How Boomers have shaped 40 years of political conventions

Today marks 111 days until the 2008 Democratic National Convention.  It may be the most significant meeting of the donkey party since the Chicago convention in 1968. Obviously, it is historic because the two frontrunners are a white woman and a black man. But it's also noteworthy because of the role Boomers played - and continue to play - in shaping elections.

In 1968, as "leading Boomers" were exiting college, the Convention was interrupted by protesters, who used the occasion to loudly register their belief that racism threatened the very democratic process and that the United States' involvement in Vietnam was immoral and wrong in every way. 

They organized sit-ins,  love-ins and protests around the country primarily by word-of-mouth. You might say they created the original social networks.  And their hair and clothing styles, symbols and lifestyles were how they expressed their support of an attitude as much as how they were defined as a generation.

These Boomers believed they could change the world - and they did in many ways.   Thanks in large part to the Boomers of '68, the 2008 Convention will be the realization of a dream - a gathering in which either a white woman or a black man will get the nomination as the Democratic candidate.

But along the way, Boomers have changed too - and that's something a lot of marketers fail to realize. The very ones who carried picket signs, used recreational drugs and rocked out to the Beatles grew up.  Many now look back on those times as  a snapshot in time, rather than what defined them for the rest of their lives.

In fact, according to the Boomer Insights Study conducted by Strategy One and Edelman in 2007, almost a third of Boomers don't even identify themselves as Boomers, in part because they associate the Boomer generation with the folks who eschewed wealth and resented the establishment. But that was before they became the most affluent generation ever, running the most successful companies on the planet.

That doesn't make Boomers hypocrits. It simply means we've discovered other ways to affect change and we've used our education, brainpower and energy to  develop the technology that has made it possible for a white woman and a black man to be truly heard. Blogs, cell phones, web sites, and sophisticated Internet strategies are the electronic version of sit-ins, picket signs, petitions and protests. Tear gas doesn't hold a candle to a Boomer with a computer and an Internet connection!

So, what does this mean to you? If you want to reach Boomers, understand first of all that we aren't a large tribe that thinks and acts alike. On the contrary, we're all about choice and individualism and we expect to be approached with respect for our experience and intelligence.

What definitely hasn't changed since 1968 is that we still want to make a difference in the world and will use whatever means are available and necessary to be heard!