What the panelists have in common is persistence, creativity and success. What distinguishes them is the variety of approaches they use to reach 50+ homebuyers – from senior rentals to multifamily to age-qualified communities and $900,000 single family homes. As Todd puts it, “Success in 50+ housing doesn’t come in one size anymore. ”

No one disputes that the population is aging.

No one disputes that there is opportunity in addressing the housing needs of people in their fifties and beyond. However, there is much debate over what the housing and communities for the active adult should look like and live like.

Let’s face it, our world has changed. We know that the large scale master planned retirement communities are too capital intensive to get started today. We know that many age-qualified communities are struggling. What isn’t clear is where the opportunity is to make money with the 50+ homebuyer.

Economic Realities Differ by Age Group

Money is a critical issue with today’s 50+ buyer, as Todd demonstrates in the following three graphs. These show how developers must consider the different circumstances of different age bands within 50+ housing.

75+ homeowners saw their income go up in the late 90s and then pretty much go flat in the last five years. Those who are 65 to 74 are continuing to do well. They had a little dip in the last recession of 2001, but in 2010 they were hardly hit.

Contrast that with the next chart which shows 45-54 year olds. Their incomes have taken a much harder hit. This group had been the “move-up buyer.” Now, they’re not moving up.  This in turn is making it harder for active adults to sell their homes.  “It’s not just the rich that are getting richer, it’s the older getting richer”, observed  Todd

As the following chart shows, older Baby Boomers are actually better off economically than most other age groups. If you were fortunate enough to be in your 20s in the year 2000, your household income was nearly $46K a year. Ten years later, the household income of mid 20-year-olds is struggling to get to$40K. But for the people who are 65+, every year is getting better and better. Their best year was last year!

Asking the Tough Questions about the Future of 50+ Housing

Todd will be putting some challenging questions to his panel today, including:

* Are age qualified communities viable anymore or are they too restrictive?
* Is it possible today to have a successful homebuilding business that focuses on high-end homebuyers?  What features and amenities do today’s buyers want?
* How is the age-in-place movement helping and hurting 50+ housing?
* What advice would you give to a builder looking to succeed in this market?
* What did you do differently last year that was successful?

Tune into this blog next week to read some of the answers provided. Or, share your own answers and thoughts, below!

RELATED POST: What is the Future of Active Adult Housing?

By far the most shared post was Gaining Boomer and Senior Marketing Insights from Social Media. Find out what messages/strategies are hitting (or missing) the mark. Todd Harff recaps a number of resources that can be extremely helpful in determining and leveraging boomer and senior social preferences and behaviors, including  LinkedIn’s which allows you to see what is generating the most interest segmented by industry or group.

Other Top Tweets:

1. Santa’s Senior Secrets- An infographic chock full of not only holiday cheer but stats on seniors the world over.

2.  Baby Boomer social media revolution: More and more boomers flock to sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  How will you reach them?

3. Seven reasons direct mail and print remain effective marketing tools.

4. Interesting article via @AllThingsAging examining the rise of Ethnogeriatrics within diverse communities.

Activities Dominated by Millennials

Pew found that Gen Y/Millennials aged 18-33 are much more likely to use instant messaging, watch a video, or play online games.  While larger numbers of older Americans are joining online social networks, they still lag their grandkids/great grandkids in this activity.  Social network sites are used by:

* 16% of Greatest Generation (74+)
* 34% of Silent Generation seniors (65-73 years old)
* 43% of older Baby Boomers (56-64)
* 50% of younger Boomers (aka Generation Jones, 46-55)
* 62% of Gen X (34-45)
* 83% of Gen Y/Millennials

Use of the Internet itself is an area where older cohorts still lag.  79% of all Americans go online, states Pew, yet younger folks are overrepresented in a census of Web citizenry.

Chart: Pew Internet & American Life Project, Generations 2010

Online Activities Where Older (Gen X, Boomers & matures) Dominate

Pew found only 2 areas where older cohorts are more likely than Millennials to be active:  visiting government websites and getting financial information online.  Consistent with lifestage, Baby Boomers and Silent Generation seniors are spending the most time seeking out financial information, including mortgage rates, stock quotes and advice to help them plan for retirement or make the best of un-retirement.

