Big-Spending Boomers

[RonBoyd]

We need to watch our pocketbooks even more diligently -- the "Marketers" have discovered us.

Big-spending Boomers bend rules of marketing

The traditional thinking among marketers is that older folks spend less, have little interest in new products and have brand preferences set in stone. But across the USA, the 77 million members of the Baby Boom generation — folks born from 1946 through 1964 — are turning that conventional marketing wisdom on its head.

"Most marketing that targets Boomers presumes there's something wrong with them that needs fixing," such as age spots, wrinkles or erectile dysfunction, Thornhill says. "It's malady-based. For the most part, it's not accurate."

On the silly side, however, is the "What Generation Are You" quiz. I couldn't find an affinity with any of the questions and, therefore, it guessed that I was born ten years before I actually was.

 

[donheff]

Hum, the quiz pegged me at 1948 which is on the money.

 

[Danmar]

Interesting. I find recently that the marketing pitches are less and less believable. I always think that if the thing actually worked it would transform society and the inventors would be well known billionaires. Since this is never true- I know the thing doesn't work. Examples: weight loss gimmicks, metal bracelets that promise a better life, investment schemes, magic cremes, fuel additives, and the list could go on. This kind of thing has made me pretty cynical over the years. Not a good trait.

 

[RonBoyd]

Hum, the quiz pegged me at 1948 which is on the money.

Okay. I wasn't paying attention as a teenager... not much has changed.

 

[ziggy29]

The marketing pitches I see aimed at boomers are usually designed to feed into their perceived generational uneasiness about getting old.

 

[walkinwood]

I struggled through the quiz since I wasn't born or raised here, but I think I guessed correctly! It missed my age by just one year!

The "techie" marketing pulls my strings the most!

 

[REWahoo]

It nailed it for me. Interesting.

 

[ziggy29]

"It looks like you were born around 1965."

Nailed it...

 

[HFWR]

It guessed 1956; missed it by that much...

YouTube - The Byrds - My Back Pages

 

[Alan]

I struggled somewhat with the quiz, particularly sports personalities and toys. (I grew up in England).

However, it put me at 1956 which is only a year later than I was actually born.

 

[W2R]

It said I was born in 1936 instead of my true birth year, 1948. I am sure that is due to my atypical childhood experiences; the quiz is probably very good.

 

[Moemg]

It was correct for me. Thanks for a fun quiz !

 

[ERD50]

Hum, the quiz pegged me at 1948 which is on the money.

1948 for me too, but I was born 6 years later.

With more questions, I think the granularity could be very good, and I think it works pretty well considering it's just a few questions.

They should probably be clear about 'remembering' - I'd assume they mean 'remember it happening in real time', not just 'remembering hearing about it'. Maybe they do say that and I missed it, but I played it as the first.

? Plaid skirts and knee socks? That kinda looked like the English 'mod' look to me (early British Invasion years - 62~65?. Or was it later? I was post-poodle-skirt, and pre-disco shoes in my teens, so nothing else fit. I don't really recall actually seeing that style here in the more conservative Midwest, but I do blame the mini-skirt in general for my poor grades in high school.

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

I struggled somewhat with the quiz, particularly sports personalities and toys. (I grew up in England).

However, it put me at 1956 which is only a year later than I was actually born.

I'm, right in your range, and I am sports agnostic, so I thought that would trip me up. Wasn't Cassius Clay world known, even to sports agnostics? That was who I clicked, I'm pretty sure the others were earlier/later than that. But my Dad was a boxing fan, so I might have picked up a bit by osmosis. I could see an English boy not getting Sandy Koufax, or Mickey Mantle, but Cassius Clay?

A middle-eastern friend of mine (maybe 10 years younger than me) told me that he knew of him growing up. But I guess nobody uses 'Mohamed' as a first name, so they always thought he changed his name to "Ali Mohamed". Which sounded strange to my ears.

-ERD50

 

[Onward]

The quiz got my exact birth year. I'm impressed.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

Interesting. I find recently that the marketing pitches are less and less believable. I always think that if the thing actually worked it would transform society and the inventors would be well known billionaires. Since this is never true- I know the thing doesn't work. Examples: weight loss gimmicks, metal bracelets that promise a better life, investment schemes, magic cremes, fuel additives, and the list could go on. This kind of thing has made me pretty cynical over the years. Not a good trait.

Actually, that's a very good trait to have. It keeps you from believing what appears to be true, as opposed what is actually true. Being cynical is a trait held by the wealthy (in particular, those who want to stay that way) because someone is always after your money. People who are trying to sell you something shouldn't be offended by questions about their products or services.

 

[Nords]

It thought 1964 instead of 1960, but it's pretty close for just six questions.

I needed subtitles. Most of those photos elicited a "WTF are these people?!?" response, especially sports & movies.

I guess they couldn't depend on enduring hits, either. When I was a teen the big illicit thrill (hey, this was 1970s Pittsburgh) was watching Saturday Night Live. You couldn't watch it at home and you had to be back home by midnight so you had to be out babysitting. But "watching SNL" covers a pretty big generational swath, just like The Simpsons.

 

[REWahoo]

I needed subtitles. Most of those photos elicited a "WTF are these people?!?" response, especially sports & movies.

Uh, if you mouse over them a pop-up will tell you who/what the are...

 

[aida2003]

I became curious about the quiz too though I'm an immigrant. So, it made me 3 years older than I am 1972

 

[REWahoo]

DW took the quiz and it missed by 8 years - the wrong way.

I'm going to find something to do out in the garage for a while...

 

[Nords]

Uh, if you mouse over them a pop-up will tell you who/what the are...

Oh.

Boy, the metatext has a noticeable lag to it. I must've been too twitchy to give it a chance.

Turns out I just don't know sports. I changed Steve Young (Who? Oh yeah. I think.) to Bo Jackson... which is probably still wrong if I looked up their careers. But I was pretty sure it wasn't Knute Rockne.

1963. One year closer.

Maybe your spouse was a really really early reader, and her memories have been skewed by all those newspapers & history books she used to go through.

 

[GregLee]

The test thought I was born in 1930 -- actually, it was 1942. Not very close.

 

[rescueme]

1950 computed vs. 1948 actual.

I'm sure the difference was due to my selection in movies. Since I did not attend any movies till I was out (on my own) at age 19, the only one's I did see were those that were on the TV, several years later.

(Don't ask - I had a strange childhood-teenage years)...

 

[powerplay]

The quiz was three years off for me.

 

[sailor]

Quiz put me as 22 years older than I am. Now I finally have a justification for being a grumpy old man