On September 28, 2006, three hundred marketing executives from a Who’s Who of Fortune 500 companies gathered at Lincoln Center to learn everything they could about what is emerging as the era’s ultimate power consumer: the men and women of the baby boom generation. The opening day’s activities of the Focalyst Executive Forum (“powered by AARP Services”) culminated with the launch of a book that features cutting-edge insights on the subject supplied by the marketing elite. “BOOM: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer—the Baby Boomer Woman” by Mary Brown and Carol Orsborn, Ph.D. features contributing authors representing companies like Intel, Walt Disney Company, Marriott’s, Time Warner, Vespa, Palm, Logitech and 35 more.

As co-author of the book, Carol Orsborn, PhD attended the Focalyst Executive Forum in her dual capacity as co-chair of FH Boom, Fleishman-Hillard’s marketing-to-boomers initiative.

From market research on the cutting-edge of automotive and pharmaceutical companies, financial services to cosmetics, here is Dr. Orsborn’s report from the front row of the Focalyst presentation … eight things marketers should know about the boomer consumer.

1. Boomers want to do it for themselves. Give them larger type for their aging eyes and garments with a little extra give around the mid-section—but don’t tell them they need your help. Sprint Nextel almost got it right when they added technological offerings the aging boomer wants and needs—then went ahead and blew it by labeling them as “assist features.” Boomers ran the other direction, assuming the product was surely meant for somebody else—their elderly parents or other boomers with real disabilities. Go ahead and build the features in—and let the boomer discover for themselves how smart they are to have found you.
2. Boomers would rather die than outlive their money. This is a generation that has prided itself since its own feisty adolescence on its fierce independence. Looking forward, no subject is more highly charged for them than the growing suspicion that they are inadequately prepared for the future. It doesn’t matter how rich or how young they are, no boomer feels secure about their finances... and none of them want to consider the possibility of having to depend on their children or institutions for help. Any services or products that can provide boomers with tools of financial mastery will prove to be real winners. They don’t have to be promised the moon (even though it is true that some boomers, who still believe they have what it takes to outsmart the system, are amongst the easiest to con…) But as a whole, it is products and services that provide genuine peace of mind—such as fixed cost products, reversible mortgages, affordable health insurance and pre-paid living situations—that will find eager consumers lining up at the door. (Think MetLife’s Longevity Risk Insurance.)
3. Boomers would rather change the dream than lose the dream. Offsetting their financial concerns, resilient boomers have already released the dream of traditional retirement, replacing it with a dynamic vision of a new relationship with work and work’s positive role in life. (Gail Sheehy refers to this as part of “reawakening the thrill of the new.”) The plan to be working well into the 70’s and 80’s is not a phenomenon reserved for the aging poor. In fact, the more affluent the boomer, the later they say they want to retire. For women, who worked hard and long to finally get into positions of power, they are in no hurry to relinquish their leadership roles. (Within seven years, an unprecedented 80% of individuals 60-69 will be working part to full-time.) Look for boomers to be going back to school for retraining in careers that will “last a lifetime” as well as a surge in home-based businesses as boomers are first to recognize the needs of their peers—and rush in to fill the gaps.
4. The boomer’s notion of ‘me’ is morphing into ‘we’. This is a generation of individuals who have always thought a lot of themselves. For years, they were the “me” generation, with self-actualization, self-gratification, self-fulfillment leading the pack of self-oriented generational expressions. At midlife and beyond, boomers have the habit of thinking that the world still centers around themselves—but including a whole lot more people in it. Those children of boomers—who were once expressions of their proud and doting boomer parents—have now grown, and many have children of their own. Boomer mom and dad stay in touch through video cams and group travel…and it is the boomer’s money that is keeping children’s toy and clothing companies, private school and college education funds afloat.
