IN America there are 77 million baby-boomers. (These are the folks born between 1946 and 1964; when Dad came back from war he had only one thing on his mind!) So how many boomers are there worldwide – like, wow! who knows?
AdAge reports that today baby-boomers in the United States alone have a buying power of US$3 trillion! And that in US newsman Tom Brokaw’s, quaintly titled, documentary, Boomer$, these now 40 to 60-something, ex-hippies, still have their favourite brands; Levis, Marlboro (tsk, tsk), Harley, Absolut, Club Med, VW, Clairol, Apple Mac, Pepsi, Trojan (no joke!) and even McDonald’s. And baby-boomers can still cite their most favourite TV commercials. Levis “Fridge”, VW “Lemon”, Pepsi Challenge, “Marlboro County”. Far out.
Yet over in Adweek Kathy O’Brien, a Unilever marketing director, says we now have to move past the 30” commercial. No way Kathy! You know why, just study the press, and the advertising you mostly hear about is in the shape of really groovy TV commercials.
Adage, as usual, is hip to the superbowl. This time there was a heck of a lot to say about a spot for Kathy’s very own “Dove for Men”. Starting with a sperm fertilising an egg, it proceeds to snapshot the journey through a man’s life; bikes, baths, big brothers and bras, all set to a somewhat contrived lyric sung to Rossini’s William Tell overture. It’s a really nice spot. High score on the boomer-meter.
UK’s News of The World features prominently (but maybe because of her prominent features) Pamela Anderson in a TV spot for CrazyDomains.com.au where she strips to a gold bikini and romps around in flying fresh cream with another woman in a gold bikini. No come back, it’s cool! Perhaps less to do with boomers than things going boom.
AdAge has a report about the scandal caused by a French anti-smoking spot which shows a young boy on his knees in front of a much older man (very likely a boomer) seemingly conducting fellatio on a cigarette. The point is a little lost on me but you know those French dudes; after all it (the act) is named after them. And in Denmark a garage door maker’s ad shows a car shaped hole in the door with the line “not for Toyota owners”. Very topical but a bit uncool, especially to baby-boomers who just love hybrids. Sidebar: Did you know the US national sales director of Toyota is called Doug Frisbie! Now that’s what I call a boomer name.
Campaign Magazine reports that Cadbury has axed a big-budget TV ad for their Flake bar. It seems that, in research, it was a bit too saucy for the target audience. Now British boomers from way back, when TV was in black and white, will remember the sight of a sultry dolly-bird treating a long slim chocolate bar like – well, a French cigarette I guess, and then coming over all peculiar (the bird not the boomer). It was one of our favourite spots.
So I can only guess who the current target market is. (It has been hinted that the real target could be Cadbury’s new owners from the ultra-conservative American mid-west!)
The UK’s BBC describes a TV spot that’s the most outrageously, wide of the mark, kiss-up to the baby-boomers ever. Citroen is airing an ad featuring a documentary clip of John Lennon, (yes he, the patron saint of boomers.) In the spot he tells us that looking back to the past for inspiration is not “rock and roll”. (Pretty rich coming from the greatest plunderer of old rock songs ever.)
Many balked; many boomers cried “sacrilege”. Lennon’s son, Sean, said he approved because he was “hoping to keep dad in [the] public consciousness”, and that there are, “Not many things as effective as TV.” Right on Sean! The car company said Lennon had been chosen for his “universal, timeless and iconic status”. I’m sure he’s both twisting and shouting in his grave.
This all goes to prove that ignoring the power of a nicely written, nicely executed TVC is probably surrendering to cheapness, disposability or instant gratification of the “new” media. What the boomers enjoyed and are still feeding back is the effect of those neat TV spots; some of them decades old, because possibly nothing else has the emotional pull, the ability to connect with a viewer. This is why the boomers remember. (They were also groovy brands, of course). I don’t want to sound spaced out, but will there be much viral stuff remembered in 30-40 years? Let me know.
