Print Readership is Highest Among Baby Boomers

Senior Magazine, based in Colorado with a dozen or so sister publications up and down a handful of Southern and Western states, says this:

Why has Hyundai increased sales while every other auto manufacturer has seen a decline in sales?  Print marketing to boomers.

Well … that’s not completely true.  Hyundai also has a pretty good television campaign.  Very classy stuff.

How long have I been talking about targeting Boomers for automobiles?  Here I am actually talking about it in 2005:

Author/Copywriter Champions Advertising to Baby Boomers
Co-host Brad Forsythe interviews Chuck Nyren, author of "Advertising to Baby Boomers."

The Advertising Show (audio download)

And there’s this:

What Next From The Crystal Ball of Common Sense?

Famed 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 …

More about print:

Print Readership is Highest Among Baby Boomers
According to a NAS report published in March 2010, time spent on print media (community & daily papers, magazines & books) is highest among older Baby Boomers who are spending an average of 100 minutes per day reading their favorite print media.  The study also reported that the younger Boomer segment (ages 45-54 years) spends an average of 30 minutes per day.

In addition to national papers, the research stated that 58% read their local daily papers regularly, and 68% read their local community papers regularly.

And they’re also watching television and responding to brochures, some other forms of Direct Marketing, and the internet. 

As I’ve been saying for years:

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.

The Daughter Trap

Laurel Kennedy:

As founder of the “thinking firm” [part think tank and part consulting firm] called Age Lessons, Kennedy has become an acknowledged authority on multi-generational issues and an advocate for mature consumers.

We met in Chicago, worked together in New York City.

Laurel sent me a copy of her new book The Daughter Trap: Taking Care of Mom and Dad...and You.

I’m not exactly the target market for this tome, what with being male and both parents gone.  So a straight-ahead review of the book might be suspect. 

I’ll say this: Ms. Kennedy knows how to write and keep you reading, is quite adept at coordinating intriguing stories that roll like waves and eventually engulf you, is wonderful at interweaving anecdotal and statistical evidence while making her points forcefully:

Researcher Kennedy conducted 60 minute depth phone interviews across the U.S. with a nationally-representative sample of 216 working women born between 1946-1964, who reported having primary caregiving responsibility for one or more aging parents or in-laws.

Since I’m not reviewing the book …

Praise for The Daughter Trap
Silver Anvil and National Telly Award winner Kennedy presents a razor-sharp tome on the impending national crisis in elder care.

More Reviews

The chapter getting the most press is about sibling rivalry (Laurel really hit a nerve with that one):

Mom's favoritism can affect kids, sibling rivalry as adults
Kennedy … found that even though none of her questions asked directly about a parent favoring one child over another, about two-thirds of the women said there was a favored child, and most said it was "mother-focused."

Ms. Kennedy covers all relevant topics in her book and website.  I’ll toss in my 2¢ on one – corporate sponsorship …

This will sound a bit jaded and opportunistic - but as we know, companies do not like to associate themselves with depressing subjects – in this case, old and helpless people.  However, what an appreciated relief it would be for a couple of major outfits to acknowledge and support caregivers. It’s perfect PR. You don’t have to focus on the ‘caregiving’ – but on the difficult issues facing caregivers – a strong, resilient bunch (because they have to be).  Grab your PR folks, get in touch with Laurel, and there are limitless possibilities.

As an example: There’s lots of talk about a new web site targeting Baby Boomers, Life Goes Strong:

P&G, NBC Digital Create Network of Boomer Verticals
NBC Digital Networks and Procter & Gamble are partnering to offer a "vibrant" online destination for baby boomers. The network of sites known as Life Goes Strong will celebrate topics and passions "at the center of this dynamic generation’s everyday lives," NBC Digital said.

A good take on it by Dick Stroud.

There are a handful of articles about caregiving on the site – but wouldn’t it be a real coup to add another vertical and title it Caregiving Goes Strong?  (Actually, I’d prefer Caregivers Go Strong to focus on the people, not the act of caregiving.) 

What great PR it would be.  You’d make 40 million friends.

Need more ideas?  Read The Daughter Trap.

Consumers Hesitant To Embrace E-Reader Advertising

The CMO Council’s new study:

CONSUMERS HESITANT TO EMBRACE E-READER ADVERTISING; OPT FOR TANGIBLE, BUT TARGETED, EXPERIENCES IN MAGAZINES
Consumers are holding on to their magazines, not ready to join the e-reader revolution, but are open to change in the form of more relevant and targeted, personalized advertising engagements …

“Consumers view magazines as part of an overall experience, likely rooted in leisure and relaxation. The advertising within print publications is viewed as part of that experience, similar to the commercials during the Super Bowl. What is telling is that regardless of channel, consumers are demanding a more personalized engagement, not necessarily a more digital one when it comes to their leisure time publications.”

As usual, it all sounds very familiar.  NostraChuckus had something to say about this subject years ago:

Positioning Magazines for Baby Boomers (April, 2007)
There are active and passive parts of our day. Without getting into too much psychobabble, as you get older the passive side needs more nourishment. It’s not really passive. It’s focused absorption. At some point you have to climb out of your frenetic digital nest and concentrate on one thing. It might be reading a book, watching a TV show or movie, listening to music, looking out the window.

