Double-Feature: Entrepreneurs & Spending Power

Shorts & Trailers

Retailers should focus on aging baby boomers, not millennials, as profit centers

What is Ultralight Aging™?

Too old for market researchers but still able to spend a lot of money

1st Feature

Entrepreneurship: The Hottest Start-Up Market? Baby Boomers
… The staggering size of the total longevity economy — bigger even than Japan’s — has been attracting more entrepreneurs, deep-pocketed financiers and places to pitch new ideas in the past few years …

Based on the book Advertising to Baby Boomers, released in 2005:

… This book is written for a wide swath of business people, including Baby Boomer entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs targeting Baby Boomers with their products/services. Baby Boomers are now the largest demographic of new entrepreneurs. There are also numerous entrepreneurs of all ages who are inventing, creating, and manufacturing products and services specifically for the 45-plus market …

10-minute Intermission
What to Expect From the Free Medicare Wellness Visit

2nd Feature

Why Advertising To Boomers Just Got More Important
by Barry Robertson
Shocking new study defines vast Boomer (ugh!) spending power

… The late, but inevitable, Boomer arrival isn’t exactly news. For years, marketing experts have explained that while older consumers may be slower to adopt new technology, their huge numbers make them worth waiting for …

Don’t forget your hats and coats when leaving the theater.

Television Still Shining

Long time Ad Guru Steve Hall isn’t really flabbergasted:

OMG! The Internet STILL Hasn't Killed TV!
Despite what the advertising industry rumblings might lead us to believe over the past few years citing the decline of television as we know it, television advertising is instead alive, well, and producing solid results…

I like it when someone else writes a post for me – and/or I’ve written the post before (in this case, loads of times) so I don’t have to start from scratch.  Copy ‘n Paste is fast becoming my mantra.

All you really need to read is a C ‘n P job from 2014 that’ll take you all the way back to 2007:

Television Repeats
… 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.

I’ll leave you with this:

18 May 2010
Advertising Is Dead. Again.
It’s official. The last sixty-four years of advertising has been declared ‘ineffectual’.

More Some of the News That’s Fit to Print

Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Marketing from continent to continent and satellite to server and all the ships at sea. Let's go to press…

It's hard to imagine that there was ever a report on transparency that was less transparent … Laurie Orlov unstraps the Quackery and snake oil in the health wearables industry. The Crystal Ball was hazy, but  Nostrachuckus may have predicted this awhile back: Never Leave The Hospital! Health Tech Wearables, Implanted Chips & Finally Live The Life You’ve Always Wanted With Wearables! More from Chuck Martin at MediaPost: The Wearables Gap In The Internet Of Things …  Norman Lear is Not Dead Yet. (Any juveniles in the cast? If so, I want an audition. I’m sixty-five with cute dimples.) … Dick Stroud sez it’s good to see an architecture and design firm (Coran) taking physiological ageing seriously … Mark Ritson sez Gap Inc’s Art Peck has been struck down by a severe case of ‘morbus digitalis’, a sickness characterised by erratic and irresponsible behaviour such as swapping TV advertising for Tinder. Yours Truly has been saying this stuff for years: Social Media - WOMM - Web Advertising … A majority of Americans would favor banning prescription drug advertisements on television, a new poll released Wednesday suggests. Hmmm. Sounds familiar: The AMA, Those Pharma Ads, and My Thinking Cap … ‘Til next time.

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Just for fun:

Welcome To Your Welcome To Medicare Wellness Exam!
by Chuck Nyren for Huffington Post
… A whole hour talking about me, and if I’m not talking about me the other person is talking about me. That sounded great ...

Some of the news that’s fit to print.

Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Marketing from continent to continent and satellite to server and all the ships at sea. Let's go to press…

Marketing Author and Global Wayfarer Brent Green won’t be lonely.  Boomers Will Dominate Travel for 20 Years … We’re inquisitive about the ages of voters, not of the presumptive candidates. Which demo might decide the outcome?  Boomers 35% Of Voters In 2016 Presidential Election … Ever wonder why you’re probably wearing sneakers? Barry Robertson explains all: Boomer Megatrend Embraced By Millennials: Sports Shoes As Everyday-Wear … Not Surprising Department:  Boomers find volunteering rewarding … The UI Blues: Discussed ad nauseam in my book, this blog and other blogs - web usability. Counting your pennies online? Banks' Neglect of Seniors in Digital Push Is Shortsighted by Kevin Tynan … Where  VCs circle every June … Marti Barletta wises us up: The end of ‘shrink it and pink it’: A history of advertisers missing the mark with women … The HR Follies: Years spent scratching our heads. Newest itches - Companies that use older workers are the most innovative & Why You Should Hire Someone Over 55. Older workers stay in their jobs longer and bring a lot of experience, yet it's harder for them to find jobs … Till next time.

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Just for fun:
The Path To Bodily Enlightenment
I’ve achieved Mindfulness! It took no effort at all!
by Chuck Nyren

Big Mags Roll Out Big Guns. Again.

Another fusillade, a volley of déjà vus.

And it’s sort of like being in The Twilight Zone, or if that reference is too antediluvian for you, Groundhog Day, or if that reference is too antediluvian for you, there’s got to be plenty of recent movies and TV shows I’ve never heard of with similar plots or themes.

The grey market
Older consumers will reshape the business landscape
Apr 9th 2016
… The Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister organisation to The Economist, found that only 31% of firms it polled did take into account increased longevity when making plans for sales and marketing … One reason for this tardiness is that young people dominate marketing departments and think that the best place for the old is out of sight and mind.

Sounds familiar.  You can read a piece from 2003…

Advertising to Baby Boomers: Back into the Fold 
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.

Or you can read the Intro and 1st Chapter from my book (a free PDF Download):

Advertising to Baby Boomers Download

As Dick Stroud says in a comment:

This article could have been written a decade ago. Very little has changed…

From Forbes:

Marketers Throw Out The Baby Boomers With The Bathwater

I began to grab some quotes from the above and compare them to what I’ve written over the last twelve or so years – but the whole article, every piece of information, observation, and advice can be found in my book, blog, articles, interviews, and chapters I’ve penned.  For me, it’s spooky. Like stepping into a decade-old parallel universe.

And Fast Company:

Forget Millennials—Why You Should Hire Someone Over 55

Except for the “forget millennials” part (I’m a fan), dozens of déjà vus:

The Human Resources/Brain Power Posts (2006-2016)

"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?" - Rosser Reeves

My final words on Déjà Vu – from four years ago:

13 September 2012
The Déjà Vu News
Sometimes I think my browser is playing tricks on me.  Twilight Zone tricks.  Or Google is on the fritz, spitting out news stories from the past.  Some recent headlines:

Boomers Are The Most Valuable Generation For Marketers

Baby Boomers Are A Lucrative Marketing Demographic

Retailers Target Grey Spending Power

Baby Boomers Consider Next Housing Move

Boomers Are Not Like Your Grandparents

Baby Boomers Discover Grandparenting

More Boomers Aspire To Careers With Social Purpose

Baby boomers Are Starting Up Businesses

Hindenburg Explodes In Mid-Air

OK, I’m lying about the last one. It’s not a recent headline. But to me it doesn’t seem any older than the others.