Marketers And Advertisers, Are You Keeping An Eye On The Baby Boomers?

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I wanted to take this opportunity to remind all you marketers and advertisers to keep an eye on all those baby boomers. You know the ones who:

• Have more discretionary income (wealth) than any other age group
• Control 70% of the total net worth of American households – $7 trillion of wealth
• Own 80% of all money in savings and loan associations
• Spend more money disproportionately to their numbers
• Are not fanatically loyal to brands
• Watch television more than any other age group
• Account for a dramatic 40% of total consumer demand

Now, I'm sure you're keeping your eye on them for all of the above reasons but in case you either forgot or didn't know, the first of the baby boomers turned 65 last year and needless to say there's a whole lot of them who will turn the magic number of 65 in the years to come.

I use the term "magic" because many marketers and advertisers will, when someone turns 65, put them into a different demographic bucket which in turn could mean they get paid less attention to those under that magical mark. C'mon admit marketers and advertisers, you're not really interested in someone 65+, right?

Unless of course your product, service or ware is designed specifically for those in this age demo.

In general, when someone turns 65 they are moved up, (or is it down?), the marketing and advertising food chain.

For the first time, half of adults ages 65 and older are online

That was the headline from a recent article from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

And here's the opening paragraph:

"As of April 2012, 53% of American adults ages 65 and older use the internet or email. Though these adults are still less likely than all other age groups to use the internet, the latest data represent the first time that half of seniors are going online. After several years of very little growth among this group, these gains are significant."

Some additional key points from the article are "once online, most seniors make internet use a regular part of their lives" and "one in three online seniors uses social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn."

The reason I referenced the Pew Internet article and corresponding stats is because  I wanted to juxtapose that with the fact that the first baby boomer turned 65 last year which means not only does the age 65 take on a whole new meaning and value, but the senior demographic in general is changing and marketers and advertisers better be paying attention.

If you're a marketer or advertiser and there are folks in your database right now who are age 65 or even 66, do you really want to "lump them in" with the rest of the demo over 65?

And do you really want to keep keeping on with your marketing and advertising strategies for the entire 65+ demo - knowing what you now know?

Like anything else in the world of marketing and advertising, you have to know who your target demo is in the first place, yes? That's a given.

But if your target demo includes 65+ you may want to A) look at 65-66 year olds differently from now on as more and boomers enter that demo and B) revisit your entire strategy as clearly the 65+ demo has changed, is changing and will continue to change.

And you better change with it.

Source: Baby Boomer Magazine,  Pew Internet & American Life Project

Named one of the Top 100 Influencers In Social Media (#41) by Social Technology Review, I am a freelance writer/blogger currently looking for full-time work. I have worked on some of the biggest brands in the world and have over 20 years experience in advertising and marketing. I live in Philly and can be reached via email,Twitter, LinkedIn or my website.

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