Prime Time Women

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake

Lots of Candles
We’re huge fans of Anna Quindlen and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use her genius book title in a blog post.  We love that she celebrates the concept of lots of candles, when practically all of America runs from it.  So what’s the book about?  It’s a memoir with the Pulitzer Prize winning author writing about looking back and ahead—and celebrating it all—as she considers marriage, girlfriends, our mothers, faith, loss, all the stuff in our closets, and more. Using her past, present, and future to explore what matters most to women at different ages, Quindlen serves up generous portions of her wise, commonsensical take on life.

Check it out and let us know what you think.

The Badass: Marketing to the Boomer Woman

Marketing to the Boomer Woman

Women Baby Boomers Have Money to Spend on Everything

Women baby boomers know their own strength – but brands are still having a hard time recognizing it.

Because I’m a baby boomer and specialize in the marketing-to-women space, I’m particularly conscious of how I’m treated by brands.  I’m certainly not ready to be stored in the attic, and neither are my friends.  Yet, as boomer women we’re continually marginalized by brand managers (primarily male) who don’t think any women of value exist over the age of 39.  What they must realize is that those inconsequential 45+ women are the ones that have the most money to spend on everything from vacations, to new homes, and from cars to cosmetics. Some interesting statistics on the purchasing power of Boomer women:

  • The net worth of women ages 50 and older is $19 trillion.  They own more than 3/4 of the U.S. financial wealth
  • Boomer women buy 65 percent of new cars, 91 percent of new homes, and 92 percent of travel
  • Boomer women spend more than $55 billion per year on consumer electronics
  • Disposable incomes are highest for women aged 45-54
  • Boomer women are at the peak of their careers, and statistically are the least impacted by the recession
  • 91 percent feel that marketers do not understand them

In addition, this group of women will experience the largest population growth over the next 10 years, and the largest transference of wealth from inheritances left by parents and husbands. Yet rarely if ever does one see a marketer’s target audience that extends beyond the age of 49 unless it’s for the senior market.

Brands Should Learn to Recognize the Badass that Is the Boomer Woman

Marketers and the media need to finally realize that the women most ignored are the ones who can do the most good in this economy. The time for patronizing ads and ignorance is long gone.

So marketers, take it from Katherine Hepburn: boomer women are older, but certainly not old.  They’re strong, capable and generally pretty badass!

Why Market to “PrimeTime Women”

Marketing to PrimeTime Women

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.