MARKETING TO BABY BOOMERS

Marketing and business people throughout the world have found Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers to be informative, professionally helpful and paradigm shifting. And we would appreciate hearing from you. Please email Brent Green with your comments or questions. Put "MLEBB" in the subject line so your message doesn't get lost in the spam.

BOOMER BLOG

Book Reviews

Choice magazine weighs in ...

Author's Note: CHOICE? I have to admit that before my book received the following review, I had not heard of CHOICE. The subtitle is Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, a periodical that is both prestigious and has greatly buttressed library book sales. This unexpected review is certainly my choice.

“Green, a marketing communications consultant, provides straightforward coverage of the frontline Baby Boomer segment, emphasizing practical applications and relevant products and services as this niche target group moves toward a senior lifestyle. Green combines current research with opinion to create interesting future projections regarding the Boomer generation and society. Those involved in marketing to tomorrow's seniors will find the work profitable and worthwhile. Summing Up: Recommended.”

Writer's Digest magazine weighs in ...

“This is an interesting, smart and important book, and the writer capably crafts a compelling, informative text that engages the reader. This writer is very skilled and exercises a capacity for tight, focused writing, often employing very vivid descriptions and clever phrases to illustrate key ideas and principles presented in the text. Overall, the book is very well-done, and the author should be commended for this accomplishment.”

“The Baby Boom generation is characterized by its clear dominance of the popular culture of yuppie consumerism. Now members of that influential generation are entering their fifties with more disposable income than any previous generation. This new and expanded second edition of Marketing To Leading-Edge Baby Boomers: Perceptions, Principles, Practices, Predictions by marketing creative director, strategist, and copywriter Brent Green covers all of the insights and strategies necessary to successfully sell products and services to this now aging population. Readers will come to understand critical 'bipolar metavalues' that influence Boomer buying decisions; learn how to select the right advertising media to achieve marketing goals; realize why and how mature audiences receive advertising messages differently; create advertising and marketing programs that transform a brand into a Boomer favorite; receive instruction on how to plan and organize 'bandwagon' Boomer events and promotions; explore the opportunities for reaching Boomers through the Internet; and so much more. If you are marketing a product or service to the Baby Boom generation, then you need to give a careful and reflective reading to what Brent Green has to say about selling to the Boomers in today's highly competitive and frequently volatile marketplace.”

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR COPY

Please email Brent Green with your comments or questions.
Put "MLEBB" in the subject line so your message doesn't get
lost in the spam.

“Using a practical approach with plenty of actual marketing and advertising campaigns as examples, Brent Green is able to capture what it means to market to a generation not ready to 'go gentle into that good night.'

“In 36 concise chapters, Green deftly illustrates a merger between the 'forever young' and 'one foot in the grave' mentalities of previous, and unsuccessful, campaigns to correctly target this generation. He also offers several beneficial warnings to marketers about the potential pitfalls they may encounter. So, if you're marketing to the more than 30% of Americans who'll be over 50 by 2010, this is an essential read.”

“Business books can be great reads, even if the subject matter is not applicable to your career or business. It is often just interesting seeing how a particular industry works or why a particular company or executive is successful. In "Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers" author Brent Green has a new book that goes beyond executives, companies, and industries, and tackles an entire generation.

“At a time that Boomer demographics are requiring that companies rethink their core markets, for example insurance companies repositioning themselves from companies that protect people from dying too young to companies that protect people from living too long ("longevity risk"), the book couldn't be more topical.

“For companies, such as LifeTwo, for whom understanding the Baby Boomer market is paramount, this book is an outstanding guide. But that will represent a smaller market for this book than the much greater number of people who are simply interested in understanding why things are the way they are.

“In addition to covering the past and present, the book outlines predictions for the world we will be inhabiting 20 years from now, which many readers will find the most interesting and probably serves as the basis for a follow-up book. Like death and taxes, the march of time is inescapable.”

“Brent Green covers all of the insights and strategies necessary to successfully sell products and services to this now aging population. If you are marketing a product or service to the Baby Boom generation, then you need to give a careful and reflective reading to what Brent Green has to say about selling to the Boomers in today's highly competitive and frequently volatile marketplace.”

