Not another Baby Boomer conference ‘Love In’ I
travelled to the Marketing to Boomers and Beyond conference in New York on May 14th with some trepidation. Why ? Because London to new York is a long way to go for a speaking engagement (even though I had the honour of giving the keynote address) at a conference which might be poorly attended. Nevertheless, as IMMN were one of the sponsors and I was at the time President I was happy to do my duty. The line up of speakers that event organiser Dr. Leslie Harris had recruited, looked awesome but would there be suffi cient attendees to make the event on May 14 a success?
On arriving at the Marriott on Lexington Avenue I discovered my fears had been groundless – the room was nearly full and there was a terrifi c buzz in the air. My slot was entitled ‘Mature Marketing around the Globe’ – a small niche topic I’m sure you’ll agree but it gave me room to cover pretty much anything and everything! Fortunately I had some great TV commercials to show (some bloody awful ones too) and I could bask in the refl ected glory of some amazing creative brains behind them. There were some great presentations – unfortunately I missed the last two of the day as I had to fl y back to the UK. I particularly liked ex M&C Saatchi president Brent Bouchez’s session, which focussed on how to reach older people through great and relevant creative work. Brent recently formed Agency Five 0. My IMMN colleague Todd Harff (President of agency Creating Results) gave us insights into his agency’s research into ‘silver Surfers’ attitudes towards usage of social media – a hugely important subject.
But the last word had to go to Jerry Shereshewsky the Chief Grown-up of GrownUpMarketing. At the end of a very entertaining presentation, he said that he was impressed with the breadth and depth of expertise in the room but added, ‘We’re talking to ourselves, but we need to be talking to the unconverted’.
Soundbites:
“How many people would like to keep their current brain but have the body of a 30 year old? – YES!” “How many of you would like the body of a 30 year old and the brain of a 30 year old? – NO!”
“Younger people say HAPPY means excitement. Older people say HAPPY means peaceful”
“Speaking 50+ - ‘It’s not what you say it’s what they hear.”
“Celebrate age as an enviable time of life” – Yankelovich
“The bigger the WHY, the easier the HOW.”
A personal view by Kevin Lavery, Millennium Managing Director
kevin.lavery@
millenniumdirect.co.uk www.millenniumdirect.co.uk
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