And lest we forget, the greatest boomer of all is Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the world wide web!
And yes, I am a boomer, I was born in 19frgrfwn-ngfwernf.
Bummer!
PS: Further to last month, Unilever has now appointed a new CMO (chief marketing officer). Which is really fab. His name is (wait for it) Keith Weed. Is that a great Boomer name or what?
Paul Loosley is an English person who has been in Asia 30 years, 12 as a creative director, 18 making TV commercials. And, as he still can’t shut up about advertising, he tends to write every month. Any feedback; mail
p.loosley@gmail.com (but only if you’re a Boomer)
AdAge reports that today baby-boomers in the United States alone have a buying power of US$3 trillion! And that in US newsman Tom Brokaw’s, quaintly titled, documentary, Boomer$, these now 40 to 60-something, ex-hippies, still have their favourite brands; Levis, Marlboro (tsk, tsk), Harley, Absolut, Club Med, VW, Clairol, Apple Mac, Pepsi, Trojan (no joke!) and even McDonald’s. And baby-boomers can still cite their most favourite TV commercials. Levis “Fridge”, VW “Lemon”, Pepsi Challenge, “Marlboro County”. Far out.
Yet over in Adweek Kathy O’Brien, a Unilever marketing director, says we now have to move past the 30” commercial. No way Kathy! You know why, just study the press, and the advertising you mostly hear about is in the shape of really groovy TV commercials.
Adage, as usual, is hip to the superbowl. This time there was a heck of a lot to say about a spot for Kathy’s very own “Dove for Men”. Starting with a sperm fertilising an egg, it proceeds to snapshot the journey through a man’s life; bikes, baths, big brothers and bras, all set to a somewhat contrived lyric sung to Rossini’s William Tell overture. It’s a really nice spot. High score on the boomer-meter.
UK’s News of The World features prominently (but maybe because of her prominent features) Pamela Anderson in a TV spot for CrazyDomains.com.au where she strips to a gold bikini and romps around in flying fresh cream with another woman in a gold bikini. No come back, it’s cool! Perhaps less to do with boomers than things going boom.
AdAge has a report about the scandal caused by a French anti-smoking spot which shows a young boy on his knees in front of a much older man (very likely a boomer) seemingly conducting fellatio on a cigarette. The point is a little lost on me but you know those French dudes; after all it (the act) is named after them. And in Denmark a garage door maker’s ad shows a car shaped hole in the door with the line “not for Toyota owners”. Very topical but a bit uncool, especially to baby-boomers who just love hybrids. Sidebar: Did you know the US national sales director of Toyota is called Doug Frisbie! Now that’s what I call a boomer name.
Campaign Magazine reports that Cadbury has axed a big-budget TV ad for their Flake bar. It seems that, in research, it was a bit too saucy for the target audience. Now British boomers from way back, when TV was in black and white, will remember the sight of a sultry dolly-bird treating a long slim chocolate bar like – well, a French cigarette I guess, and then coming over all peculiar (the bird not the boomer). It was one of our favourite spots.
So I can only guess who the current target market is. (It has been hinted that the real target could be Cadbury’s new owners from the ultra-conservative American mid-west!)
The UK’s BBC describes a TV spot that’s the most outrageously, wide of the mark, kiss-up to the baby-boomers ever. Citroen is airing an ad featuring a documentary clip of John Lennon, (yes he, the patron saint of boomers.) In the spot he tells us that looking back to the past for inspiration is not “rock and roll”. (Pretty rich coming from the greatest plunderer of old rock songs ever.)
Many balked; many boomers cried “sacrilege”. Lennon’s son, Sean, said he approved because he was “hoping to keep dad in [the] public consciousness”, and that there are, “Not many things as effective as TV.” Right on Sean! The car company said Lennon had been chosen for his “universal, timeless and iconic status”. I’m sure he’s both twisting and shouting in his grave.
