Getting the balance right

This article is about how the cosmetics industry targets 50-plus women.
It contains the usual pundits lambasting companies for failing to engage with the older consumer – which is undoubtedly correct.

Amongst the quotes was one that caught my eye from Paula Begoun, the author of the cosmetics Web site Cosmeticscop.com. This is what she had to say.

I am astounded that makeup is being marketed to women 50 and older. "What is this friggin' over-50 group?" said Begoun, 52. "What do I have in common with every other 50-year-old on the planet, an African-American woman, an Asian woman, an 80-year-old white woman?”How large of a group is this? I can't believe that we are letting ourselves be railroaded together and we are naive enough to believe it. I think it is the most bizarre marketing insanity I have ever heard."

Paula, you are absolutely right.

We in the 50-plus/boomer business must be very careful not to commit the same marketing sin that we accuse others of perpetrating (i.e. lumping together people into groups that are only defined by their age).

I had a look at Paula Begoun’s web site and I reckon it is pretty damn good. Not that I am any expert on cosmetics but I know an effective marketer when I see one. Dick Stroud