When I lived in Orlando I was a member of the Junior League of Greater Orlando. One of the most important things in non-profit organizations like the Junior League is fundraising. At one of our GMM (general membership meetings) in 2009 we had a special guest speaker. That speaker was Mark Brewer of the Central Florida Foundation (at the time it was the Community Foundation of Central Florida). Mark spoke that evening about the different generations, why and how the spend their money and how to market to them. I was already interesting in generational marketing with my photography business and after hearing Mark speak – I wanted to hear more! So I followed him outside while the GMM continued and introduced myself. I wanted to know where I could learn more – when Mark might be speaking again (it turns out he was speaking at the BIG Summit in a few months) and what his reading list was (I love to ask people about their book reading lists*).
One of the things Mark showed in his presentations was commercials. Does the commercial speak to you? If not, chances are you are not their target market. I love watching commercials and trying to figure out who they are marketing to. It is pretty easy for me these days – I can tell if something is being sold to a Baby Boomer, a Millennial or my generation, Generation X. I often laugh at luxury car commercials that are marketing to Millennials. Millennials aren’t into cars. They are getting their driver’s licenses much later (not at 15 like us Gen Xers) and they would rather live somewhere with public transportation or bike lanes. And I worry about what will happen to the classic cars that Baby Boomers LOVE so much. And antiques. And collectibles. So many things that are priceless to Baby Boomers have no value to Millennials. Hopefully there is a shift as the Baby Boomer generation grows older and a new generation will want their stuff.
I saw a commercial recently that I really liked. Clearly, they are marketing to me. Generation X. I happen to love Las Vegas. It is my idea of an easy vacation – amazing restaurants, gorgeous pools, shopping and gambling. I am not a huge gambler but I do enjoy playing video poker for a few hours. And I love people watching!
Visit Las Vegas: What Happens here, Stays Here.
I love the “selfies†haha. I don’t think Gen X is into selfies like Millennials and now Baby Boomers.
In addition to Mark Brewer’s knowledge on generational marketing, another favorite of mine is Richard Florida. Richard Florida is the author of so many books I have read several times (you can find all of these on Amazon): Rise of the Creative Class, Who’s Your City?, The Great Reset and Flight of the Creative Class.
All of this talk of generational marketing wants me to learn even more about it! I just can’t get enough!
*Speaking of Book Reading Lists, Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, has a great reading list. If you get a chance to visit his Zappos headquarters in Las Vegas, they have a great tour. And at the end they have an area with books for employees to borrow. Since tour guests can’t exactly borrow the books, they have a printed book list. Tony Hsieh was the keynote speaker at the BIG Summit the year I went and saw Mark Brewer speak there. What a great experience! Ah ha – I found the Zappos book list on their website.