Or immersing yourself in a magazine.

This isn’t ‘down time’ (that would be sleeping), but nourishing your psyche by absorbing and not actively being involved in what you’re doing.

Magazines do not compete with the various offerings slithering and exploding in a digital nest … It’s like a pleasant dinner, a walk, a good movie, a good book – to be singularly appreciated.

… For a big part of their day Baby Boomers are happy to fly far from all the chaos and into another nest – one that is warm and nourishing. That’s where they will find, among other delectable items, your magazine.

And the smaller these doodads get, the less visceral impact they will have:

Foretellings
The visual power of the web will fade as more people use handheld devices.  Goodbye, fancy-schmancy web sites. People will get bored sifting through it all when they can find what they need with their smartphones …

That silly retronym “traditional advertising” will remain the premiere force for introducing people to a product or service, along with sustaining its shelf life. Television, print, radio, and billboard ads will continue to have the visceral power they’ve always had – if only for their sheer size, simplicity, and cutting-edge audio/visual qualities.  Advertising on smartphones will be considered an annoyance, invasive, and rather dinky – while marketing (coupons on steroids, and more) will flourish and dominate.

More:

In a Fast World, There is Still Room for Slow and Steady
… Most members of the Baby Boom and Silent Generation would agree that a fast-paced world does not mean everything in it has to be at the speed of a texting pre-teen.

HR/Brain Roll

I’m on a Human Resources/Brain roll. My last post:

Memo to H.R: Older Brains = Smarter Brains

The first roll was in 2003, before blogs were known as blogs.  You’ll have to take a wild ride on The WayBack Machine to find it:

Advertising to Baby Boomers: Back into the Fold (June 26, 2003)
Truth is, you can analyze marketing fodder all day and night, read countless books about marketing to Baby Boomers, attend advertising and marketing conventions around the world, and soak up everything all the experts have to say. Much of what is out there is valuable and useful, some practically required reading, others instructive and illuminating. But if you plan on implementing a creative strategy, and turn it over to a different generation of advertising professionals—you'll forfeit the natural sensibilities required to generate vital campaigns.

Since then, a book – and scores of posts.  A handful:

Hire Baby Boomer Creatives
NostraChuckus predicts the future. Again.

The Trouble with HR
It makes all the sense in the world for ad makers (both clients and agencies) to be well-stocked with people who understand consumers, whether young people who fathom the mysteries of cyberspace, a good mixture of people who reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity of our country, and, yes, even older people who understand the vitality and buying power of the great gorge of baby boomers overtaking our land. – Rance Crain

Older Employees' Better Coping Skills Mean Better Engagement

Thanks to Kim Walker of Silver Group Asia, we now know that Singapore is a leader in the HR revolution:

Singapore Promotes The Benefits Of Older Workers
Singapore's Ministry of Manpower has launched a multimedia campaign created by Dentsu to promote the employment of older workers. Through the campaign, MOM aims to highlight the importance and benefits of employing older workers to CEOs, HR Directors, HR Managers and Line Managers.

Do we have anything like this produced by the U.S. Department of Labor?  Or any other government entity? I haven’t seen any.  We’re too busy pushing Social Security – which is well and good and appreciated.  But perhaps we should also do a bit of vigorous, high-profile advertising that would benefit and expand the economy:

Memo to H.R: Older Brains = Smarter Brains

I can’t seem to get away from this book:

The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain
For advertisers, everything she says is important.  Ms. Strauch talks about “creating a disorienting dilemma” and “shaking up the cognitive egg” to get our attention – not something usually done when advertising to Baby Boomers. Most ads pander and lull us to sleep.

Carla Fried of CBS Moneywatch profiled the book:

Memo to H.R:
Older Brains
= Smarter Brains
A new book makes the case that our brains can age as well as a vintage French burgundy; many of our most important cognitive functions actually improve with age … as Strauch’s book makes clear … older workers can provide valuable brain power to an organization.

I said pretty much the same thing a few days before, commenting on a New York Times interview with Barbara Strauch:

My book also surprised me after I read it:

The Trouble with HR
While writing the first edition of my book way back in 2004, I ripped through it without much of a third eye – meaning, I knew what it was about but I had no idea what it was going to end up being.  When I received copies from my publisher, cracked open one, and finished it, I had a minor epiphany.  “This is really a book about HR.”  Kind of a shock, since I certainly didn’t plan it as such.  I’m one of those creative types, not a Human Resources person.

I wonder if Ms. Strauch had some of those same thoughts about her book.

I'll leave you with a quote from Rosser Reeves:

Old Masters and Young Geniuses
"No, I don't think a 68-year-old copywriter can write with the kids. That he's as creative. That he's as fresh. But he may be a better surgeon. His ad may not be quite as fresh and glowing as the Madison Ave. fraternity would like to see it be, and yet he might write an ad that will produce five times the sales. And that's the name of the game, isn't it?"