Baby Boomer Insights

The Volunteering Report of America shows Boomers like to give back

I've written here before about the fact that Boomers are big on "giving back" to their communities but a new study, just released days ago, shows just how much. The Volunteering Report of America provides details on volunteerism in all 50 states and in 163 cities.

According to the press release, brought to my attention by Megan Griffin, this new report is the most comprehensive ever assembled on the subject of volunteerism in America.

Some highlights Megan shared with me that I think you'll find particularly interesting:

> Between 2005 and 2007, an average of 31.2 percent of Boomers volunteered each year, giving an average of 52 hours per volunteer per year.

> The Midwest was the biggest beneficiary of Boomer volunteerism. Some 36.9 percent  of Boomers there volunteer.

> Volunteer retention is always an issue and this study shows that Boomers want to engage in activities that that tap their professional or managerial skills (almost 75 percent indicated that would entice them to continue to volunteer). What they don't want is to be relegated to general labor or supply transportation (give them those tasks and you'll retain only 55.6 percent).

Boomers will double the number of volunteers in America over the next few decades, but to take advantage of their generous spirit and willingness to get involved, organizations will need to think carefully about how to recruit and retain them.

One way to do that is to consider how your volunteer opportunities offer Boomers a chance to stretch a little. The Volunteering Report of America showed, for instance, that the phenomenon of "voluntourism" continues to attract Americans, including Boomers. This is certainly in line with the study my company, Edelman, and our marketing arm, Strategy One, conducted last year. We learned Boomers are looking for volunteer activities that let them also contribute to opportunities like saving the environment and giving back to victims of natural disasters... and they want to do all of this with their grandchildren. So it wasn't surprising to learn that in addition to an increase in Boomer volunteerism, we're seeing Gen Y get aboard the volunteerism train as well.

But pay attention: organizations that don't have a strategy for recruiting and retaining volunteers, especially Boomers, will suffer. After all, between 2006 and 2007, more than a third of Americans dropped out of the volunteer ranks.

Want to know how your state - and perhaps even your city - stack up? Check out this section of the Volunteering In America web site to learn how the study was done and where volunteerism stands in your neighborhood.

Boomers and Gen Y: when it comes to shopping, their habits tend to be exact opposites

In just a couple of weeks, my youngest daughter Sydney, who is about to turn 19, is moving into her first apartment as she enters her sophomore year at Georgia College and State University. In the process of shopping for this new place, I discovered that we have exact opposite online habits.

Sydney goes online and checks out everything from Ikea to Target to Wal-Mart and even small boutique shops. She already has a good idea of how she wants to decorate her bedroom and bath in particular, so to her the hunt is about finding what she has in her head, then going to the store to buy it. Some things she's willing to buy online, but mostly she sees the Internet as a huge catalog that helps her save gas by showing her exactly what's where. Then, there's the hybrid. Some items she ordered online but requested they be shipped to the store for pickup.

I'm the opposite. While I like to use the Internet too, I find a lot of value in just going to the stores and getting ideas by walking around, looking at suggested designs (which Ikea excels at showcasing). Then, when I see what I like, I want to find it cheaper online and order it. Often, of course, I actually order from the online site of the store I visited, but if price is a key driver, I'll focus on the best deal. And I want it to come to me - either at my office or home. I don't fetch.

Well, I just learned that my method is actually becoming the standard for Boomers. A recent study by the US Annenberg Center for the Digital future revealed that two-thirds of consumers between 50 and 60 prefer to research items inside a store, but buy online. And over half of consumers 70+ followed this pattern.

So what's the lesson for retailers? First, understand the importance of providing multiple channels for doing business with you.  No matter the age, people expect your online store to be  a rich resource, easy to navigate and easy  to make a secure purchase.

Given the expected uptick in the number of 50+ users on the internet, also take into account the wisdom of using a larger typefont and lots of images.

But don't stop there: make sure your sales people literally think outside the box they're standing in and suggest that customers also check out your store's web site too.

