Tom’s bio reads that he “has made his living off the Baby Boom generation for nearly all of his thirty-five years in the publishing business. Starting with Psychology Today in 1972, when it was THE magazine for college-age boomers to his current work with Meredith’s Ladies’ Home Journal, he never underestimates the power of this demographic. (And, by the way, before I give you his answer as to what happened to Psychology Today, allow me to note in passing that his research and insight also helped form the rationale for More Magazine… and if you’re surprised to see More and Ladies’ Home Journal on the same list, have you seen LHJ lately? They have figured out that there are four times as many boomer women reading LHJ as More! Not the “same” boomer women, but still, LHJ’s editorial content and graphics have become very boomer focused…)

So, in a nutshell, boomers—be they LHJ or More readers-- are on what Troland refers to as an on-going “a voyage of discovery.” The crux of the voyage is a turn from inward focus to an outward sense of adventure.

As Troland describes it, boomers moved on from Psychology Today after fully exploiting the self-reflective mode, and witnessing its absorption into the mainstream. Meanwhile, boomers have gradually morphed to an outward sense of adventure. This is a notion that is underlined by More, who paints an aspirational portrait of a generation of boomers (the women, at any rate) who are out there, conquering things. In fact, if the More woman is going to go on a yoga retreat, she is likely to have climbed part-way up the Himalayas to get there.

But More isn’t alone. The success of LHJ, Martha Stewart’s surprising resilience, all the home channels and shopping networks affirm Troland’s assessment that the voyage of discovery at this moment of time is largely outward bound.

Carol Orsborn