Posts tagged ‘First half of life’
Call us old-fashioned, but at Chapter Two we have a fondness for the printed word. And when a book excites us, we tell people about it. In coming blogs look for our book recommendations on a wide range of subjects: aging, marketing, neuroscience, branding, behavioral economics, and more. We hope you’ll share your comments and pass along recommendations of your own. Read and enjoy.
“The Mature Mind,” by Gene D. Cohen (2005)
This book reverses, and sets right, the notion that old age equals cognitive degeneration. The most remarkable nugget is that older people’s brains create new neurons every time they form a new neural network. In this small treasure, Cohen easily refutes several thousand years of thinking.
“The View From 80,” by Malcolm Cowley (1976)
This short book started as a Life magazine article and is one of the first to describe what it means to be in “the country of age.” “Nobody,” Cowley correctly states, “knows the country until he has lived in it.”
“The Ageless Spirit,” edited by Connie Goldman (1992)
This book is a series of interviews with some well-spoken elders (from Steve Allen to Stanley Kunitz), who do a very good job of explaining the transcendent feelings of old age. Connie Goldman, longtime NPR commentator and a keen listener, does the interviews.
“How We Die,” by Sherwin B. Nuland (1993)
This is a beautiful book about perspective, what your perspective is based on, and how it is changed by life and experience. In this case, a dying brother.
“When I Am An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple,” by Jenny Joseph (1997)
What was once a shout of defiance, this short poem (voted England’s favorite poem) has become a statement of how life should be lived when you’re older. This poem gave life to that wonderful group of older women known as “The Red Hat Ladies.”
“Tuesdays With Morrie,” by Mitch Albom (2002)
An aging teacher and a young sportswriter get together every Tuesday to create a thoroughly ageless conversation. Their differences disappear quickly, and their common values become a bridge between two generations.
“King Lear,” by William Shakespeare
A brilliantly understated contrast between young, (“who loses and who wins; who’s in, who’s out”) and old (taking upon “the mastery of things”). We’ve all been Cordelia and some day, hopefully, we all will be Lear.
“Old Age,” by Helen M. Luke (1987)
Some people grow into old age and some people just fall into it. This elegant little book is for people who like to give the subject a lot of thought (from Shakespeare to Jung).
“The Spectator Bird,” by Wallace Stegner (1976)
What does it mean to be in your sixties? What does it mean to be the outsider? To feel your self-esteem diminishing? To know that society has the “drilling capacity” to look straight at you and never see you? Meet Joe Allston, a retired literary agent who is dragged from his perch as a spectator bird and tries to create a sense of belonging for himself.
“How Starbucks Saved My Life,” by Michael Gates Gill (2007)
A Madison Avenue executive gets booted off the avenue just as he is entering the second half of life. His life changes, his work changes, his values change — and he grows into the kind of man that gives old age a good name. Lovely book.
November 19, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Call us old-fashioned, but at Chapter Two we have a fondness for the printed word. And when a book excites us, we tell people about it. In coming blogs look for our book recommendations on a wide range of subjects: aging, marketing, neuroscience, branding, behavioral economics, and more. We hope you’ll share your comments and pass along recommendations of your own. Read and enjoy.
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November 17, 2009 at 12:37 am
The boomers are turning their considerable attention to dying. And since they do everything on a big scale, this must be significant. So, what are they discovering, or reinventing, about this ancient custom?
Well, just when many of the leading-edge boomers were moving quietly into the second half of life (having graduated from the first half and all its ego-driven interests), they’re surprised to see themselves back in the news.
Headlines tell us that “1,000 a day” are dying. And while this ratio is not out of line with the boomers’ population, it is a big number (and big numbers are really the essence of the boomer saga). What is mildly interesting, though, is the way in which they’re dying. Apparently, only 24% have died of natural causes – which leaves the other 76% of boomers with a lot of explaining to do.
One explanation making the rounds is that one out of every two drug overdoses is a boomer (even though boomers are only 26% of the population). And while that may be a good headline, the actual number of boomers deaths in this category is about 15,000. Sad, certainly, but hardly an epidemic.
Another popular explanation is the motorcycle theory: As boomers age, they return to riding motorcycles and, because they’re old (read: slower reactions), they crash and die more. Well, since a motorcyclist has a 37% greater chance of an accident, and because boomers constitute two-thirds of all riders, you can understand why they are most of the fatalities. Still, the highways aren’t exactly littered with these fallen road warriors.
