The Importance of Marketing to PrimeTime Women

We’ve all heard about the seniors, the middle-aged, and the mature market.   Cultural convention says youth is fun; maturity is not.  But women ages 50-70 are the healthiest, wealthiest generation in history, and over the next two decades they will control the majority of the purchasing power in the United States.

These “PrimeTime Women,” as coined by gender expert Marti Barletta, are not gray, passive women, but energetic, vibrant women who consider themselves to be in the prime of their lives.

According to Barletta, PrimeTime is a life stage, not a generation.  Currently it’s the baby boomers that are moving through the PrimeTime window – and as we know, the boomer generation is unlike any other generation to date.  Boomer women are the first generation to go to college and into the work force in equal numbers as men.  They’re definitely not our grandmother’s generation.

Consider this: Adults ages 50+ control 79 percent of all the financial assets in this country; and women in those households control 85 percent of all household spending.  From 2006-2016, 96 percent of the growth of the U.S. adult population will be made up of people over 50. So do the math.  Though conventional Madison Avenue wisdom is to target the young 18-34 demographic, these PrimeTime Women simply have more purchasing power.

If marketers don’t make their brand relevant to PrimeTime Women and boost the effectiveness of their marketing communications, they can kiss their bottom line goodbye.  And in order to be truly relevant, they need to take the time and effort to understand who this influential target really is.