PressEthic

During last week’s class, Professor Penenberg said that advertisers focus on our (my classmates) generation more than any other age group. I found this article on the CBS News website that discusses the focus of advertisers on the 18 to 49 demographic.

From the article:

But, says [Jerry] Bowen, it's long been the reality for those who make and sell commercials, based on the belief that the 18 to 49 year old population, some 120 million Americans, is where the money is. Advertisers also believe younger viewers are more impressionable, more susceptible to advertising, and more willing than their parents to try new things.

"Advertisers want to reach a young audience early, and then hopefully lock them into brands. And hopefully hook them for life," remarks Kelly Kahl, CBS senior executive vice president for programming and operations.

I found Kahl’s statement rather interesting. I would argue that it is very hard to “hook them for life.” Some of us have – as one blog on this website expressed about Harry Potter books and Oprah’s book club – an aversion to trends. Once we deem that a product has become too popular or mainstream, we resist the temptation to continue our consumption of it. I have been wearing the same brand of sneakers for 5 years. I consider it a small triumph that my “Globes” have not become trendy. I wear them with the utmost pride – well, at least as much pride that you can have while wearing skater sneakers. As soon as “Globes” sell out – i.e. hit the mainstream market – I will run (yeah, like I run) for another brand of sneakers.

Others in our generation embrace the trends. But, once again, the hope of advertisers to “hook them for life” is seemingly pointless. The trends are random and short-lived. When one trend fades, another ten pop up. The options are so abundant that it is hard for any company to keep a customer for life.

From the article:

"You're either 18-to-49, or you're dead to most marketers," says Matt Thornhill, president of The Boomer Project, a marketing research and consulting firm in Richmond, Va. "You don't exist. Or if you exist at all, you exist to wear denture adhesive or to drive a Cadillac. And that's about it."

He says the assumption that the over-50 crowd has rigidly-set buying patterns that advertisers can't influence is a myth: "Boomers are, as a group, less brand-loyal than younger consumers. So there's plenty of opportunity for increased sales and increased business by continuing to target this segment. They are a long way from dying."

Still, notes Bowen, the 50-and-older crowd that accounts for fully half of all discretionary spending is the focus of just 10 percent of all advertising. And, if change is coming, it's coming very slowly.

Do not tell my grandfather about this. He is 72 and still goes to work everyday. I receive at least three jokes from him via email a day. He has a digital camera, an IPod, a projection TV, and numerous other little gadgets. He loves to spend his hard-earned money on this stuff and he is definitely savvier than I am when it comes to technology. I have no doubt that he is a better target for advertisers than half the people my age.