31 December 2009

Wrapping Up The Aughts

Time to wrap up the aughts and throw’em in the trash (please don’t recycle them).

That’s what most people think:

Current Decade Rates as Worst in 50 Years
image As the current decade draws to a close, relatively few Americans have positive things to say about it. By roughly two-to-one, more say they have a generally negative (50%) rather than a generally positive (27%) impression of the past 10 years. This stands in stark contrast to the public’s recollection of other decades in the past half-century. When asked to look back on the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, positive feelings outweigh negative in all cases.

I’ve stumbled upon a few news stories about the above survey – and either the writers are not too bright, or they’ve purposely twisted the results to make Baby Boomers seem as if they had mostly positive reactions to the past decade.  I’m not linking to these news stories – but I’ll quote one:

Despite the generally negative view of the 2000s, fewer baby boomers saw this decade negatively. “Baby Boomers - most of whom are between the ages of 50 and 64 today and were between 20 and 34 in 1979 - view this decade in an overwhelmingly favorable light, with positive impressions outnumbering negative views by 48 points (59% positive vs. 11% negative).”

image If you read the research, Baby Boomers were talking about the 1970s, not the 2000s:

Boomers Look Back Fondly
… The biggest generational division of opinion is in retrospective evaluations of the 1970s. Baby Boomers – most of whom are between the ages of 50 and 64 today and were between 20 and 34 in 1979 – view this decade in an overwhelmingly favorable light, with positive impressions outnumbering negative views by 48 points (59% positive vs. 11% negative).

Sloppy reporting?  Probably.

See you next decade.  

27 December 2009

Where and When in 2010

Lots of juicy seminars and events coming up in the first few months.  Some picks:

imageTodd Harff, Prez of Creating Results and co-founder of IMMN, will be speaking at the 2010 International Builders Show® in Las Vegas:

imageThe "New Deal" for Selling in the New Decade
Just in time for the new decade, a "New Deal" is emerging in marketing and sales of 50+ communities. Learn how experts are redefining the "4 Ps" of marketing as they apply to the over-50 set: People, Process, Pursuit and Purchase.

image In April, Mary Furlong and Brent Green are booked at the Florida Boomer Lifestyle Conference:

image Mary is the Dean's Executive Professor of Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business.  Before launching MFA, Mary founded the nonprofit organization SeniorNet in 1986 and ThirdAge Media in 1996.

image Brent Green is a marketing communication strategist, creative director, copywriter, author, speaker, trainer and consultant with focus on generational marketing. He is author of Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers.

image Carol Orsborn heads up a workshop at the March ASA/NCOA Conference in Chicago:

The Full Nest Syndrome: Boomers Supporting Adult Children in a Down Economy
image Join a panel … including Carol Orsborn and other experts on the Sandwich Generation, to learn how Boomers are now coping with both their parents and their children's finances and the boundaries they are setting.

Of course, there’s the potent What’s Next Boomer Business Summit on March 19th.  I won’t make it this year. But I have an excuse. Also on March 19th, in Istanbul:

image International Marketing Techniques Targeting Baby Boomers 
Produced by IMI Conferences

istanbulchuck 
So - a big chunk of the globe is being covered.  As the year progresses, we’ll blanket the rest. 

18 December 2009

What Next From The Crystal Ball of Common Sense?

For Immediate Release:

imageFamed Soothsayer and advertising gadfly NostraChuckus has been startling the world for years with his mundane prognostications. 

One of his first foretellings is now coming true.  Way back in The Ancient Times (2005) he foretold the redesigning of automobiles for an aging demographic:

Major thanks to Brad Forsythe, Ray Schilens, Stephanie Ceritelli, and all involved with The Advertising Show for putting up with me as a guest last Sunday, August 7th. It was great fun, and a real honor. (And to be honest, I was a bit shocked that they called. The book is barely out of the gate.)

You can listen to the archived show here. Two hours compressed to 79 minutes.

While on the show NostraChuckus predicted this:

Coming Boom in Boomer-Friendly Transport (2008)
image 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? And market them as such?

Over six months later.

