Here’s a great article on marketing to Boomers from today’s RAB e-newsletter.  It contains the best quote I’ve heard in a long while - "Boomers are not a needle in the haystack. They ARE the haystack."   By 2018, they will control 70% of the disposable income in the US.  And they’re not buying Geritol.  46% of Apple’s sales are to people aged  55+.   Public radio  listeners are active, engaged, and willing to try new things – and they have money to spend!
 
Marketing to Boomers Crucial to Bottom Line
Although their children may not agree, the 80-million-strong Baby Boomer population in the United States is hip, willing to change their minds and spends more on consumer packaged goods (CPG) than any other age group. 

"The Boomer market is misunderstood," Beth Brady, global head of marketing effectiveness for Nielsen, said during a recent webinar entitled, "Boomers: Marketers' Most Valuable Generation." She noted that Boomers spend 50 percent of their total spend on CPG, but only 10 percent to 15 percent of advertisements are marketed to them.

The entire Baby Boomer demographic, defined as individuals born between the years of 1949 and 1964, will be 50 years old or older in 2014. And in five years, the demographic will control 70 percent of the country's disposable income, according to Brady. Baby Boomers spend more money on 119 of Nielsen's 123 defined CPG categories and have the highest average annual basket ring -- $7,233 -- of all demographics, she stressed.

These facts combined mean the Baby Boomer generation is a potential gold mine for marketers, with Brady dubbing the demographic "the most valuable generation in the history of marketing."

 "Boomers are value conscious and seek out information before purchasing items," she explained. "But they don't only shop on price." Addressing where companies should market their products to Baby Boomers, Brady relayed that "TV is still king," considering this demographic watches television an average of 174 hours a month. However, Baby Boomers also frequent
social media websites.

"Usage on social media by Boomers has doubled in the past year," Nielsen's global head of marketing revealed. "Fifty-two percent are now on Facebook." In terms of approach, she said the marketing should be more holistic, give plenty of facts and communicate value beyond price points.
 
"Boomers are not a needle in the haystack. They are the haystack," she stated. "Boomers are easy to target with a mass-media message."

Importantly, Baby Boomers are also willing to change their minds and highly respect loyalty from marketers, Brady concluded. "You don't need to change your brand personality," she said. "Apple is a great example. Forty-six percent of
its sales are to people (aged) 55-plus. That's because the company makes it easy for Boomers and created its Genius Bar."

(Source: Convenience Store News, 04/04/13)

To access the full report, please visit Nielsen's website

Interesting information this morning from the Radio Advertising Bureau that ties in nicely with our “Halo Effect” underwriting talking points.  It seems that responsible purchasing might even serve as something of a stand-in for charitable giving with socially responsible shoppers.  Millennials especially care about a company’s footprint – both in terms of social policies and community impact.  Employee relations (45%) are noted as a driving force, overshadowing the primary emphasis on “green” in recent years.  
 
With this new national trend, underwriting on public radio makes more sense now than ever before.  If a company’s image improves just from being on our air, and if their website backs up the good things that they do as a company – then that should translate into increased sales for that company with this growing sector of our population.
 
Here’s the article – 
Consumers Care About Buying from Socially Responsible Brands Now More Than Ever
How a Company Treats Its Employees and the Environment are Becoming Bigger and Bigger Concerns for Shoppers in the Checkout Aisle -- and They Want That Information to be Easy to Find and Verify

There will always be a segment of consumers who religiously buy products from socially-responsible companies -- toilet paper from Seventh Generation, shoes from Timberland, jackets from Patagonia, ice cream from Ben and Jerry's, and so
on.

But more and more, these socially-responsible shoppers are in the mainstream. A recent survey from marketing agency Good.Must.Grow found that most Americans care about buying products from companies that do good in the world. 
GMG's survey of 1,015 Americans yielded some fascinating, but not entirely surprising, statistics: 30% of respondents said that they expect to increase the amount of goods and services they buy from socially-responsible companies over the next
year (last year, that number was 18%), and 60% of people said that buying goods from socially-responsible companies is important to them.

But just 21% (the same percentage as last year) said that they will increase charitable donations in the coming year -- an indication that responsible purchasing is serving as something of a stand-in for charity. Thirty percent said that they expect to increase the amount of goods and services they buy from socially-responsible companies.

Treatment of employees is the biggest factor (45%) when people decide how responsible a company is. Environmental impact follows close behind (38%). Transparency, corporate oversight, and impact on society are also important factors. 

Companies shouldn't think that the trend towards socially-responsible purchasing means that they can just claim that their products are "green" and call it a day. According to the survey, 63% of people trust company claims about social
responsibility only sometimes -- when they do verify information, it's often by reading product packaging, checking out the news, and doing independent  research.

This skepticism holds true especially for large corporations that own brands that tout their social responsibility (think Kashi and parent brand Kellogg). In a survey conducted by Weber Shandwick and KRC Research last year, 56% of respondents said they would think twice about buying a product if they couldn't find information about the larger corporation behind it. One out of six U.S.consumers claimed that they would avoid a product entirely if they didn't like the parent company.

For most companies, these statistics are incredibly important: They signal a sea change in what consumers care about. In the future, it will become ever more difficult to be a successful company without paying attention to social responsibility. There are exceptions -- ask most people if they'd ditch their iPhone as a result of poor labor practices, and they'll admit that they won't.  Even so, Apple is making strides with its environmental and labor policies. This is a trend that can't be ignored.

(Source: Fast Company, 04/04/13)