GenJonesers makes another appearance.

There is an article in today’s FT about the dreaded GenJonesers. You can read my take on this so-called ‘age segment’ in an article I had published a while back.

I first came upon the term after hearing a presentation by John Coll, Carat’s strategy director. He was the main person quoted in this article so it looks like he is still trying to peddle the concept.

If you’re not the perceptive type you may not have picked up that I think the concept is a total waste of space. I don’t seem to be alone in this view given some of the quotes in today’s article.

Terry Prue, senior partner at HPI Research Group, says the reason why older baby boomers are talked about as a distinct group is because they are very different from their elders, who grew up in much more austere circumstances. Therefore, it is artificial to attempt to identify a sudden shift in what has been a period of gradual change, he argues.

Sue Unerman, director of strategic solutions at media planning and buying agency MediaCom, argues that you only have to watch Wife Swap (for people not from the UK this a TV programme at the ultra-banal end of the viewing spectrum) to realise that people of the same age can have very different attitudes and lifestyles. “There are clusters of people within this generation, but the age difference will have less of a factor than income and gender and regionality,” she says.

Andy Nairn, planning director at Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy, argues that outside of financial services there are very few brands or product sectors that appeal on the basis of age alone. Waitrose, for example, which Carat cites as appealing to Generation Jones, defines its target audience not by age, but by a love of food - something that can encompass all ages. “If the lessons are keep it simple, honest, do not over-claim, treat people as intelligent, do not preach to them, then I struggle to see in what circumstances that wouldn’t be relevant,” says Nairn.

GenJonesers is a great name – but I hope this is the last time I read anything about them! Dick Stroud www.20plus30.com