“Mr. Green has written an interesting book that covers everything from demographic trends to specific strategies to reach Baby Boomers. Started as a intensely personal outpouring of ideas back when the author was a college student at the time of the Kent State Massacre (May 5, 1970) it has morphed into this second edition to include chapters on How To Create, Organize, and Manage a Baby Boomer Promotion; Targeting Boomers on the Internet, Rock Anthems that Resonate, Interactive Digital, and Metaphorical Considerations. He not only touches on each subject, he explains in detail and offers examples that allow the reader to grasp the concepts easily, pointing out the problem of Baby Boomer’s resistance to obvious sales manipulation attempts and special copywriting issues, but Mr. Green superbly summarizes solutions (oops, alliteration is to be avoided according to the author) that will inspire advertising professionals to unlock the potentials of new media interactive technologies.

“The author makes a solid argument that one enduring truth about marketing to the Baby Boomer is their abiding anger motivates their decision making. To summarize: marketers that refocus their advertising with product arrays and services that mitigate this anger will enjoy increased market share.” 

“Baby Boomers have been the most sought after demographic segment since marketers realized how much of the money pie they represented. Accustomed to being courted by industry, recently the Boomers have become dismayed that their aging is perceived as an invalidation of their importance to the business world. The author has done a superlative job of research to demonstrate the changing agendas and values of the Baby Boomers, as they have grown up and older. His message is: They do not represent the typical stereotypes of an aging population. Many are looking at early retirement as an opportunity to grow and develop further and to have a major impact on society. They should not be discounted as a major force in the consumer arena, as they have been all their lives. The rules have changed over time, and the author explains and defines them with an erudite voice. The bottom line is: don't count them out. They still remain a major bloc of society and intend to stay actively engaged in it for years yet to come. Any marketer who disregards this fact will be missing the boat.”

Bob Spear

Publisher and Chief Reviewer

Heartland Reviews

“Brent Green has penned a fascinating and trenchant tome explaining the how's and why's and more importantly the how not to's of marketing and advertising to us wobbly Peter Pans.

“Brent grasps the young/old boomer dichotomy. If you market to boomers and just play the 'forever young' card, you're in big trouble. Likewise, if you treat us only as people getting old, you've lost us again. Brent's practical approach, by using examples of actual marketing and advertising campaigns, explains to marketers what works and what doesn't. He coaches advertisers how to fuse concepts that on the surface appear to be mutually exclusive.

“Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers also considers what we might be like when we really do get old. Brent and yours truly share the same prediction. With time on our hands, we may very well become ornery activists - or at the very least a vibrant bunch of crotchety troublemakers.

 “So watch out.”

Chuck Nyren

Baby Boomer marketing expert and author of Advertising to Baby Boomers. Chuck is one of the funniest, smartest writers out there. You'll enjoy a tour of his Web site!

“Marketing executives, both young and experienced, make too many mistakes when trying to reach Baby Boomers. Brent Green shows you how to get their attention and make them reach for their wallets.”

Mark S. A. Smith

Coauthor, Guerrilla Selling book series

“I think the book shows great promise. It's written with a lively spirit, is highly readable, and very timely.”

Jim Barnes

Managing Editor

Independent Publisher Online

“Baby Boomers are defined in this book by new physical technologies, new economic realities, new social priorities... and mainly, new energy for youthful lifestyles, meaning this generation won’t sink into the rocking chair just because the calendar says it should. 

“As Brent Green incisively observes, this means not only a huge ongoing generational marketplace, but one unbound by the inflexible, stultifying habits of its parents.  Baby Boomers want to know about everything from exotic destinations to societal justice, not R7V dumps and cemetery plots.  Marketers who read this book will tap this underdeveloped market.  Those who don’t will miss out.  

“Altogether, a fine, thoughtful, innovative, incisive book.”

Greg Dobbs

Producer / Host: HDTV special programming
Host, Colorado State of Mind, Rocky Mountain PBS, Denver
Co-founder and Executive Editor, BoomerCafι.com

“Brent Green knows a thing or three about marketing to Baby Boomers, and he proves it in his masterful and easily readable book. It gives invaluable insights into reaching this huge, affluent, and undervalued market.  If you don't know what he has to tell you, there's a yawning void in your marketing education.”

Jay Conrad Levinson

Be sure to visit Jay's fabulous Web site.

“Great book!  First, it opens your eyes to the vast wealth locked up within the often-overlooked Boomer market. Then the author gives you the keys to the vault so you can turn their money into yours in the most efficient way.”  

