Generation Ageless
Generation Ageless summarizes a vast amount of data Yankelovich, Inc., has collected on the values of the Baby Boomer generation (1946-1964). As you know, this is the generation that has shaped American culture since at least the 1960s and that will continue to shape it for the next 30 to 40 years. The book provides insight into the shifting values of this generation as it enters its 60s, the ways it has changed society in the past, and the ways it will change society in the future. Interestingly, it also spends several pages in the introduction noting that Baby Boomers have been more often followers than innovators and comparing Baby Boomers to the succeeding Generation X (1965-1978).
Written especially to be of use to marketers, this book points out numerous ways corporations should position themselves with relation to Baby Boomers to get a cut of their formidable spending capacity. Baby Boomers have always redefined the rules to their own advantage, and this is not going to stop, Generation Ageless argues, as they enter what was in previous generations “retirement age.”
The key value Yankelovich, Inc. identifies in Baby Boomers gives the book its name: Generation Ageless. Baby Boomers reject the term “old age” and consider themselves to be middle-aged. The median response providing the age at which Baby Boomers believed old age began was 79.5 — an interesting statistic, given that the average life span in the U.S. is 76.1. This suggests that “it is literally true that Baby Boomers think they will die before they get old” (p. 35). Baby Boomers want to look good, stay healthy, and live forever, all of which has significance for numerous industries in the exercise, diet, fashion, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, medical, and related fields — yet relatively few are taking the steps they should to cash in on this trend.
Still driven by a preoccupation with self rather than community, Baby Boomers will force changes in policies regarding retirement ages, health care, and Social Security and challenge stereotypes about the aging process and retirement activities. They will continue to pursue an interest in reinventing themselves and remaining youthfully vital and energetic and, as they age, are turning more attention to asserting their values and sense of righteousness on the nation.
This latter issue, however, is made more complex by the fact that the Baby Boomer generation, while sharing many common traits, is not at all homogenous. Yankelovich, Inc., identifies six categories of Baby Boomers: Straight Arrows, Due Diligents, Maximizers, Sideliners, Diss/Contenteds and Re-Activists, all with slightly different demographics and agendas for the future.
This is an interesting, nuanced, and data-driven analysis of what the future might hold given Baby Boomer values and actions. In some cases it provides several scenarios — for example, most Baby Boomers argue that they have no plan to retire at 65, and the book examines what that means for Social Security and the job market (good news), but it also points out that there may be a difference between stated intentions and real-world actions, especially if downsizing or health problems begin to take aging Baby Boomers out of the work force.
All of this has great significance for many industries in the U.S. and in other nations (for example, medical tourism is predicted to become an ever-larger business as Baby Boomers age), and Generation Ageless provides numerous “Marketing Thought-Starter” sidebars pointing out how the data presented in a chapter could be used by manufacturers, service industries, and advertising to attract the Baby Boomer market.
Because I’m interested in financial and lifestyle simplicity, I find the Baby Boomer generation fascinating — from its hedonism and activism in the ’60s and ’70s to its corporate greed in the ’80s and ’90s to its new interest in social responsibility and sustainability in the ’00s, this generation has shaped my world. I’m only a few years away from it, one of the leading-age Gen Xers, so in many ways I share Baby Boomer values and experiences — and yet always with that Gen X edge of cynicism and awareness of the absurd. This book gave me a well-researched glimpse into my parents’ generation and a preview of what will happen to mind in the future, as it is swept along in the slipstream of the Baby Boomer machine.
Generation Ageless is worth picking up. It doesn’t matter what generation you belong to — Mature, Baby Boomer, Gen X, or Echo Boomer — you’re going to be affected by the Baby Boomers one way or the other, and if you own or want to own a business, are looking for marketing trends for future investment opportunities, or just want to know what might be coming in the next few decades, this is a must-read.
drupagliassotti @ March 5, 2008