Jodi Rudick Webinar Slides, Baby Boomer Marketing Dos and Don't

1. Marketing to Baby Boomers
Never Call them Old!

2. Generation Clarification*
Generation Birth Years Male Example Female Example
G.I. 1901-1924 John Kennedy Anne Frank
Silent 1925-1945 Colin Powell Shirley Temple
Boomer 1946-1964 Steven Spielberg Oprah Winfrey
Gen-X 1965-1981 Michael Jordan Jodie Foster
Millennials (Gen Y) 1982-2002? Mark Zuckerberg Miley Cirus
9/11 Generation
(Gen Z)
2002 – 2020?
*Can vary up to three years

3. In Your Chatbox…
What Generations are represented by
the people in your group?
What was the first concert you ever
went to?

4. Distorted Self
Perception?

5. “Senior” Stereotypes Smashed

6. In your chat box…
What should we call Baby
Boomers to Attract Them
to Our Programs?

7. Dimensions of Diversity –
Boomers are More Than Chronology
Work
Background
Politics
Geographic
Location
Marital
Status
Military
Experience
Religious
Beliefs
Generation
Identification
Parental
Status
Income
Education
Race
Physical Ethnicity
Qualities
Gender
Sexual
Orientation
Age
 Primary
 Secondary Based on: Loden and Rosener
Workforce America

8. Youth Defines Us
 Our “Coming of Age” is a great demographic indicator
 When did we graduate from high school?
 What historic events do you remember?
 What was your favorite band in high school?
 What was the first concert you ever saw?
 Hairstyles, Hollywood, Heroes?

10. In your chat box…
What does customer loyalty mean to you?
Are you loyal to any brands?
Do you have customers that are loyal to you?
List some of the brands, stores, companies, products, etc. that you and the
people in your group are loyal to.

11. The Cost to Court a Customer
Hook ‘em
Reel ‘em in
Keep ‘em
coming
back for more
P.R. Advertising
Promotion
Sales
Front-line contact
Customer Service
Product Quality
Customer

12. Favorite Brands of the Boomer Generation
 Levis
 Harley Davidson
 VW
 Beatles
 Leggs
 Pepsi
 Absolut
 Saturday Night Live
 Clairol
 Coach

15. What Boomers Say They Want
 To maintain independence
 To develop and maintain stronger
relationships
 To achieve meaningful experiences
 To continually grow and share their
wisdom
 To seek mental and physical rejuvenation
 To look and feel younger than they are

16. Boomers and
their Devices

19. Preferred
Method of
Direct
Marketing

20. Boomer Purchasing Power

22. Financial Concerns Post 2008

23. Baby Boomer Marketing Dos
 Learn as much as you can about physical and behavioral changes caused by the aging process. Apply
your knowledge to product design, marketing, advertising and sales communications and approaches.
 Design your promotion or advertising to allow the consumer to define the service attributes using
his/her imagination in terms of his/her needs and desires (sometimes referred to as Conditional
Positioning). Don’t try to shove ten pounds of copy into a five-pound page. Less is often more in Baby
Boomer markets.
 Design your product to meet functional, social reinforcement, and related experiences’ expectations.
 Promote and advertise your product as a gateway to meaningful experiences beyond the intrinsic
value of your product. What additional value (metavalues) does you product provide?
 Be authentic and give them the facts (reduce hyperbole).
 Portray these populations as doing for others, as individuals, as smart, as active, as wise.
 Use marketing and advertising firms with a demonstrated knowledge of your target markets (Check if
people matching your target’s age are on the creative team).
 Use Baby Boomers to assist in product, service and communications development.
 Touch their hearts and they will allow you to enter their minds. Tell stories with words and pictures.

24. Baby Boomer Marketing Don’ts
 Don’t:
 Underestimate the significance of these markets. They are the New Customer Majority. More than 138 million people in
America are over the age of 40.
 Consider age a determinant of consumer behavior (there is no evidence that a person’s age is a major factor in determining
buying habits). Age should be considered as a correlating factor only.
 Design your service or advertisements to appeal to self-gratifying interests of the consumer.
 Use hyperboles
 Design or promote your services to appeal to the vulnerabilities associated with the aging process. At times they feel bad
enough; you don’t have to remind them.
 Attempt to instill a “sense of urgency” during a purchase consideration (time is usually not of the essence in their decision-making
process).
 Over-embellish product or service performance claims — may be automatically perceived as misleading (to good to be true)
as would small print on product labels and advertising may damage the credibility of your message.
 Stress self-indulgent values of your product/service — more effective in younger markets.
 Stress images that are contrary to traditional basic values. Generally accepted universal or traditional values may include
American flag, church or temple, home, traditional small town, etc.
 Remember that Baby Boomers, on average, have a superior sense of reality. Don’t succumb to the myths and stereotyping
about aging that pervades our society — you may do so at the expense of the long-term potential of your business.

25. Repackage “problem programs”

26. What “problem
programs” do you offer
that might need to be
repackaged?