Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers
Author: Brent Green
List Price: $16.95
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ISBN: 0595264093
Publisher: Writers Advantage (January, 2003)
Sales Rank: 39,494
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Boomers shared values predict profound consequences
Green develops an interesting approach to cohort marketing by presenting the sociology of the boomer generation. His initial thesis rests on an important observation by a German social psychologist called a "zeitgeist." As Green posits in a stimulating essay near the end of the book: "When a middle-aged individual struggles with aging, it is called an identity crisis. When a generation struggles with the same fact of life, it is called a zeitgeist-a shared feeling for an era, a spirit of the times." Green argues that the leading-edge boomers shared an extraordinary zeitgeist when they became young adults due to the galvanizing influences of the Vietnam War era and the cultural revolution. As a result of this unique passage into adulthood, they share many unique generational life-values. Now that they have become middle-aged adults, boomers are sharing another zeitgeist that will not only change the way they behave in a consumer society, this shared experience of aging by such a large and influential generation will eventually change America's conception of aging ... hopefully for the better. In this context, Green's book also poses a warning about generational discrimination and ageism, a combined concept he calls "genism." The book is crisp but intellectually powerful and raises many interesting ideas that connect social psychology with buying behavior. This book truly stands apart for its insights and how the writer expresses these ideas in clear, easy-to-read prose.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Practical approach to more successful boomer marketing
An insightful and intellectually thought-provoking book, and the most helpful marketing book I've read in a while. The author's articulate, yet succinct approach gives the reader a clear understanding of the growing opportunity that awaits those who effectively communicate with the Leading-edge Baby Boomer segment. Most importantly, the strategic marketing framework plus Green's colorful, real life examples and psychological perspective, provide readers with a solid, concise grasp the cohort. This is a practical guide that I will re-read and reference to help my healthcare company get better results and more dollars from a lucrative segment.
Rating: 5 out of 5
A marketing book by someone with a marketing track record
Some new marketing books "catch the wave" and achieve overnight bestseller status, especially those that promise instant success: permission marketing, viral marketing, emotional marketing, and on and on. Green's book does not give pat formulas or suggest easy answers; it reveals insights and proposes strategies. The book is full of anecdotes and case studies from his successful career in marketing. That's a plus. It's refreshing to read a marketing book by someone who has actually been a practitioner and has a track record. Too many marketing books are also way too theoretical or academic. The author admits his own activism during the Vietnam War era and couples the lessons of that time with decades of experience as an advertising executive. He provokes new thinking about social issues often taken for granted (at least by me until I read the book). The book made me aware of what some marketers are doing well and what a larger group is doing wrong when it comes to baby boomer advertising. Green shares interesting insights about boomer history, debunks some myths that crop up in conservative media, and calls for a better conception of aging. If the author is so inclined, however, it would be helpful to see a second edition with more "how-to" information. Similar Products
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