Deaf Ears, Gatekeepers, and Frustration

An expurgated, slightly altered email exchange with a magazine publisher. No comments or explanations necessary:

On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 7:12 AM, ******* wrote:

Hi Chuck,
I have read your book, Advertising to Baby Boomers, it's a great read and so true and I completely agree that the ad agencies are really falling flat when it comes to even keeping an open mind to advertising in a 50+ magazine... 

We have approached all the local ******* ad agencies and (our pitches) seem to fall on deaf ears. The owners are all 50+ but their gatekeepers are millennials and they have no interest in marketing to a bunch of old fogies but they are not doing justice for their clients who's demographic buys the majority of their products, IE: Cadillacs, Travel, Restaurants, Medical just to name the obvious.
 
Do you have any suggestions as to how to break this barrier between us and the ad agencies about marketing to Baby Boomers? When we circumvent them they take offense saying those are our clients... my response is you're not doing your job representing your client properly by targeting the clients demographic.

Thank you for you time concerning this matter.

*******

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On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 3:27 PM, Chuck Nyren wrote:

****,
Sounds like you're causing lots of trouble down there. Good.

I have no answers or concrete advice for you. My first thought is to 'circumvent' but you've tried that.

I've always thought that magazines like yours are half-lifestyle, half-general interest. Why advertisers and agencies don't get this, I don't know. I'd like to see ads for orange juice, paper towels, refrigerators, etc. - not only age-related products and services.

Next week I'll be doing a presentation in Toronto for the Zoomer/CARP folks:

http://www.zoomermedia.ca/

I plan on bringing up the lack of advertising for general consumer items. I'll get back to you.
Chuck

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On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 12:36 PM, ****** wrote:

Hi Chuck,
Thanks for getting back with me.  It’s very frustrating and I really feel that the ad agencies are not doing their clients justice when it comes to marketing their advertisers. In our presentations we are now asking potential advertisers what the difference is between any of these local magazines except for their names.  They can't answer that question. We know for a fact that anyone who is 40 or younger will not pick up our magazine unless for their parents to see. I spoke with ***** Cadillac yesterday and their average buyer is between 65 & 70 but they are advertising in a local rag with a 23 yr old on the cover, totally wasting their marketing dollars.
 
I'll be sending you a copy of ***********, perfect as a national magazine but we first have to establish ourselves in ********, no easy task and we never expected the response we have been getting.
Sincerely,
******

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.

Convoluted Simplicity & An Age-Friendly Marketing App

Marketing Guru Dick Stroud has some great takes on a video and article – both about tackling simplicity in tech design:

Tuesday, March 29, 2016
"A lot of our technology is bad at humans" - the older the human the worse it gets
… Much of the video illustrates, unintentionally, why designers get it so wrong. Terms like pretentious, elitist and self-satisfied come to mind…

Why does talking about simplicity need to be so complicated and convoluted?  When I talk about Universal Design, Product Design, Packaging, Web Design and older eyes, ears, hands – my message has always been simple:

An easy-to-grip handle is not dumbing down.  A ‘big picture’ is not dumbing down.  If anything, a big picture has more inherent complexity and meaning than an array of blinking doodads.

23 October 2012
The Future Of Consumer Doodad Technology
I’m stepping outside of my pundit-zone to babble about the future of  consumer doodad technology…

More:

Dick Stroud and Kim Walker have created a fascinating marketing app:

The Age-Friendly Tool or AF Tool 

It analyzes the often dicey and always delicate relationships between marketing touchpoints and the physiological aspects of aging consumers:

We live in a world designed by younger people, for younger people. That’s not a criticism, it’s a fact. But there are already over 1.5 billion people over 50 years of age and in many developed countries this means around 4 out of every 10 citizens.

A three-minute video about the AF Tool:

And check out the press release for more info and links:

20plus30 Launches Software to Assist Companies and Cities Adapt to Population Ageing

Advertising In The Aging Society: The Foreword, The Interview

Preceding Post:

21 February 2016
Published: Advertising in the Aging Society by Prieler, Kohlbacher

While composing the Afterword for Advertising in the Aging Society, I had most of the chapter drafts and resource materials to work with.

After turning in my 1st Draft, Florian Kohlbacher sent me this:

Btw, Dave is writing the Foreword so good that you’re quoting him…

That would be Dave McCaughan, Marketing Thought Leader and Storyteller based in Hong Kong.  He’d penned an excellent piece in Research World titled Aging Asia, and I’d pulled a few quotes for the Afterword – not knowing he’d written the Foreword.

Now I’ll pull a quote from Dave’s Foreword:

But the frustration remains. Perhaps best summed up by my friend Toru Shibata, ex-president of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Japan, who complains that it is so difficult to talk to his market research suppliers, his advertising agencies, his own marketing departments about targeting 70-year-olds when they are all staffed by people in their 30s and 40s. To those “young” professionals talk of advertising to a 70-year-old seems like talking about their grandmother, or great- grandmother. A beloved relative but a boring and misunderstood target audience.

