News Flash: Boomers are on the march, and Europe may never be the same. That’s the headline from the grand tour to Europe that is being made as I write by American marketing-to-boomer experts Chuck Nyren, Brent Green and myself.
"For the rest of today's blog, continue at The Boomer Blog"
The three of us were invited by the Bayard Group, a European publisher whose empire includes a number of glossy magazines for the over 50 crowd in seven countries. While the three of us share our thoughts with their current and potential advertisers about marketing to boomers in the U.S.—and how our data and information apply to Sweden, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain--we are simultaneously getting a literally world-class education about how our generation is faring abroad.
In brief, what I’m gleaning as I go, as I am sensing the first stirrings of a worldwide movement that is no less than an overturning of the stereotypes of aging and the creation of an unprecedented marketing opportunity for companies and services.
Before I begin blogging country by country, a word more about the Bayard Group of publications. They refer to their family of publications as “international senior magazines.” Their first great success was Notre Temps, a French magazines with a readership of over a million. Based on this success, they began expanding into neighboring countries. Plus in the Netherlands, Bel Age in Quebec and Vi over 50 are ranked amongst the biggest-selling monthlies in their local markets. Amongst their more recent launches, Lenz/Frau im Leben in Germany has already passed 300,000 in paid circulation. Plus Magazine Netherlands is closing in on the 300,000 mark, aided by the Netherlands 50+ Fair, which attracts more than 80,000 visitors to Utrecht, where the attendees view more than 500 exhibits, workshops, concerts and more. (And where our intrepid trio of experts will be addressing an audience of 150 marketers later today.)
The list goes on and on—and this does not even include the competition, which is also busy launching magazines in multiple countries—so all in all, we are seeing that Europe’s market of 50+ is exploding.
That said, the crowds of marketers are soaking up something that we three—as representatives of the American boomer ethos—bring with us. For me personally (and professionally), as I have taken the role of speaking the marketing-to-boomer women piece, I see a global hunger for a new level of personal empowerment for post-menopausal women who are refusing to go quietly into fast-fading expectations of old age. More on this tomorrow, as I report on our first stop: Stockholm, Sweden.
Carol Orsborn