And last March there was this:

image Who’s gonna buy this car?
If we rescue the auto industry, it must
be able to build vehicles for an aging population

image Now the majestic seer of all things Boomer is again mystically evoked:

Designing Better Cars for Senior Drivers
By Dale Buss, Contributor 
… One imagefeature prominent in these models is what Toyota calls "360-degree handles." These handles allow doors to be opened from the outside using only major arm muscles — in contrast to "paddle handles" that require strength in the fingers and wrists, which often is compromised by arthritis and other conditions in elderly drivers …

Toyota is also rolling out brighter instrument displays in many vehicles, using what is called "vacuum fluorescent" technology instead of liquid crystal, the conventional but dimmer method. Designers have begun to incorporate larger-type fonts throughout vehicle interiors as well — including the clocks.

image 
What next from The Crystal Ball of Common Sense???

15 December 2009

Unpacking Deloitte’s State of The Media Democracy Teaser

image Last December I blogged Deloitte’s Third State of The Media Democracy Survey:

Deloitte’s State of the Media Democracy Survey

Now there’s a press release and bits of info on the web about the Fourth edition:

Deloitte 'State of the Media Democracy' Survey: Recession Intensifies America's Love For TV

Deloitte's State of the Media Democracy Survey, Fourth Edition

The preliminary info released doesn’t always break down age demos – so with our knowledge of Baby Boomers, let’s bend and squeeze the stats and make some intelligent guesses:

More than 70 percent of survey respondents rank watching TV in their top three favorite media activities.

Bump that to 80% for Baby Boomers.

image When watching their favorite TV programming, 86 percent of survey respondents prefer watching on their television set, enjoying the programming either live, via their DVR/TiVo, or using an "On Demand" feature.

Assume that would be around 96% for Boomers.

According to the survey, consumers are watching close to 18 hours of television programming on their home TV in a typical seven day week -- up notably from less than 16 hours last year. Millennials (ages 14-26) had the largest increase, to almost 15 hours from 10.5 hours.

But … Millennials don’t watch regular, ol’ TV.  (If you believe that I have a text message in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.)

Increased console ownership by Xers and Boomers has also driven increased game playing. Thirty-one percent of surveyed Boomers played a newly released videogame via a game console over the past six months, up significantly from 12 percent in 2008.

imageBaby Boomers will be a healthy market for video games.  But beware of this survey.  If you’d asked me if I’d played a newly released videogame on a game console, I’d have to say yes, yes, yes.  With my teenaged nieces.  At their house. Another relative, a Baby Boomer, actually bought a game console so these beautiful ladies would have something fun to do when they visit.  And, of course, there is the Boomer grandparent phenomenon.

Television continues to reign as the most influential advertising medium, with 83 percent of consumers identifying TV advertising as one of the top three media with the most impact on their buying decisions. Online advertising ranks much lower in impact than television. Less than half of those surveyed identify online advertising, which includes banner and video ads, search engine result ads and pop-ups, amongst the top three.

Again, bump “most influential advertising medium” to 93% for Baby Boomers.

The ability of ads on websites to move traffic to other sites has dropped from 72 percent to 59 percent over the past three surveys. Moreover, respondents articulate a decreased inclination to click on more Internet ads, even if the ads are targeted to their needs.

This is why I’ve said …

For the umpteenth time - The Most Effective Marketing/Advertising Model For Reaching Baby Boomers: What is now called traditional advertising pushing you to an age-friendly, informative product/services web site.

Some of the other findings seem a bit mealy-mouthed to me.   I’ll wait to comment after I see more of the survey.

14 December 2009

The Era of Oversell is Over

Wet-blanket Chuck has been reading a few pieces lately that need to be read by all 50+ marketers and advertisers.  They remind me of something I wrote way back in 2005.

image Boomers, Lifestyle Behaviors and Disability
imageLiving a long life, but at what cost?
By Tamara McClintock Greenberg
Uncertainty is terrifying.  We all know this no matter what age we are.  But the boomers are facing unprecedented life expectancy and ambiguity.  They need our support for health and better lifestyle choices. 

image The nirvana of aging in place and other age-related reality disconnects
By Laurie Orlov
image Today, what is so cheerfully described as aging in place, with enough money in retirement or the ability to keep working, living in a one's own home, with the myriad of services that are needed -- THIS IS A MYTH. To make it a reality, we need some very new ideas to be fleshed out more carefully and new ways of lowering costs, redirecting innovation energy and funding of new initiatives, and I'm not talking about healthcare.

