Baby Boomers | Age-Group Branding

Boomers are reported to spend a staggering US$ 2.3 trillion in annual household expenditures (twice the amount of 18- to 39-year-olds), enjoy the highest incomes of any age group, and were born during a fortunate crack in history to cash in on the real estate and stock booms.

Yet despite Boomers' trillion-dollar spending power, Madison Avenue still views 18- to 39-year-olds as the prime demographic to target, paying an average of 25 to 50 percent more to target younger adults, according to research commissioned by TV Land (a unit of Viacom) with Boomer think-tank consultancy Age Wave. This is in spite of the fact that Boomers are 71 percent as likely as their younger counterparts to be willing to try new products and services, and 55 percent are just as persuaded by "effective advertising."

"People in advertising [targeting Boomers] very often miss the mark," notes Dan Veto, senior vice president of Age Wave. "The messages are too obvious. The connections are too forced."

Corinne Asturias, Boomers consumer strategist for Iconoculture, a research, advisory and consulting firm, agrees. "I think that it's a challenge to reach Boomers today because their lifestyles are very busy," she says. "Boomers are a generation that loves to buy stuff but hates being sold to. A lot of brands think that their brands from the past are going to carry them through with Boomers to the present and to the future, and that's not the case. You have to earn your stripes every day."

According to the Boomer experts, don't count on brand loyalty. Boomers form a generation that makes buying decisions based on the latest sales—not necessarily the brand name. Price-point sensitivity and brand fickleness can be attributed to the financial demands and strains of children, paying for college tuition, caring more and more for aging parents, and uncertain job outlooks—while still thinking about their own retirement. While Boomers may view the necessities more as interchangeable commodities than branded musts, they certainly appear to like their share of indulgent luxuries and are not afraid of technology.

"Boomers spend more money on computer hardware, software and cellphone service, and a whole host of electronics than any other generation," says Age Wave's Veto. "That's not just because it's bigger. What we see is a group that is very technology adaptive…and has the disposable income to pay for it—versus those trying to pay off college debt or just establishing a household [like the younger generations]."

Both Veto and Iconoculture's Asturias cite Apple as a quintessential Boomer brand, boasting both a Boomer CEO (Steve Jobs) and plenty of Boomer users. The popularity is regarded as due both to its easy user ability (from the iBook to the iPod) and the sense of young, trendy hipness it gives the Boomer. "Forever young" may indeed be the Boomers' mantra—and not so much in the nostalgic sense as so many think.

As this segment ages, their attitudes regarding "old age" and retirement are quite different from their parents' and grandparents'. The "golden years" of later life are turning out to be the "power years," with many refusing to accept the aging process as previous generations have. According to the HSBC Future of Retirement "What the World Wants" survey, Boomers are less likely to associate retirement with "the beginning of the end" and are increasingly regarding retirement as a continuation of or a new chapter in life—be it new interests, new careers, or even new relationships.

Call it a function of living much longer than the seniors of a hundred years ago: Boomers are getting a whole redo on their life. Comments Shelley Rosen, CEO of Airlift Ideas, a Chicago advertising and marketing firm, "They get to do [life] over. So you say to yourself, what is it they want to redo? Education, relationships, their physical appearance, their overall well-being—and they're spending money like crazy because they have it."

It's the focus on education, relationships, physical appearance, and well-being that is fueling multimillion-dollar—and in some cases, billion-dollar—industries. According to JupiterResearch, 15 percent of 45- to 54-year-olds perused Internet dating sites such as Match.com and eHarmony last year—nearly the same number as younger online users. Aging Boomers are going back to school—from attending community colleges to brushing up on job skills to joining branded living communities that actively provide college and university learning experiences for Boomers, such as Campus Continuum.

And physical appearance? One only need look to the record numbers associated with plastic surgery, health and beauty products, and spas. Boomers are said to be the main force behind a rise in prestige beauty product sales (particularly through anti-aging products), a segment valued at $2.2 billion, according to the NPD Group.

So are brands listening to the numbers? A few—such as Dove beauty products and Chico's women's clothing and accessories—are.

Reflects Airlift Idea's Rosen, "There's a tipping point going on with brands [such as Dove and Chico's] where they're saying, [Boomers] mean something to us, they bring value to our brand. The companies that are not thinking about this and are thinking, 'Well, they're all Mercedes drivers,' are the ones losing market share. It's a lost opportunity."

[25-Jun-2007]

Alycia de Mesa is a brand consultant, speaker and writer with more than a decade of industry experience ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. Her latest book is Brand Avatar – Translating Virtual World Branding Into Real World Success (Palgrave-Macmillan).


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