Baby boomers – the postwar generation – are refusing to grow old gracefully. Of the 76 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, one is now turning 50 every 7.5 seconds and, according to social and marketing commentators, they don't like it.
The "me generation", says US boomer guru Phil Goodman, "will be teenagers until the day they die".
So how do you communicate to the most powerful and wealthiest generation in the world as they advance, in record numbers, towards old age? According to Rick Adler, founder of The Senior Network in the US, a marketing and research company geared
to the older boomers, "there is a huge peril in viewing this group as one grey mass and not realising their diverse habits".
Adler explains that boomers may have young children or grandchildren or both, be in their prime earning capacity, be retired or a student or may be dating, single or still on their first marriage. In other words it is difficult to stereotype them and pin them down. Any campaign that tries to, he argues, is doomed. Another frequent observation about this diverse group is their reluctance to accept or expect any physical deterioration. After decades of aerobics, circuit work, jogging and triathlons they see no reason to curl up and die once old age approaches.
Companies who are keen to grab a slice of this enormously wealthy market should not define them by age or income, but should segment them into a combination of physical, social and psychological factors. According to Adler, many companies have tapped into the boomer market by identifying with the boomers' youth – for instance, Mercedes Benz's use of the rebellious rock song, "Lord Won't You Buy Me A Mercedes Benz", by Janis Joplin, from the '60s. It was a tongue-in-cheek look at the excesses of the "me generation".
There is also the guy who developed Clearasil to help the boomers navigate their teenage years. He has now acquired Grecian Formula Hair Colouring, repositioned it towards men, and is now selling it in drugstores throughout the US. Andrew Hockley, from Clemenger Direct, says the key is, simply, "aspirational marketing". "These baby boomers, members of the 'me generation', can most easily be segmented in terms of 'aspirational' products. "In many ways they have never really grown
up and, as the last Australians to avail themselves of the free education system, many still believe the world owes them a
living.
"While we don't market to them as a specific group, it is fair to say that, because they are generally over-represented in the higher income brackets, they are targeted for aspirational products such as luxury cars, European holidays and lifestyle
products," Hockley says. He cites research suggesting that there is a huge difference between baby boomers and their children. The latter tend to be less focused on material possessions like cars, houses and boats, because it is simply too far out of their reach.
"Research tells us that boomers' children, in fact, have more in common with their grandparents than their parents," Hockley says. Australian social commentator Hugh Mackay, in his book Turning Point: Australians Choosing Their Future, argues that boomers' children are looking at their grandparent's lives and perceiving less emphasis on material possessions and ore on contentment. Mackay says this makes them wonder whether they would do better to aim a little lower in material terms but a little higher spiritually. He cites a marked swing away from home buying to renting as a response to this shift. Others, he argues, have retreated into cyberspace to get out of the material world.
So what moves boomers – the generation which, according to Mackay, has been nurtured, raised, shaped and impressed by the forces of materialism – to make yet another purchase? Phil Goodman, founder of the Boomer Marketing and Research Centre in San Diego, says "senior marketing, as a term, needs to be dropped off a cliff. Boomers will never be like their parents and
grandparents. In their minds they will always be young."
He says that companies can reach the ageing boomer market by marketing to them as they did when they were 30 or 40. "In nearly 11 years of research the mindset has never changed," he says. But marketing tactics, he argues, will have to be modified. "One size won't fit all when boomers populate the over-50s market. Successful companies will segment the market by life stages, lifestyle choices, interests and needs."
Much research suggests that boomers are a disloyal lot. They don't stick by a brand for the sake of it. They want their individual needs met and if they don't get it from you they will get it elsewhere. Goodman also argues that there is
another dynamic at work – the influence and decision-making power of women. "For starters they are responsible for 80 per cent of all leisure decisions, and it's boomer women not men who wield the most influence on matters involving children, the family's health, the house, careers and even the election of a president."
The author of Relationship-based Marketing & Selling, William Willard, says that US women are involved in 66 per cent of the family money-making decisions. By this year, US women are expected to own 50 per cent of all companies in the US.
Another agreed aspect of boomer culture is the "me generation's" financial ineptitude in terms of savings, share portfolios and superannuation. In keeping with their overwhelming desire to consume everything in their sight, boomers have already spent so much of their hard-earned dollars that providing for their latter years is becoming a national problem.
Prime Minister John Howard's recent call to Australians to invest in the share market is, according to Hugh Mackay, pointed squarely at the boomers, with their discretionary income and sagging bank balances. They have to face the awful truth that they are getting old and they do have to prepare for their retirement.
And it seems that if any generation was in a position to provide for its future it is the boomers. In Australia the boomers
hold more than two-fifths of Australia's household wealth. The wealthiest, with assets of $320,000 or more, are in their
late 40s and early 50s with half of their assets as equity in their own home, a quarter in superannuation and 10 per cent
in family-owned businesses.
According to the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, more than 37 per cent of the nation's wealth is held by the four million Australians born between 1946 and 1960. Researchers believe the product of Australia's first 15 years of post-war prosperity is the wealthiest generation of the 20th century.
Michael Daddo, Managing Director of Advertising Agency M+C Saatchi, says the word "retirement" is one of the dirtiest words around to many baby boomers.
Involved in marketing financial products, Daddo believes there has been an awakening among many boomers that they need to invest more aggressively to make up for their lack of savings.
"As many of them approach the typical retirement age it is beginning to dawn on them that they are going to live longer than previous generations and that if they want to maintain their lifestyle they are going to have to provide for their future," Daddo says.
"As part of a managed investment portfolio we are finding that many older boomers are starting to get into e-trading– trading their own shares via the Internet. In many instances they are the group that has both the time and the money to tap
into the new technology."
"As a group I believe the boomers have to be handled with care. You can't clump them all in together; they are far too iverse a group for that. You have to speak to them as individuals – not stereotype them and drag them down to the lowest common denominator."
They still have their vulnerable side, however. Daddo argues "there is still a selfishness about them that, as a marketer, you can tap into. They have traditionally worked hard and are prepared to reward themselves with luxury cars, European holidays, expensive hotels and other up-market leisure products."
But how much longer can the group that, according to Hugh Mackay, has the dubious honour of setting new records for their level of personal debt, continue to consume at the current rate and get away with it? |
