Boomers Turn 65, Companies Discreetly Adapt
The first of the baby boomers will turn 65 this year. The generation that through the decades boosted sales of the Slinky, bell-bottoms, minivans and then luxury sedans, is entering a unique life stage, and companies have begun the process of quietly renovating their product lines to adapt.
The sweet-spot demographic for consumer products has classically been the 18-35 year old, with those over 65 an afterthought to their more malleable, free-spending, younger counterparts. But as 78 million boomers enter old age and look forward to longer life expectancies, marketers are finding new ways to boost customer engagement with this behemoth group.
While it’s difficult to describe such a large group of people with a generic listing of traits, there seems to be one value that is agreeably ascribed to this group: INDIVIDUALISM. Given its root in the 1960s when boomers rejected the traditions that limited their parents and grandparents, this independence and self-reliance has remained. This older generation is much different than those prior.
The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article that gave examples of ways companies are developing and marketing products for an aging boomer population. This involves a lot of nuance as boomers do not want to be reminded that they are getting old. Do this and risk ridicule.
It begins with tactics like making typefaces larger, lowering store shelves for accessibility and avoiding yellows and blues in packaging since these colors don’t appear as sharply distinct to older eyes.
“Diamond Foods Inc. carefully engineered the packaging of its Emerald snack nut line to accommodate the declining agility of baby boomers’ hands. But no such boast appears anywhere on the green plastic canisters.
“Bathroom-fixture maker Kohler Co. struggled to come up with a more palatable word for “grab bar,” which boomers resist. It introduced the “Belay” shower handrail—named for the rock-climbing technique—which blends subtly into the wall of a tiled shower.”
Are boomers in your or your client’s target demographic? I know they are in mine. The point of this post is very basic: know your target audience. Understanding motivations and personalities is the basis upon which all smart marketing campaigns are formed.
