Selling Innovation to Aging Boomers – Is it a good idea or not?

April 15, 2010 8:49 am by Diane Crispell

By Diane Crispell

Have you ever had the experience that you were thinking about some great new product that would make your life better, and then it suddenly appeared on store shelves? It’s happened to me a number of times. My reaction has typically been one of delight that someone figured it out, tempered by the (totally unrealistic) regret that I wasn’t the one to do it and ‘make millions’.

As a Baby Boomer, I’ve always enjoyed the benefits of being part of the mass market that all businesses wanted to reach. So it’s not really surprising that my wants and needs have been anticipated through different life stages, from teen skin-care products to family-size frozen-food entrées. But we Boomers are getting older, and older has never been a very popular market, so I wonder whether I will see as many new products directed at my generation in the future. Maybe not.

The fact is that Boomers are not as entranced by novelty as they used to be or as much as younger people are. For example, 33% of Boomers strongly agree they “actively seek new ways to do things in everyday life,” compared with 44% of Gen Yers, according to a recent GfK Roper Reports® US survey. Similar patterns hold for everything from technology to food.

Does this mean that marketers should focus their energies on selling innovative and status-related products to younger generations and hope that they “trickle up” to Boomers? Maybe, but not necessarily.
 
Boomers are still a huge market, they are still receptive to innovation that’s relevant to their lives, and it is still worthwhile for marketers to meet their needs. Innovation that addresses the issues Boomers face as they enter new life stages such as empty nesting, grandparenting, and retirement (whatever that looks like for this generation) will be particularly opportune.
 
There are some areas that virtually beg for innovation on Boomers’ behalf – this is a very health-oriented generation, for example, and if there is one thing that is inevitable about Boomer’s aging, it’s the physical changes their bodies are experiencing.
 
Speaking of physical changes, the latest ‘product’ to delight me with its timeliness is my local phone book. The newest edition was much fatter than usual, so at first I assumed it included listings for additional neighboring towns. But no, the reason is that the type size is larger than it used to be, and my Boomer eyes are really appreciating that about now.

Related posts:

  1. Growing Into Aging – What jazz musicians can teach us about the graying of the world
  2. Talkin’ ‘bout my generation
  3. The Pitfalls of Simplicity
  4. The New Globalists
  5. Empowering Your Inner First Responder

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