This past Sunday, like 40 million other Americans, I curled up on my couch and fell into the Academy Awards trance, moonily gazing at star after star sashaying down the glorious red carpet. I don’t know what it is exactly, but year after year, I never tire of this unabashed parade of fame, fuss and beauty.
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This year, the fact that actresses Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren and Judi Dench (all 50+ and two of boomer age) were up for Oscars, made the headlines. “Oscars Go Gray” proclaimed one paper. “Boomer bulge brings rich untilled field,” said Hollywood Reporter. While it indicates some progress on the anti-ageism front, I think it’s a little sad. Should we really be this wowed as a society that we’re now mature enough to cast a nice shade of limelight on three aging talents? Does the fact that our old gals are still landing mainstream parts truly make us this heady? It would seem so.
Perhaps even in this, we younger marketers can take a lesson. Like Hollywood, marketers have historically lavished attention on the young. Young marketers in particular, have looked to connect with and ultimately sell to their own or younger generations because of the emotional appeal.
But step back Gen X and Yers, take a breath and realize something: the 42+ boomer woman is now “the queen.” She is the demographic you should be courting. Like many queens, she is complex, passionate, and coolly shrewd. She expects that those who enter her court will know what makes her tick.
Amanda Sobanet