Rocking the Ages

"The values, preferences, and behaviors of consumers can be understood by breaking down what accounts for them into three distinct elements."

"Marketers can reach this practical, hardworking generation as they enjoy their retirement, but not by selling products for old people."

"The struggle to remain in control, to get the meaningful rewards to which they have always felt entitled, has motivated much of the behavior we've seen from Boomers."

"Xers refuse to allow their lives to be stripped down to the stereotype of a marketing target group."

"Boomers are the core customers for information technologies today."

"Across all generations, an overwhelming percentage of consumers, 86 percent, agree that "it doesn't matter if a product has the latest technology as long as it has the features I need.""

"The first priority for cybermarketers is obvious: Boomers."

"Matures adopted TV and adapted to the changes it brought. But since then the accelerating pace of the media marketplace, along with its increasing computerization, has bypassed them."

"To make it actually work for your brands, you must build in the kinds of hooks that establish the personal connections each generation needs and wants."

"It's the intangibles that consumers want to accumulate nowadays."

"As we look ahead to the leisure marketplace of tomorrow, we see other broad trends with various implications for each generation."

"Boomers will retread, not retire."

"Caring for our health in the ways we eat at home means thinking more broadly than just about what we cook at home. Many good marketing opportunities exist here."

"Homes must increasingly accommodate the needs of consumers who want to do more of their work there."

"A good brand is both a good product to have and a good experience to get."

"Is it really this simple? Plot the age, find the markers, then make a beeline for customers with just the right song and dance."