Generation Reinvention
How Boomers Today Are Changing Business, Marketing, Aging and the Future
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
This book examines many different ways that the Boomer generation is redefining consumerism and community engagement, fulfilling its longstanding status as Generation Reinvention. You can transfer learning about this generation to your insights about younger generations that will eventually progress through similar life stages. So, in this sense, the book is not merely Boomer-centric. The first section takes a critical look at myriad opportunities unfolding around the Boomer generation, both for branded consumer products and services and most assuredly for those industries that have traditionally targeted mature markets. You’ll discover how marketers have become more involved and evolved in their conceptualizations around a generation, and how these insights are transforming industries in the future. The second section addresses what it means to be part of a generation and the practical implications for marketers. The terms “Baby Boomers” and “Generation” get tossed around rather freely in business, media, and political circles, but the author has noticed some fundamental inadequacies in understanding of generational sociology and psychology. It’s time to add clarity to what it means to be part of a generation. Brent Green also reviews several different research studies that can help us better understand what Boomers are thinking today so we can more precisely predict where they’re heading tomorrow. The third section surveys marketing campaigns across a number of industries. These case studies will augment your understanding of generational theory and research with practical applications in the marketplace. You’ll gain more nuanced insights into how different industries are reaching out to Boomers today, a presage of how they’ll continue to develop this market in the future. We also explore a few campaigns that the author believes fall short of their goals. The fourth section looks around and beyond marketing into sociology, psychology, social policies and many of the ensuing debates about Boomers and aging. What is the point? Brent Green believes we cannot separate how we understand a market segment—in this case a generation—from broader debates about a generation’s historical value; how the generation is perceived as part of mainstream culture; how critics and supporters enliven the dialogue about a generation’s extrinsic value; and how many political and social debates about population aging intersect with the business of selling Boomer consumers products and services. A generation busy with reinventing itself has implications for all comers: politicians, governmental entities, traditional and online media, community planners, business analysts, equity investors, nonprofit organizations, and, of course, brand marketers. The final section addresses an underdeveloped market niche: Baby Boomer men. Since Boomer men represent slightly less than half of the generation, they are also a market force that’s calling for more focused attention. By bringing together gender and generational insights, the author intends to provide businesses, nonprofits, and social policy planners with a more sophisticated understanding of a generation of men who, along with their female peers, are dramatically changing social and commercial discourse. Generation Reinvention is about business reinvention. Marketers have the opportunity to help characterize the changing cultural narratives about aging, making the later life stages as central to defining the American experience as youthfulness. Since ”mature” is the minority group to which anyone who survives long enough will eventually belong, isn’t it about time we embrace the aging process more fully? Isn’t it time to create a vital new marketing paradigm around mature Boomers? Boomers and astute marketers are showing us how when we pay close attention. The economy will benefit. Companies will benefit. Nonprofits will benefit. Society will benefit.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
“Guidance you need to understand and embrace the nation’s most economically dominant generation.”— B. Joseph Pine II, coauthor, The Experience Economy and Authenticity “The first book about Boomer men to integrate gender and generational insights into a framework marketers can use.” — Marti Barletta, author, Marketing to Women and PrimeTime Women “… a masterful job of envisioning how Baby Boomer men are about to transform the cultural narratives about aging and maturity.” — Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D., author, Age Wave and Age Power Born from 1946 to 1964, Baby Boomers represent 26 percent of the U.S. population. But pervasiveness alone does not capture their story of continuing influence and reinvention. Boomers have shaped every life stage they’ve experienced. With the majority now over age 50, they are again changing business practices and institutions, from dawn of medical tourism to later-life entrepreneurialism. They are still shaping popular culture, from blockbuster films to stadium filling rock concerts. This book gives you astute glimpses into what it means to be part of the generation. Through this lens you’ll discover how you can improve marketing communications, product and service development, nonprofit value, and public policies. A special section looks at marketing to Baby Boomer men, including: • Historical, technological, social, and cultural touchstones; • Underdeveloped ways to combine gender and generational nuances; • New segmentation research about the Boomer male cohort. The next few chapters of western society will include Boomers as influential protagonists, while Generation Reinvention continues to change the meaning of business, marketing, aging, and consumerism. Accurately forecasting the Boomer future has significant monetary implications for numerous industries. Some choose to see problems with Boomer aging. Readers of this book will come to see extraordinary opportunities. Brent Green is an award-winning strategist, creative director, copywriter, author, speaker, and consultant focusing on generational marketing. He is also author of Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers. He lives and reinvents himself in Denver, Colorado.
About the Author
Brent Green is a marketing communication strategist, creative director, copywriter, author, speaker, trainer, and consultant with focus on generational marketing. He is author of Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers: Perceptions, Principles, Practices, Predictions. Established in 1986 and located in Denver, Colorado, Brent Green & Associates, Inc. is an internationally award-winning firm that develops integrated marketing communication programs with emphasis on direct response media, integrated sales promotions, marketing public relations, and senior executive training. His firm has received more than 50 regional, national, and international awards for creative excellence, including the Direct Marketing Association’s International Gold Echo Award, the most respected worldwide distinction in target marketing. He is the tenth recipient of the Direct Marketer of the Year award from the Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association. A Colorado resident since 1981, Brent has served in a leadership capacity with many professional and public service organizations, including as board member for ten years and chairman of the Colorado Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau; board member for Junior Achievement Rocky Mountain, Inc.; and as programming chair for the Business Marketing Association and the Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association. He is a sought-after keynote speaker about Boomers and has provided expert commentary for numerous news media such as The Los Angeles Times, CNN Headline News, BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. He writes for Huffington Post, CNBC.com and other online and traditional print media, and he discusses many contemporary topics through his blog Boomers: A Trip into the Heart of the Baby Boomer Generation (http://boomers.typepad.com). Brent also published a literary novel in 2010 entitled Noble Chaos, a biomythography recounting the defining years of the Baby Boomer generation during the Vietnam War era, told from a college student perspective.