Functional Ingredients Magazine recently took a look at the business of marketing healthy foods and supplements to Baby Boomers and beyond. Their article, Marketing to SWELS: Seniors with Energetic Lifestyles, has a nice mix of statistics, advice and a case study of a UK ad campaign for probiotics. And it inspired us to put down the Swedish Fish and share more insights into mature consumers and food.
What Boomers eat is no small question – it’s big opportunity for businesses that take time to understand swell SWELs. Market Research Group reported that:
Boomers age 45-54 spend $123 weekly on food, compared with $102 for 25- to 34-year-olds and $75 for 65- to 74-year-olds. Moreover, over 10 million boomer households allot $125 or more weekly to grocery expenditures alone, while nearly 20 million visit either family or fast-food restaurants 6 or more times monthly.
FoodProcessing.com noted functional foods as one of its consumer trends for 2009, tying the prediction to the desire of mature, 40+ consumers to actively age. “Health and wellness is expected to continue its march into new product development particularly foods with added health benefits for babies, children, aging baby boomers, seniors and pets,” wrote Diane Toops.
Food marketing often is aimed at women. But mature marketing expert Brent Green calls Baby Boomer men “the next marketing frontier.” Green whets the appetite of marketers with this economic perspective:
Boomer men are more prone to spend discretionary dollars during the economic crisis. They are more likely to make impulse purchases than women (25% men versus 9% women). They are more apt to spend than save (37% versus 28%). They are more self-directed on investment decisions (70% versus 46%). At the grocery store, they are more willing to buy national brands over generic store labels (46% men vs. 26% women).
What do you think? Please share your examples of ”swell” food or supplements marketing aimed at Baby Boomers/seniors living – and eating! - energetically.
(And a note of thanks to FunctionalIngredientsMag for recommending Creating Results’ research on photography that is motivating to Baby Boomers, Silent Generation members and other mature consumers.)
