Having just finished a bit of work-related travel, I find myself going through various stories I have saved from the past month or so. When you compare cultural notes side-by-side, over time, the process can reveal a fascinating, conflicted picture of American life.
For example, a story in the New York Times early last month paints an image of seniors facing tough financial times; especially those living in rural areas. The article shared examples of self-denial and seniors “just getting by” on the most meager of supplies, as a matter of financial necessity. For many older folks, one might conclude, a nest egg either never existed or it shrank in the turmoil of the stock market over the past few years.
Same newspaper, different day: Here’s an article about people who are growing older and engaging in more extreme activities than ever, published by the NY Times earlier this month. From wing-walking on bi-planes to mountain climbing… it seems that experiential vacations are bigger than ever for the boomer generation and beyond.
Somewhere in-between, there is that group of "new age seniors" that are preparing for their next job... retiring from the career they've always had to have (for economic reasons), to take the kind of job they've always wanted to have (for reasons of personal satisfaction and self-actualization... and maybe to supplement their retirement income a bit). A website called Encore.org illustrates how more people might be retiring from a primary career... but that doesn't mean they are retiring from life!
Implications: The two NY Times articles paint a picture of extremes, and an economic (if not cultural) divide that separates the haves from the have-nots, even when you limit the sample group to senior citizens, specifically.
How dangerous it is, in an environment like this, to suggest that, “Nobody is spending,” or, “People have cut way back.” Within just this pair of stories, one sees a collection of people that are definitely hurting, having been hit by a perfect storm of living on a fixed and falling income, whose nest egg was not helped by the ups and downs of the stock market, and whose remaining savings yield the small return of historic low interest rates. But in contrast, there are seniors who are spending to fly, try and experience things their parents would never have dreamed of; people who are enjoying not just a longer life expectancy, but the expectation of a better life, longer. And if I might be so bold: People who are growing older, but who refuse to grow up.
Marketing to traditional, ambiguous targets like, “Persons 35+,” or, “Adults 25-54” is done to a company’s peril. It’s more important than ever to study the target consumer in specific, granular terms; go beyond their age, income and education levels to study the lifestyle, predispositions, household composition, and aspirations of your target consumer.
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