Tom Mann isn’t backing down. A debate over humor in marketing and aging broke out here and elsewhere online a few weeks ago, with Mann’s Erickson communities taking a bit of a beating in the commentary. Unbowed, Tom is back this week with a new video spoof of Budweiser’s celebrated Wassup ad campaign, created by Erickson community residents and assisted by a video-savvy grandson. Kind of cute, I’d say…but let the debate continue….
Yahoo’s chief marketing guy in New York is joining a start-up focused on Boomer grandparents called Grantparents.com. The site already publishes a newsletter, and plans a fall launch of a social networking site. Jerry Shereshewsky also is CMO of one of two companies funding the start-up, Laser Partners. The other is TMS Partners. A brief ClickZ article is here. The other notable media targeting grandparents is Grand Magazine, which is in its third year of publication and claims circulation of 125,000.
The San Francisco Chronicle writes today about ELDR, Dave Bunnell’s start-up magazine targeting the 60-plus market. The piece captures nicely the recent trends in national print media for the Boomer market. However, I’d distinguish between a title like ELDR–which is testing the waters for a seniors lifestyle magazine–and publications targeting younger Boomers. The markets for readers and advertisers are different.
I’ve met Dave and his partner, publisher Chad Lewis, and have seen the premiere edition, which is sophisticated and well-crafted. However, ELDR faces several big advertising challenges. First, selling older audiences to advertisers is always tough, outside of certain obvious categories. Also, ELDR has launched with national circulation of 75,000, much of it unpaid. Selling that distribution strategy to big national advertisers is going to be difficult. National advertisers always prefer paid circulation–even with the growing acceptance of “free” media, e.g. the Internet. And a rate base of 75,000 probably will be too small for many advertisers, who tend not to look at anything smaller than 250,000.
Disclaimer: I’ve had experience in this market via the launch of Satisfaction, and my current consulting client roster includes companies (not ELDR) that are active in the 50+ magazine area.
Final note: thanks to Chronical Staff Writer Joe Garofoli for mentioning 50+Digital!
Yet another conference aimed at helping clueless marketers reach “elusive male consumers” age 18 to 34. As Marti Barletta points out elsewhere–sure, they’re elusive–but who cares? Young men are the worst consumer target imaginable. No money, no time… interests that are . . . limited. But “Marketing to Men 18-34″ persists on August 8th in New York City. So if you’re marketing financial services, travel, automotive, clothing or luxury goods–listen up. Here are a few of the program highlights you won’t want to miss:
9:50AM: Attitudes, shopping trends and lifestyles of the elusive male consumer: Believe it or not, men love to shop, but there are distinct generational differences to consider when creating marketing plans that target male consumers. [Right. Twenty-one year old men love nothing better than an afternoon at the mall.]
11:30AM: Reaching men through pop culture: As hip-hop culture has gone mainstream, maintaining authenticity and nuance has become the ultimate marketing challenge. [The speaker] will address the challenges and rewards in pairing such street-savvy artists as 50 Cent with next generation brands such as Vitamin Water, the marketing potential of music videos and how Reebok made charity cool. [Clever: 50 cents from every sale of 50 Cent’s G6 shoes goes to a non-profit cause! Charity is cool…finally!]
4:10PM: Kickboxing, cinema and consumers: Gareb Shamus, one of Brandweek’s Marketers of the Next Generation, founded Wizard Comics in 1991 and has since become a multimillionaire using his Wizard Entertainment Group to market comics, toys, collectibles and related merchandise to 18- to 34-year-old men. Last year, he founded the International Fight League, which is also targeted to men 18-34 and features mixed martial arts in a team concept. IFL has been embraced by such marketing partners as Xbox, Suzuki, Warner Home Video, Sandals Resorts, Fox Sports Net and Dale and Thomas Popcorn. Shamus will reveal how targeting “boys with toys” can be a lucrative adventure.
That Washington Post study on all those humorless old people is stirring up a firestorm of comment. Many are not amused. Tom Mann, senior vice president of advertising at Erickson Communities and publisher of The Erickson Tribune, wrote today to let me know about a new tv ad the company is testing that relies chiefly on…humor! to attract residents to its senior communities. About the Wash U study, Tom says:
I’m not buying it. Several other experts agree with me. Note today’s posting on David Wolfe’s Ageless Marketing. When we did the rough cuts for this spot, which we did at the WWII memorial in DC, seniors happily volunteered their own scenarios. In fact, we had so many retirees volunteer as they walked by that we had a tough time picking our favorite lines. Which is another interesting fact about this spot, it wrote itself.
So here’s the new Erickson ad:
Erickson is testing the ad on local tv in Chicago this evening and will then decide whether to expand to a major campaign.
Meanwhile, back at the Department of Research on Humor and Aging, colleague John McMennamin of McMennamin Consulting has rapped my knuckles for promoting an ageist view of elder humor, and criticizes Wash U’s methodology:
The two panels had very inadequate sample sizes of 40 each! The age groups were extreme, with the older group being over 65 (the median age not defined), and the younger group composed of graduate students. With these extreme age differences, there was very little, and certainly not significant, difference in comprehension. The headline should have read “The responses to humour changes very insignificantly over a 50 year period from college to retirement! . . . Those who have pre-conceived notions (a large majority of managers) will not read beyond the headline. They will just add this notion to their long list of improperly conceived biases against older workers.”
For the record: I’m not buying the results of the study either…I found it kind of absurd. I am, however, trying to mount an anti-Ferd’nand campaign.
Chuck Nyren points to interesting comment on the study at Time Goes By.
Matt Thornhill’s Boomer Project thinks Wash U has a point..
Wall Street Journal auto writer Joseph B. White comments on the problems automakers face leveraging the potent spending power of Boomers. Auto marketers have figured out that Boomers don’t want to be addressed as “mature” consumers. Instead, their tastes in cars seems to run closer to those of millennials in their 20s and 30s:
Sheryl Connelly, manager of global consumer trends and futuring at Ford Motor Co., says the similarities between boomers and millennials are stronger than those between boomers and their parents. People in their 50s and people in their 20s and 30s have in common that they grew up in times of economic prosperity and “have a very strong sense of entitlement.”
According to White, the sweet spot will be cars that appeal to Boomers and Millennials that are priced around $30,000, offer luxury features, good horsepower, connectivity and style. Examples of models that fit this profile include the Honda Accord now on the drawing board, an overhauled Chevy Malibu scheduled to debut later this year and Ford’s revamped Focus.
national print media for the Boomer market. However, I’d distinguish between a title like ELDR–which is testing the waters for a seniors lifestyle magazine–and publications targeting younger Boomers. The markets for readers and advertisers are different.
No money, no time… interests that are . . . limited. But “Marketing to Men 18-34″ persists on August 8th in New York City. So if you’re marketing financial services, travel, automotive, clothing or luxury goods–listen up. Here are a few of the program highlights you won’t want to miss:
