Oddly enough, the controversy didn’t center around our findings, but rather, the notion that we can predict anything at all about boomers down the road, based on today’s data. Contrarian voices have pointed out, rightly so, that the boomer generation is a moving target, so it is virtually impossible to extrapolate into the future.

To this, we responded that we agree that such futurist studies are most helpful in terms of giving insight into this generations’ current expectations concerning how they think they will be seven years into the future. This, in turn, gives us valuable insight into how boomers are really feeling about themselves now.

Another criticism, posted on a well-read blog, challenges the validity of our predictions on the cataclysmic observation that given disease rates, such as cancer, it’s misguided to offer predictions about boomers at age 70 because a lot of boomers are going to be dead at 70. (Not sure the age of the blogger in this case, but my guess is that she is not close to 70, herself.)

Enter John Migliaccio, Ph.D., Director of Research for MetLife’s Mature Market Institute. John was the presenter at a recent webinar, sponsored by International Mature Marketing Network, titled “Boomers from the Inside Out—A Look at Boomers Over the Next 20 Years.” (Chuck Nyren, “Advertising to Baby Boomers” was the warm-up act.)

I had a sneak preview of the study upon which this was based at the What’s Next Boomer Summit a few weeks ago (and duly reported in this blog.) The research is full of nifty notions, such as that boomers will be “future proofing” their lives with new products and services, advocating for new policy initiatives, benefiting from new marketing approaches and alliances. Some of the intriguing notions include “health as wealth”, “cognitive fitness”, “food as financial planning” and “marketplaces of meaning.”

But for the purposes of this particular blog entry, I was most interested in how John addressed the futurist enterprise from the market researcher’s perspective.
Of course, we can only collect data from the present (or more accurately, the recent past.) From this, the futurist first extrapolates possible futures. Out of the realm of possibilities, the data is then studied further to point us in the direction of first plausible and then probable futures. The dialogue then advances towards preferred futures.

While either this wasn’t defined in the webinar (or I blanked out for a moment), I interpret the notion of preferred future to one that is hopefully aligned with John’s own definition. In brief, I would suggest that “preferred futures” lie in the realm of interactive creativity, where strategists not only study the data to predict the future, but look to see what marketers—and the products/services they represent—can do to help shape the best possible outcome for the boomer generation, be it two months, seven years or twenty years from now.

There is, of course, a leap of faith involved in the application of today’s findings against long-term planning. In this regard, market researchers not only predict the future but have a hand in creating a better future. One assumes that MetLife is doing this in order to develop products, services and outreach that will serve boomers’ needs as they age.

I, for one, am happy that they are taking such a proactive and one would say upbeat approach to the prospects for our lives twenty years from now—particularly in light of the dimmer view, where it seems to be a controversial move to extrapolate that we will still have lives, at all.

Carol Orsborn