Generation Reinvention: How Boomers Today Are Changing Business, Marketing, Aging and the Future

Copyright © 2010 Brent Green

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction:

Born from 1946 to 1964—in 2010: 46 to 64

Chapter 1:

Dawn of the Next Baby Boomer Economy

Chapter 2:

Boomers and Business: It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll

30+ Reinvention Opportunities

Boomer Generational Theory,

Market Research, and Marketing Analysis

Chapter 3:

From a Theory of Generations to Generational Marketing

Chapter 4:

Boomers and the Future of Luxury Brands

Chapter 5:

Shaping the Future: Baby Boomer Action Types

Chapter 6:

Cultural Creatives and the Boomer Mindset

Chapter 7:

Pew Research, Urban Institute and Gloomy Boomers

Chapter 8:

An International Perspective — Boomers in APAC: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, India, and Singapore…

Chapter 9:

Boomers, Zoomers and Rebranding Aging

Boomer Advertising & Marketing Case Study Analysis

Chapter 10:

Aha Moments, Mutual of Omaha, Insurance Advertising and Baby Boomers

Chapter 11:

Levi’s, Harley-Davidson and Iconic Baby Boomer Brands

Chapter 12:

Chico’s and Boomer Women

Chapter 13:

A Boomer Heroine for Our Time

Chapter 14:

Bacardi Rum Mojitos, Marketing Missteps, Boomers and Social Justice

Chapter 15:

The Pain of Being Boomers and Bayer‘s Aleve

Chapter 16:

Barneys Boomer Alert: Peace & Love—Have a Hippie Holiday

Chapter 17:

REI, Authenticity and Boomers

Chapter 18:

The LOHAS Forum and the Future of Conscience Consumerism

Chapter 19:

GE’s healthymagination, Baby Boomers and the Future of Healthcare Marketing

The Future of Boomers:

Social, Political, Cultural, and Technological Issues

Chapter 20:

The Personal Is Mass Marketing: Advertising and Social Commentary

Chapter 21:

Boomers, Woodstock, Jethro Tull, Youth & Aging

Chapter 22:

The Peace Symbol: Definitive Boomer Cultural Logo and Icon

Chapter 23:

Academy Awards and Heroes; Mickey Rourke, Boomers & Fighters

Chapter 24:

Boomers, Millennials and the Cycles of Generations

Chapter 25:

Baby Boomers, a Yogi Developer and Going Green

Chapter 26:

Boomer Meets Boomer Icon, Peter Max

Chapter 27:

Baby Boomer Celebrities and a New Culture of Fame

Chapter 28:

Avatar: A Mythic Movie for Baby Boomers

Chapter 29:

Boomer Apologists versus Boomer Entrepreneurs

Chapter 30:

Boomers and the Future of Technology

Chapter 31:

Volkswagen, Baby Boomers, and the Future of Automobiles

Chapter 32:

The Most Dreaded Disease of Our Time: Demystified

Chapter 33:

Boomers Pioneer Next-Generation Medicine: Medical Tourism

Chapter 34:

Boomer Mortality and Drug Abuse

Chapter 35:

Boomers and the Future of Hospice

Special Section:

Marketing to Baby Boomer Men

Chapter 36:

Introduction to a Boomer Man’s Magical Mystery Tour as Consumer

Chapter 37:

The Mission, The Man, The Money: Marketing to Baby Boomer Men

Chapter 38:

Baby Boomer Men, Branding & Breitling

Chapter 39:

To Gray or Not to Gray: Appearance, Age and Wisdom

Chapter 40:

Boomer Men and Colon Cancer: An Uncomfortable Truth

Chapter 41:

Profile of a Lucky Man Who Made the Grade: Wade Davis

Chapter 42:

Tribute to a Boomer Artist: Dan Fogelberg

Chapter 43:

Tribute to a Boomer Opinion Leader: Tim Russert

Chapter 44:

Conclusion: A Generation Is Changing Aging

Appendix A:

Cohort-Period-Age Workshop

COHORT

PERIOD

AGE

COHORT-PERIOD-AGE

Bibliography

About the Author

Endnotes

Acknowledgements

Introduction:

Born from 1946 to 1964—in 2010: 46 to 64

In 2010, an interesting demographic symmetry arrived. Americans born between 1946 and 1964—the birth years traditionally used by pundits to delineate the Baby Boomer Generation—celebrated birthdays somewhere between 46 and 64.