Everybody Loves Email

As Pew puts it, the bulk of online activities are now more consistently popular across the age groups.  Some have significant differences between the oldest cohort (Greatest Generation) and the youngest (teens & Millennial) generations – if they didn’t, THAT would be a headline!

For marketers feeling the pressure to put dollars into social media, if you’re targeting Boomers and beyond, remember that email is used by nearly 9 in 10 of all people over 50.  Email is the most popular of all online activities regardless of age:

* 88% of 74+ers
* 90% of the Silent Generation
* 93% of older Boomers
* 91% of younger Boomers
* 94% of Gen X
* 96% of Millennials

Now that Pew has detailed what online activities Boomers and seniors are pursuing, how do you apply these statistics to your marketing program?

In January 2011, Creating Results will release findings from our proprietary, national survey of mature consumers that could offer some answers.  More than 400 consumers over 40 answered questions about web preferences – pet peeves, favorite features & more – and attitudes toward social media.

And we went “beyond the numbers,” inviting 40+ Americans to share their opinions in their own words.  There also are specific take-aways for those marketing housing to Boomers and seniors.

To be first to receive the full findings of “Social, Silver Surfers,” please register here:  http://www.creatingresults.com/silver_social_surfers/.

Baby Boomer Spending on Food

* I really appreciate The Bundle’s infographics that illustrate household spending by age.  Take a peek at their 2010 report and you’ll see that Baby Boomers (aged 50-65) and Silent Generation (65+)  spend more on food and drink than the “coveted” 18-25 year olds – $6,992 and $5,211 respectively.  36-49 year olds are the tops in food and food and drink, averaging $7,487 in 2010 per household.

* Reflecting their lifestage, 35-50 year olds spend the most each year on groceries - $4,322 per Bundle.  50-65 yr old Boomers are in second place, spending an average of $4,001.

* Mature marketing expert Brent Green has called Baby Boomer men the “next marketing frontier,” noting that men are more apt to spend than save (even in a downturn) and more prone to buy national brands at the grocery store. 

* So-called functional foods are predicted to flourish thanks to the desire of Boomers to actively age and maintain energetic lifestyles.

Praise the Lord, and Pass the Google Search

* Gen X , Baby Boomers and Silent Generation Internet users are more likely than younger generations to look for religious information online  (Pew).  42% of younger Boomers (also known as Generation Jones) reported doing so.

* Millennials are not as religious as the four elder cohorts – Gen X, Baby Boom, and generations Silent and Greatest.  In 2010, only 40% told Pew that religion was very important in their lives, compared to 60% of Boomers and 67% of the Silent Generation.

* Attitudes about religion are influenced by lifestage and age.  And attitudes change.   AARP found that Boomers’ confidence in organized religion had decreased from the 1970s to 2002.

Love, Love Me Do

* People often talk about a “health benefit” to marriage.  The 2009 National Health Interview Survey revealed that married adults between the ages of 55 and 74 were less likely to be in fair or poor health than those who had never married or who were formerly married. 

* We note that the same study revealed that currently married adults between 55 and 64 were more likely to have a hearing impairment than their unmarried peers.  (And I thought it was selective deafness …)

* Boomers and beyond are more open than ever to sex outside of marriage.  10 years ago, AARP found that 41% of Americans over age 45 were opposed to sex outside of marriage; this April, the organization found only 22% opposed.

* 26.7% of those in the online dating pool were over 45 in 2007. (MRI)  Adults over 55 are the fastest-growing group of online daters.

* The divore of Al and Tipper Gore this year reminded us that Baby Boomers are both the most married generation and the most divorced.  “If you look at every single year of marriage, they have the highest divorce rates of anyone born before or after them,” said Professor Betsey Stevenson in Newsweek.  The late Robert Butler noted late-in-life divorces may be an unexpected side effect of the longevity bonus.