Warning! Retire too soon and you may outlive your savings!

If you're planning to retire, yet still maintain your current lifestyle, you may want to rethink that strategy, based on the results of a new study released this week. According to Ernst & Young, Boomers need to get a better grip on reality. Few will be able to live in retirement like they do today without depleting their savings completely.

You can read the details of the study here from Sunday's Washington Post. Here's the net, net: longer life spans plus poor saving habits plus the lack of a robust employee pension plan equals potential disaster. According to this study, commissioned by Americans for Secure Retirement, the average middle-class Boomer now retiring will have to cut back on his/her standard of living by 24 percent. Boomers who plan to retire in seven years should plan a 37 percent cutback in spending.

Several potential solutions are offered (none of which work alone). But the most intriguing to me is the notion that Congress can help fix the problem. The ASR coalition recommends that Boomers buy annuities (essentially, an investment made now that provides you with an income beyond Social Security in retirement). To stimulate this strategy, they want Congress to pass legislation that would make annuities easier to obtain and reduce the tax burden at payout time. ASR suggests taxes be eliminated completely on 50 percent of the annuity payout, up to $20,000 per year. (BTW, many ASR members are insurance companies that sell annuities.)

I personally think annuities are a great option and Lord knows I'm all for reducing my tax liability at every turn, but it seems to me this solution won't affect enough Boomers for it to make a significant dent. After all, the "mass affluent" - Boomers who have $100k+ to invest - make up only 30 percent of the Boomer population. Some 67 percent have less than $100k to invest, according to Forrester. So while a legislative solution on the surface seems to be a good one, I'm suggesting it's only a piece of the puzzle and shouldn't be viewed as, "That's the ticket!"

For instance, what the study doesn't take into account is that a majority of Boomers don't intend to retire at the standard retirement age of 62; instead, they plan to work several more years, perhaps by re-careering completely or by working part-time. I don't know about you, but I don't have a single retired friend who hasn't cut back on his/her lifestyle or standard of living once they retired. Moreover, most prepared for their retirement by gradually cutting back their lifestyles.

Here's what marketers need to take away from this: Boomers first and foremost want control. So if you have a financial service or product to offer them, especially in their pre-retirement and retirement years, you need to be able to show them how it will help them gain control over their destinies.

Don't try scare tactics such as "You're in danger of outliving your savings!" It turns them off. Instead, evoke a positive emotion and response by guiding them to a proactive solution. Leave the OMG-style headlines to the guys who are trying to sell more newspapers. 

Rendering authenticity in boomer marketing

Today at the JWTBoom Livewire: A Summit, I had the great privilege to hear Joseph Pine, author of Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want (2007). He's an energetic speaker who, well,  oozes authenticity.

He offered this definition of authenticity: "conformance to self image." In other words, something is authentic if we see it, interact with it, and can see ourselves as a part of it. He noted that when we encounter something we consider authentic, we respond by saying "I LIKE that." Shortly, we switch to "I like that" (with the emphasis on I.) So there's no such thing as a brand declaring itself as authentic; rather, that's a designation a brand earns because it is awarded by consumers.

Pine said there are three rules to do business by:

If you ARE authentic, you don't have to say you're authentic.
If you SAY you're authentic, you better BE authentic.
It's easier to BE authentic if you don't say you're authentic.

He asked audience members to name brands they connected to because they believed the brands were authentic. Some of the answers: REI, Target, LL Bean, Harley Davidson, Lexus, Ben and Jerry's, Nike, Cheerios, North Face and Birkenstock.

Pine then shared the five genres of authenticity:

Natural -  such as organic food
Original - Apple isn't always the first with an idea, but their design is always original
Exceptional - Ritz Carlton's customer service. They track all your preferences and cater to you.
Referential - taps into shared memories. The Venetian Hotel in Vegas.
Influential - exerts influence: example given was Starbucks telling stories of how it helps farmers

BTW, I especially liked one story he told about the Ritz Carlton. He said that when the Ritz in Naples, FL, switched from door knobs to a plastic card key system, they contacted their regular customers and offered to give them one of the original door knobs in exchange for their going online and sharing a story about their Ritz Carlton experience. What a clever idea!