For the first time in this generation’s history, millions of Boomers may have considered a rhetorical question posed by Beatle Paul McCartney in his 1967 hit, "When I’m Sixty-Four." Will you still need me?

Family and friends will continue to need them, whether 46 or 64. And businesses will need Boomer customers. As we shall see, the generation is hardly finished propelling profits. The nonprofit world will need them also as this generation turns more from careers toward contributions. Even nations aging demographically will need the generation to remain engaged.

Although this book indeed explores the worth and value of this generation from social and cultural perspectives, my primary focus is on economic questions circulating in business circles. What is a generation from a marketing perspective? How can we effectively market to the Boomer generational segment? What opportunities are developing to target Boomer men?

It can be complicated to condense a generation into a neat package; generations do not have obvious beginnings and endings, nor do individual cohort members possess universal characteristics. Nevertheless, diverse and distributed as they may be, Boomers are bound together by a compelling sense of their generational reference group. Many remain enamored of a rambunctious twentieth century history and collective mentalities springing from their sometimes-impetuous formative years.

Critics of this generation’s abundant sense of identity may perceive navel gazing. This in-your-face generation has stirred up impatience and derision. Even some outspoken Boomers express a bitter distaste of their peers, further fomenting stereotypes and critical caricatures.

Are Boomers a generation of self-absorbed egoists, or did a distinctive convergence of historical, demographic, sociological, and technological forces cause the Boomer generation to incorporate a robust sense of identity somewhat akin to a social class?

Steve Gillon, author of Boomer Nation and an acclaimed academic and historian, observed that not all generations possess a common identity that can be as widely understood and addressed: While past generations have shared common experiences, they developed only a loose sense of generational identity. Largely because of their size and the emergence of mass media, especially television, Boomers are the first generation to have a defined sense of themselves as a single entity.1

With 30 years of experience marketing to Boomers, I concur with Steve Gillon. Arguably, Boomers belong to a cohort that has been more examined, evaluated, and explained than all other generations combined. Whether this is fair is not my place to conclude. I prefer to pursue a more pragmatic course: to shape understanding about this generation from a commercial perspective, and to articulate how this cohort can be addressed today by businesses and nonprofits for the development of mutually beneficial relationships.

This generation of Americans has long been the nation’s dominant consumer segment. Boomers today constitute about 40 to 50 percent of all consumer spending, and the generation also controls roughly 70 percent of the nation’s assets. Part of this economic capacity can be attributed to the generation’s commanding size: Boomers represent over 26 percent of the entire U.S. population, and roughly one in three American adults.

As Gillon also reminds us, Boomers became the first generation raised with broadcast television providing a ubiquitous media vehicle for shared experiences, collective value formation, self-awareness, and powerful marketing fads. Boomers first started learning about and creating demand for products advertised on small black and white television sets during Saturday morning cartoons and special programming developed to appeal to their evolving and collective sense of self, whether the Mickey Mouse Club, Leave It to Beaver or The Brady Bunch. More cohort-sensitive media programming and marketing campaigns followed through the decades.

Thus, two powerful forces—dominant demographics and the first generation raised with broadcast television—bestowed upon Boomers a layered and complex sense of identity, the values of which continue to propel them into the future. As the generation persists in reflecting upon its own aging, relevance, and future, I believe that this Boomer-sense-of-collective-self will grow new dimensions and business opportunities. Boomers will keep inspiring sophisticated new advertising and business solutions that address not only their shared history, but also their shared conceptions of the aging process and sense of who they are becoming as mature adults.

So, what’s the point of examining marketing from a generational perspective?

This is about commerce intersecting with meaning.