Do you have statistics or insights on how Baby Boomers eat, pray and love?  Please share your thoughts below.

Creating Results studies different generations and segments  to help companies connect with mature consumers, but we don’t often get to play with them.  As the round continued, I noticed more behaviors that demonstrated typical generational characteristics, but I also saw that we were individuals rather than stereotypes.  The Boomer easily regaled us with stories about his successful children and the state of his business and the impact of the recession.   He shared a story about when he had come to play with the Silent and GI ten years ago.  He had put his bag on a golf cart and planned to ride around the course.  The Silent showed up and pulled his bag on a hand cart.  The GI, then 79 years old, carried his bag and walked all 18 holes.

The Silent was, for the most part, silent.  He asked questions, helped the others find their balls, and offered suggestions on playing the course.  A course he had helped to design surrounded by conservation areas he had saved from development, but one would never have known that from his actions.  The Silent had organized and funded the entire outing with the only objective being to have a good time with some people he respected and whose company he enjoyed.

The GI was frustrated with the quality of his game and complained at one point, “I need to practice more.”  I asked how often he played and he said, “most everyday, but I need to practice more”.  Despite his “under performance”, he cleaned our clocks.

For the Greater Good

The GI volunteered little information.  But when asked direct questions about his experiences as a member of the 82^nd Airborne in Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, his life after the war, and his children arranging for him to return to Normandy for the 65^th anniversary commemoration, he somewhat reluctantly shared stories that have stuck with me.  Listening to him was humbling.  I had no doubt in my mind that I had the honor to be in the presence of a member of the Greatest Generation.

After the war, the GI lived many lives, but through all of them was a theme of public service.  He devoted much time to volunteering on town councils, creating affordable housing and assisting a multitude of charitable organizations.  For longer than I have lived, he has organized his town’s 4^th of July celebrations.  That meant for years I had seen, and yet not seen, him march with the Veterans.  I was inspired and yet disappointed when I reflected on my comparatively meager contributions to society.

My golf that day was horrible, but it was the best round I’ve ever had.

In the past, we’ve counseled those marketing to Boomers and beyond to go slowly and be choosy.  Pingdom’s studycould help marketers make some of those choices.  They found that the 35-44 age group “dominates the social media sphere,” representing 25% of the users across 19 sites.  This age group is the largest segment on 11 of the 19 social media sites.  Those 45-54 are tops on another 3 out of the 19 sites Pingdom reviewed.

Where will you find …

The average user of a social networking site is 37 years old, reports Pingdom.  They then calculated an average age for each of the sites they studied.

* Looking for Millennials?  Try Bebo – average age 28.4.  MySpace and Xanga are close behind.

* For the not-so-Silent Generation, you might have luck with Classmates – 8% are over 65, making Classmates the site with the largest share of this mature cohort.

* Does (Gen) X mark the marketing spot for your organization?  61% of Facebook users, and 64% of Twitter-ers are over 35. 

* We were surprised to discover 20% of Friendster users are between the ages of 45 and 54, which makes them trailing edge Baby Boomers (also known as Generation Jones).

* And LinkedIn, as we’ve noted before, appears your best bet for Boomers in general.  Average age is 44.3 years old.  That’s up three years since we shared our thoughts on LinkedIn as a mature marketing vehicle in September of 2009.  More than 35% of are between 45 and 64 years old.

Be sure to read Pingdom’s post for a chart with the average ages for each of the 19 sites under review.  Useful information for those preparing their social media marketing strategies.

P.S.  Creating Results has been conducting research into the attitudes of 40+ consumers towards social media.  We recently opened up our survey to a national audience, putting a 3-minute poll online.  Whether you love or hate social networking, we’d love to hear from you!  Follow this link:  http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/233384/40-plus-social-media

Do Generational Distinctions Matter to Marketing?

How we see ourselves does matter to marketing, so it’s interesting to note that each of the four generations told researchers that there are reasons they are unique. 

