Expect Boomers to be curious about what they can gain from Google+ if it is successful with a younger demographic. Given what we now know about the mature market's proclivity for social media, this may give Google a chance to develop a platform with Boomers in mind from the beginning.

Have you walked through a home that just "felt different" from the previous homes you explored? Do you prefer Target to Wal-Mart, or Lowes over Home Depot for your big box shopping, but are not clear why? Will you return to a favorite web site because you can find what you're looking for, it feels easy to navigate and you can complete a transaction? Have you held an OXO vegetable peeler and wondered why on earth anyone ever used the one in your Grandma's utensil drawer?

While Boomers are far from elderly, the messages that many marketers use to reach them often tell a different story -- one marred by preconceived notions of retirement and aspirations that come with age.

Why is it that everyone wants to launch sites for Boomers but no one wants to target Boomers themselves?

The inevitable age shift is as profound, transformative, industry-changing, revolutionary and permanent. Knowing that, what should your organization start doing differently? Now, in 2011, and in '12, '13, '14 and so on.

You may think that "old is the new young," is just a facile phrase meant to shake up your preconceived notions, and it is. Across the board, marketers have effectively ignored Boomers who have tons of money in favor of trendy teens and post-adolescents, many of whom can't find a well-paying job to support their credit card addiction.

The fact that most marketing messages either project values associated with lower-level needs or fail to reflect the transcendent values of self-actualization suggests that relatively few marketers have a Maslow 101 level of understanding of the older people to whom they direct their marketing messages.