Commentary
Excitement Or Peacefulness?
- by Brent Bouchez , July 19, 2010
And therein lies the problem. Yes, the numbers are great. In fact, the numbers are amazing and incredible and stupendous and shocking and undeniable.
So what.
That seems to be the reaction from anyone and everyone outside of the sphere of people that spends any time perusing Engage:Boomers. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a huge group with lots of money and they're going to live a really long time, blah, blah, blah blah. Tell me something I don't already know."
Okay, how about this?
That huge group with all that money? They can't hear you. They don't hear you. They're not going to hear you. And this has nothing to do with their ears.
There is a widely held misperception of the 45-65 consumer that penetrates almost all facets of mainstream marketing and communications. That misperception?
Anyone over 50 wants to be 30 again. "Everyone I know who is 45 or 50 or 60 says they still feel 30. My advertising is targeted at 30 year olds and I know that my media buy delivers loads of the 45-65 group too, so what's the problem? I'm covered."
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I hear it from clients and I hear it from people in advertising. In fact, the only people I don't hear it from are the people over 50.
Why? Because the little known fact is, they don't want to be 30 again. Not at all. Not ever.
They've been there. They've done that. It was great, but that was then and this is now. And now they're not just older, they're also a lot smarter. Wiser. Hipper. Cooler. They've been around the block a time or two and they know a lot more about who they are, what they like and, perhaps more importantly, who they aren't and what they don't like.
Now, don't get me wrong. Plenty of people over 50 would like to have the skin or the knees or the hair of a 30 year old. But the one thing they would never want again is the brain of a 30 year old.
And last time I checked, marketing and advertising talks to our brains.
So all that marketing that's targeted at 30 year olds may be reaching the 50 year olds but it might as well be written in Portuguese for all the effect it has on the 50+ audience.
We respond differently, because we think differently than we did when we were in our 20's or 30's or even our 40's.
But don't take my word for it.
Last year, Stanford Graduate School of Business released a study on age and the meaning of happiness. Yes, happiness. As in, what does happiness mean to you if you're 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 or 60.
The highly intelligent people at Stanford studied 2,600 blogs. They read them looking for clues as to how different age groups wrote about the good things happening in their lives. How did they write about the things that made them happy?
The results are fascinating, but they wouldn't surprise anyone over 50. Drum roll, please.
The study found that people in their 20's, 30's and early 40's tended to equate happiness with excitement. As in "I'm so excited, I'm starting a new job" or "I had such a great weekend, I went to the wildest party with a rockin' DJ."
On the other hand, people in their 50's and beyond equated happiness with peacefulness. As in "I had such a great weekend, my wife and I had the house to ourselves, just the two of us for two straight days." Or "My new role at the company makes me feel like the years of hard work are really paying off." Or "Sailing makes me happy because it's just me and the ocean."
Excited.
Peaceful.
Two words that would most definitely change the direction of the advertising if either one was included in a creative brief.
The advertising should be exciting.
The advertising should be peaceful.
The difference is practically black and white.
And here's the most important part of this peek into the psyches of the 50+ group. That wild party with the rockin' DJ? Not only do we look at that and think, "Been there, done that," we actually look at it and say, "I wouldn't go to that party if you paid me."
The same goes for advertising. If your ad is truly targeted at the group in their 20's and 30's, you're making a critical decision. You're not just saying your brand is all about the younger group, you're also very clearly saying that your brand is not for the older group. You're saying, "Ignore this ad," to nearly 100 million consumers. You're saying, "Don't buy our product," to the group with the most disposable income on the planet.
And maybe that's what you want. The choice is yours. Just know that you are making it.
Mr. Bouchez hits the mark. But, it's been said before and too little attention has been paid to his message. One of the major reasons is the typical Ad Agency frame of reference. It's well know in the industry that agencies are youth oriented. Until some aging brains are included in the creative mix the issue will remain a major stumbling block to progress and at the expense of the clients who aren't taking the time to understand the changing (aging) markets.
Brent, you are so right with what you say about the messaging preferences for the 50+ generation. And unfortunately, you are also extremely right that most Agencies and Clients simply ignore that important message of yours. I am confident that it will happen eventually, simply because of the pressure from the size of the consumer group you are referring to. But it doesn't help at all that most Agencies and big marketing companies tend to have a yound staff and that the "old timers" tend to get send out to pasture when they start to hit the 50-55 age mark. Just keep sending the messsage.
Recent consumer research supports some of the assertions in this article. For example, in a national study of Boomer advertising preferences, over 60% agree with the statement: "Ads with people my own age increase my likelihood of purchasing the product." And about 60% agree with the statement: "Ads that capture a sense of my generation and its unique history would increase the likelihood of me purchasing their product." When we examined certain segments, particularly those most likely to purchase luxury products, the levels of agreement zoomed to near 80th percentile ranges.
Go where the money is who can pay for their purchases with the right message (99% get it wrong) or go for those who credit out and can't balance a checkbook. Why think?
So true! I can say that being a female of a certain 50 something age.
No matter what -marketing is still saying the right thing to the right audience. Though now it's done electronically rather than on paper.
The industry is paying attention to the diversity issue but not at all when it comes to age. The agencies and CMO's are still stuck in the 80's where age 32 remains the "sweet spot" to marketeer. Perhaps the 4A's needs to focus on the ageism issue - to do so would ultimately be performing
Thank you Brent. We may be seeing some light. Tom Brokaw addressed the powerful boomer audience in the Spring and Ad Age published a great article today titled "Nielsen: This Isn't Your Grandfather's Baby Boomer. Younger Consumers are Losing Dominance." I think the boomer message is finally being heard. Could it be that boomers spend $2.5 trillion per year, 8 out of 10 own their own homes, buy 80% of luxury travel and control 70% of U.S. wealth? And, they have embraced technology spending 15 hours per week on line! Well, if money talks then brands better be courting the boomers on and off line!
Mr. Bouchez, people may think with their brain (but sometimes this is doubtful) but make decisions from their heart.
I just spent a week with some Boy Scouts, teaching canoeing skills in southern Oregon.
At 56, I have children older than the other scout leaders in the camp.
When it came time for the competitive time trials, the boys and the 30-something leaders were excited to show their stuff on the course...
I peacefully set in my camp chair with the knowledge that I could have smoked them all, if I needed to prove anything. Didn't need to; been there done that!