Baby Boomers Vs. Millennials: May the Best Generation Win

We all like an underdog. Psychology studies prove that rooting for the team, or person, that beats the odds is more appealing than the obvious winner (Heflick, 2010). Don’t believe me? Allow me humor you with one name, Rudy. Now if you haven’t seen or heard of the movie that depicts the life of Daniel “Rudy” Reuttiger, then you’re missing out on a classic, I mean seriously! Now if you’re wondering what the movie Rudy, Rocky, or The Blind Side have to do
with marketing to baby boomers vs millennials, let me explain.

In recent years all the talk, or tweeting, amongst marketing professionals has been focused on millennials. Most of the buzz provides insightful tips on how and why to market to this group, leaving the baby boomers in their dust. Let’s face it they are the largest generation size and the most socially influential group (Spenner, 2014). Not only that, they wield $1.3 trillion in annual buying power, cha-ching (Patel, 2015). We also know that this group is connected by the digital world. In the US 85% of millennials own a smartphone, they are interested in experiences and the authentic truth behind a brand, and they consider themselves to be the misunderstood yet deserving generation (Patel, 2015; Spenner, 2014). So why wouldn’t brands put their money towards marketing to this digital and social powerhouse generation? They appear to be the safe and obvious bet for companies.

Now, let’s take a look at the other contender consumer, the baby boomer. What you might not known is that this underdog generation is actually very active in the social digital space, there are also a lot of them (76.4 million), and oh, they have money (Olenski, 2015). The B boomers (kinda a millennial nickname for them) are an affluent bunch, and Forbes recently highlighted a Nielsen report that stated, “they account for $230 billion in sales of consumer packaged goods, and make up 70% of the nations disposable income” (Olenski, 2015). Therefore, marketers are doing themselves an injustice by focusing all of their marketing campaigns on the millennials.

As a marketing professional, you are faced with the decision to focus your efforts on either the dominant and new millennials or the loyal and seasoned baby boomers. Who would you put your money with? Before you jump to any conclusions on how to boost your bottom line, consider this curve ball. These two generations are not that different.

Shocked, distraught, or relieved – regardless it’s true. These two generations are both social and their buying decisions are persuaded by this environment. The baby boomers are still the underdog when it comes to winning over marketing attention, but both generations have these three things in common:

1. They both research and make purchasing decision online
2. They are both regular users of social media #himom
3. They both are interested in product value

(Granderson, 2014)

What this means is there is actually no underdog (sorry). Perhaps it’s not a win-lose, David vs Goliath situation. All this baby boomer vs millenials talk should be more focused on emergent strategies in order to capitalize on both of these consumer groups. The baby boomers are adjusting and changing their consumer habits, and just like Rudy, they could still make the winning play. What’s best is to keep them both in play as the main targeted group and segment marketing campaigns as needed.

References:
Heflick, N. A. (2010, June 27). The Appeal of the Underdog. Psychology Today. Received from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions/201006/the-appeal-the-underdog

Patel, S. (2015, May 18). 3 Essential Tips for Marketing to Millennials. Entrepreneur. Retrieved from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246199

Spenner, P. (2014, April 16). Inside the Millennial Mind: The Do’s & Don’s of Marketing to this Powerful Generation. Forbes. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickspenner/2014/04/16/inside-the-millennial-mind-the-dos-donts-of-marketing-to-this-powerful-generation-3/

Olenski, S. (2015, June 5). 7 Reasons Why Marketing To Baby Boomers Is Unique. Forbes. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/06/05/7-reasons-why-marketing-to-baby-boomers-is-unique/

Granderson, D. (2014, February 13). Baby Boomers and Millennials: Two Sides of the Same Consumer Coin. Market Research [blog]. Retrieved from: http://blog.marketresearch.com/baby-boomers-and-millennials-two-sides-of-the-same-consumer-coin