the no-change brand balloon since 2003.  A quote from a review of my book (the 2005 edition) by Dr. Joyce M. Wolburg of Marquette University, published in The Journal of Consumer Marketing:

A second favorite excuse of agencies is: "Baby Boomers don't change brands" (p. 52, italics in original). Nyren dismantles this excuse nicely with examples of brand switching, and he further acknowledges that in cases where loyalty to a brand does exist, marketers who do not target Boomers give them no reason to change.

Read the full review. (PDF)
John also talks about cars.  I’ve talked plenty about cars:

Big Business is behind the curve, as usual. But better late than never.

And I yak on and on about this subject (and feature a news piece from Canada) in a recent online presentation.
One more important piece of info from marketing to the undead:

You've got a target group that's easy to reach: we still watch TV, we still read newspapers, and we listen to conventional radio. We spend a ton of time online and we're easy to find there.

That sounds familiar. A post from 2007:

How Ads Affect Our Memory
I'm often asked about media planning and Baby Boomers. My glib answer: "Who needs media planners? The 50+ Demo is the only one that soaks up all media - TV, Radio, The Web, Magazines, Newspapers, Direct Marketing, etc. Take your pick. You can't miss them."

It’s great that someone’s joining Kit in promoting advertising and marketing to Baby Boomers in Canada.

Marketing to Baby Boomers Conference: Asia

As I’ve said in a previous post:

50+ marketing is exploding worldwide.
That’s a cliché-ridden statement I’ve been wanting to use for years.  Finally I can. 

Kim Walker of Silver Group Asia is spearheading a November 2009 conference in Singapore, organized by Pacific Conferences:

Marketing to Baby Boomers Conference
This 2-day conference on “Marketing to Baby Boomers” will equip you with the marketing techniques and strategies to effectively reach out to Baby Boomers today.

Pacific Conferences has lined up an impressive array of partners and sponsors:

 
Download the PDF.

I don’t know why I’m so surprised by all this.  After all, a few years ago I contributed to a book stuffed with huge chunks about the Asian 50+ Market:

It is with great pleasure to inform you that our book The Silver Market Phenomenon: Business Opportunities in an Era of Demographic Change has finally been published by Springer this week. You will receive your author copy from Springer soon. I am attaching the book flyer (PDF) for your reference. Please feel free to use it to spread the word and promote the book.

And recently I was approached by a company interested in a day-long presentation and workshop focusing on advertising and marketing to Baby Boomers. I won’t tell you what country it’s in, but what a surprise.

A worldwide phenomenon.  Sometimes I think the U.S. needs to catch up.