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Avoiding Pitfalls of the Baby Boomer Market Learn to avoid pitfalls of baby boomer marketing strategies. Businesses are aware of the potential offered by the growing boomer market – they're gearing any number of programs, conventions and consultant contracts towards achieving maximum profits from it. But the boomer generation has been known, above all else, for its tendency to defy expectation. Anticipating its next move represents a challenge, to say the least. One easy pitfall would be to assume that all 50, 55 or 60-year-olds are at a stage considered "normal" for their individual points in life. Many baby boomers married late, became parents at a relatively late age, or divorced, remarried and started second families. Approaches must be flexible enough to accommodate wide variations in current home life. Moreover, unprecedented numbers of boomers say they plan to continue working well into their sixties, and even beyond. "Old age," for these people, will be re-defined – or at least, the criteria by which we identify the term will begin to fit older and older individuals. The changing face of the aged represents a potential quagmire for businesses. There is a lot to lose by not getting it right: while retirement funding has gotten tighter for some, boomers are still expected to be more active in retirement than their parents. The Adventure Travel Trade Association predicts that about 60 percent of the 45 million adventure travel customers each year in the United States will soon be older than 50. They'll indulge in activities such as scuba diving, sailing and kayaking. "They have become very health-conscious, and they want to stay physically and mentally active," said Jerry Mallet, president of the trade association. Marketers of products traditionally associated with youth would be foolish to overlook the possible revenue that the older market could generate, just for some encouragement. For instance, Gillette, Levi Strauss and Wal-Mart say boomers use their products all the time so the businesses aren't doing much with them in mind. The knack could lie in getting the attention of boomers without making overt references to aging. The boomers are a generation committed to remaining youthful, so companies should be as subtle as possible about aging. Even in the financial services and health care sectors, which are most overt, the message is that clients stay young, active and in control well into old age. Despite all efforts, experts American businesses have been late to react to many waves in the past – the hippie wave, the yuppie wave and, more recently, the new-immigrant wave. Mark Goldstein of Impact Presentations Group likens the boomers to an elephant lumbering this way. "Only 10 percent of the businesses can dig a hole in front of it," Mr. Goldstein said. "The other 90 percent will wait for it to pass and shoot arrows from the back." Back To Mature Market News → Go To The GenerationTarget.com Mature Market Bookstore → |
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