Baby Boomers Might be the Answer!

First off, let's see if you agree on this theory:

1. Internet users are usually in their teens or 20s
   
2. This is why there are so many online advertisements targeted at these age groups

Before I've read the article "4 Tips for Marketing to Baby Boomers Online", I believe in that exact theory. Actually, there's another reason (emphasized in my marketing text books) why a lot of the online advertisements are focused on these younger age groups, and that is because of their significant influence on their household consuming habits.

However, thinking back now, I've changed my mind. I don't agree with the above theory anymore.

First, let's look at the "influence" factor. Even though the younger generation has a significant influence, I have to wonder who actually makes the final decision of buying something or not. I have to argue it's their parents (most parents are in the Baby Boomers age group). And even when the parents are not the ones purchasing, they still have a strong influence on the younger generation's consuming habits. The parents gained this strong influence through how they teach and nurture their children throughout the years. Therefore, at least for consuming habits, the parents' influence on their children is definitely stronger than the children's influence on their parents.

Second, let's look at the age groups of internet users. A research done by eMarketer shows that the biggest group of internet users within the US is the Baby Boomers (born between 1946-1964), at 29.4% of all internet users. I think we can make a safe assumption that this percentage is similar in other countries as well. Lastly, the average income of the Baby Boomers is definitely higher than the average income of younger age groups due to both their seniority and their experience in the work force. It is actually a growing trend as 62% of households head by someone 50 or older had annual income of $75, 000 or more, which is a 5% growth from 2004.

The strong influence on households consuming habits, the above average household income, and being the largest group of internet users, Baby Boomers should definitely be the focus of e-marketing. Now that we've found such a prized market, how should we focus on them? There are four tips suggested by eMarketers. A three words summary of the four tips is to keep things simple.

The Baby Boomers have the power and the income to try out products, so if they are offered products they want on the internet, they will give these products a try. However, we have to understand that they use the internet as a tool to accomplish things, and they don't see it as a lifestyle (they have developed a lifestyle throughout the years, and it is not easy to alter). Therefore, they won't spend too much time online, which is why online advertisements targeted at them should be straight to the point and easy to access (especially since some are not as good at internet navigation). And at the end of the day, the product is the most important factor, because Baby Boomers are more likely than other groups to spread the word.

So let's start making the Baby Boomers happy, and stop their feeling of neglection (70+% of Baby Boomers said online advertising is focused on younger age groups).

UPDATE Mar 2nd, 2009: an interesting article with numbers proving Facebook and other social networking websites are aging fast. It also talks about their adjustments.

Source: http://rismedia.com/wp/2009-01-19/4-tips-for-marketing-to-baby-boomers-online/

Bad Publicity?

What will you feel like when you sign on to your Facebook one day, and you see this message "You've been sacrificed!".

I guess your reaction can be anyone of the following: WHAT?, HAHAHA, Why meeee?, I'll get you back!, etc.

The reason I asked that question is because of a recent promotion on Facebook. Let's briefly explain this promotion:

• An application is created on Facebook

• Facebook users who add this application can receive a coupon for a free Whopper from Burger King if they de-friend 10 people from their friends list

or


• The 10 people who unfortunately got de-friended will receive a message that says "You got sacrificed!" (I guess a link to the application is included in the message for viral marketing purposes)

• More than 200 000 people received this message after they were de-friended for a free Whopper

• After a while, Facebook disabled the notifications (people who get de-friended would not receive a message about it) component of the application due to the site's privacy policies (Facebook users shouldn't receive notifications from applications that they didn't add)
  

• Burger King ended the promotion

This is all created by a marketing and public relations firm, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, to generate publicity for Burger King. If publicity is the only goal for this campaign, I have to agree this application was a success as 200 000+ Facebook users received the message "You got sacrificed!" from the Burger King application. On top of that, thousands of others must have found out about this promotion somewhere. This might sound good so far, but I wonder if this actually helps Burger King at the end of the day, or even worse, does it hurt Burger King.

Would the message "You've got sacrificed!" make customers or potential customers want to drop by Burger King the next time they crave for fast food? Let's look at the positives and the negatives generated for Burger King from this promotion:

The positives: I personally think this promotion doesn't change Burger King's brand by a whole lot. At most, I see this as a small promotion that generated noise in the public and reminded people about the Whopper.

The negatives: The majority of the people will see this promotion as a joke and something to laugh at (this can either generate more business or the other way around, which totally depends on how people perceive it), but others can see this as flat out offensive. People who see this as offensive can potentially stop all purchases from Burger King.

As discussed above, there are both positive and negative effects in this promotion, but the negative effects wouldn't hurt Burger King much since they are a strong company with a solid brand name.

Since the negative effects won't affect Burger King much, I guess they earned a victory in this promotion. However, this doesn't take away the fact that there is bad publicity involved. Can anyone say how bad this actually is? I don't think there is ONE correct answer to this question since the degree of negativity can vary as the judging criteria vary with a combination of many different factors.

But on top of everything else, the strength of a company's brand to begin with is a major factor that can't be ignored in any bad publicity judging criteria. For instance, a similar degree of negative effects from this promotion will change (damage) a weaker brand permanently.


Source: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/65858.html

http://www2.warnerbros.com/friendstv/img/friends_index.jpg

http://test.roughlydrafted.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/whopper.png