Pine also shared a quadrant drawing called "Rendering Authenticity." On one axis It showed brands that are what they say they are and those that are not what they say they are... on another axis were brands that are NOT true to themselves and those that ARE true to themselves. This results in four flavors: Real/Fake; Real/Real; Fake/Fake; and Fake/Real.

His point was that it is possible for a brand to move from Fake/Fake to authentic by acknowledging their position and taking corrective action. Best comment: "Fake is what we call something we don't like. If we like it but it's not real, we call it Faux."

There was a lot of discussion around the need for brands to offer experiences to consumers so they can decide for themselves how authentic the brand is.His best examples included the American Girl stores, where the average visit is four hours long and people pay just to experience the brand (and that's before they spend a dime on products). He offered up ING as a brand that offers an especially unique experience: baristas who are also financial planners. Even if it's gimmicky, there's no denying the tactic works. The baristas have been instrumental in getting over $200 million moved into ING accounts in the first year!

He noted The Gap is an example of a company that has great advertising but has failed to translate that into experiences in their stores that make people want to come back over and over.

The overarching point of his entire presentation was that authenticity is what all brands should try to achieve. It's not  always easy, but it is possible. And when your brand achieves it, you'll have a distinct competitive advantage.

JWTBoom Livewire conference offers marketers insights into boomers' online habits

Forget what you think you know about Boomers and their online activities. That's just one headline of the day.

I am in San Francisco at the invitation of JWTBoom, sponsor of the JWTBoom Livewire: A Summit. Today's summit was full of one great presentation after another. In fact, there was so much content, I'm going to write multiple entries, rather than try to summarize it all here.

Sharon Whiteley, CEO of ThirdAge, kicked off the morning with a sneak peak at some research that's so new, it just came out of the oven and was surrounded by steam. Seriously, she emphasized that the final data cuts weren't even complete, but it was already obvious some interesting trends were emerging, so she shared them with those of us at the media breakfast. By the way, ThirdAge teamed up with JWTBoom to conduct the research, which involved surveying 1,800 respondents, Here's the topline:

What's in: work-of-mouth sharing; experts and credible authorities; trusted brands; product research and online shopping; e-mail; broadband; privacy; health and wellness information.

What's out: social networking; blogs; podcasts; downloading and listening to music; group gaming,

She argues that what we hear and read about boomers embracing social networking and blogs is mostly hype. The survey showed that boomers use more traditional tools such as e-mail to keep in touch with friends, where they share everything from photos to life experiences. So while we boomers often have MySpace and Facebook accounts, it's not our preferred way to communicate. She also noted that boomers aren't at all turning away from blogs and podcasts, btw. It's just that they don't use that kind of language. When asked if they're interested in reading and hearing the opinions and insights of people like them, they indicated they were very interested. So the lesson for us all is that language is important when dealing with boomers.

Boomers embrace online marketing - selectively: they're open to marketing messages online but first they must trust the brand (so those that have been around a long time offline definitely have an advantage). The survey showed that 75% of respondents that have received promotional emails about products and services clicked through to the site being promoted. More than 55% have purchased a product or service promoted.

Not surprisingly, boomers most trust the content of web sites of brands they already trust offline. Some 83% said the content had to be attributed to experts, authorities or authoirities with subject matter crediblity.And when boomers do trust your brand, they're as likely, if not more so, than younger people to share product news with their friends. So, keep in mind the importance of using consumer product reviews on your site!

One thing we see confirmed in many studies also came out here: boomers are a powerful bunch. Today, the 78 million boomers control 83% of consumer spendng, And boomer spending will increase $800 billion to over $4.6 trillion by 2015.

Stay tuned for more information from this study. Meanwhile, visit the recently revamped ThirdAge web site. It's great!  

