BOOMER-ALITY

Does every demographic in your marketplace – public or private, external or internal – get the same amount of attention and respect?

Recent statistics caught us up:

  • ·       Boomers buy two times as much online as young adults
  • ·       They’ll control 70 percent of U.S. disposable income by 2017
  • ·       And those over 50 years old buy nearly five times as many new cars than the coveted 18 to 34-year demographic.

Yet why do many of us dye gray hairs, fib about our age, and delete graduation dates from resumes?  And why do so many advertisers and communicators ignore us or play down to us (cf. Beatrice of the eSurance spot)?

The unwritten, unspoken answer – and one we’ve intuited before:  America’s all about the youth culture, the supposed trend-setters.  They’re the courted ones (before age 49, that is), those who will influence for years to come. 

Sheer numbers, though, count.  Which is why AARP, Intel, and Walmart teamed up to offer a ready-to-go, 24/7 customer service-centered tablet, available this month.  Which is why the discipline of knowledge management, capturing workers’ wisdom and intelligence, is one of the hottest offerings from professional services firms.  Which is why an Oprah Winfrey and a Diane von Furstenberg still draw huge crowds, young and old, on the public circuit.

We won’t belabor the point, except to ask:  Are all your communications relevant to all your audiences? 

COMM-CENSUS

Waahh!

The cries you hear are coming from the Midwest, which, says the U.S. Census, is no longer the heartland.  Instead, metro areas increased by nearly 11 percent over the last 10 to 12 years, as did western and southern regions.

Some other numbers that count:

  • Latinos, along with a more concentrated Asian upswing, lead the people growth surge by major margins – like 65 percent in Texas, 55 percent in Florida, and, yes, nearly half the increase in Arizona and Nevada.  [That’s not so good for the GOP.]

 

  • City hoods have become more integrated, with the most prominent example being Atlanta.  [That’s great news for promoting the U.S. of A. as a true melting pot.]

Other drool-worthy stats for demographers and psychographers range from Detroit’s “credit negative” status (a 25 percent decline) to the year 2041, the so-called date for the “majority minority” switch in this country.  [Translation:  At that time, whites of European ancestry will make up less than 50 percent of the population.]

We could spend even more time pondering the population shifts and transitions.  What becomes crystal clear to us, in our professional roles as chief communicators and change mavens, are the implications to our work (not to mention the companies we work for). 

A few of our top-of-mind thoughts: 

  • Families and personal life take center stage, with policies and advertising and communications reflecting that focus.
  • Diversity gets real.   Nope, not a simple nod to mixing color and gender.  Rather, language and visuals and behaviors become keenly attuned to everyone’s needs and inclinations. 
  • Words and pictures matter.  Partnering with human resources experts, draw up different kinds of guides that segment and introduce messages and design and translations that will resonate with the various employee populations. 
  • Internal and social-media communities will form naturally, gravitating towards like-minded colleagues who share specific values, yet welcoming other more diverse individuals and teams.

Is this a vision, an evolution, or a brand-new world?