Of course we love the kids—every marketer loves the kids. And year after year, we send out message after message in desperate attempts to win the hearts and minds of those fickle young folk. Their tastes drive the culture; it’s totally understandable.
Except in a down economy. Considering just how much spending power lies in the wallets and purses of baby boomers, it seems kind of silly to fish anywhere else.
In a blog referencing this week’s Consumer Issue, Matt Carmichael of Advertising Age takes some time to analyze the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest consumer expenditure data to discern the actual purchasing habits of tweens, millenials, singles, affluents and every other silly label we slap on groups of people as a means to parse data.
Long story short: baby boomers spend the most on pretty much everything. From a consumer point of view, they are an overwhelming economic force whose spending towers over every other generation in every segment—in most segments, it’s double the spend of other generations.
So as much as you love the Arcade Fire, you might want to find your next commercial soundtrack in classic rock. Again.
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By Dennis Ryan, CCO, Element 79
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Yeah, I agree. Nice insight. But seriously, but that doesn’t mean the fish always has to be the intro to Led Zeppelin’s Rock-n-Roll.
And it goes without saying, no Michael McDonald.
End rant.
This is precisely what makes ad agencies’ haste to lay off anyone north of their fortieth birthday so puzzling.
I get it, older, more experienced talent is expensive. In an economy that offers precious little opportunity for organic growth, getting those larger salaries off the books is one way to help satisfy the bean counters of the corporate overlords who own many large agencies. Furthermore, being a veteran of one’s first mammogram or prostate exam doesn’t automatically make for more insightful advertising. However, I have to believe that one of the challenges that today’s larger agencies face is that the economy is asking them to drive nails and they already gave away all their hammers.