How the economy is impacting boomers

Years ago, I used to laugh at my father-in-law, who could tell you on any given day exactly how much gas cost and where you could buy it the cheapest. He'd drive 10 miles out of his way to save two cents a gallon. At the time, gas was well below $2 and I didn't see why someone who was rather well-to-do would bother to be inconvenienced to save less than $1.50. Now I get it.

Even though he retired very comfortably, he had grown up poor and never forgot his roots. Just because he had money that day didn't mean he'd always have it.

Today, I find myself following his lead, only - thanks to the Internet - I don't have to drive around looking for cheaper gas. I can go to www.gasbuddy.com or www.gaspricewatch.com. Better still, I can find out right on my cell phone where to find the cheapest gas. Just go to www.getmobio.com/learn/cheapgas and, like magic, a satellite picks up where you are and can tell you what stations are near you offering what prices. Now, it has become a point of pride to find a way to keep an extra five to eight bucks a month from greedy oil and gas providers. It's no longer about affordability for me. It's more about taking control.

My husband recently told me that when he was in middle and high school,  his brother, who is almost 12 years older, lived several states away. On Sunday, after church, Ralph and his parents would drive to Ralph SR's office to make the weekly call to his brother. Ralph was a high level executive and free long distance personal calls were an executive perk. It was a big deal because phone calls were far more expensive than gas. It was cheaper to drive 10 miles to the office to make a call than to make the call from home. Who'd have guessed then that the exact opposite would be true today? Gas is expensive and phone calls are cheap.

Today, the Ralph JRs of the world - we Boomers - have to make decisions everyday that are increasingly impacting the economy. According to a recent study by AARP, more than a quarter of Boomers are having trouble paying their mortgages and a third have stopped contributing to their retirement plans. Another 27 percent plan to postpone retirement.

If the economy continues its downward spiral, you'll see Boomers postpone major purchases and cut back on travel. So it is no longer a given that marketers can count on Boomers to continue to indulge themselves and spend freely. Marketers will have to work harder to get our attention and loyalty. But if you do, you're golden, because we'll tell everyone we know... and we know a lot of people!

Boomers as entrepreneurs: we'll rule the future of business

On Friday, I got the opportunity to speak at one of my all-time favorite conferences, the annual meeting of the Women Presidents' Organization. The impressive group is made up of women entrepreneurs around the U.S. and Canada who run companies that collectively generate $8.3 billion in annual revenue. These aren't hobbyists - they're serious, smart business executives who really know their stuff. To the person, everyone I met was very impressive  and inquisitive.

The theme of the conference was innovation and my presentation was about how to generate great ideas that drive innovation. I argued that the best ideas often come from process and explained the seven steps Edelman uses to arrive at some of the ideas behind our best campaigns. (We call it the Pioneer Thinking Roadmap and it is a very thorough, facilitated process that works regardless of the size of the company.)

Attendees also heard from one of my all-time favorite authors and big thinkers, Malcolm Gladwell, who introduced the world to the concept of the tipping point.

One thing I especially enjoyed about this particular conference is that most of the women are boomers who are very enthusiastic about their companies and very willing to share their best practices with one another. I learned, btw, that 68% of WPO members do business with one another.

Maybe part of the kinship I felt was driven by the fact that my own company, Edelman, is a privately-held boomer-led company. Sure, we have our share of Gen Y and Gen X, as all agencies do, but for the most part, the senior management is made up of boomers who have extensive experience in business and a thirst for independence and creativity. Even the folks who run our digital practice are boomers, a fact that surprises those who assume only the "kids" understand or care about the digital revolution.

Boomers play a very important role in  business growth and will continue to do so for the next couple of decades. Already, 50-year-olds make up a quarter of the workforce and a full 40 percent of the self-employed. Look for this trend to grow in the coming years as boomers retire from Corporate America to start their own businesses. Perhaps you've heard it said we don't retire, we rewire.

