The Leaner Baby Boomer Economy

This is the title of this week’s US edition of BusinessWeek

I reckon the journalist who wrote the lead article (David Welch) has done a good job. I urge you listen to the podcast of his interview about the article.

The basic premise is that times are bad and despite the optimism of Boomers they are going to be cutting back on their spending. Nobody knows for how long or how deep the cuts will be but it clear it will have a serious impact. There are lots of good examples of how companies are responding including Mercedes and Starwood.

My only issue with the article is that makes the assumption that these companies have been specifically targeting Boomers. The truth is that they have taken Boomer business for granted and are now feeling the pinch when it starts to decline.

As the journalist says, there isn’t much point trying to target other generations since Gen X and Y are equally, if not worse, off. Maybe the result of this will be that companies have to start to really think about marketing to the Boomer generation.

There is another feature on the BusinessWeek site where the guys who started the new US 50-plus agency give their views about Boomer advertising campaigns. Nothing much new but worth a quick look. Remember, listen to the podcast. Dick Stroud