A Renaissance of Boomer Marketing – The Journey So Far

Following a recent resurgence of business interest in Boomers as a market niche, aging or not, companies targeting them have become more sophisticated at developing communications that tap into amorphous and dynamic values that accompany generational affiliation and stage-of-life. A renaissance of generational focus is not an accident. Substantial profits have been made in recent years by marketers who have cracked the Boomer marketing code with effective segmentation and creative branding strategies.

Marketing communications create greater demand for products and services. Marketers look for motivating messages that evoke deep emotional responses, whether humor or sadness or passion. They sometimes devise selling messages that cause consumers to recall treasured aspects of their lives with nostalgic ardor and heroic triumph. When marketing messages carry psychologically motivating ideas that tap into a generation’s shared mindset, marketers potentially achieve greater credibility, emotional resonance, and consumer consideration.

For example, prominent advertisers established in the aging industry have redesigned their dusty marketing campaigns that once-upon-a-time focused generically on older adults without a sense of generational nuance. From Viagra to Touch of Grey for Men, advertisers have dressed up marketing communications with the goal of communicating, "We’re not about old people. We’re interested in you, the vital, experience-seeking Boomer generation."

Consider how pharmaceutical advertising has changed during the last few years in an era of consumer-driven healthcare. Recall growth of financial services marketing that targets Boomers with products ranging from 401(k) accounts to lifetime annuities in an era of self-directed investing. Reflect upon all the classic rock music in music beds of newer ad campaigns.

I’ve observed erectile dysfunction medications transform from primarily a way to manage diseases that affect sexuality to becoming a performance enhancer almost any man can find pleasure in using. Viagra advertisements morphed from featuring GI Generation spokesman and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole to showcasing a garage band of Boomer musicians covering Elvis Presley’s Viva Las Vegas as Viva Viagra.

I’ve seen former Beatle Paul McCartney remind those who admired him in youth that it’s not over yet and to Never Stop Doing What You Love, a powerful, optimistic message sponsored by Fidelity Investments. Not to be outdone, Ameriprise Financial ran an aggressive television ad campaign for over a year showcasing historical film montages of young Boomers accompanied by a music bed from classic rocker Steve Winwood: Gimme Some Lovin, a chart-topping hit from his Spencer Davis Trio days.

I’ve watched a marketing campaign for Dove soap transform women over a certain age into aspirational models, morphing anti-age into Pro Age. I’ve studied how Del Webb advertisements have evolved to showcase Boomers in pursuit of the good life through active lifestyle communities, instilling additional home value through community engagement and lifelong learning. And I have observed how newer contemporary national and international tourism advertisements appeal to Boomers’ emerging thirst for deeper learning while traveling.

Thousands of marketers now agree that generational marketing works amazingly well as long as communications have been constructed with sophisticated insights and authentic production nuances.

The Critics, They Are a’Chargin’

In business and marketing there are always segment naysayers. Some in this marketplace of selling ideas believe Boomers have become fatigued as a consumer segment and it is all downhill from here. Others believe that targeting a generational segment is not a meaningful or effective segmentation strategy.

Baby Boomers have peaked, commented investment manager Harry Dent, author of one book lacking accurate prescience, The Roaring 2000s. They’re going to slow the economy down for the next 12 to 14 years.2

Dent and others who share his views may be missing some essential points about the Boomer generation. From a historical perspective, this generation has always represented a fountain of opportunity for those who are good at predicting what is important to Boomers.

As Steve Gillon observed: "In 1958 Life magazine called children the ‘Built-in Recession Cure,’ concluding that all babies were potential consumers who spearheaded ‘a brand-new market for food, clothing, and shelter.’"3

Boomers are today’s built-in recession cure. They constitute a market force largely unabated by economic recession or the aging process. Boomers are the future of many product categories, including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, anti-aging therapies, retirement housing, continuing education, luxury and educational travel, online social networking, consumer and aging-in-place technologies, financial services, consumer packaged goods, many categories of durable goods, purchases for grandchildren, home renovations, and so forth.

Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., author of Age Wave and Age Power, succinctly describes the value of Boomers to the future of business: "When they reach any stage of life, the issues that concern them—whether financial, interpersonal, or even hormonal—become the dominant social, political, and marketplace themes of the time. Boomers don’t just populate existing life stages or consumer trends, they transform them."4

Reacting to an article in Brandweek, also claiming that the Boomer market is on a swift decline while calling for new focus on younger generations, advertising executive Brent Bouchez commented, This article couldn’t be more off-base. While Boomer spending may have slowed during the last two years, it’s all relative. The fact remains that in the United States people over age 50 represent only 30 percent of the population, but more than half of all consumer spending. Before you put all your eggs in the youth basket, take a look at the numbers and do a bit of math. You’ll find that people over age 50 drive today’s economy, whether up or down. Ninety million people with full wallets and low-balance credit cards are a lot of consumers to ignore. The 50+ cohort controls 75% of the wealth in this country, earns $2.3 trillion annually compared to $1 trillion for the 18-34 group, and they stand to inherit between $14 and $20 trillion over the next 20 years.5

Perhaps Boomers have peaked in their combined spending power across all business categories relative to the late 1990’s when most were in their peak earning years, but aging creates new opportunities for many of the nation’s most critical industries. Plus, substantial market research consistently demonstrates that Boomers are not brand loyal, as myths about aging would have it. They are as brand experimental as their children.6 They will continue to try new products and sample new lifestyles long into the future.

Nielsen, the goliath global research company, added an exclamation point to this argument. In a July 2010 Marketing Daily article, reporter Sarah Mahoney interviewed Doug Anderson, Nielsen’s SVP of research and development. Anderson’s research conclusions are thought-worthy:

Nielsen’s research says Boomers dominate 1,023 out of 1,083 consumer packaged goods categories, and watch 9.34 hours of video per day—more than any other segment. They also comprise a third of all TV viewers, online users, social media users and Twitter users, and are significantly more likely to have broadband Internet.

Marketers have this tendency to think the Baby Boom—getting closer to retirement—will just be calm and peaceful as they move ahead, and that’s not true. Everything we see with our behavioral data says these people are going to be active consumers for much longer. They are going to be in better health, and despite the ugliness around the retirement stuff now, they are still going to be more affluent, Anderson says. They are going to be an important segment for a long time.7

As this book will further demonstrate, the critics of Boomer business value are simply wrong.

Generation Reinvention: The Boomer Future

This book examines many different ways that the Boomer generation is redefining consumerism and community engagement, fulfilling its longstanding status as Generation Reinvention. Learning from this book can transfer to insights about younger generations that will eventually progress through similar life stages. So, in this sense, the book is not merely Boomer-centric.

The first section takes a critical look at myriad opportunities unfolding around the Boomer generation, both for branded consumer products and services and most assuredly for those industries that have traditionally targeted mature markets. Marketers and critical thinkers can discover how marketers have become more involved and evolved in their conceptualizations around a generation, and how these insights are transforming industries in the future.

The second section addresses what it means to be part of a generation and the practical implications for marketers. The terms Baby Boomers and Generation get tossed around rather freely in business, media, and political circles, but I’ve noticed some fundamental inadequacies in understanding of generational sociology and psychology. It’s time to add clarity to what it means to be part of a generation. I also review several different research studies that can help us better understand what Boomers are thinking today so we can more precisely predict where they’re heading tomorrow.

The third section surveys marketing campaigns across a number of industries. These case studies will augment understanding of generational theory and research with practical applications in the marketplace. Readers will gain more nuanced insights into how different industries are reaching out to Boomers today, a presage of how they’ll continue to develop this market in the future. We also explore a few campaigns that I believe fall short of their goals.

The fourth section looks around and beyond marketing into sociology, psychology, social policies and many of the ensuing debates about Boomers and aging. What is my point? I believe we cannot separate how we understand a market segment—in this case a generation—from broader debates about a generation’s historical value; how the generation is perceived as part of mainstream culture; how critics and supporters enliven the dialogue about a generation’s extrinsic value; and how political and social debates about population aging intersect with the business of selling Boomer consumers products and services. A generation busy with reinventing itself has implications for all comers: politicians, governmental entities, traditional and online media, community planners, business analysts, equity investors, nonprofit organizations, and, of course, brand marketers.