First, here’s how Pew defines the generations:

• Millennial: Born after 1980, currently 18-29 years old
• Generation X:  Born between 1965-1980, now 30-45 years old
• Baby Boom: Born 1946-1964, currently ages 46-64 (includes both leading edge/older Boomers and the trailing edge/younger Boomers often broken out as “Generation Jones”)
• Silent (aka “Ikes”): Born between 1928-1945, now 65 years old or better

Now, here’s how each generation defines what makes them different than the rest.

All of the generations except the Millennials said work ethic was a distinguishing trait.  This is especially ironic because Pew’s study also shows that 15% of Millennials reported being successful in a high-paying career was one of the most important things in their lives (vs. only 7% of respondents over 30 years old who felt that way).

The report cites Millennials (61%) and Silents (66%) as saying theirs is a unique generation.  The Silent Generation respondents were most likely to say that theirs is not just a different generation, but it is better/stronger than the others (4%).

Silents also were most likely to say that the historic times in which they lived were defining of their generation.  (Check out this case study of branding/market research done for a museum focused on WWI and WWI experiences to see one way we’ve applied this type of insight.)  Perhaps this will get lazy marketers to stop tossing peace symbols and Woodstock references into every Boomer-oriented ad?

The REI Holiday TV Ads

Both new spots feature intergenerational groups.  In one, a group of hikers (including a sixty-something gent) wait for the rain to stop under a rocky ledge.  In the other, a mother and daughter enjoy a meal of peanut butter sandwiches on a cold mountaintop.  Both depict the outdoors as perhaps a little wet, cold or uncomfortable but still fun.

Holiday Hikers/Just Add Water (cave)

Mountain View/4-Star Dining

Tom Vogl, REI vice president of marketing, says “We hope viewers find them inviting, fun and authentic…”

Dan Neil of the LA Times says “I think the retailer just walked off a cliff.”

What did our team have to say?

She Said:  Boomers Love the Outdoors, Won’t Love these Ads

It’s only right that Kathy East, VP of Client Services Director and a Baby Boomer herself, starts our generational face-off.

What a missed opportunity!  And worse than that … The elders in both spots are TOTALLY IGNORED!  I’m not feeling all warm and fuzzy about that co-op I joined 35 years ago in Seattle.  Yes, 35 years ago when I was 2 years old 20 years old. 

There are plenty of statistics that prove that Boomers and “old cusses” love the outdoors.  Including hiking, fishing, backpacking, kayaking, camping and all other activities that REI sells, sells, sells. 

REI would be better off not including the “ole cuss” in the “Just Add Water” spot since he had no role.  He fumbled with his walking sticks and I don’t believe even got a nod from any of the younger (Gen X) group.  The viewer ends up feeling sorry for him.  He could’ve given the group a tip about a great spot/view…

In the 4-star dining spot, why not show how sharing an experience like that is a great opportunity for people to connect, even mothers and daughters.  Was she there just to make dinner?  Boomer mom probably had to clean up too.

I’ve sat – freezing – on top of a volcano to watch the sunrise and hiked in the rain numerous times and loved it all.  What is “cool” is that these spots show that some crazy folks think it’s actually worth it. That part I like very much.

He Said:  The View from a Beach-Loving Creative Director

Mike Stakem, Creating Results’ Director of Creative Services, is a warm-weather-loving guy who was born between the Baby Boom and Generation X (we call him a “gap kid,” but he’s very close in age to Generation Jones/the younger Boomers).  His take on the REI TV ads?

I agree with the LA Times guy for the most part.

Maybe it’s where you’re coming from:  I’m a beach-loving, warm-weather-craving, never-been-camping-in-my-life kinda guy.

I liked the emotional draw of the images, especially the peanut butter mother and daughter and the starry night.

The Cave image made me cold and sad.  Sure, the ad included an older hiker huddled with a group of younger guys from the rainstorm.  But, even if he was out actively enjoying nature, somehow I didn’t get the idea that he made any friends in that group.  He appeared uncomfortable and separate.  There was that awkward moment when the young guy turns to him to say goodbye and then turns back to shake the other young guy’s hand. And then the old guy walks off alone. Sad.

