The new tribe is fifty to sixtyish plus women—those same boomers who once went bare-foot, and who knew that any guy with long hair would share her basic values, educational background and aspirations.

But now, it is boomer women who are recognizing one another as fellow tribe members—skipping the preliminaries and befriending one another in elevators, street corners and pharmacies.

They recognize one another by their streaks of grey and “laugh lines.” Once identified, with no reservation whatsoever, they assume that their boomer tribeswomen will love their unsolicited advice, be open to sharing on the deepest levels and refrain from judging their quirks and vulnerabilities.

Three examples:

1. I am at the pharmacy, purchasing calcium. The woman behind the counter, tribes mate, volunteers that she uses the same brand; how superior it is to others she’s tried; how often and when she takes it. Then, in a heart beat, we’re discussing our exercise routines, our health histories and our hopes for the future.

2. I am at a café in San Luis Obispo, my husband having excused himself to visit the men’s room. By the time he comes back, the woman sitting alone at the next table has told me that she’s bought a second home in the area for when she and her husband retire; how long the drive is to her grandchildren and then, astonishingly, how much she paid for it.

3. I am in an elevator in Los Angeles with another woman. I compliment her on her scarf, and I hear how she’d seen it on a vacation with her sister, had passed it up, and how her sister had sent it to her as a gift. Before we land, I also know how remarkable this is, since she and her sister had not been on talking terms until that vacation.

This would be foreign turf for male marketers—even boomer-aged—who might think it odd if any of the above happened to them mano-a-mano. As Cheri Kuick of Neuberger Berman (advising financial planners on how to sell to the luxury market) points out, it would be a rare male, indeed, who would compliment a stranger—male--about his tie, and expect to hear its psycho-social history.

Implications for marketers? It’s WOMx40M or so. As I mentioned to those financial planners, at the same meeting where Cheri spoke, if you want the most effective marketing in the arsenal, figure out a way to have a couple of boomers talking about how happy they are with their adjustable annuity, for example, while standing in a long line at a Who concert.
And planning ahead, think of a way to have your card in their hands because by the time they reach the front, they will be asked for one many times over.

Carol Orsborn