Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers - Softcover

Green, Brent

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9780595264094: Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0595264093 ISBN 13: 9780595264094

Publisher: Writers Advantage Pr, 2003

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Americans born between 1946 and 1955 are ready to shatter traditional assumptions about early retirement. Their journey into the Golden Years will be groundbreaking.

Called Leading-Edge Baby Boomers, this forceful segment has over $500 billion in spending power and today controls a significant percentage of the nation's assets. Even more staggering is an unfolding demographic truth: more than 30 percent of Americans will be over 50 by 2010.

Brent Green, an experienced counseling therapist and award-winning creative director and copywriter, has published a book focused on this lucrative pre- and early-retirement segment. Entitled Marketing to Leading-edge Baby Boomers, Green's analysis reveals the psychological, sociological and interpersonal dimensions of a generation quickly reaching the life stage associated with quiescence.

As the author declares: "They will not be quiet, calm, or disengaged. They will collectively redefine the connotations of aging and the purpose of life's closing years. They will set the stage for a long-term reorientation of American business to the value of its previously most undervalued population segment. They will bring to aging culture what they bequest to youth culture when they were boisterously becoming young adults four decades ago."

Today, opportunity and reality are at odds. Somewhere between Woodstock Nation and Over-The-Hill, the most sought after market in America became pass�. The fiftysomething-to-sixty crowd has not been attracting its fair share of commercial attention from advertisers and ad agencies. As Green challenges, this is a problem larger than benign neglect.

Baby Boomers have often been the source of contempt and ridicule, a byproduct of disdain for the group's alleged self-absorbed, unpatriotic character, historically rooted in the Vietnam War era. Green provides troubling evidence for an emerging ageism directed at those in their mid-forties to mid-fifties. A side effect of historical distaste and today's growing ageism is often dreadful marketing: hackneyed pitches, rife with stereotypes and generational invectives.

In thirty-six fast-paced chapters, Green analyzes such topical issues as Boomer spirituality, an emerging creativity, political agendas, age-defying strategies, corporate malfeasance, lifestyle downsizing, adventure travel, and communal instincts. The book also provides well-developed case studies of marketing programs that have worked powerfully with Boomers.

A long-term social observer and critic, Brent Green understands the positive marketing implications of his feisty generation: "They will not tolerate typecasting, stereotypes, pandering or ageism. They will expect stylish products to instill value beyond mere utility. They will invest in products and services that resonate, and they will reward those who crack the idiosyncratic marketing code."

An unusual aspect of this traditional business book is Green's inclusion of two convincing short stories about Leading-edge Baby Boomers. The first story explores the Internet's impact on a dormant relationship from the sixties, raising larger questions about unresolved generational agendas and the coming struggle for relevance and meaning.

The second story presents an Orwellian view of an ageist society in 2028. The protagonist, a successful trial attorney who has dedicated her life to women's issues, is awakening to the new reality of generational condemnation, discrimination, and violence. This story makes a solid case for heightened awareness of Green's descriptive term: Genism.

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From the Publisher

Somewhere between Woodstock Nation and Over-The-Hill, the most sought after market in America became pass�. The fiftysomething-to-sixty crowd has not been attracting its fair share of commercial attention. This is an ill-bred business blunder.

The influential 50+ segment has $750 billion in annual spending power and today controls a majority of the nation's assets. Even more staggering is an unfolding demographic truth: more than 30 percent of Americans will be over 50 by 2010.

The frontrunners of this population "pig in a python" are Leading-edge Baby Boomers, the founders of modern youth culture and adroit consumers of yuppie materialism. They have never been shy about exalting brands when products meet their astute expectations. Consider the Boomer-inspired meteoric growth during the '70s and '80s of Nike, Recreational Equipment Inc., the downhill skiing industry, and Ben & Jerry's. Consider also the more recent growth of Restoration Hardware and Home Depot, not to mention ballooning 401k's during the '90s.

However, many marketers have been missing the obvious. They are failing to understand the advantages of targeting this mature segment with established products and services, and they are overlooking development opportunities for unimaginable businesses that a materialistic generation will inspire. Consider what the near-term future holds for adventure travel and life-style retirement communities. Or age-masking cosmetics. Or integrated-medicine.

Some businesses have aimed messages at this cohort, but the advertisements have succumbed to generational stereotypes and clich�s. Others have raised the specter of ageism. It's hardly a sound business judgment to overlook a burgeoning market or to offend its members with discriminatory messages. The enormity of this generation and its wealth are evolving to become the most lucrative growth opportunity in fifteen years.

Americans born between 1946 and 1955 are poised to shatter traditional assumptions about early retirement. They will not tolerate typecasting, stereotypes, pandering or ageism. They will expect stylish products to instill value beyond mere utility. They will invest in products and services that resonate, and they will reward those who crack the idiosyncratic marketing code.

Based on their historical impact on the nation's social and cultural agenda, Leading-edge Boomers will change the meaning of growing old in America. Those who want a share of their checkbooks need to understand this and also grow up.

From the Author

The challenges of taking care of my ailing parents in an ageist society and confronting other issues of Baby Boomer aging pointed me in new directions, and the enclosed book is one result.

I set out to write an essay that I could use to support a workshop I'm giving to organizations serving the aging segment. I just kept writing until I finished a book-length manuscript.

An unusual word occurred to me when I was laboring over the first draft. The word is genism. If I can make just one positive contribution with this book, I hope is to add the coined term to America's social lexicon, joining other "isms" such as sexism, dogmatism, and racism.

During my 25 years of research and work as a marketing consultant and creative director, I have observed that Baby Boomers have been and are being the targets of stereotyping and disparagement. Left unexplored and unchallenged, generational invectives will accelerate with aging.

For example, over 17,000 people filed claims with the EEOC in 2001 for age discrimination, surpassing disability-related claims for the first time.

As society adapts to accommodate the coming wave of Boomer retirees, it may be helpful to consider some of the issues that I raise in Marketing to Leading-edge Baby Boomers.

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