October 30, 2007
Tailoring Ads to Aging Boomers
By Tom Ryan
While past generations were known for entrenched habits, frugality and sedentary lifestyles, today’s consumers in their 60s, 70s and 80s are showing a willingness to travel, dine out and adopt new technologies. That’s why the advertising world is changing their approach on how to reach older consumers, particularly as more and more baby boomers enter the upper bracket.
‘They see life as something to grab and want to look great, feel great,’ Mary Lou Quinlan, who runs Just Ask a Woman, a marketing company that works for clients like Clairol and GlaxoSmithKline, told the New York Times. ‘They won’t settle for the meager choices marketers might have offered in the past.”
One newer advertising theme in reaching the new older consumer is the more youthful approach. For instance, Harley-Davidson holds garage party events at local dealerships along with courses for new riders at Rider’s Edge, the Harley-Davidson motorcycle school; and also runs ads in magazines aimed at more mature women like More, Shape and Women’s Health.
‘There are certain categories that still have this obsession with youth,’ said Brenda Saget Darling, More’s vice president and publisher, among them fashion.
Another change comes from financial companies increasingly aiming their pitch for retirement planning to women.
Biomet, which sells artificial hips and knees, recently launched a campaign featuring Mary Lou Retton, the former Olympic gymnast, who is 39.
‘She definitely trends in with our new group of demographics, boomers who want to be more active and don’t want to live with pain,’ Stacey Jones, director for consumer marketing at Biomet Orthopedics, told the Times.
 |
| Dove Pro-Age Ad; www.doveproage.com |
Not every marketing switch targeting the new older consumer has been a clear hit. For example, a new line of anti-aging products sold by Unilever under the Dove Pro-Age name drew widespread attention for ads of nude grandmothers, tastefully photographed by Annie Leibovitz. But the line was being outsold by a similar line of products offered by Procter & Gamble under the Olay Definity brand, which had used a more conventional advertising approach. As a result, Advertising Age recently wondered whether the Dove ads ‘went a step too far in embracing aging in all its naked, wrinkled and sagging glory.’
An older woman ‘doesn’t wake up and say, ‘I’m glad I look older today,” Ms. Quinlan of Just Ask a Woman, told the Times. ‘As marketers try to come up with a new set of role models and icons, there will be missteps.’
Discussion Questions: How should advertisers be marketing to baby boomers as they reach old age? What approaches should remain the same or be different from their approaches to past older generations? What missteps do you see advertisers making?
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That’s simple. Make the print bigger! And don’t call me “m’am.”
Advertisers will waste billions trying to reach a research driven stereotypical boomer. But there isn’t one. Aging boomers are simply not going to be able to be categorized. Companies which set up high quality and highly informational websites touting their products and services will see that boomers (and their children) through search engines will find them–whether their product be arch support walking shoes, discount arthritis drugs, Yangtze River Cruises, scrapbooking supplies, barcaloungers, or yoga lessons.
First of all every market segment is “aging.” But my big complaint is that so much stuff being marketed to “Boomers” is just plain boring. Harley-Davidson might be the exception but try to find interesting and different clothing for men for example and you’ll be forced to go the tailor-made route. Go into the typical mens’ store like Jos. A Banks and you slip into a coma just looking at all the pastels. Domestic car manufacturers still think we want Lincoln Town Cars or Buick LeSabres. And why do so many companies like Centrum brand products for seniors with the word “Silver?” NutriSystem has food especially prepared for seniors–can you think of anything less appetizing? I can’t get the word ‘puree’ out of my mind!
At 60-something, I have a lot of living to do and plan to do it with vibrant colors, new stretching experiences and a great deal of excitement. You in?
I wonder why some of these articles even make it to the press. How many of us don’t know by now that target marketing works? Yes, baby boomers are a target market. Yes, today’s baby boomer sees him or herself at least 15 years younger than the past generation. Yes, the generation has more money to spend. Yes, they want advertising and products that help them to live a better life.
Retailers and manufactures will go where the money is and will try different things to appeal to this market segment. Some will work and some won’t.
But if you don’t get up and swing the bat, you’re sure to never get a hit.
Market to boomers with much the same tone and attitude you always have. We (yep, I’m in the fold) do not see ourselves differently than we did when we were thirty or forty in most attitudinal respects. Rock & rollers still love Zeppelin and Creedence. C&W folks still love Willie and Waylon and the Boys. Auto enthusiasts are still fans of folks named Andretti and Petty and Earnhardt.
Sure, the services and products you are selling us might have changed. But we simply see those things as change to be accommodated and incorporated into who we are–and who we always have been.