This all goes to prove that ignoring the power of a nicely written, nicely executed TVC is probably surrendering to cheapness, disposability or instant gratification of the “new” media. What the boomers enjoyed and are still feeding back is the effect of those neat TV spots; some of them decades old, because possibly nothing else has the emotional pull, the ability to connect with a viewer. This is why the boomers remember. (They were also groovy brands, of course). I don’t want to sound spaced out, but will there be much viral stuff remembered in 30-40 years? Let me know.
And lest we forget, the greatest boomer of all is Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the world wide web!
And yes, I am a boomer, I was born in 19frgrfwn-ngfwernf.
Bummer!
PS: Further to last month, Unilever has now appointed a new CMO (chief marketing officer). Which is really fab. His name is (wait for it) Keith Weed. Is that a great Boomer name or what?
Paul Loosley is an English person who has been in Asia 30 years, 12 as a creative director, 18 making TV commercials. And, as he still can’t shut up about advertising, he tends to write every month. Any feedback; mail
p.loosley@gmail.com (but only if you’re a Boomer)
Advertisers See Big Bucks in Baby Boomers.
ReplyDeleteMarketers Pay Particular Attention to Age Group That Has Been Neglected in Past.
Baby boomers are the biggest, richest generation America has ever seen. The oldest of the 78 million boomers turns 61 this year. The youngest turns 43. And, combined, they have an estimated $2 trillion in annual spending power.
Boomers
(ABCNEWS.com)
The generation that grew up challenging the status quo now controls 70 percent of the nation's wealth.
"They are the largest spenders and biggest earners in the marketplace, so disregard them at your peril," said Ken Dychtwald, whose marketing firm, AgeWave, specializes in appealing to baby boomers.
Madison Avenue -- long obsessed with pitching to 20- and 30-year-olds -- is finally catching on.
Commercials for everything from cosmetics to financial services now feature the gray-haired set, which is portrayed as anything but old.
An ad for Nike shows a woman from the neck down. She is power walking in a Lycra jumpsuit. A narrator reveals, "That's 51 and can run a 5:08 mile."
In another commercial for makeup, former supermodel Christie Brinkley -- now in her 50s -- says, "I love being the age I am. I just don't want to look it."
The focus on women is no mistake. In the next decade, boomer women will control 60 percent of America's money. And they're already spending it -- on items like cosmetics designed for aging skin.
At the Lancôme store on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Laurie Tenner came in for a makeover using cosmetics designed for older women.
"I don't necessarily want to look younger," she said. "I want to look better with what I have, because what I have is pretty good."
Makeup artist Sandy Linter says that is a common feeling among women in their 40s and 50s.
"They will spend any amount of money to look good," Linter said. "They don't want to look 30, but they want to look as good as they possibly can at whatever age they are."
With this generation, brand loyalty is also a thing of the past.
"I'm going to go where I feel comfortable and with [what] I like to wear," said Joanne Budge, a boomer shopping for clothing at the Dana Buchman store.
Dana Buchman, a boomer herself, has built a successful brand outfitting flower-children-turned-fashionistas.
"The tremendous buying power of the boomers is a force to be tapped into," Buchman said.
Buchman's stylish designs reflect current trends, with modifications for women in their 40s and older. The cuts are slightly more generous. The hemlines are a bit longer.
"A lot of boomers have sensitivity about their middle not being as rock-hard as it used to be and as a designer, I pay attention to that," she said.
Financial services companies are also paying attention as members of this generation in their top earning years hurtle toward the non-rocking-chair version of retirement.
An ad for one financial services company portrays a retiree teaching skiing lessons as a second career. In another, a "retired" doctor talks about her dream of treating patients in Africa.
"They don't think of themselves as seniors. They probably never will," Dychtwald said. "They think of themselves as a youthful generation who are just getting a bit older every year."
That is why you'll never hear the words "senior citizen" in ads geared toward boomers. These days, the older folks just aren't buying it.
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Business/story?id=3092915&page=1