My piece from 2005 (when I was young and cute):

Don’t Paint Too Rosy A Picture
image A recent article in USA Today asks us to “take a moment to journey forward to 2046, when 79 million baby boomers will be 82 to 100 years old.”[i]  A paragraph later, the reporter asks, “So just what kind of America will be forged by this crowd of geriatric goliaths?”

image Excuse me for being an unassuming ‘David’ (or even worse, a genocidal Grim Reaper) but I doubt very much that all 79 million Baby Boomers in the U.S. will still be alive in forty years, swaggering like giants – unless the medical establishment is holding out on me.

The good news you know: many Baby Boomers will live longer, healthier lives – more so than in any previous generations. The bad news you also know: a huge chunk of Boomers will pass on, and another huge chunk will be dealing with acute diseases and afflictions.  

The problem is that well-meaning articles in the press like the USA Today piece, along with mountains of 50+ marketing fodder, are setting up Boomers for a psychological fall.  There will be a backlash.

Not being a therapist, I won’t diagnose – but if it were beaten into my head over and over that things were going to be just peachy for the next forty years, that my same-aged friends will all be around laughing and cavorting while leading meaningful, vigorous lives—then, shock of shocks, many of us become incapacitated and/or drop and die – I will feel cheated.   I will become depressed and disillusioned.  It will happen even if I’m one of the ‘lucky’ healthy ones.

Ask today’s 80+ year olds about this or that and you’ll probably find that many are surprised (but relatively pleased) they’re still alive.  They believe they’ve beaten the odds, for whatever reasons.  Jump twenty-five, thirty years: if the myth of the non-dying, perfectly healthy Baby Boomer persists, folks in the aging industry are going to have millions of very angry octogenarians their hands.  They might even blame you for all those false promises.

How should this be dealt with by marketers and advertisers?  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.)

This is all part of redefining what it means to be the ages we are.  It may seem to some as  pathological, believing and acting as if we’re eighteen or twenty-five – but that’s because pundits and experts suspiciously eyeing this gargantuan, spirited, unwieldy and varied hoard of middle-agers have nothing to compare it to.  The only conclusion they can come to: Baby Boomers must a bit daft.

There is a big difference between thinking you are younger than you are – and not thinking that you are old.  This ‘night and day’ distinction may confuse many pundits, but it does not confuse most Boomers.

Much of this new, positive attitude about our future has to do with being the beneficiaries of so many fast and furious medical advances.  Some we have already taken advantage of, while others are ready and waiting for us – or right around the corner.  A good example is joint and hip replacement surgery.  The cane industry is in the doldrums, and we’re hoping it will never recover.

Another medical advance (still in its infancy, from what I’ve read) is pain management.  This promises Baby Boomers and successive generations freedom from a fear that haunts all as we age.

There has been plenty of press about Baby Boomers and their dread of Alzheimer’s.  Not much of a surprise.  Alzheimer’s affects many of our parents, we’re caring for them – and nothing frightens us more than not being in control of our own destinies.  However, from what I’ve read there may be some breakthroughs within the next twenty years.  That’s very good news.

Am I painting too rosy a picture here?  Isn’t this something I was railing against in the first few paragraphs?

Yes, but with a big difference.  All the examples above have to do with the quality of life – not the quantity.

If I were digging into a marketing/advertising campaign for a client in the aging industry, I would extract as much quality inherent in the product/service – and toss out any (or most) mention of longevity.  This would hold true even with basic nutritional and  exercise products.  A significant chunk of people who eat only healthy foods and  exercise regularly die of heart attacks, get cancer, are the victims of  all sorts of diseases and afflictions.  You can’t fool me.

But the quality of their lives in every respect will be superior to the ones who don’t take care of themselves, or avail themselves to what’s out there in the aging industry market.  

Nobody can promise you that you’ll live to be a hundred.  However, you can (more or less) make a good argument that healthy lifestyles and advances in modern medicine will offer you a quality life after sixty that no preceding generation had ever imagined.

I’m fifty-five.  I may die in five, ten, twenty, forty or fifty years.  If you promise Baby Boomers longevity, I will know at some point that you are not telling me the truth.  However, if you promise me a certain amount of quality if I take advantage of medical advances, lead a healthy lifestyle, and buy and use your products and services – I’ll probably believe you.

And I’ll continue to take your word for it until my dying day.

[1] 2046: A boomer odyssey
By Marco R. della Cava, USA TODAY October 27, 2005

_____

There’s nothing wrong with being positive and aspirational – you just have to temper it with dollops of reality so your marketing won’t be dismissed as pie-in-the-sky nonsense.