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Love Those Boomers
Their new attitudes and lifestyles are a marketer's dream
I'M REWINDING, NOT WINDING DOWN For previous generations, age 50 meant, bluntly put, the beginning of the end. But today's 50-plus crowd is far more likely to see the two or three decades ahead as a second life. Watching the kids leave home, for instance, need not bring on empty-nest syndrome. According to a survey last year by Del Webb, more than three-fifths of boomers say they're emotionally prepared for the kids to leave home, and more than a third believe their marriage will improve after the kids leave. "You'll have time to talk to your spouse more, fewer things to argue about." says Carolyn E. Adams-Price, a MississippiStateUniversity psychology professor who has studied empty-nesters.
Seizing on that idea, Pillsbury (GIS ) last October began airing a TV spot that revels in sexy empty-nester coupledom. "We're in this experimental phase," says the male half of a fiftyish twosome snuggling on the couch. The couple savors Pillsbury's Oven Baked biscuits with dinner, and as the Pillsbury Doughboy dims the dining room lights the woman giggles: "There's only so much experimentation I can take...at least at the dinner table."
The strategy, Pillsbury says, is to associate the empty nest with a promising stage of life. "Marketing to this segment is all about portraying the empty-nester in a positive light," says Mark Toth, a marketing manager at Pillsbury, a unit of Minneapolis' General Mills Inc. (GIS ) Pillsbury could be on to something: After only three years on the market, its frozen biscuits have the largest market share in that product category and sales are up since the campaign changed direction.
Copyright 2010, Bloomberg LP.
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Size of the Boomer and Senior Markets:
77 million people were born between 1946 and 1964, which is defined as the baby boomer era (U.S. Census).
The first baby boomer turned 60 on January 1, 2006.
An American turns 50 every 7 seconds-that's more than 12,500 people every day (U.S. Census).
As of 2009, 48 is the largest age group in the United States (U.S. Census).
By 2015, those aged 50 and older will represent 45% of the U.S. population (AARP).
By 2030, the 65-plus population will double to about 71.5 million, and by 2050 will grow to 86.7 million people (U.S. Census).
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Featured Article:
Baby Boomers Bending the Rules of Marketing
Traditionally, marketers have been found to focus the most on the 18-34 demographic, believing that they are more easily influenced and therefore likely to be captured as lifetime customers. But, recently marketers have begun started shifting their focus to the Baby Boomer generation, those born from 1946-1964.
According to a recent article in USA Today, the boomers are accumulating wealth with their spending, and growing at a pace that's leaving the younger generations in the dust. And, marketers are being encouraged to celebrate this generation because Boomers are about to get a lot richer.
Bruce Horovitz of USA Today states, "People 50 and older will inherit an estimated $14 trillion to $20 trillion during the next 20 years."
Moreover, not only is the stereotype of older consumers being averse to new things not true, but Boomers are actually among the biggest buyers of new cars and technology.
Source:
Susan Haus, Broadcast Supervisor Nov 24, 2010 in Advertising, Advertising trends, Marketing Tips, Marketing trends
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