Robert C. Hacker

Founder, The Hacker Group, Inc. (now the direct marketing subsidiary of FCB Worldwide, LLC)

CEO of Arcanum Ltd.

“Marketing to Leading-edge Baby Boomers shows rare and creative insights into the needs and desires of that population segment. Those who wish to market their products and services to this group must be keenly aware of Boomers' perceptions in order to successfully achieve business objectives.

“This book is a lollipop with lots of fizz inside for all of us who have had enough of taste-bud-boring business books. It is must-reading not only for those in marketing but also as a historical text on the evolution of the Baby Boomers in the U.S.”

Mark Crooks, Ph.D.

Author, "Achieving Wellness through Positive Risk Taking"

“Marketing to Leading-edge Baby Boomers articulates what many have believed for some time, and it does so in a coherent, linear fashion, which I greatly appreciate.

“I have always known that Boomers suffer from image lag, but until I read the multi-layered premise Brent Green advances, my sense of the thing never quite jelled.”

Jean-Jacques de Mesterton

Denver, Colorado

“Brent Green has done a terrific job of defining the needs and aspirations of the 'tip of the arrow.'  Many new insights ... beautifully expressed. The superior writing really differentiates this book.”

John Zweig

One of the world's largest communications services groups, including such firms as Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, Y & R Advertising, J. Walter Thompson, Hill & Knowlton, etc.

“If you are a baby boomer and/or marketing to baby boomers, you will find this book intriguing and enlightening. It is a marketing book, a social commentary book, and a literary book all in one.

“My advice is to read chapters one and two first to get an excellent overview of generational designations, and a concise description of the baby boomer demographics and history. Then move to the Afterwords at the end of the book - "Baby Boomers at Midlife", "Becoming digital...a Boomer's trip," "Net space meets headspace," and "Baby Boomers, 2028." These are quick, delightful reads, and they give you an entertaining and literary feel for the subject matter and for the author's outstanding writing ability.

“Once you've digested those portions, go back to the beginning of the book and dig into each chapter. You'll find a wealth of factual information, historical perspectives, and future implications for boomers and those marketing to boomers. It's a fascinating, sometimes unsettling read, especially if you are a baby boomer yourself.

“The author, Brent Green, has written a well-researched, insightful and original book about marketing to the baby boomer generation. I haven't seen anything else like it out there. I highly recommend it.”

Dawn Lehman

Author and national trainer in communications

“As the words 'aging boomer' rise in frequency in marketing venues, like feathered scavengers circling a fallen animal in the bush, countless boomer 'experts' appear out of nowhere offering clients 'the' answer to cashing in big on so-called boomer markets. Most of what most of these 'experts' dish out to whomsoever will listen is bunk. However, Brent Green's 'Marketing to Leading Edge Boomers,' is solid.

“It approaches the task of explaining where boomers -- especially leading edge boomers who have always been the most activist segment of the boomer cohort -- are in their worldviews, values, needs and behavior as they move ahead on their journey through the second half of their lives. While Green's book is not a 'how to' recipe book for embarking on that new or next campaign targeting boomers, it is better than that. The formulaic approaches that most readers of marketing books hope to glean from their readings just don't hack it in older boomer markets.

“The greater degree of individuation, introspectiveness and autonomy that typically emerges in the second half of makes knowledge of the traits of boomers' behavior in the second half of their lives -- which Green delivers on -- more useful that absolutist prescriptions for what to do that characterize most books in the marketing genre.”

David B. Wolfe

www.agelessmarketing.com

“This book achieves a dual purpose that I found extremely gratifying. It helped me understand the leading edge baby boomers in a way that I never have before. It also gave me insights about specific ways to market my services to this group.

“I've read many books that give general marketing ideas, but none that goes right to the heart of this unique group of men and women and offers information that I can use to reach them.

“As a bonus, the book is enjoyable to read and offers unexpected and interesting insights about the world around us.

“From beginning to end we feel the care and humanity of the author and know that marketing means more to him than selling product. It means meeting people where they live and engaging them in such a way that they leave the encounter feeling they were deeply nourished. It means working together with people to make a better world.

“This is an exceptional and unusual book which I highly recommend for your consideration. After reading it, I couldn't wait to put many of Brent's insights into practice.”

www.menalive.com

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