5. And for life-chastened boomers, “we” is now morphing into the notion of “legacy.” Enmeshed in her self-chosen web of relationships, the boomer daughter is also taking care of her declining parents and for the first time in her life, coming up against realities of life over which she has no control. (Over the next ten years, two out of three boomer women will be caretaking one or more elderly parents or spouses). Issues of meaning have re-surfaced, replaying many of the themes that emerged from in the sixties. (78 per cent of boomers think it is important to be doing meaningful work, as opposed to 45 per cent of millennials.)Among the dichotomies now on the table for reconsideration: spiritual values versus materialism, ethics versus expediency, instant gratification versus legacy. The environment, the arts, social programs, religious institutions and non-profit charitable and volunteer opportunities of all stripes: the best is yet to come. And business: better pay attention to market-driven social change and the impact it will have on your bottom line.
6. Forget the “vast wasteland” of adult development: the meaning of life for boomers is “42.” Gail Sheehy led off the Focalyst Executive Forum with the candid admission that when she wrote her milestone book on adult development Passages , she didn’t have much to say about people’s personal growth after mid-forty or so. Sheehy wasn’t alone. Until recently, men and women at midlife and beyond were rarely seen as a matter worthy of attention by either adult development scholars nor marketers. Marginalized from the research mainstream, people in their 50’s, 60’s and beyond were lumped together in a generic pool of passivity—and then peremptorily dismissed. Disempowered and invisible—except as pathetic recipients of social services—the stereotyped aging were perceived as being set in their ways, misery consumers, taking more than they were giving to the societal and economic mainstream. For boomers and beyond, nothing could be further from the truth. The Focalyst study of 30,000 boomers+ uncovered 42 life-changing events carrying with them identifiable behaviors and/or psycho-social predispositions for influencing changes in attitudes and purchasing patterns. As a whole, boomers (women especially) equate change with something good: growth and the opportunity to reinvent themselves. In other words, the greatest opportunity for marketers will be to look beyond age and even beyond life stage and head straight towards life stage event and both conscious and unconscious life stage ritual as the new frontier for motivational marketing.
7. Boomers are “difficult.” The healthcare system has already seen the birth of a new kind of patient: self-informed, distrustful of authority, demanding top quality service…and 100% boomer. Medical offices and hospitals have already been confronted with these high-maintenance qualities and characteristics—and have begun calculating the drain on time and emotional resources they represent to already maxed-out individuals and systems. Where goes healthcare goes the rest of the product and service universe. Boomers are demanding consumers, paying exceptional attention to value, details, as well as the quality of service relationships. 68 percent of them research brands and services on-line before making a purchase. They have high expectations and are sufficiently well-informed to know when they are getting it—or not. Secrets to keeping boomers’ demands under control: give them choice—but not too much. Personalize the service as much as possible. Provide them continuity of service, helping them connect the dots between the pieces—be it healthcare or technology. If they get frustrated or confused, buckle your seatbelts. But never mind, in the best case scenario, it’s going to be a wild ride into the boomer generation’s old age.
8. Boomers crave experience because they won’t believe anything until they see it, touch it, experience it for themselves. In the new consumer brandscape, it is no longer traditional media or top-down authority carrying the weight. In fact, the boomer’s skepticism of the advertising and marketing industry on the whole is at an all-time high. In a new upside-down influencer hierarchy, it is the boomers, themselves, who are calling the shots in terms of what information they are seeking and whom they will allow into their lives. Whenever you can, don’t just tell them. Have them live it for themselves. The realm of public relations, in cultivating word-of-mouth, editorial, event, and educational opportunities, is increasingly becoming more effective in cutting through the hype and giving them what they most crave: a direct, first-hand experience with your product or service. Sample the product, entertain while you educate, engage with them on-line, establish a living, breathing relationship with the boomer consumer, and you will have the experience you crave, as well: an enhanced bottom line.

Sources: Presenters at Focalyst Executive Forum, September 28-29, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City. Highlighted presenters whose material is featured in this report include: Gail Sheehy (author); Mike Irwin, President and CEO of Focalyst and David van Nostrand, SVP and Chief Research Officer, Focalyst; Eric Dishman, GM, Health Research and Innovation, Intel; Joseph F. Coughlin, Direcot, Agelab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Jeff Taylor, Founder, Monster.com and Eons.com; Peter Francese, Demographics Trends Analyst, Ogilvy & Mather. Other material drawn from BOOM: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer—the Baby-Boomer Woman by Mary Brown and Carol Orsborn, Ph.D. (Amacom Books, 2006.)