If you had asked us twenty years ago what we expected we would be doing professionally two decades hence at our current well-seasoned ages, we would never have guessed launching a blog about marketing-to-boomers in our leadership roles with one of the globe’s largest public relations agencies. (Of course, that’s a trick answer, as blogs didn’t exist twenty years ago!)
We’re equally not sure if either of us ever truly imagined the life of leisure that served as the icon for women 40+ in the seventies or eighties: lolling on a sandy beach somewhere, sipping pina coladas…(Okay, it would be nice to do that for a couple of months right around now…) But working long, hard days? Deadlines? Pressure? Responsibility?
Yet here we are in 2006—finding ourselves launching our new, challenging venture not out of duty or habit—but out of passion and inspiration…virtually on fire with our multi-level mission. First, we want to help companies and organizations reach, connect with and influence the men and women of the boomer generation because we want us all to succeed: financially, politically and in every way possible and we know that boomers are the most lucrative consumer segment in today’s marketplace. But equally important (and closely intertwined): we want to overturn the stereotypes of aging that have traditionally marginalized men and women 42+ from the marketing/communications mainstream. We not only serve marketers of all ages, but we, ourselves, are leading-edge members of the baby boomer generation and as such, we are fueled by the desire to see our peers—as well as those boomers and younger generations to follow—get the attention and respect from the societal mainstream that we deserve.
So, to Carol and Eileen when we, ourselves, were in our twenties and thirties, we want you to know that fifty and up is exactly the right age to be doing something exciting, challenging and new. And just in case on some of those days—when even sand in our pina coladas seems like it would have been the better idea for two PR pros at our age and stage in life--we shall pledge to recall:
• French novelist Colette was 72 when she published “Gigi”
• Production Designer Henry Bumstead, 89, was part of the winning team that won an Oscar for “Million Dollar Baby.”
• Edgar Rice Burroughs was 66 when he became a war correspondent, sending back reports for the LA Times from the South Pacific
• Louise Nevelson started sculpting when nearly fifty and continued into her late eighties
• 57 is a productive age, and so is 62 and 74 and apparently, God willing, 89 and beyond!
So, welcome to www.TheBoomerBlog: What we never dreamed—come true!
Eileen Marcus and Carol Orsborn, Chief Bloggers