If retailers really want to get good at merchandising to boomers and other age groups, they need to focus on their Business Intelligence infrastructure.
For retailers that market to a broad demographic, it is very important to band the merchandise mix by age of the intended customer. This can be accomplished by assigning an “intended customer age” code to products as new items are input into the ERP system. That way the Business Intelligence systems can compare the customer age merchandise mix with the customer age sales mix.
For example, what would you do if 50% of your merchandise was intended for the 25-40 age group, but only 20% of your sales were registered to them? You’d prune your inventory for that group, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, most retailers don’t have any real way of monitoring this development.
This can be carried further by assigning customer age codes to the customers in the customer database. Retailers can look at the age of the best shoppers for a particular store and trading area. What products are they buying? This analysis should help planners tweak the merchandise mix based on the feedback of the best customers.
Sharing attributes between product codes and customer codes is the smartest thing a retailer can do to segment their shoppers by age.
The right message at the right time at the right place–that is becoming the mantra for more and more advertisers.
It is correct to say that today’s aging boomers are not a sedentary group and they, like the newer generations, consume their media differently then past generations. With what were 3 major networks now being 100s of cable channels and magazines such as Look, Life and Reader’s Digest giving way to dozens of publications with a lifestyle and lifestage focuses, advertisers need to manage a complex matrix of brand messaging opportunities.
Additionally, products are more complex and the consumer, especially the aging boomers who were raised to question authority, need to be educated on product benefits as they relate to their specific needs.
Enter a campaign around a product launch that consists of heavier use of the internet where the brand can create a community environment of aging boomers with similar interests. Not just product promotion but other information including on diet and exercise. Included in those campaigns should be digital out of home advertising that is engaging and informative. Digital signage at the local CVS or Walgreens that communicates an assortment of products and services (they have mini-clinics at Walgreens now) that serve this demographic, then tie in this in-store video promotion with an instant coupon for a trial of the product. Oh, and how about I take out my cell phone and opt into a branded community right there at the store…now I am part of a marketing database for both Walgreens and Unilever.
Advertisers are finally realizing that seniors spend money, and that seniors are willing to try new things and products. But now that boomers are becoming seniors, it will become increasingly more difficult to generalize about the senior market. That means producers of goods and services (and retailers) must either market to an ever-broader array of market segments and niches, or attempt mass customization (individualization).
There are many success stories (and failures) in these attempts already. I have analyzed several; too many to discuss here. My general conclusion, as unsatisfactory as it may be, is that “it depends.” It depends on product, market, strategy, reach, communication, etc. But assumptions must be discarded, and I guess that’s the point of this article.
Advertising Age just ran an article called “How to Target Older Demos.” To sum up what they had to say about aging boomers:
Who They Are: They share a common past of the Vietnam War and as a result tend toward cynicism. Having lived through a mainly booming economy, they have a lot of disposable income.
How They Live: Though they maintain a healthful lifestyle, they still have overweight issues and problems with diabetes and high cholesterol.
How They Think: Members of this group view themselves as 15 years younger than they are. They feel their lifestyle defines them as people. They are interested in improving the process of aging but concerned about loss of youth.
I’m not sure I agree with all of this, especially the cynical part, but then again, I was born at the end of the baby boom. From my perspective, I’m tired of Adages (pun intended) like “forty is the new twenty” but I think there’s some truth to it.
When we Boomers were growing up, people in their fifties were old people. Many of them were immigrants, they talked and dressed the part, and that made them seem even older. Our generation grew up with the hippy movement, rock and roll, Levi’s, and marijuana. Some of us even inhaled!
But I don’t relate to 16 year olds portrayed in ads. I think the Dove ads were great, and the women were sexy (and I’m clearly not the target!).
This generation of boomers is more open minded, more self-accepting than any other generation. We are active, yes, and want to be portrayed that way. But don’t try to sell me a product with a guy with a 29″ waste.
Boomers want to be marketed to by other boomers that relate when it comes to pharmaceuticals, medicines, and health and beauty. However, boomers also want to keep up with today’s technologies and conveniences when it comes to consumer electronics and personal luxury items.
Boomers are downloading music and using MP3 players at health clubs and are text-messaging, and chatting on-line. However, boomers do look in the mirror, and feel new types of pains, and have discovered that they cannot run quite as well as they once did, and that weight gain seems to come easier than it did in the past.