So what are the implications of this rewiring? It is significant and includes, among other things:

> Companies with a large boomer employee population need to have strategies in place  to tap into this brain trust in a way that ensures skills transfers before the "brain drain" occurs;

> Companies that service small and medium businesses need to understand that these businesses will increasingly be run by smart, experienced boomers who will be demanding, creative and very inquisitive. They'll want to do business with people they believe are as smart as they are.

Perhaps the most important insight of all is that no one in any generation should assume retirement looks a certain way or that boomers are eager to abandon the corporate workforce just to travel and watch the grandchildren. We're just as likely to start travel companies that specialize in multi-generational travel!

In other words, what I witnessed at WPO is a glimpse into the future, one that includes independent thinkers who will run the economic engine and be very choosy about where they buy their fuel. Are you ready for them?

How wealthy consumers use social networks online: marketers should pay attention to their specific requests

Recently, I've noticed a huge uptick in the number of sites that let you "opt out" of having your information shared with others. In other words, you have to specifically tell the wizard behind the curtain that s/he CANNOT share your information; otherwise, you've totally lost control over who sees your data and acts on it. Your life is for sale.

Well, listen up, marketers. If you're targeting wealthy consumers, just know that according to a recent WealthSurvey by the Luxury Institute, 65% of wealthy consumers hate having to opt out. What's more, they'll disconnect from a site they believe will use their personal data without their permission.

No big deal, right? It's not like wealthy people (and boomers make up a large portion of this group) hang out in social networks.

Wait! Not so fast! It turns out that these wealthy Americans (those with an average income of $287k and an average net worth of $2.1 million) have membership in 2.8 social networks with an average of 110 connections. That means we've seen a huge increase in the number of wealthy consumers using social networks  -- from 27% in 2007 to 60% in 2008. Moreover, the number of wealthy consumers 55+ using social networks has grown five-fold to 49%.

I've seen evidence of this firsthand. The number of people in these categories who have reached out to me via this blog or through LinkedIn (the second most popular social networking site for the weathy, behind MySpace) has grown tremendously just in the past six months. I'm often pleasantly surprised to learn who's online and wanting to connect.

It seems almost counterintuitive that "rich" people would be online. Someone asked me recently, "Don't they have people who do that for them?" I replied, "Sometimes. But often they have 'their people' doing other things, which frees them up to spend more time online."

Whatever their motivation, marketers need to keep in mind that reaching wealthy consumers isn't all about exclusive events, parties and fancy direct mail. Check out the Luxury Institute site, by the way, to learn even more about the expectations of the wealthy.

Here's the bottom line: you can no longer assume you know how boomers and especially wealthy ones, think and act. That's why my company spends so much effort helping companies identify their Bull's-eye Boomer (tm). After all, why spend a fortune just to hit the outside rings when there's plenty of data now to help hit the bull's-eye every time?

Boomers are an active bunch, despite what the entertainment industry, the mainstream media and advertisers seem to think

Boomers are frustrated.  We don't like the way the entertainment industry, the mainstream media and much of today's advertising portray us.

That's what Edelman and Stratey One learned recently in our Boomer Insights and Implications Study. Some 91% of self-defined Boomers feel the entertainment industry is trying to appeal to a younger age group. A full 72% of us feel the mainstream news media are trying to appeal to a younger age group and over half - 54% - are frustrated by advertising the misrepresents our generation.

This really hit me between the eyes just this week. You see, I accidentally ruptured a tendon just running up some stairs and have been wearing a walking cast for several days. Despite the inconvenience, I've continued my normal schedule and, in fact, crossed the country, schlepping through airports and hotel lobbies. Along the way, several people asked me if I fell. Only one person asked, "Did you do that snow skiing?" The age range of the folks observing the likelihood that I fell was all over the place.

The point is, we're conditioned to assume that the older one is, the more likely it is they were injured doing something besides a sport or other vigorous activity. And no wonder. Boomers are too often portrayed as a sedentary bunch who aren't particularly vital and adventurous.

