Originally published on 12/14/2018
While this has been argued before, it bears repeating. According to economic trends, today’s older consumers command much greater buying power compared to current and previous generations.
Boomers alone represent 70% of the total net worth in America and account for 40% of total consumer demand. It is time for the media metrics to keep pace with economic realities.
Media Ecologist Jack Myers believes that it is vital for the industry to come together and change the traditional age-demo breaks. “We need to recognize the economic and societal evolutions that have occurred since the 1960s and embrace a new set of demo standards,” he stated.
He proposes the following breaks:
- Teens/Tweens (11-17)
- Gen-Z (18-24)
- Millennials (25-45)
- Gen X/Y (45-62)
- Boomers (63-75)
- A new combination for sales targeting purposes (45-72)
Changing Business as Usual
Older consumers in 2018 are very different from older consumers in 1960. In 1960, if you were 55+ you could have experienced a Depression and two World Wars in your formative spending years.
There were also much fewer brands and the major forms of communication were newspaper and radio.
Today’s older audiences grew up in a time of relative luxury and peace; the grand expansion of media communication and advancements in healthcare has extended not only longevity but also quality of life. How today’s older adults live and spend are worlds apart from their grandparents and parents.