General Mills Campaign Targets Boomer Nostalgia

General Mills Campaign Targets Boomer Nostalgia

Posted On October 5, 2011

Appeals to nostalgia are known to be effective with Baby Boomers, particularly in marketing campaigns that evoke memories of the Boomers’ “flower power” youth of the 60s and 70s. Now General Mills has launched a campaign aimed at Boomers that features Cheech and Chong, counterculture heroes, and their “magic” brownies. While Cheech and Chong appear in their familiar roles, it’s the brownies that have changed. Now, appropriate to Boomers’ age, the “magic” ingredient in the brownies is fiber. General Mills is using the famous hippies and their association with “magic” brownies of the past to market Fiber One brand 90-calorie,… Read More

Categories: Advertising, Baby Boomers, Generations

No Echo for the Echo Boom

Posted On August 22, 2011

Millennials were first known as the “Echo Boom” because they were an echo of the Baby Boomers. As Boomers reached child-bearing age, their fertility rates (births per woman) were not particularly high, but the sheer size of the Boomer generation ensured that their offspring, the Millennials, would echo the population boom of their parents. Now that Millennials are reaching child-bearing age, fertility rates are shrinking even further. A recent Advertising Age analysis of census data shows that birthrates for women in their 20s declined more in the last two years than any time in the last three decades. In fact, the only… Read More

Categories: Baby Boomers, Training Industry, Women

Boomers Click Through Online Ads – Millennials Do Not

Posted On October 11, 2011

Have you ever noticed a blinking or dancing ad to the side of the web page you were reading and wondered, “Who clicks on that?” Now we have an answer, at least a generational one. According to a recent JustAsk! survey, older Baby Boomers and Matures are the most likely to click through online ads while Millennials are the least likely. According to the survey, over three quarters of those over age 55 reported clicking through an online ad in the last 6 months. In comparison, just 58% of Millennials age 15-24 report clicking online ads. And the group in… Read More

Categories: Advertising, Baby Boomers, Downloadable Media

Boomers Fight Aging with Wealth

Posted On August 31, 2011

The Baby Boomers are determined to remain “forever young,” even if they have to use all of their accumulated wealth to stay that way. Boomers have already pushed spending on anti-aging products to about $80 billion dollars a year and, by 2015, it will surpass $114 billion, increasing more than 40% in just about 3 years, according to Global Industry Analysts. Anti-aging products range from over-the-counter skin creams to expensive surgeries. Whatever the category, the entire sector is enjoying a boom that is likely to continue for the next two decades as Boomers turn 65 at a rate of about… Read More

Categories: Baby Boomers

Boomers Funding Millennial Homeownership

Posted On December 2, 2011

At least 20% of Baby Boomers are helping their Millennial children or grandchildren realize the dream of homeownership, according to a Better Homes and Gardens survey. One in five Boomers surveyed had gifted, loaned, or co-signed in support of a Millennial’s purchase of a home. More than two-thirds expressed a desire to provide such support in the future to their children or grandchildren, many intending to do so on multiple occasions. This growing trend highlights a generational imbalance in wealth – Matures and Boomers have accumulated a lot of it whereas Millennials are finding it more difficult to get hold… Read More

Categories: Baby Boomers, Home Ownership, Real Estate, Training Industry

Millennials Are The New Slackers

Posted On December 8, 2011

Now that Xers have given up their generational title of “Slackers,” Millennials have picked up where they left off. Just last month, we noted that it’s now unfair to call Generation X “slackers”: studies show that they work hard and apply themselves in all aspects of life. But now a new survey of Millennials’ coworkers shows that the youngest generation in the workplace is perceived as lazy and disengaged from their work. The poll, conducted by Workplace Options, showed that 77% of those asked believe that Millennials have a different attitude towards work than older generations. 46% say Millennials are… Read More

Categories: Generations, Workplace

Boomers a House Divided on Real Estate

Posted On October 25, 2011

Boomers can be described as two generations in one. Leading Edge Boomers (or Early Boomers, b.1946-1954) and Late Boomers (or “Generation Jones,” b.1955-64) often exhibit different traits and tendencies as consumers. Their current attitudes about real estate highlight the differences between older and younger Boomers perfectly. A recent Coldwell Banker survey shows Leading Edge Boomers to be a generation preparing for retirement – downsizing, consolidating, conserving – while Late Boomers are still ambitious and acquisitive. According to the survey, only 6 percent of agents surveyed say their older Boomer clients are looking to upgrade, while 31 report that younger Boomer… Read More

Categories: Baby Boomers, Real Estate, Training Industry

Generation Rent?

Posted On March 8, 2012

Millennials are starting to feel like the dream of home ownership is just that – a dream. As the leading edge of the generation moves into its 30s, many of them are still finding the goal of owning a home elusive. According to the Federal Reserve, only 9% of 29-34 year olds got a mortgage between 2009 and 2011. That’s about half the rate of a decade ago for the same age group. According to CreditKarma.com, only 11% of twenty-somethings have a mortgage compared with figure of 30% for all consumers. Millennials are victims of a perfect storm that’s keeping… Read More

Categories: Home Ownership, Matures, Recession Economy

Boomers Spending Online

Posted On November 10, 2011

Since the beginning of Internet commerce up until a year or so ago, members of Generation X have led the way in buying things online with Millennials not far behind. Older generations, even as they warmed to the Internet, were not as trusting or as eager consumers online as the younger sets. Now, according to a new study by Forrester Research, Baby Boomers have become avid online shoppers and the biggest online spenders. 70% of younger Boomers (age 45-55) report having shopped online within the last 3 months, an all time high for their demographic and figure approaching that of… Read More

Categories: Baby Boomers, Downloadable Media

Boomers Selling Their Houses – But Are There Any Buyers?

Posted On March 13, 2012

A new study by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission sees many Baby Boomers selling their homes as age, downsize, and retire. The study projects that Boomers will divest themselves of as many as 26 million housing units over the next 20 years. The problem is that the generation that should now be entering the market for homes, the Millennials, are not generally in a position to afford them. As we noted last week, a combination of high real estate values, lower real wages, tight credit, and high indebtedness is preventing many Millennials from realizing the dream of owning a… Read More

Categories: Baby Boomers, Home Ownership, Real Estate
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