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Media Buyers: Why 40-59 Year Olds Still Should Matter
Labels: 40-59, Advertising, Baby Boomers, Echo Boomers, Empty nesters, Influencers, Jointblog, Marketing, Media, Media Buyers, Media Trend Watching
Quick: which demographic has collective disposable income estimated at about $2 trillion a year...and yet are considered secondary targets by marketers and media buyers?
If you are a Baby Boomer, you're used to being the center of marketing attention. You expect it, since it's been that way most of your life. Today, though, you might be feeling a bit jilted. You...and more than 86 million "mature" consumers. Since the turn of the millennium, media buyers have shifted their advertising dollars more and more to younger consumers...especially to today's teens and other Echo Boomers.
Of course, the marketing game has long been a youth game. And 18-49 clearly is important. The "big generation" Boomers made sure of it.
Still, Baby Boomers represent more than 25% of the today's population in both the U.S. and Canada (down from 40% in 1967). Traditional media buying beliefs states the strongest marketing ROI comes from younger consumers still-moldable for brand building opportunities. It is believed older, smarter, wiser Boomer consumers are less susceptible to marketing messages.
Nonsense.
Do you really think Boomers are ready to retire and become irrelevant?
Baby Boomers have money, they aren't afraid to spend it and their minds aren't locked on life-long brands. They want content and marketing geared for them. And they can be influenced, too.
Here's why:
More than three-quarters of advertising buys for all media today targets consumers younger than 49. The only major media buys that are "boomer friendly" are newspapers and magazines (to a lesser extent).
TV, radio, the Internet, billboards, etc...they all seem to consider Boomers less "valuable" than 18-49s, teens or younger...even though Boomers remain heavy users of all media.
This means there is over-saturation of "young" media messages (especially on TV, the Internet and even radio). Since Boomers are getting targeted less, they also have fewer marketing messages "in their zone".
What do they see or hear?
Ads on retirement, pension plans, vacations, Big Pharma and Depends.
Come on now!
These are Boomers. They only started turning 60 this year. And they strongly want to hold onto whatever youth they still have. They mostly still need to earn a living and probably will keep working at least another 7-10 years. They are healthier and wealthier than any generation previously in this age demo.
And, surprise, the "aging" baby boom generation still LOVE media -- including new media and the latest gadgets, embracing the Internet, high-speed and everything related to it.
A new national study by BoomerEyes found:• Nearly 40% of those with kids said they’re now “Empty Nesters”;
Echos reverberate. Could Baby Boomers attract back marketing attention as Reverse Echo Boomers? This new advertising "generational gap" represents a massive opportunity. What are you doing to tap into it?
• In addition to having the time to do what they want and when, the Empty Nesters also report financial freedom. On average, they said they have $315 more per month to spend;
• Some 71% of 50-64 year olds and 84% of 30-49 year olds report high Internet usage. Even among those 65 and over, regular Net usage is reported by 32%;
• Boomers who took the online survey say they most often shop online for travel (58%), books (57%), clothes (57%) and electronics (50%).
posted by Unknown @ Saturday, May 12, 2007,
1 Comments:
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At 10:44 AM,
50+Digital LLC said...
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You've done a nice job summarizing the lack of logic in the way media buyers continue to shun the most affluent, attractive demographic target. I write about this topic frequently on my site (www.50plusdigital.com/blog). One reason media clings to the 18-34 demo is old habit. It worked whem Boomers were younger (they were the largest demo on the block) so it must work now, too. The fact is, every age demo under 50 will be flat or shrinking in size for the forseeable future. The only growth will be in the 50+ market.