If REI’s target is the mountain-climbing thrill seeker, they may be right on target by keeping it real. If they want my business, they would need to show me images that don’t make my toes go numb.

She Said:  The Gen Xer (and apparent Pollyanna) Chimes In

Erin Read Ruddick, Client Services Director, is part of the cohort that bristles at its “Gen X” nickname.  She says:

I liked the way these ads were authentic – both in the situations they depicted and in the models they chose.

On first viewing, I thought woohoo!  Finally, REI is showing older people in their ads.  We’ve got a clearly Boomer mom and her daughter together on a mountaintop, and a Silent Generation hiker mixing with the Gen X youngers in the cave. (Of course, after listening to Mike and Kathy, now I can’t see him as anything but sad and lonely.)

In neither ad is there a point made about their age, they’re not the butt of jokes, they’re just part of the crowd.   The ads aren’t selling items specifically designed for old cusses; it’s not an ad for “hiker Depends.”  Rather REI is showing that any lifestyle product is good for an old cuss who’s active and fit. 

Most importantly the ads have an authenticity about outdoor recreation that I think will appeal to Boomers.  One thing that’s always annoyed me about outdoor catalogs is how everything’s so shiny, and happy, and clean and perfect.  The reality is far different.  Changing weather and conditions are part of what make camping and hiking an adventure – you never know what to expect!

In REI’s new TV ads, the products are not shown “hero-style” in pristine conditions, or their users as superheroes who can scale K2 without breaking a sweat.  This time, it’s wet and uncomfortable and real; that’s a true portrayal which should resonate with Boomers.

The last word, of course, is going to go to Boomer consumers.  But tell us – what do you think of REI’s new TV ads?

(Tomorrow, we’ll tackle the perhaps bigger question:  Old People Don’t Hike or Camp, Do They?)

PART 4: FIVE WAYS LINKEDIN CAN HELP YOU REACH 40+ PROFESSIONALS

Where can you be virtually guaranteed to find affluent, educated and mature consumers online? Try LinkedIn. For companies targeting younger matures (the tip of Gen X, Gen Jones/trailing edge Baby Boomers and those in between), the fourth most popular social networking site  offers several marketing opportunities.

LinkedIn describes their average user as a male, 41 years old, with an annual household income of roughly $109,000.

As blogger Steve Schultz put it, “This is clearly the result of the nature of the website and its purpose.”

If your purpose is to influence 40+ matures, including Gen X and trailing edge Baby Boomers, here are five ways LinkedIn could help:

• Web site traffic and brand exposure. Searchers of all ages can find you on LinkedIn, then move to a corporate site.

• Trust. It’s a critical factor in a mature consumer’s decision to purchase.  You can build trust by providing easy access to background information on company executives.  Seniors will spot a phony a mile away; a public profile on LinkedIn can help show you’re the real deal.

• Advertising. (And no, we don’t make commissions.) Those using LinkedIn to make connections in their professional lives are also consumers.  They are open to services that make their personal lives easier.  And most companies don’t block access to LinkedIn during the day as they might Facebook or other social networking sites.  The service offers advertising options for budgets “large” or “small.”

• Referrals. In 2007, eMarketer reported that “nearly all (89%) of Baby Boomers who were asked for advice gave it to their friends, or fellow boomers. And nearly all boomers (93%) say that they consider their friends (also boomers) to be trusted sources of information.” 45% of Boomer recommendations were made online, and LinkedIn features many tools to encourage this type of word-of-mouth.

• Matchmaking. With LinkedIn, you can even find nationally-recognized generational marketing agencies to help you reach your goals with Baby Boomers and beyond.

Share your thoughts: will LinkedIn play a part in your mature marketing efforts? 

- Part 3, Facebook offers marketing opportunities with Baby Boomers and Seniors

- Next week, Boomer-targeted niche sites – “online ghettoes” or a marketing opportunity?