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