Boomers are looking for real solutions to every day aging problems, and for new ideas to live better, but the message needs to come at them from realistic ads–from people to whom they can relate, and respectfully. For example, a celebrity that has had three face lifts is probably not the right choice to be advertising a youthful acting anti-aging skin cream, and the background music of an ad aimed at boomers should be far more current than Dean Martin. Come on, at least give us our Rolling Stones.
Affluent Boomers do use the media differently. While they are heavy users of the internet, they are also very heavy users of newspapers and pretty heavy users of outdoor and magazine media. They tend to be average users of radio and light users of TV. So don’t believe all that hype about ‘the death of newspapers’. What I think has changed in reaching boomers is the need for a mix of media that combines traditional use of newspapers with increased use of the net. And don’t overlook out-of-home, especially all the new digital signs at or near the point of purchase. Very cool and very effective.
I agree with the previous comment, “Now that boomers are becoming seniors, it will become increasingly more difficult to generalize about the senior market.”
So what’s an advertiser to do?
Make the ads and marketing fun, informative, relevant, and active with a focus on health where it makes sense. Show products and services that provide real solutions.
Yesterday I was in my local Apple store and was helped at the “Genius Bar.” (The name makes me laugh.) I am a baby boomer and was assisted by a young “genius” who was helpful and knowledgeable. In addition, while I was there I observed customers talking with Apple’s “Personal Trainers” who provide personalized advice on how to use all aspects of a Mac and related products. Weekly workshops are also offered in Apple stores to show consumers features of new software like iLife and Leopard. Offering this type of training to boomers (and others) is a great example of marketing products in an informative and relevant way for those of us who may not intuitively know how to use all the new technology, but are eager to learn.
I’m one of the first boomers, and I have almost all of the gadgets (we’re talking electronic here, not biological–although my biological gadget inventory is quite complete and operational, thank you very much). My son told me to buy an 80gb iPod to hook into my new car sound system (new system, old ’97 840 Ci), so I did. I even have the mega-music to load onto it. After two months, it’s still sitting on my desk, unhooked. I did the math, and I’d have to drive nearly two million miles at the speed limit (like that’s going to happen) in order to listen to all of my music. Somehow I don’t believe I have two million road miles left in my tank. Maybe I’ll just load in the Led Zep and Pink Floyd and let ‘er rip at level eleven. Did you know that the opening of the Floyd’s “Money” is in 7/8 time? Weirds people out. Zep’s “Black Dog” uses the same time signature.
For all of you accompanying me on the geezer bus (thanks, Dave Barry, for that term), don’t even pretend that the previous stream-of-consciousness didn’t “twang your magic twanger, Froggy.” (Google it, it’s classic Buster Brown.) Get the connection? We boomers are a little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n roll. A little bit electronic and a little bit biological. We can afford and operate the latest techno-toys, and do what we can to operate our other “stuff.” So, market to us as adult humans. We’ll sort out what we want and disregard the rest.
Depends on how you mean different. If it’s push vs pull (web 2.0), the change is great. Relative to the prior generation, authority means less; self expression much more. Inside though it’s all fear of death, fear of poverty and loneliness, philosophical reflection on the meaning of life, health concerns and superstitions, egotism and humility. Dishonest spin (like drug company advertising and politicians) will backlash hard. Health with corresponding feeling of youth will vary greatly.
If Dove is disappointed with their marketing results they need to use market research more effectively. Their boomer campaign should’ve been tested (before rollout) against several alternatives (including the competition’s campaigns). Testing is always cheaper than rolling out mistakes. Many ad campaigns aren’t tested in advance against reasonable alternatives. Good testing yields reliable predictions.
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That’s simple. Make the print bigger! And don’t call me “m’am.”
Advertisers will waste billions trying to reach a research driven stereotypical boomer. But there isn’t one. Aging boomers are simply not going to be able to be categorized. Companies which set up high quality and highly informational websites touting their products and services will see that boomers (and their children) through search engines will find them–whether their product be arch support walking shoes, discount arthritis drugs, Yangtze River Cruises, scrapbooking supplies, barcaloungers, or yoga lessons.
First of all every market segment is “aging.” But my big complaint is that so much stuff being marketed to “Boomers” is just plain boring. Harley-Davidson might be the exception but try to find interesting and different clothing for men for example and you’ll be forced to go the tailor-made route. Go into the typical mens’ store like Jos. A Banks and you slip into a coma just looking at all the pastels. Domestic car manufacturers still think we want Lincoln Town Cars or Buick LeSabres. And why do so many companies like Centrum brand products for seniors with the word “Silver?” NutriSystem has food especially prepared for seniors–can you think of anything less appetizing? I can’t get the word ‘puree’ out of my mind!
