Second50Years Marketing Blog

Should you use humor when advertising to baby boomers and seniors?
Yes…older people enjoy humor as much as any other age group. However, Wolfe and Snyder in their book, Ageless Marketing, point out that older consumers don’t always like the same humor that their children and grandchildren might like.

Young people favor humor based […]

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I was inspired by a great little article in AdAge recently that used the iPhone as a way to tell the auto industry how to recover itself and produce consumer icons again. Here is my take on the lessons the iPhone can teach marketers in the mature consumer space.
1. The iPhone is a breakthrough product, […]

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Have you started seeing more laughlines in models’ faces in your women’s catalogs? You are not delusional. The demand for older models is booming, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times recently.
The trend is due to baby boomers wanting to see themselves reflected in the ads that market to them and […]

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The graying of the audience for major network TV continues to cause groans among advertisers and network execs. Why we are not sure, given the buying power of the older consumer. In a recent report, media agency Magna Global found the following:

the median age for viewers of newscasts from NBC, ABC and […]

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The International Council on Active Aging (ICAA) will promote Active Aging Week September 22 - 28, 2008.
The promotion is in its sixth year and aims to introduce older adults to a healthy and active lifestyle. This is a perfect promotional tie-in for parks, rec centers, gyms, retirement communities, senior centers, churches, malls, and any retailer […]

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At our main site, Second50Years.com, we’ve profiled more than 50 businesses and nonprofits that serve older adults, plus interviewed numerous marketing experts who spend their time studying the ins and outs of this huge demographic. Here are some of their top tips:
Know your market.
The founders of GRAND magazine, targeted to baby boomer grandparents said,
“We […]

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The Nielsen Company has released a report, called Affluent in America: America’s Changing Wealth Landcape, that breaks the affluent into eight categories.
This report describes the emergence of what it calls a “New Mass Affluent” class and widens the lens for affluence by including households with incomes above $100,000 and income producing assets of $100,000 or […]

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A recent issue of MarketingWeek featured Madonna, on the cover, and Bono at the top of an article on marketing to the over-50s. The editors and writer apparently shared some of the silly stereotypes about aging and suddenly woke up to the possibility that:
“So reaching 50 does not have to mean slipping on furry slippers […]

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The Media Audit, produced by International Demographics, has a new survey that shows consumers over the age of 50 and with incomes of $50,000 or more, have increased from 17 million in 2004 to 22.3 million during the past five years.
The research report calls these consumers the “graying and affluent,” and says that this consumer […]

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Researchers at Fleishman-Hillard, a public relations agency, and NMI, a market research firm, have released the results of a recent survey of baby boomers. The survey affords a peek at what leading-edge boomers may be like when they start turning age 70 in 2016.
The researchers conclude that while baby boomers will continue the path-breaking ways […]

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