Holiday Ornaments

Just a few baubles to hang on your tree:

Baby boomers seek green gifts
Written by Theresa Keegan For The Poughkeepsie Journal
“The majority of our customers are the boomer age and are more aware of things like green gifts and fair trade,” said Norbert Lazar, co-owner of the Phantom Gardener.

Two posts from February:

Green GrandBoomers in Toyland
"I think that the success of our company, shows that there is clearly a wide segment of the population that will pay a little more for environmentally friendly toys," said von Goeben, whose toys cost roughly a third more than comparable playthings made from conventional materials.

Green Boomers Redux
Baby Boomers have been influencing society since the 1960s when they planted the seeds of the modern day green movement when as idealistic youths, gathered to celebrate the first Earth Day, in 1970…

Huffington Post Senior Writer Ann Brenoff cracked me up with some of her non-ideas for presents this year:

Holiday Gifts Post50s Don't Want
This is the time of year when we scratch our heads and try to figure out what to give our friends and loved ones for the holidays. I thought I would make it easy and tell you precisely what not to get the boomers on your list -- especially if I'm one of them.

A copy of "Internet for Dummies."

No kidding.  From my book ©2005:



Anything cruise-related.

Again, from my book:

 

The Wall Street Journal was smart kind enough to pick up my blog posting about a great gift for Marketing and Advertising Folk.

Congrats to Gill Walker and Evergreen Advertising & Marketing in Australia for two International Generations Awards! Gill also contributed a rollicking tale in the book profiled above.  

More parents helping kids buy homes
One in five baby boomer couples have already given at least one of their children the means to purchase a home -- either buying it outright, furnishing the down payment or co-signing the loan, according to a survey from Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.

And everyone is picking the top 10, top 100 books of the year.  Here’s one I’ve yet to read, but it gets my nod for funniest title of 2011:

Beverly Mahone is a veteran journalist and baby boomer who has spent more than 30 years in radio and television broadcasting.  She says her book was written to help fellow boomers who are transitioning from corporate America into their own businesses or entrepreneurship.

David B. Wolfe ( - 2011)

Please follow this link:

In Memoriam: David B. Wolfe, author, thought leader and a friend for the ages 
by Brent Green

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I met Mr. Wolfe in 2004.  We corresponded sporadically. I linked to his blog, he to mine. 

Below is an excerpt from Advertising to Baby Boomers (©2005, 2007):

 

 

ADWEEK: Magazines Pull Back on Tablet Bells and Whistles

NostraChuckus is in a meandering mood today. Not really headed anywhere, he has no idea where he’ll end up, isn’t even sure of what mundane prognostication he might proclaim.

Our humdrum Soothsayer saw this a few days ago:

Will Baby Boomers kill the daily newspaper?
By Paul Briand
At one time, the thought was that the daily printed daily newspaper would be around as long as Baby Boomers are around.

But industry experts say the tablet reader -- theApple  iPad and its ilk -- may indeed attract enough Baby Boomer readers as to help render the printed paper to dinosaur status at some point…

That’ll probably happen eventually. It’s not exactly new news – not even new in 2006:

Baby Boomers Burst Online
Three of five adults 55 years and older, known to be the heaviest consumers of offline media such as newspapers and TV network news, say they use the Internet more today than they did a year ago. This data is supported by Com Score Media Metrix research, which finds the number of online adults aged 55 and older grew by 20 percent to reach over 27 million in 2005.

OK, but there’s this:

Magazines Pull Back on Tablet Bells and Whistles
By Lucia Moses
Publishers say their research shows having a tricked-out app isn’t the highest priority. “The number one benefit is to have a great reading experience reading the tablet,” says Steve Sachs, executive vice president of consumer marketing and sales at Time Inc.

Hmmm.  Sounds familiar.  I think NostraChuckus divined something like this a year and a half ago…

Foretellings (May 2010)
… The more people use smartphones (and tablets), the less they’ll tolerate silly graphical doodads mucking up their small  screens.

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 “sounds familiar” – Tablets, magazines, television, radio as a passive experience:

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.

NostraChuckus has some new mundane predictions.  His Crystal Ball of Common Sense tells him that the business world is too hung up on the operating systems and branding of smartphones and tablets, that within the next five years there will be all sorts of smartphones and tablets in all shapes and sizes, all with different functions and capabilities. 

At first, folks carried around their iPads as status symbols.  Now, no one cares – so they’re left at home.  Tablets will become much bigger, lighter, and will be on your coffee table.  You’ll lie on the couch and pick it up, reading your favorite magazines, newspapers, or whatever.  A passive experience.  Simple, straightforward advertising will not be considered invasive. 

You will have the option of using your tablet as an active device – but most people will be ‘active’ on their computers and smartphones.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers IV

How I began Part I of this series:

All of a sudden every other news article about Baby Boomers is focused on business and entrepreneurs.