At 60-something, I have a lot of living to do and plan to do it with vibrant colors, new stretching experiences and a great deal of excitement. You in?
I wonder why some of these articles even make it to the press. How many of us don’t know by now that target marketing works? Yes, baby boomers are a target market. Yes, today’s baby boomer sees him or herself at least 15 years younger than the past generation. Yes, the generation has more money to spend. Yes, they want advertising and products that help them to live a better life.
Retailers and manufactures will go where the money is and will try different things to appeal to this market segment. Some will work and some won’t.
But if you don’t get up and swing the bat, you’re sure to never get a hit.
Market to boomers with much the same tone and attitude you always have. We (yep, I’m in the fold) do not see ourselves differently than we did when we were thirty or forty in most attitudinal respects. Rock & rollers still love Zeppelin and Creedence. C&W folks still love Willie and Waylon and the Boys. Auto enthusiasts are still fans of folks named Andretti and Petty and Earnhardt.
Sure, the services and products you are selling us might have changed. But we simply see those things as change to be accommodated and incorporated into who we are–and who we always have been.
If retailers really want to get good at merchandising to boomers and other age groups, they need to focus on their Business Intelligence infrastructure.
For retailers that market to a broad demographic, it is very important to band the merchandise mix by age of the intended customer. This can be accomplished by assigning an “intended customer age” code to products as new items are input into the ERP system. That way the Business Intelligence systems can compare the customer age merchandise mix with the customer age sales mix.
For example, what would you do if 50% of your merchandise was intended for the 25-40 age group, but only 20% of your sales were registered to them? You’d prune your inventory for that group, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, most retailers don’t have any real way of monitoring this development.
This can be carried further by assigning customer age codes to the customers in the customer database. Retailers can look at the age of the best shoppers for a particular store and trading area. What products are they buying? This analysis should help planners tweak the merchandise mix based on the feedback of the best customers.
Sharing attributes between product codes and customer codes is the smartest thing a retailer can do to segment their shoppers by age.
The right message at the right time at the right place–that is becoming the mantra for more and more advertisers.
It is correct to say that today’s aging boomers are not a sedentary group and they, like the newer generations, consume their media differently then past generations. With what were 3 major networks now being 100s of cable channels and magazines such as Look, Life and Reader’s Digest giving way to dozens of publications with a lifestyle and lifestage focuses, advertisers need to manage a complex matrix of brand messaging opportunities.
Additionally, products are more complex and the consumer, especially the aging boomers who were raised to question authority, need to be educated on product benefits as they relate to their specific needs.
Enter a campaign around a product launch that consists of heavier use of the internet where the brand can create a community environment of aging boomers with similar interests. Not just product promotion but other information including on diet and exercise. Included in those campaigns should be digital out of home advertising that is engaging and informative. Digital signage at the local CVS or Walgreens that communicates an assortment of products and services (they have mini-clinics at Walgreens now) that serve this demographic, then tie in this in-store video promotion with an instant coupon for a trial of the product. Oh, and how about I take out my cell phone and opt into a branded community right there at the store…now I am part of a marketing database for both Walgreens and Unilever.
Advertisers are finally realizing that seniors spend money, and that seniors are willing to try new things and products. But now that boomers are becoming seniors, it will become increasingly more difficult to generalize about the senior market. That means producers of goods and services (and retailers) must either market to an ever-broader array of market segments and niches, or attempt mass customization (individualization).
There are many success stories (and failures) in these attempts already. I have analyzed several; too many to discuss here. My general conclusion, as unsatisfactory as it may be, is that “it depends.” It depends on product, market, strategy, reach, communication, etc. But assumptions must be discarded, and I guess that’s the point of this article.
Advertising Age just ran an article called “How to Target Older Demos.” To sum up what they had to say about aging boomers:
Who They Are: They share a common past of the Vietnam War and as a result tend toward cynicism. Having lived through a mainly booming economy, they have a lot of disposable income.
How They Live: Though they maintain a healthful lifestyle, they still have overweight issues and problems with diabetes and high cholesterol.
How They Think: Members of this group view themselves as 15 years younger than they are. They feel their lifestyle defines them as people. They are interested in improving the process of aging but concerned about loss of youth.
I’m not sure I agree with all of this, especially the cynical part, but then again, I was born at the end of the baby boom. From my perspective, I’m tired of Adages (pun intended) like “forty is the new twenty” but I think there’s some truth to it.
