Targeting Baby Boomers for your UpMarket Brand

If you were to describe an audience with words like experience, experimentation, reinvention, renewal, spiritual, fulfillment, and wellness, more than a few marketers would trip over each other to get at them. It sounds like a great target for almost any upmarket brand. But you need to do more than pander to this group to engage them. They have a heightened awareness of how they are being marketed to, so you need to understand them.

Consider that the youngest boomer is 40, while the oldest is just turning 60. Some of the most fit, hip or active people in the world are boomers (people like Goldie Hawn, Mick Jagger and Kenneth Cole). It’s not unusual to see a grey-haired couple dust a few young ones on their way up a mountain, down a stretch of single track, or under the ropes to make fresh tracks. However, for this group, “extreme” was cool 15 years ago. Now it’s just not that relevant. In fact, it’s counterproductive and demonstrates to boomers a complete lack of understanding.

Enlightened companies are figuring this out. Ski areas are hiring older instructors. Equipment manufacturers are making sports easier to enjoy. Clothing brands are making their designs and cuts more suitable for the boomer audience. The people creating advertising for these brands need to be more sensitive to boomer needs and sensibilities if they want to engage them.