Boomers On The Move

Move over Florida. Make room, Carolinas. The Boomers are coming.  According to a 2010 Del Webb Baby Boomer Survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Pulte/Del Webb (to be fully released in March 2010), Boomers are about to redefine retirement living, just as they have in every previous lifestage. Unlike their parents, Boomers are less attracted by the palm trees and golf courses of Florida, and more interested in the smaller urban areas of the Carolinas. While Florida and Arizona are in the top ten, other surprising retirement destinations include Tennessee and Virginia.

Here are some insights that we found particularly interesting concerning what amenities Boomers are looking for in their retirement communities: onsite healthcare and transportation; home maintenance and repair, outdoor activity areas, e.g., jogging paths and bicycle trails.  And, as we’ve learned from other studies, it wouldn’t hurt to have a college or university nearby. 

By redefining retirement living, boomers will open the door for many products and services that will serve to complement their lifestyle choices. Communities that are attracting large numbers of boomers will have opportunities to capitalize on their presence and benefit from their spending power. As we see it, this generation is looking for more than just a round of golf and lunch at the clubhouse; they’re looking for a full and satisfying lifestyle.

– Posted by Tom Gorski

Nostalgia Rules!

Imagine, a Super Bowl where the game was way better than the ads. We watched the game with a bunch of Boomers, and for the most part all agreed: lots of ads were seemingly targeted to (and probably created by) 28-year old guys. You’d think they would be a real niche audience, given that Nielson estimates 106.5 million people tuned into this year’s game.

Boomers respond to nostalgia, which is probably why our Boomer viewer sample loved the Flo TV ad that recapped the entire history of television in 30 seconds. We were also big fans of the Google Paris ad, which came in second to Doritos’ House Rules in the Nielson Ad Buzz poll. While we were all glad to see the Budweiser Clydesdales, the spot seemed a little derivative, like we’d seen it all before with a different animal. The Letterman/Leno/Winfrey ad was a real hoot – our first reaction was “Is this real?” (15-second spots go by a little fast for Boomer brains!)

There were some dubious coincidences: what’s with all the people preening about in their underwear? The research we’ve done at Gen-Sights shows that Boomers are not only turned off by the ads they find crude, but turn off to the sponsor, as well — while we suspect the marketing people at Dockers and Career Builders.com weren’t really trying to target Boomers anyway, they probably should, given that Boomers do wear pants and don’t seem inclined to completely abandon the workforce anytime soon.

And how funny was it that the over-hyped Focus on Family ad, which ended with the mother of University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow being tackled on-camera, was preceded by a Snickers spot where the very same thing happened to comedienne Betty White? (Both spots rated a thumbs down from us, though the Snickers ad scored the most votes in this year's Adbowl, an online voting contest.)

You have to admit, the half time show featuring The Who was a true trip down memory lane for Boomers. And who, except those from the Hoosier state, wasn’t happy to see the long-beleaguered Saints (Ain’ts no more!) finally go marching in?

- posted by Lynn Schweikart

Turning Boomer Trends into Business Opportunities

To reverse the metaphor, with the forest of Boomer trends out there, how do you find the tree of opportunity for your business? At Gen-Sights, we’ve starting using a technique called “blending” the trends.

According to Joseph Coughlin, Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab, "blending is the ability to envision competing realities and see alternative futures that will drive product and service innovation.”

In a recent entry on his blog Disruptive Demographics, Coughlin demonstrates this how this works. He takes four trends that communications giant RIM, maker of Blackberry, sees as affecting the future of the smart phone:

1. Aging world: the median age on the planet in 2000 was 26, by mid-century it will be 36 and the number of people over 60 will triple -- to nearly two billion people; 



2. Connectivity: smart phones, other devices and wireless providers will blur activity, place, and push trends we already see in social media and interaction;
3. Empowered consumers: Consumers will continue to adopt tools that help them monitor and manage their relationship with companies, e.g., social media that advises on everything from restaurant choices, to financial services, to 'hey, where's my package?' 



4. 'Values' purchasing (e.g., green consumers): Values purchasing is not just for kids. Where there is a rise in 'color causes' (my phrase) -- buying green, supporting pink, and helping red -- aging baby boomers are increasingly interested in their social impact and legacy. That is, 'what am I contributing and what will I leave behind?

He then blends the trends, posing questions like:
What happens when older consumers are connected, empowered, and make purchase decisions on values beyond cost and quality?

What might wireless-enabled health or caregiving services in the pocket of an aging boomer look like?

Will ubiquitous computing power, social media, and value purchasing create virtual collaborative networks of service providers for sandwiched boomers today and frail boomers tomorrow?

To us, it’s very exciting to consider the possibilities you can generate when thinking about the Boomer audience this way. How will living arrangements, “green” technology, the travel industry, entertainment, and other consumer segments evolve as Boomers age? We suggest you take some time and think about the multiple trends that are affecting your business. How can you blend them to identify new ways that your business can tap into the growing Boomer market?
- posted by Lynn Schweikart/Laura Willis