So why has all this imminent death brought the boomers back into the spotlight? Well, let’s look at this from a different perspective — from that of a funeral director’s. Suddenly, the boomers are a big business again.
Largely because of better nutrition and better medicine, the funeral industry has seen its business shrink to 8.1 deaths per 1,000 Americans. That amounts to an $11 billion dollar enterprise, but projections have the boomers raising the bar to almost 11 deaths per 1,000 in the next few years.
One thing you have to concede about the boomers: whatever they do and however they do it, they’re always good for business.
Mike Baumayr, Chapter Two Communications
Mature marketing expertise from one of America’s “oldest” authorities on boomers, retirement, aging, longevity, and inter-generational marketing.
November 5, 2009 at 10:07 pm
“Left-brain-style thinking used to be the driver and right-brain-style thinking the passenger. Now [right brain] thinking is suddenly grabbing the wheel…stepping on the gas.”
— Daniel H. Pink, “A Whole New Mind”
Until we reach our mid-forties, we are following the advice and guidance of our brain’s left hemisphere. And while no one (excepting those with autism) really thinks with just one hemisphere, one side nevertheless dominates. Since most of our marketing models were designed by, and intended for, a youthful market, the system has been extremely effective for half a century. Left brains talking to left brains. Young people in advertising talking to young people on the streets.
Sometime in our forties, our maturing brains are slowly pulled to the right. Suddenly, but not overnight, we are no longer receptive to messages and ideas that are no longer compatible with our new way of thinking. And while they don’t bother us, they certainly don’t seem very relevant either.
Since 1989, when older Americans first started to outnumber younger Americans, this problem has only gotten bigger. And, not surprisingly, we can trace the decline of advertising effectiveness to around that date.
We could list the differences between the two hemispheres for several pages, but for simplicity’s sake we’ll focus on just five.
Youthful, left-brain thinking is:
Logical
Reason-based
Objective
Verbal
Time-sensitive
Older, right-brain thinking is:
Intuitive
Emotional
Subjective
Visual
Time-insensitive
To say the least, these are two very different ways of looking at life, not to mention marketing. They represent different attitudes, different values, different ways of speaking and different ways of listening. It all comes down to how we process the information of life, not what the information is. Which is one of the reasons why so much marketing seems so irrelevant to older consumers: If you don’t understand their needs, there’s no reason for them to try and understand your product.
Mike Baumayr, Chapter Two Communications
Mature marketing expertise from one of America’s “oldest” authorities on boomers, retirement, aging, longevity, and inter-generational marketing.
November 3, 2009 at 8:07 pm
“The concept of an average American is gone, probably forever.”
— Peter Francese, American Demograhics (AdAge.com/America2010)
As the typical American family, with its 2.4 children, continues to erode away, now is a good time to ask what will replace it in the future.
While the 2010 Census is likely to tell us that there will no longer be a typical American, there will be a very clear shift over the next decade that will have little to do with married versus single versus gay (married couples with children, the former “average Americans,” now account for only 22% of households).
And while the Census will break down the numbers of the various family types (married, married with children, single, single parent, blended family, multigenerational family, multiple families, kids moving back home, you name it), one thing is certain: the older we get as a country, the harder we are to define. What’s more, the “average American” is a thing of the past.
Mike Baumayr, Chapter Two Communications
Mature marketing expertise from one of America’s “oldest” authorities on boomers, retirement, aging, longevity, and inter-generational marketing.
November 3, 2009 at 7:22 pm
If you’re old enough to remember Stanford University’s brilliant segmentation study, Values & Lifestyles (known as V.A.L.S.), then you remember a vast group of middle class people named “belongers.” They represented about two-thirds of the country, shared largely the same values, drove American cars and, to marketers, were the “average Americans.”
These were the people that historian J.K. Galbraith called “The Vital Center” — the people who stayed the course, stayed in the middle of the road (while others veered off to the left or right).
Today they form less than 20 percent of the population. And they’re all over the road, with very little allegiance to their own demographic group.
What does it mean? It means that there is currently no demographic minority that represents more than a small piece of our national psyche (we can see this more clearly in politics where we saw the nation vote Republican in 2000 and 2004, but by 2008 only about 25% of us declared as Republicans).
America has never been more unpredictable, making it a tough time to be a marketer. Then again, we can’t think of a better time to start studying the unique “values and lifestyles” of older consumers.
Mike Baumayr, Chapter Two Communications
Mature marketing expertise from one of America’s “oldest” authorities on boomers, retirement, aging, longevity, and inter-generational marketing.
