This year, like every year, the broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, will be using the same bait: shows aimed at people in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
Catering almost exclusively to the young might seem counterproductive. ; More than half the nation’s wealth is in the hands of people over 50, who spend an estimated $2 trillion a year on products and services.
But advertising experts say that when they aim commercials at young people, they also get older folks — while the opposite is rarely the case. ; People over 50 watch more TV and thus are easier for the networks to reach. ; The younger demo, busy with work and family and tempted by myriad entertainment choices, is more difficult to corral.
« If you target young, you’re going to get younger viewers and keep your older ones, » said Jon Nesvig, Fox Broadcasting’s advertising president. ; « But if you target old, that’s what you’re going to get — older viewers. »
Last year, AARP tried to draw attention to the issue in an ad campaign built around a photo of a morgue, complete with toe-tagged cadavers. ; The slogan: « When you turn 50, doctors don’t pronounce you dead — marketers do. »
Jim Fishman, group publisher of AARP’s magazines, said advertisers were terrified of seeming too friendly to the gray-haired set. ; ; »They don’t want to do anything to alienate their younger audience, » Fishman said. ; « They’re making products for people over 50, they’re selling them to people over 50, but they’re just not marketing them to people over 50. »
Source: Over 50 and Out of Favor, May 10, 2005, Los Angeles Times, www.LATimes.com
About the author : John Agno coaches executives and business owners on how to build their leadership capability. As a certified executive and business coach, he works with men and women who are disappointed with leadership development, who struggle with energizing, exciting and coaching their employees, who are worried about increasing productivity and frustrated with the complexity of doing business in today’s global economy. http://www.sobabyboomer.com/
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