That was in September.  Since then, gobs of others have popped up.  Three good ones:

Boomers Look to Create Jobs, Meet Community Needs
Study finds many aspiring ‘encore entrepreneurs’ undeterred by current financial risks
By Michael S. Fischer
A sizable number of American baby boomers are considering starting businesses or nonprofit ventures over the coming decade, according to new research released Tuesday by Civic Ventures, a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose.

But wait … I thought we were selfish thugs. (This written by someone who buys a lot of shoes.)

A post from 2009:

Me vs. We Redux Redux
Today, Baby Boomers are two or three times removed from being a “me” generation. What constitutes self-actualization when you are twenty-five is different than when you are fifty-five. In your twenties a person thinks they are the picture. As you get older, you see yourself more and more as a picture that is part of a bigger picture.

Talk to some folks in their twenties, thirties. They are now in that ‘me’ stage. It’s healthy, smart for them to be so. I was just like them thirty years ago, get a big bang out of them, admire their boundless creativity, energy – and self-obsession. These ‘me generation’ twentysomethings today will become a ‘we generation’ in thirty years.

So The Shoe Girl will grow up eventually (I hope). 

Boomers Lead and Drive the New Wave of Entrepreneurs
By Martin Zwilling
… The Boomer demographic is currently the single largest, mainstream pool of experienced talent in the market today (76 million people strong). They have worked with high technology and computers for at least 20 years, are highly educated, and highly motivated. Last year about 40% of the total workforce was Boomers.

Most surprisingly, according to a report from the Kauffman Foundation, the highest rate of entrepreneurship in America has already shifted to the 55–64 age group, with people over 55 almost twice as likely to found successful companies than those between 20 and 34.

I’m not surprised – but it’s great to see some numbers.  Way back in 2005 (updated in 2007) I wrote a book with huge sections dedicated to Baby Boomer entrepreneurs:

ADVERTISING TO BABY BOOMERS
Targets Clients and Entrepreneurs
Paramount Market Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.
… Chuck Nyren's egalitarian approach to advertising and the creation of campaigns is all-inclusive. A large section of the book is dedicated to helping Baby Boomer entrepreneurs get their marketing and advertising up and running. The author as well gives advice and guidance to the small businessperson on how to fashion a handmade campaign.

And from The New York Times:

Goodbye, Golden Years
By EDWARD L. GLAESER
Published: November 19, 2011
IT’S counterintuitive, but the forever work life of older Americans may turn out to be a good thing for young workers. The “lump of labor fallacy” envisions an economic order in which there is a fixed amount of work to be done. But we can make more or less, buy more or less, and most important, we can create new lines of enterprise. Over time, growth and innovation can create plentiful new work opportunities. If the economy needed only a lump of labor, the spectacular expansion of America’s female work force would have led to vast male unemployment. But it didn’t. In fact, the number of working women rose by 87 percent in the 25 years between 1975 and 2000, during which time total male employment also increased, by 41 percent…

… America desperately needs more entrepreneurship, and by at least one measure, the elderly are often the most entrepreneurial Americans. Self-employment rises significantly with age.

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Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers I

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers II

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers III

Graywashing

Good word. 

Graywashing was minted by Colin Milner, CEO of the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA).  From a recent article in The Journal on Active Aging®:

Tackling Graywashing (PDF)
by Marilynn Larkin
“Graywashing refers to the act of misleading consumers regarding any purported age-associated benefits of a product or service,” Milner explains … “Graywashing gives older-adult consumers a false sense of security by positioning a product or service as uniquely beneficial to them…”

…. On the opposite end of the stereotyping
spectrum are campaigns that suggest
all older adults should be superstars.
“Portrayed in the media and marketing
materials as healthy, wealthy and defying
aging, ‘superstar’ older adults present
an image that also distorts reality,”
comments Milner. “Such stereotypes
imply or explicitly state that ‘aging well’
requires health, independence, vitality,
economic wherewithal and social
connections. Not surprisingly, these are
qualities we equate with youthfulness,”
he states.

Way back in 2005 I wrote about similar issues:

Don’t Paint Too Rosy A Picture (Excerpts)
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.”  A paragraph later, the reporter asks, “So just what kind of America will be forged by this crowd of geriatric goliaths?”

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: by 2046 a huge chunk Boomers will have passed 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.

And I’ve blogged about them through the years:

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.

The Era of Oversell is Over
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.

Uh-oh. We’re in trouble
Rapped on the knuckles…

Marilynn Larkin interviewed me for the article.  I put up a tongue-in-cheek post about it:

The Best Anti-Aging Products, Services, and Activities: Guaranteed!
There are plenty of anti-aging products, services, and activities that are staggeringly effective.  They stop the aging process almost immediately…

So quotes from yours truly are splattered throughout Tackling Graywashing – along with trenchant comments from Lori Bitter and Dr. Bill Thomas.

Thanks, Mr. Milner, for coming up with a masterful phrase to describe it all.