BoomerCafé, the next 10 years
It was in the summer of 1999 that my old friend, Greg Dobbs, and I got the idea for launching BoomerCafé.com. I had just started receiving AARP’s magazine, and astounded by the array of articles about “old people,” I called Greg to ask if he read it, too. His response was that he was too busy trying to keep up with his boys when they’re skiing together to read such a magazine. And, the idea for BoomerCafé was born … an online magazine for baby boomers – America’s largest generation ever – with active lifestyles. Baby boomers are identified as people born between 1946 and 1964, and by the way, Barack Obama, born in 1961, is a baby boomer.
I remember, by the way, the stories in that AARP magazine – about burial insurance and finding places to dump RV waste. Certainly nothing of interest to us.
During the intervening nine and one-half years online, BoomerCafé has shared hundreds of stories written by baby boomers with active lifestyles, and our audience has grown. We’ve learned a lot about the boomer generation and have become experts, I suppose. Baby boomers are a diverse and independent crowd but share a common trait of being suspicious of anything “pushed” at them. Baby boomers are also America’s most affluent group. But, you’ve got to win their respect to get their support.
AARP and few other organizations have made attempts … but have never quite succeeded at reaching the 77-million baby boomers in America, most likely because they are not subtle at either pushing or winning trust. Neither have marketers.
PR agencies, such as Fleishman and Edelman, have formed small groups in an attempt to connect their clients with boomers but their efforts have been inhibited by their overriding goal of selling more time to their clients rather than genuinely learning how to connect with the baby boomer audience.
Greg and I have, over the years, resisted suggestions to turn BoomerCafé into a site to shill products at baby boomers, even though we are convinced the site would be a unique platform for any pharmaceutical, insurance or retirement company to connect with a sizable boomer audience. For that to happen, however, marketers for those outfits must change their style from pushing to connecting.
I think it’s the hardest thing for any marketer or PR person to comprehend. In today’s world, pushing products and services is far more expensive and far less effective than connecting, listening and engaging audiences in conversation. The latter is today’s style of the Internet Era.
Filed Under: Featured • Personal notes • Web 2.0
About the Author: David is a veteran communications strategist ... writer ... blogger ... online publisher ... and Emmy Award winning former CBS Network News correspondent. He lives in the Washington, D. C., area, and works worldwide.