The final section addresses an underdeveloped market niche: Baby Boomer men. Since Boomer men represent slightly less than half of the generation, they are also a market force that’s calling for more focused attention. By bringing together gender and generational insights, I intend to provide businesses, nonprofits, and social policy planners with more sophisticated understanding of a generation of men who, along with their female peers, are dramatically changing social and commercial discourse.

Generation Reinvention is about business reinvention.

Marketers have the opportunity to help characterize the changing cultural narratives about aging, making the later life stages as central to defining the western experience as youthfulness. Since mature is the minority group to which anyone who survives long enough will eventually belong, isn’t it about time we embrace the aging process more fully? Isn’t it time to create a vital new marketing paradigm around mature Boomers?

Boomers and astute marketers are showing us how when we pay close attention. The economy will benefit. Companies will benefit. Nonprofits will benefit. Society will benefit.

Chapter 1:

Dawn of the Next Baby Boomer Economy

An article posted by CNBC.com—Bust of the Baby Boomer Economy: ‘Generation Spend’ Tightens Belt— proposes a gloomy economic future due to Boomer aging. Jessica Rao, the article’s author, argues because of severe recession and stock market losses, Boomers have less to spend, and further they’re entering a post-career life stage when they will reduce spending anyway.8

While this story may be accurate in aggregate—overall national economic growth may decline from loftier times 15 years ago, due to many factors including global competition—it misses myriad nuances of the Boomer future.9

In lockstep with Boomer aging, established industries are about to grow exponentially, and enterprises yet to be conceived will create new wealth. Some interviewed for the article acknowledge that experience industries such as travel will see a boost, but this cannot be diminished as an aside. When boomers focus their wealth on shared goals, such as the need to see the world before they die, billions of dollars will follow. Generation Reinvention will answer unrequited dreams notated on countless bucket lists. Travel and tourism-related expenditures will grow dramatically. Thousands of entrepreneurial businesses will emerge.

For example, the National Geographic Society has developed a series of catered tours called Expeditions. These precisely engineered adventures emphasize learning, and many of the Society’s preeminent experts escort guests on their journeys. Recreational Equipment Incorporated also showcases appealing travel experiences across the nation and throughout the world. So does Exploritas, an innovative brand reformulation introduced by the former Elder Hostel, primarily to accommodate peripatetic Boomers.

Beyond travel we can expect expansion in other industries aligned with an aging population. The CNBC.com article identifies healthcare for obvious reasons: an aging generation needs more medical care for diseases and disabilities related to aging. But the article doesn’t address explosive developments in age management industries.

Age management, more commonly referred to as anti-aging, involves novel technologies such as hormone replacement to fortify aging bodies and slow the effects of aging. This rapidly evolving industry includes modern fitness facilities, personal trainers, nutritional supplements, nutricosmetics, preventative genomics, cable TV programming about wellness, medical spas, alternative medicine practitioners, natural foods merchandisers, and functional foods.

Most in this generation share a wish technically known as compression of morbidity. They want more than just life expansion; they hope to stay healthy and active until the end and then quickly pass away. A keystone Boomer value, left over from the seventies’ human potential movement, is self-empowerment, and a burgeoning age-management industry squarely addresses this value.

Just as the Salk vaccine diminished and then all-but eradicated polio when Boomers were children, emerging genetic and nanorobotics technologies promise extraordinary new methods to compress morbidity in aging. Most pharmaceutical companies already embrace this opportunity. That’s why they have more than 400 drugs under development to tackle aging, with Viagra being a noteworthy and welcome early innovation.

Intel, the legendary computer chip manufacturer, is among a growing list of companies developing products to help people stay in their homes and avoid assisted care facilities or nursing homes. Not only do aging-in-place technologies have important implications for quality-of-life, they can reduce national healthcare