The
Battle For Coca-Cola
Rages On.
Ain't
Nothing Like
The Real Thing, Maybe.
I
Don't Mean To Say
I Told You So, But...
Are
Consumers Smarter
Then We Are?.
The
Four Great Myths
Of Global Branding.
Mr
Bevis Butts Heads
At Mitsubishi
The
Best Laid Plans
Of Mice And Men.
Dare
to Be Great:
The Mad Genius of "The Matrix"
Mitsubishi's
New Marketing Boss
Out Of The Frying Pan.
Concept Is Stronger Than Fact.
Value
Perception In A World
Gone Mad With "Cool"
The
Future of Advertising
The Brand
The
Future of Advertising
The Targets
The
Future of Advertising
The Grid
The
Future of Advertising
The Swarm
Technology
Making The Message
Meaningful
The Only Business That Matters Is The One You're In.
What
Ever Happened To The
Big Idea?
The Post-Advertising Era Is Here
Confessions Of A" Liar For Hire"
Good, Bad and Ugly At the Moment of Truth
A Post-Advertising "Big Idea".
The Value Of A Paying Pustomer.
Emergence Of the "Empire of One".
All customers Are Created Equal
Playing God An Other Atrocities
the
City That Spawned
The Age Of Advertising..
Fear And Self Loathing In Advertising.
The Greatest Success Metric Is Sales.
Foot In (Word Of) Mouth Disease
In the Begining, There Was The End.
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Boomers Downshift To Neutral I was part of the very first wave of so-called baby boomers. That means that I got to see us slide into the world, turn it on its ear, and then run it full tilt in our own image and by our own rules. As a socio-economic phenomena, we Boomers didn't do that badly. We all but invented rock and roll. Politically, we brought Camelot to life with our American icons, the Royal Kennedys. We supported our own version of Ghandi in the Rev. Martin Luther King. Of course, we also pulled trig on both of them when they got too big for their own good. Did I mention we didn't actually run things, but we sure did think we did? We were all that and a Chevy SuperSport to the press. Just ask any economist you happen to encounter at the 7-11. |
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We weren't around for "The Big One," (WWII) but we damn sure had our share of shoot 'em ups. We slid into Korea, got pissed off at Viet Nam and we Boomers have come to define both the "hawk" and "dove," "liberal" and "conservative" political contingents unhapplily ever after. But the biggest thing we did was convince the old guard that ran everything in America that it was time for some new blood at the top. And as a result, we took 500 war-weary companies from trying to figure out what to do after gas rationing and war bonds to the status of global titans in less than 30 years. |
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Why don't any of the people in my agency read your column? Just about every marketing person I know does.–Don G. , Chicago I use too many big words .–hw |
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Boomers became the storm troopers of Corporate America. Sure, the old guard had their whiz kids like McNamara (at Ford) and Sloane (at GM). But it was the Harvard B School guys down in the departments they were calling "strategic planning" that were making things happen. Other words spun off by boomer jargonmeisters were also making the rounds of the boardrooms. "Conglomerates," "multinationals," "synergy". And of course the big one, "globalization." And the Old Guys were listening. But that was then, what about now? Now the Boomers are firmly in control of everything that walks, breathes or farts on this planet, what comes next for the Homer Simpson Generation? Well don't look now boys and girls but Dad is about to cash out. (Not to mention a whole lot of Moms.) It's platinum parachute time for the folks that gave you Mick Jagger and Space Odyssey: 2001. The faithful followers of Elvis are about to leave the building. And they intend to take a hell of a lot of cash with them. In fact, what economists are estimating to be a $41 trillion dollar intergenerational wealth transfer from Boomer's grandparents to Boomers and on to Boomer's offspring is still going according to schedule. The bean counters pegged that from 1998 to 2052 all of this cash would change hands. And in spite of the crash of 2001, it's still going strong. With one big exception. The equity markets. As strange as it may seem, the generation that made "bet the farm" a household phrase is proving to be more risk adverse with their own money than they were with the zillions of corporate dollars they made and spent rebuilding the Fortune 500 into the Global 1000. Downshifting Boomers are pulling their assets out of the equity markets by the truck load and putting them into "hard" (read low-risk) investments like real estate. The impact on the economy will be staggering in the short-term but transformational in the mid- and long-term. Huge amounts of currency will be migrating from the urban centers into the more pristine rural zip codes. Boomer empty-nesters will have a tremendous effect on rural county politics as they seek to influence their new surroundings. Rural "fortress communities" will spring up as these like-minded boomers will look to isolate themselves from their more "provincial" neighbor folk. The internet will become their lifeline to like-minded individuals and the international cul-de-sac will become the preferred social structure going forward. As rich Boomers seek to cut themselves off from everybody who doesn't share their values or their world view, their politics will become more and more activist --from afar. In other words, we won't be able to let go of the reins of power. And you think that Gen X and Gen Y have a bunch of bad attitudes now? You ain't seen nothing yet. Stay tuned.
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