Mr. McCoughan recently interviewed Professor Kohlbacher on Zoom, a Video and Web Conferencing Service.  It’s worth a listen:

Will you still need me? Marketing to Seniors: An Interview with Professor Florian Kohlbacher

More about Advertising In The Aging Society by Michael Prieler and Florian Kohlbacher:

On Amazon USA / On Amazon UK

Published: Advertising in the Aging Society by Prieler, Kohlbacher

In 2007 I was recruited to pen a chapter for The Silver Market Phenomenon Edited By Florian Kohlbacher and Cornelius Herstatt:

04 September 2008
Published: The Silver Market Phenomenon

28 June 2010
The Silver Market Phenomenon 2010: Update
… The current shift in demographics – aging and shrinking populations – in many countries around the world presents a major challenge to companies and societies alike. One particularly essential implication is the emergence and constant growth of the so-called “graying market” or “silver market”…

Last year I was again honored.  Professor Kohlbacher asked me to fashion an Afterword for his newest co-written tome:

Advertising in the Aging Society
Understanding Representations, Practitioners, and Consumers in Japan
By Michael Prieler and Florian Kohlbacher

Population aging is a powerful megatrend affecting many countries around the world. This demographic shift has vast effects on societies, economies and businesses, and thus also for the advertising industry. Advertising in the Aging Society presents an insight into advertising practitioners and consumers in Japan.

Download The Flyer (PDF) 
I’m serious.  Download it.

The Authors:

Michael Prieler is Associate Professor of Communication in the School of Communication at Hallym University, South Korea. Before this, he worked and studied for several years in Japan. His research focuses on media representations of gender, race/ethnicity, and older
people,and has been published in numerous books and international journals.

Florian Kohlbacher is Associate Professor of Marketing and Innovation in the International
Business School Suzhou (IBSS) at Xi'an Jiaotong
- Liverpool University (XJTLU) in Suzhou, China, and the Founding Director of the XJTLU Research Institute on Ageing and Society (RIAS). He is also an adjunct fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies (ICAS) at Temple University, Japan Campus.

“Advertising in the Aging Society presents a refreshing and rare combination of theory-driven, data-rich research complete with clear implications for advertising practice. After analysis of nearly 3,000 television advertisements, 185 advertising practitioners’ survey responses, and 1,834 audience surveys, the authors provide insightful advice regarding the effects, effectiveness, and ethics of portraying silver citizens in advertising.
- Michelle R. Nelson, Associate Professor of Advertising University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

For a limited time, Palgrave Macmillan is offering a sample chapter for download.

A snippet of the Afterword:

… During my international consulting in Europe and elsewhere, I always begin my presentations with a quote from American Political Scientist Seymour Lipset (1922-2006) culled from his book American Exceptionalism: “Those who know only one country, know no country.” Then I say to the participants, “Whatever I tell you today will be specific to the 50+ Market in the United States … Much of what I’ll say will not be relevant to you. What I hope will happen: As you watch and listen, every so often certain concepts, ideas, and practices will ring true – and you’ll know that what I’ve just said is more than likely a universal truth about advertising to this demographic. You will then be able to fashion marketing campaigns with a finely-tuned mix of country-specific and universal values.”

From my experiences hopping from country to country, I was surprised to be learning as much about my country as I was learning about other countries…

Back to The Flyer you should’ve downloaded:

"This is a very exciting book. Japanese advertising practitioners should listen carefully to Prieler and Kohlbacher's messages. They have implications for advertising around the world as population's aging is a global megatrend."
- Setsuo Sakamoto, Executive Producer, Institute of Elder Knowledge and New Adult Culture, HAKUHODO Inc.

Congratulations to Michael Prieler and Florian Kohlbacher.  Advertising in the Aging Society is a major accomplishment.

             On Amazon USA / On Amazon UK

Brain Games: Hocus-Pocus Hyperbole

Looks like a not-so-bright company hawking a make-me-bright online game is in non-virtual hot water:

Lumosity fined millions for making false claims about brain health benefits
…The shine has come off Lumosity with an announcement by federal investigators that the makers must pay $2m to settle a charge that it made fraudulent claims and “preyed on consumers’ fears”.

Although lucky for them, a big chunk of the penalty is virtual:

…The company has also been handed a $50m penalty for harming consumers – but the fine is suspended because the company cannot afford to pay it, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)…

Nostrachuckus warned of a backlash. Links to three long-ago posts:

02 March 2009
The Brain Games Game

08 December 2009
Your Brain on Games

21 April 2010
Your Brain On Games Redux

Random snippets from the posts above:

…And that’s what bothered me about the marketing – and still does.  Are these new-fangled blinking lights on a screen the best way, the only way to keep your noggin nimble?  This seems to be the claim.  Or are they a new breed in a long line of cognitive games that go back to counting pebbles on a cave floor?

…You certainly get the ‘hard-sell’ impression that if you don’t buy and play these games, eventually your brain will leak out of your nose and ears.  Why not just tell the truth?  These are high-tech, stimulating computer-generated exercises that will help keep your mind sharp - are structured, measurable to some degree (so they’re useful for medical research), and quite entertaining.

…What’s the story with advertising and Brain Games? Because of clumsy tactics, most advertising/marketing/PR is still doing more harm than good.

…Obviously I’m not qualified to comment on whether these digital gizmos revivify your rotting noggin.  However, for years I’ve questioned why the hype was so thick.  Did it have to be?

… My advice has always been to take the high road with the 50+ Market.  They’ve been around long enough to recognize most B.S. – and when they feel they’ve been fooled, say goodbye to them.

More:

FTC: ‘Brain training’ brand Lumosity didn’t have the research to back up its claims (Washington Post)

Lumosity to settle deceptive ‘brain training’ health claims (STAT)