I'm a Baby Boomer. In fact, I'm on the leading edge, having popped into this world in 1946. Although at 12 lbs. exiting a 90-pound mother, it was Iess a pop than a thud. And I'm still causing thuds -- the good kind, I hope.


On Wednesday, March 21, CK posted Dreams Don't Retire. She was inspired by the ad starring one of my movie idols, Dennis Hopper.
For those of you who haven't seen it, here it is in all its '60s-ness and doin'-your-own-thing messaging.

No special effects, no screaming or yelling, no shock value, and no grabbing for the entertainment ring. But to us Baby Boomers, this ad is a "gotcha." Because CK suggested I write about this, and I have learned to pay attention to CK's ideas, here are a few reasons this marketing effort works from my personal perspective:
First, Dennis Hopper and I have lots in common, from wanting to be "Easy Rider" to sharing the same generation.
Second, the message is sticky and meaningful. At 60, I feel my life is beginning again; at 60, my parents were buying funeral plots.
Third, the music is perfect for the audience (love that B3 sound--for those not instrumentally fluent, that's a big and bad Hammond Organ.)
And 4th, who the hell wants to retire. I'm having too much fun.
This ain't my parents' generation, baby. And we aren't in that 18 - 35 group either. But we have money to spend and the energy to spend it freely. However, advertisers don't seem to know we exist. And if they do, their messages and visuals generally miss the mark.
We are the peace, love and flower children; the do-your-own-thing folks; the don't-trust-the-establishment group, even though we now are the establishment; the make-the-planet-safe for our children and other living things kids; and the rockers and rollers (and dare I say, disco, for the a bit older but in the same generation).
We believe in fun, friends, parties, poetry, books, music and dance. We love NASCAR, baseball, basketball and football and don't know soccer from rugby. We are good ol' boys and girls and feminists and red necks and jean-clad professionals, conservatives and liberals who vote and who are sometimes too PC. We are the 400-pound gorilla in America's living room, wanting to live on, not retire. According to Eileen Marcus, Fleishman-Hillard Senior Partner, we have $2.1 trillion in spending power.
You want us to buy from you. Speak to us in a language we understand, and create messages that are meaningful to us.
We don't care about Britney; we don't watch American Idol; and today's pop culture means nothing to us, including Hip Hop. Still, we buy lots of music, attend tons of concerts, read books, and buy adult toys: not that kind, this kind--cars, boats, RVs, hot tubs, big screen TVs, condos, city apartments, etc. And we travel to far and away places.
But for most of us retirement is not something we dream about nor is going some place to snooze. Nope. Give us Las Vegas, or New York, or LA, or Paris or Rome. Give us the Moody Blues and the Beatles and anybody who can play wired.
And choose spokespeople who represent us. Take me back to my youth, and then bring me forward 35 years to enjoy that youthful energy but recognize I have a 60-year-old mind with aches and pains in places that I didn't know existed 35 years ago.
We care about consumer packaged goods, the travel industry, media, automobiles, motorcycles and healthcare. We ruminate about beauty and self image. And perhaps most important for marketers, we 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 are far more likely to describe ourselves as The "TV Generation" than Baby Boomers, a TV Land study reports.
Here's a few more things the study, conducted by Latitude, found:
Our top five cultural events were:
? The birth of cable television–45%
? The creation of color television–40%
? The death of John Lennon–37%
? The disco era–33%
? The death of Elvis–29%
The most meaningful historical events were:
? The Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion (1986)–57%
? John F. Kennedy's assassination–52%
? The war in Vietnam–52%
? Ronald Reagan's term as President of the U.S–42%
? Nixon's Resignation/Iran Hostage Crisis/Discovery of AIDS (tie)..38%
And, oh, yeah. Like most Americans, we are individuals and we are diverse. So target your ads to segmented audiences. For example, I want my rock and roll raw and loud and Woodstock would appear in my top 5 cultural events; my wife prefers Elton John and the birth of communes. I'm a Dennis Hopper kind of guy; my wife a Meryl Streep fan.
In other words, one size does not fit all. Get back to the basics of good marketing. Forget the bells and whistles and reach us where we live and work. A Boomer ad placed on shows about young folks going through the throes of dating will never reach us; try Dancing With the Stars. An ad placed in Venus will pass us by; try O; and don't forget that we love the outdoors and are still working in corporations and as entrepreneurs, so outdoor, professional and trade magazines represent good choices. We love technology and we love to play, so don't forget grown up web sites, political blogs, and magazines such as Travel & Leisure.
Finally, you will get it wrong if you don't consider these characteristics when you reach out to us:
1. We are the most indulged generation in history, have taken over the world and fun is a top priority.
2. We have been heavily influenced by movies, TV shows, musicians and sports idols.
3. We wrote the Book of Love and are now rewriting it.
4. And even for those wanting to retire at 65, keep in mind that about 40 percent of us cannot afford to, according to a study by Aon Consulting. We weren't the greatest generation when saving either.
So, take a cue from Dennis Hopper and get hip to who we are.