Take paddlesports as an example. Most of the time, when you see a picture in marketing collateral or ads about a paddlesport, you see some hot buff guy or gal showing off their love of adventure and risk. They're usually doing something really extreme, like jumping off a waterfall or throwing themselves in their awesome canoes and kayaks off a whitewater cliff.

But guess who actually buys paddlesports equipment? Boomers. That's what my friends at Quietwater Films and Rutabaga Paddlesports tell me.  It's the Boomers who will spend the money to buy the right equipment, look for instructors and approach the sport with intelligence and a desire to do it right. They seek the adventure and enjoyment of "quietwater" paddling. So while there are actually MORE people interested in - and paying for - a quietwater experience, the ads and media attention usually lean toward the whipper-snappers riding rapids.

That's why I love what Darren Bush (a Boomer) and Jeff Bach (almost a Boomer) are doing. I read all about it in a Wisconsin newspaper.  They aim their marketing efforts at paddlesports enthusiasts who want to learn more about how to enjoy the sports as solo paddlers or in tandem. They educate people about how to enjoy canoes and kayaks and such in ways that encourage physical fitness, interacting with nature and even being adventurous.  In other words, they're advocating for folks like us (Boomers) who want to enjoy sports, just not always the way extremists do.

One way they teach is through video, producing what they call "inspructions," intended to both inspire and instruct people to give paddlesports a try. What a smart approach. That's what it takes to harness the vitality and enthusiasm of Boomers. First, assume we're still vital enough to try a sport; and 2) invite us to participate fully, then get out of the way.

Edelman reveals results of Boomer study: Bull's-Eye Boomers rule!

My company, Edelman, will announce tomorrow that it has created a new consultancy called Boomer Insights Generation Group to specialize in communications marketing strategies to reach and activate Boomers. This is probably the most exciting thing that I've been involved with in my 30 years in PR.

We'll be helping companies understand how to build relationsips with self-identified Bomers, whom we call Bull's Eye Boomers (tm). More than one person has asked me "How hard can that be? After all, we already know who the Boomers are - they were all born between 1946 and 1964."

That, my friends, is the the crux of the problem. Too many companies market to Boomers as though we're defined by our age. Yet, one of the key findings of the Strategy One/Edelman Boomer Insights & Implications Study is that a full 28% of Boomers don't see themselves as Boomers as all. Can you imagine spending millions of dollars marketing a car to people who have committed to walk everywhere they go? And yet that's what companies do every day when they crank up their marketing and advertising campaigns and aim them at this massive group called "Boomers."

The Strategy One/Edelman Boomer Insights & Implications Study, which was conducted in July, 2007, included 1,320 adults ages 43-64. Here are some of the highlights you'll be hearing more about over the coming weeks:

> 72% of self-defined Boomers feel mainstream news and media try to appeal to a younger age group.

> 81% of women and 65% of men believe the government has the greatest responsibility to provide affordable medications to adults age 65 and older.

> Women said lack of money was the greatest challenge they faced when trying to maintain or improve overall health and wellness, with 45% of women and 40% of men citing stress as the second greatest challenge or barrier.

> 29% of surveyed women vs 19% of men say they are primarily loyal to one brand. Only 25% of Boomers of both genders is loyal to one brand.

So, as you can see, despite the fact that Boomers are 78 million strong and represent 24% of the U.S. population, they certainly don't always think and act alike. Moreover, brand promoters who don't understand who their Bull's Eye Boomer is stand to waste a lot of money and influence.

Over the past several weeks as we have sliced and diced the research, I've found myself in constant amazement at how often my fellow Boomers have nodded agreement when I mentioned specific findings to them. The conversation almost always turns to a "you won't believe what I got from such-and-such a company," followed by a tale that ended with "What were they thinking?"

Too often "they're" not thinking - marketers who have always targeted generations are going to be left in the dust if they don't quickly shift gears and start aiming toward the bull's eye!