Boomer Marketing vs. Ageism; Join Tuesday's ZOOM with Keith Reinhard, Ken Dychtwald, Susan Feldman, Peter Hubbell, Jack Myers

The 1849 and 2554 demographics have famously been the ad world39s quotdollar demoquot the target audiences for so many clients But what about BoomersThe longignored demo of 55 is a gold mine waiting for advertisers to commit any amount of effort to addressing them and MediaVillage founder Jack Myers has assembled a crackerjack panel to discuss the opportunities what marketers are missing and what they may be doing right Join Jack Myers39 Leadership Conversation with Boomerologists Peter Hubbell CEO of BoomAgers and Susan Feldman cofounder of One Kings Lane and founder of In the Groove expert on ageing Ken Dychtwald CEO at Age Wave and ad world legend Keith Reinhard Chairman Emeritus at DDB Worldwide on Tuesday September 22 at 1PM ET for an indepth discussion and exploration of ageism challenges to accurate targeting of the leading consumer marketThis Is Not a New IssueDychtwald39s new book What Retirees Want lays out 30 years of research on aging a mustread for an industry that has refused to changeDychtwald has been banging the Boomer drum all over Madison Avenue for decades and has found that he gets asked the same three questions over and over again quotHave there been any changes to reduce ageism Are there any blatant mistakes marketers are making that they can stop right nowquot and quotWhat sectors or industries are going to explode as a result of this phenomenonquotDychtwald can and will answer those questions but more pressing to him is that the ad industry needs a total overhaul of its attitudes towards people over 60 quotWhen you see an ad targeted at someone 60plus is it ever someone who39s still workingquot he says quotNo it39s always someone who can39t remember their wife39s namequotFixes Both Easy and NotSoEasyFor Hubbell there are a few factors that are preventing marketers from reaping the rewards of the 55 audience including simple inertia The industry has operated in a certain way for 70 years and even with various changings of the guard entrenched ways of doing things die hardMillennials are often viewed as the only viable audience for brands but Hubbell says quottoday39s 50yearold is acting like a 35yearoldquot The old mindset of people forming brand loyalty in their mid20s and never changing their minds about anything just doesn39t apply anymoreamp8212there are an infinity of products that didn39t exist when Boomers were in their 20s and Boomers are set to live significantly longer lives According to Dychtwald39s research the expected stagnation in this third life act doesn39t actually occur People keep growing and changingThe current dichotomy of quotMillennials or Boomersquot doesn39t serve anyone particularly well least of all brands This is especially true as multigenerational households are becoming more common Hubbell adds quotIf you can tell a story that involves a Baby Boomer and their Millennial children and demonstrate that that brand serves both that39s very effectivequotFemale Boomers in particular face a massive disadvantage in a culture obsessed with youth quotThere39s very few people that I see making a huge effort I think to engage our demographicquot says Feldman Feldman39s lifestyle destination In the Groove looks to accrue a community of engaged female Boomers quotWe39re healthier we39re more engaged than any generation before usquot she says quotThere39s this huge white space herequotIt39s not all bad news for female boomers thoughamp8212Feldman says companies are finally starting to develop products for this cohort forcing companies to think about how to actually market to these potential customersAgencies Need to Address Their Own Internal Ageism ProntoBut it39s not just that marketers have been slow to realize the value of the 55 audienceamp8212there39s an ageism within ad agencies themselves that Reinhard says has been extremely detrimental to both audience strategy and the creative itselfquotWhere are the storiesquot Reinhard asks The core of advertisingamp8212the most effective way to messageamp8212is storytelling but older agency members who have the life experience to know what makes a good story have been systematically pushed out replaced by younger people who Reinhard says quotaren39t as surequot about the power of a good storyThe agencies aren39t solely to blame here Reinhard acknowledges Clients often want to see fresh faces with fresh takes in pitches to be reassured that they39re on the cutting edge And pressures on the bottom line can have ageist consequences quotYou can get two to three junior creatives for the cost of a senior onequot Reinhard says quotThe real cost though is the institutional knowledge and life experiencequotMyers who will host the conversation has been an outspoken activist against age bias in media buying calling it quotnontransparent unethical and borderline illegal misrepresentation of many brand marketers39 actual target consumersquotJoin the Conversation on September 22 at 1 pm ET for much much moreClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Boomer Marketing vs. Ageism; Join Tuesday's ZOOM with Keith Reinhard, Ken Dychtwald, Susan Feldman, Peter Hubbell, Jack Myers

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Oriana Schwindt

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Boomer Marketing vs. Ageism; Join Tuesday's ZOOM with Keith Reinhard, Ken Dychtwald, Susan Feldman, Peter Hubbell, Jack Myers

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