Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders

Citation

Melchinger, J.H. (2004), "Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 155-156. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760410525722

Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders follows the authors’ first book, Segmenting the Mature Market (Probus) published in 1993, which described three segmentation strategies and set the stage for their ongoing work. This newest release is based on wider insights from the authors’ continuing multiple‐client studies on boomers and their elders. Since 1989, seven studies were conducted, encompassing over 20,000 people from this market, to complete this distinctive work. This current result – Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders – offers nine separate segmentation strategies based on attitudes. Data on demographics, behaviors, and Internet and media usage were also gathered.

The premise for this work is deceptively simple, the work itself deceptively complex. Peter Francese, founding publisher of American Demographics, commented “The attempts by marketing executives to reach those over 50 have been miserably unsuccessful. No market’s motivations and needs are so poorly understood. A new way of segmenting those over 50 based on their underlying motivating factors is desperately needed.” Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders fills this void ably.

The authors Morgan and Levy, both extremely credentialed and qualified with a long track record in motivational segmentation, set out to create a new, higher standard, which they accomplished. They base their multiple segmentation strategies on one market and multiple data (believed to be a marketing first). They avoid intuiting responders’ thoughts and motivations. They “derive (their) motivational research from clinical psychology, measuring the respondents’ motivations and concerns regarding a product or issue directly” (p. 8) The authors generously explain the mathematical psychology (psychometrics) and the procedure they employed to develop the nine separate groups of statements they used, each concentrating on various aspects of the purchase of a specific product or a particular issue. This is just the beginning.

Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders is complex but not complicated. From the first page – no, even from the first three unnumbered pages of testimonials by several well‐known people – Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders is a compelling, easy read. It doubles as a reference. Unlike the textbooks of sleep‐inducing fame, there is a buzz, an excitement about this. It rings with something new and useful and substantiated. There is immediately usable data, all referenced, explained by the authors in exquisite simplicity.

The book is thoughtfully divided into three parts and nine separate segmentations. Part I – The Market of Boomers and Their Elders – explains in three brief chapters the groundwork for the rest:

1. 1.

   (1) Attitudes: what drives boomers and their elders;

2. 2.

   (2) Getting a bead on boomers and their elders; and

3. 3.

   (3) Segmenting boomers and their elders.

Part II – Nine Separate Segmentations – comprises 18 chapters about segmentations and overlaid segmentations. The chapter titles describe segments and the subtitles depict deeper segmentations. Argue if you must about the names given each segment, but reading the content reveals a wealth of practical information you can put into effective, good use. For example, Chapter 5 – Beyond the Empty Nest – states “The challenges of marketing to empty nesters, or any market, are best met by focusing on specific psychographic or motivational segments overlaid with demographics, behaviors, and media and Internet usage” (p. 61). Turn the page and you are reading a detailed description of which lifestyle segments, limited to those of comparable age and income, are the best targets for certain products and services, whether children under 18 are present in the home or not.

Lifestyle segments include:

• •

  Upbeat enjoyers;

• •

  Insecures;

• •

  Threatened actives; and

• •

  Financial positives.

Chapter 5 – Beyond the Empty Nest – separates findings from conclusions and discusses comparing discretionary income, phenomenon about travel when couples have children at home or not, and a host of other issues that unveil themselves in data for that segmentation. (More on this later.)

Travel segments are:

• •

  Highway wanderers;

• •

  Pampered relaxers;

• •

  Global explorers;

• •

  Independent adventurers; and

• •

  Anxious travelers.

Financial segments include:

• •

  Self‐reliant savers;

• •

  Strapped spenders;

• •

  Worried frugals;

• •

  Credit consumers; and

• •

  Savvy investors.

Food segments:

• •

  Nutrition concerned;

• •

  Fast and healthy; and

• •

  Traditional couponers.

Health segments:

• •

  Proactives;

• •

  Faithful patients;

• •

  Optimists; and

• •

  Disillusioned.

Health Information segments:

• •

  Uninvolved fatalists;

• •

  Self‐directed positives;

• •

  Fearful listeners;

• •

  Internal health actives;

• •

  Confused compliants; and

• •

  External health actives.

Health Compliance segments:

• •

  Trusting believers;

• •

  Informed avoiders;

• •

  Resentful compliers; and

• •

  Cost‐concerned cynics.

Car Purchase segments:

• •

  Accessorized Americans;

• •

  Stylish fun;

• •

  Reliables; and

• •

  Uninvolved.

Car Maintenance segments:

• •

  Car repair savvy;

• •

  Car repair cynics; and

• •

  Certitude seekers.

Each set of segments is followed with a chapter, separate from the rest, explaining the unique characteristics of the segmentation, such as Chapter 5 – Beyond the Empty Nest. This facet of the work explains both the harsh realities and nuances of this market. If you dreamed them, you would need to awake with details to explain them. The authors offer conclusions and corroborating evidence in these special chapters, but keep it all separate for the rest. Helpful. One would think this market is a crime scene and the authors are forensics experts.

Part III – Applying the Segmentations – has seven definitive chapters on using the information derived from these segments:

1. 1.

   (1) Reaching best customers with mass media;

2. 2.

   (2) Words and images keyed to segment;

3. 3.

   (3) Relating to your publics;

4. 4.

   (4) Improving Internet connections;

5. 5.

   (5) Direct marketing’s next step;

6. 6.

   (6) Attitudes improve CRM efforts; and

7. 7.

   (7) Making the sale.

Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders is a well‐organized must read and ready reference. Boomers are many and varied in scope. Mass marketing is largely ineffective. Segmentation – segmenting different ways for different segments – becomes a must. Marketing to the Mindset of Boomers and Their Elders cites the complete case why complex marketing need not be complicated while pursuing buyers over 40. Having read this, now I know why my friends who grew up with me in the 1960s are … as we are.