November 3, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Anyone who has read a newspaper can tell you that there are about 80 million boomers (b. 1946-1964) in America. Not to mention a new one coming online every 8 seconds or so. Beyond their size, though (big enough to choke Social Security), they’re not a particularly interesting group.
As a demographic, they make no sense. Anyone who has seen Laura Bush (b. 1946) and Michelle Obama (b. 1964) in the same room can tell you that this demo is way too big. Ask any boomer born in 1964 about Woodstock and they’ll tell you, rightly, that they were 5 years old.
This group has different values, different reference points, different politics, different heroes, different everything. Just ask any demographer why the “Woodstock Generation” consistently votes Republican. (Ah, the myth of The Sixties.)
Marketers should also take note of what the Danish Aging Research Center at the University of Southern Denmark has proposed. They suggest that as people live longer, we should split old age into two distinct stages – creating four groups.
Child
Adult
Young old age
Old old age
As we’ve seen, if you’re marketing to the boomers and their total lack of homogeneity, this makes complete sense. And if you’re one of these boomers born in 1964 you also know that it’s about time.
Mike Baumayr, Chapter Two Communications
Mature marketing expertise from one of America’s “oldest” authorities on boomers, retirement, aging, longevity, and inter-generational marketing.
November 3, 2009 at 6:29 pm
“I have discovered that one of the most important characteristics of most economic trends is that they are too slow in their motion to be visible to humans. Humans do not get out of the way of that which they cannot see moving.”
— R. Buckminster Fuller
American advertising was not designed for the mature market; rather, it was a model, and a brilliant one at that, based on the youth-dominated culture of the country.
Today, our economy has shifted: there are now more Americans over the age of 40 than under it. By a wide margin. And the values of these older Americans are directly opposed to the values of youth. So how do you target both groups effectively?
Chances are, you don’t. We continue to follow our marketing model, based on these youthful values, and hope that older customers will get the message (which they don’t).
Economically, this is an odd decision because this group has quite a lot to like. For instance, older customers:
…are the nation’s largest cohort.
…control almost 70% of U.S. wealth.
…hold up to 80% of U.S. savings.
…hold over 60% of all stock market dollars.
…outspend younger ones by almost a trillion dollars.
…are 24% of the population, but 55% of all discretionary spending.
Now compare those statistics with these marketing truths:
No major U.S. advertising agency currently has a mature market division.
No major agency currently writes media plans for anyone over 54 years old.
U.S. advertising agencies, combined, allocate approximately 5% of their spending against this demographic.
So who, exactly, are we targeting? And who, exactly, are we ignoring?
Mike Baumayr, Chapter Two Communications
Mature marketing expertise from one of America’s “oldest” authorities on boomers, retirement, aging, longevity, and inter-generational marketing.
November 3, 2009 at 5:53 pm
There are two kinds of trends that every marketer needs to watch. There is the overnight sensation, like Twitter, that demand your attention and force you to play catch-up. Then there are the Really Big Ones, like global warming, which change everything but are so big, and move so slowly, that long-range vision is demanded.
In the next ten years, the biggest shift in marketing will be the movement to the mature market (which shouldn’t be confused with the sudden uprising in “boomer marketing”), for 40+ customers. This is more than theory, by the way, it is numerically factual. Since 1989, this cohort has grown to be over 50% larger than the youth market. And just as youth and its values rightfully dominated our marketing culture for the past 50 years, older people and older values are now the majority (and in America, majority wins).
So welcome to the 21st century, everyone. It’s an exciting time to be alive. An exciting time to be getting older. And, if you’re a younger marketer, that rare opportunity for some old dogs to teach us all a few new tricks.
Mike Baumayr, Chapter Two Communications
Mature marketing expertise from one of America’s “oldest” authorities on boomers, retirement, aging, longevity, and inter-generational marketing.
November 3, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Long before the boomers began to weigh in on the importance of the boomers, life had pretty well established the fact that there were four basic seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. And each of these seasons has its own unique set of psychological values.
Life, in other words, has turned out to be bigger than the boomers. In fact, life as we know it hasn’t even been remotely affected by this group; nor have the rumors of extended longevity in the 21st century (one recent study predicted that half of the American babies born in 2007 would live to the age of 104) changed the rules either.
Below is a shorthand version of The Four Seasons. Remembering the importance, and universality, of these seasons is vastly more important than all the boomer books ever written.
How we process the world around us during each season of life:
SPRING
Childhood to adulthood, ages 7 to 18+
Highly imitative
Unquestioning
Nuance insensitive
Black & white reality
The worldview of life in Spring is comedic (life is great).