When we Boomers were growing up, people in their fifties were old people. Many of them were immigrants, they talked and dressed the part, and that made them seem even older. Our generation grew up with the hippy movement, rock and roll, Levi’s, and marijuana. Some of us even inhaled!
But I don’t relate to 16 year olds portrayed in ads. I think the Dove ads were great, and the women were sexy (and I’m clearly not the target!).
This generation of boomers is more open minded, more self-accepting than any other generation. We are active, yes, and want to be portrayed that way. But don’t try to sell me a product with a guy with a 29″ waste.
Boomers want to be marketed to by other boomers that relate when it comes to pharmaceuticals, medicines, and health and beauty. However, boomers also want to keep up with today’s technologies and conveniences when it comes to consumer electronics and personal luxury items.
Boomers are downloading music and using MP3 players at health clubs and are text-messaging, and chatting on-line. However, boomers do look in the mirror, and feel new types of pains, and have discovered that they cannot run quite as well as they once did, and that weight gain seems to come easier than it did in the past.
Boomers are looking for real solutions to every day aging problems, and for new ideas to live better, but the message needs to come at them from realistic ads–from people to whom they can relate, and respectfully. For example, a celebrity that has had three face lifts is probably not the right choice to be advertising a youthful acting anti-aging skin cream, and the background music of an ad aimed at boomers should be far more current than Dean Martin. Come on, at least give us our Rolling Stones.
Affluent Boomers do use the media differently. While they are heavy users of the internet, they are also very heavy users of newspapers and pretty heavy users of outdoor and magazine media. They tend to be average users of radio and light users of TV. So don’t believe all that hype about ‘the death of newspapers’. What I think has changed in reaching boomers is the need for a mix of media that combines traditional use of newspapers with increased use of the net. And don’t overlook out-of-home, especially all the new digital signs at or near the point of purchase. Very cool and very effective.
I agree with the previous comment, “Now that boomers are becoming seniors, it will become increasingly more difficult to generalize about the senior market.”
So what’s an advertiser to do?
Make the ads and marketing fun, informative, relevant, and active with a focus on health where it makes sense. Show products and services that provide real solutions.
Yesterday I was in my local Apple store and was helped at the “Genius Bar.” (The name makes me laugh.) I am a baby boomer and was assisted by a young “genius” who was helpful and knowledgeable. In addition, while I was there I observed customers talking with Apple’s “Personal Trainers” who provide personalized advice on how to use all aspects of a Mac and related products. Weekly workshops are also offered in Apple stores to show consumers features of new software like iLife and Leopard. Offering this type of training to boomers (and others) is a great example of marketing products in an informative and relevant way for those of us who may not intuitively know how to use all the new technology, but are eager to learn.
I’m one of the first boomers, and I have almost all of the gadgets (we’re talking electronic here, not biological–although my biological gadget inventory is quite complete and operational, thank you very much). My son told me to buy an 80gb iPod to hook into my new car sound system (new system, old ’97 840 Ci), so I did. I even have the mega-music to load onto it. After two months, it’s still sitting on my desk, unhooked. I did the math, and I’d have to drive nearly two million miles at the speed limit (like that’s going to happen) in order to listen to all of my music. Somehow I don’t believe I have two million road miles left in my tank. Maybe I’ll just load in the Led Zep and Pink Floyd and let ‘er rip at level eleven. Did you know that the opening of the Floyd’s “Money” is in 7/8 time? Weirds people out. Zep’s “Black Dog” uses the same time signature.
For all of you accompanying me on the geezer bus (thanks, Dave Barry, for that term), don’t even pretend that the previous stream-of-consciousness didn’t “twang your magic twanger, Froggy.” (Google it, it’s classic Buster Brown.) Get the connection? We boomers are a little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n roll. A little bit electronic and a little bit biological. We can afford and operate the latest techno-toys, and do what we can to operate our other “stuff.” So, market to us as adult humans. We’ll sort out what we want and disregard the rest.
Depends on how you mean different. If it’s push vs pull (web 2.0), the change is great. Relative to the prior generation, authority means less; self expression much more. Inside though it’s all fear of death, fear of poverty and loneliness, philosophical reflection on the meaning of life, health concerns and superstitions, egotism and humility. Dishonest spin (like drug company advertising and politicians) will backlash hard. Health with corresponding feeling of youth will vary greatly.
If Dove is disappointed with their marketing results they need to use market research more effectively. Their boomer campaign should’ve been tested (before rollout) against several alternatives (including the competition’s campaigns). Testing is always cheaper than rolling out mistakes. Many ad campaigns aren’t tested in advance against reasonable alternatives. Good testing yields reliable predictions.