SUMMER
Young adulthood, ages 16+ to 40+
Rules-based reality
Rationally imitative
Very questioning
Slight sensitivity to nuance
The worldview of Summer is romantic (just about everything is possible).
FALL
Middle adulthood, ages 38+ to 60+
Reality seen in shades of grey
Context is key
Selectively imitative
Strong sensitivity to nuance
Selective questioning
The worldview of Fall is tragic (not everything is possible).
WINTER
Late adulthood, age 58+
Rarely imitative
Sensitivity to nuance peaks
Everyone’s reality is different
Faith over questioning
The worldview of Winter is ironic (a time of reflection).
Marketing should reflect life as we know it. Unfortunately, when we look in the mirror, the first half of life and the second half of life have completely separate reflections. Just remember that both are changing constantly, but we all go through the same ones on our own time.
November 3, 2009 at 5:18 pm
“To be honest I really never have been nervous in the big leagues. This is what I wanted to do my whole life. This is what I take pride in. For me there is no reason to be nervous.”
Sound like a rookie to you? Actually, it’s the voice of maturity, and maturity has nothing to do with age. They are the words of Cliff Lee, 31, ace pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, as told to the Associated Press. He mowed down the New York Yankees in game one of the 2009 World Series with full command of his pitches and his mind. Further, he knew that behind him was a roster full of equally confident teammates, most of whom had shared in a World Series Championship a year earlier. He could throw with complete confidence and an utter lack of fear in the Yankees’ explosive lineup. While a less experienced hurler might have hurled his dinner before the game, Lee drew strength from a deep well of experience. That’s why he could say, without hubris, “Game time is the time to go out there and have fun and let your skills take over.”
In fact, a main storyline in the Series was the wealth of veterans (old guys, to some) in both the Yanks’ and Phils’ lineups. Guys who thrive under pressure. It’s ironic that the oldest among them, 39-year-old Mariano Rivera, was the most feared. Bases loaded or bases empty, he remains stoic, unflappable. The only emotion he gives you is an unnerving calmness. No wonder ball clubs rely on guys like Rivera to mentor and inspire younger players, to show them that sports aren’t only played between the chalk lines but between the ears.
Not that the youngsters will listen. Witness the countless stories of immature divas wreaking havoc on their teams, destroying chemistry, disrespecting the game. Younger players lack the perspective and context of an older player. They’ve got serious game, but also serious issues. So it’s up to their more experienced teammates to lead by example, show them how to play and how to act like men. In that way, sports are like life. At crunch time, we’d all want to be cool under fire like Cliff Lee. We’d love to have the ball in our hands at life’s biggest moments, to look pressure in the eye and say, “What, me worry?”
Jody Olson, Chapter Two Communications
Mature marketing expertise from one of America’s “oldest” authorities on boomers, retirement, aging, longevity, and inter-generational marketing.
October 31, 2009 at 2:32 am
- Old people love your kids (their grandchildren!) beyond reason. Young people have to take care of their kids.
- Old people know what they like and buy it. Young people talk it over with friends.
- Old people have more money to invest in worthy charities. Young people have to invest in themselves.
- Old people appreciate not working. Young people fear unemployment.
- Old people take care of each other. Young people take care of their families.
- Old people volunteer their time. Young people don’t have any time.
- Old people have 2/3 of the country’s wealth. Young people want to know how they did that.
- Old people let the government pay their medical bills. Young people pay for the old people, then pay for themselves.
- Old people go to school because they want to. Young people go because they have to.
- Old people don’t worry about a mid-life crisis. Young people have them to look forward to.
Mike Baumayr, Chapter Two Communications
Mature marketing expertise from one of America’s “oldest” authorities on boomers, retirement, aging, longevity, and inter-generational marketing.
October 22, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Older Posts
“The Mature Mind,” by Gene D. Cohen (2005)
“The View From 80,” by Malcolm Cowley (1976)
“The Ageless Spirit,” edited by Connie Goldman (1992)
“How We Die,” by Sherwin B. Nuland (1993)
“When I Am An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple,” by Jenny Joseph (1997)
“Tuesdays With Morrie,” by Mitch Albom (2002)
“King Lear,” by William Shakespeare
“Old Age,” by Helen M. Luke (1987)
“The Spectator Bird,” by Wallace Stegner (1976)
“How Starbucks Saved My Life,” by Michael Gates Gill (2007)
Jody Olson, Chapter Two Communications
Mature Marketing Expertise by Chapter Two 