IN America there are 77 million baby-boomers. (These are the folks born between 1946 and 1964; when Dad came back from war he had only one thing on his mind!) So how many boomers are there worldwide – like, wow! who knows?
AdAge reports that today baby-boomers in the United States alone have a buying power of US$3 trillion! And that in US newsman Tom Brokaw’s, quaintly titled, documentary, Boomer$, these now 40 to 60-something, ex-hippies, still have their favourite brands; Levis, Marlboro (tsk, tsk), Harley, Absolut, Club Med, VW, Clairol, Apple Mac, Pepsi, Trojan (no joke!) and even McDonald’s. And baby-boomers can still cite their most favourite TV commercials. Levis “Fridge”, VW “Lemon”, Pepsi Challenge, “Marlboro County”. Far out.
Yet over in Adweek Kathy O’Brien, a Unilever marketing director, says we now have to move past the 30” commercial. No way Kathy! You know why, just study the press, and the advertising you mostly hear about is in the shape of really groovy TV commercials.
Adage, as usual, is hip to the superbowl. This time there was a heck of a lot to say about a spot for Kathy’s very own “Dove for Men”. Starting with a sperm fertilising an egg, it proceeds to snapshot the journey through a man’s life; bikes, baths, big brothers and bras, all set to a somewhat contrived lyric sung to Rossini’s William Tell overture. It’s a really nice spot. High score on the boomer-meter.
UK’s News of The World features prominently (but maybe because of her prominent features) Pamela Anderson in a TV spot for CrazyDomains.com.au where she strips to a gold bikini and romps around in flying fresh cream with another woman in a gold bikini. No come back, it’s cool! Perhaps less to do with boomers than things going boom.
AdAge has a report about the scandal caused by a French anti-smoking spot which shows a young boy on his knees in front of a much older man (very likely a boomer) seemingly conducting fellatio on a cigarette. The point is a little lost on me but you know those French dudes; after all it (the act) is named after them. And in Denmark a garage door maker’s ad shows a car shaped hole in the door with the line “not for Toyota owners”. Very topical but a bit uncool, especially to baby-boomers who just love hybrids. Sidebar: Did you know the US national sales director of Toyota is called Doug Frisbie! Now that’s what I call a boomer name.
Campaign Magazine reports that Cadbury has axed a big-budget TV ad for their Flake bar. It seems that, in research, it was a bit too saucy for the target audience. Now British boomers from way back, when TV was in black and white, will remember the sight of a sultry dolly-bird treating a long slim chocolate bar like – well, a French cigarette I guess, and then coming over all peculiar (the bird not the boomer). It was one of our favourite spots.
So I can only guess who the current target market is. (It has been hinted that the real target could be Cadbury’s new owners from the ultra-conservative American mid-west!)
The UK’s BBC describes a TV spot that’s the most outrageously, wide of the mark, kiss-up to the baby-boomers ever. Citroen is airing an ad featuring a documentary clip of John Lennon, (yes he, the patron saint of boomers.) In the spot he tells us that looking back to the past for inspiration is not “rock and roll”. (Pretty rich coming from the greatest plunderer of old rock songs ever.)
Many balked; many boomers cried “sacrilege”. Lennon’s son, Sean, said he approved because he was “hoping to keep dad in [the] public consciousness”, and that there are, “Not many things as effective as TV.” Right on Sean! The car company said Lennon had been chosen for his “universal, timeless and iconic status”. I’m sure he’s both twisting and shouting in his grave.
This all goes to prove that ignoring the power of a nicely written, nicely executed TVC is probably surrendering to cheapness, disposability or instant gratification of the “new” media. What the boomers enjoyed and are still feeding back is the effect of those neat TV spots; some of them decades old, because possibly nothing else has the emotional pull, the ability to connect with a viewer. This is why the boomers remember. (They were also groovy brands, of course). I don’t want to sound spaced out, but will there be much viral stuff remembered in 30-40 years? Let me know.
And lest we forget, the greatest boomer of all is Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the world wide web!
And yes, I am a boomer, I was born in 19frgrfwn-ngfwernf.
Bummer!
PS: Further to last month, Unilever has now appointed a new CMO (chief marketing officer). Which is really fab. His name is (wait for it) Keith Weed. Is that a great Boomer name or what?
Paul Loosley is an English person who has been in Asia 30 years, 12 as a creative director, 18 making TV commercials. And, as he still can’t shut up about advertising, he tends to write every month. Any feedback; mail
p.loosley@gmail.com (but only if you’re a Boomer)
AdAge reports that today baby-boomers in the United States alone have a buying power of US$3 trillion! And that in US newsman Tom Brokaw’s, quaintly titled, documentary, Boomer$, these now 40 to 60-something, ex-hippies, still have their favourite brands; Levis, Marlboro (tsk, tsk), Harley, Absolut, Club Med, VW, Clairol, Apple Mac, Pepsi, Trojan (no joke!) and even McDonald’s. And baby-boomers can still cite their most favourite TV commercials. Levis “Fridge”, VW “Lemon”, Pepsi Challenge, “Marlboro County”. Far out.
Yet over in Adweek Kathy O’Brien, a Unilever marketing director, says we now have to move past the 30” commercial. No way Kathy! You know why, just study the press, and the advertising you mostly hear about is in the shape of really groovy TV commercials.
Adage, as usual, is hip to the superbowl. This time there was a heck of a lot to say about a spot for Kathy’s very own “Dove for Men”. Starting with a sperm fertilising an egg, it proceeds to snapshot the journey through a man’s life; bikes, baths, big brothers and bras, all set to a somewhat contrived lyric sung to Rossini’s William Tell overture. It’s a really nice spot. High score on the boomer-meter.
UK’s News of The World features prominently (but maybe because of her prominent features) Pamela Anderson in a TV spot for CrazyDomains.com.au where she strips to a gold bikini and romps around in flying fresh cream with another woman in a gold bikini. No come back, it’s cool! Perhaps less to do with boomers than things going boom.
AdAge has a report about the scandal caused by a French anti-smoking spot which shows a young boy on his knees in front of a much older man (very likely a boomer) seemingly conducting fellatio on a cigarette. The point is a little lost on me but you know those French dudes; after all it (the act) is named after them. And in Denmark a garage door maker’s ad shows a car shaped hole in the door with the line “not for Toyota owners”. Very topical but a bit uncool, especially to baby-boomers who just love hybrids. Sidebar: Did you know the US national sales director of Toyota is called Doug Frisbie! Now that’s what I call a boomer name.
Campaign Magazine reports that Cadbury has axed a big-budget TV ad for their Flake bar. It seems that, in research, it was a bit too saucy for the target audience. Now British boomers from way back, when TV was in black and white, will remember the sight of a sultry dolly-bird treating a long slim chocolate bar like – well, a French cigarette I guess, and then coming over all peculiar (the bird not the boomer). It was one of our favourite spots.
So I can only guess who the current target market is. (It has been hinted that the real target could be Cadbury’s new owners from the ultra-conservative American mid-west!)
The UK’s BBC describes a TV spot that’s the most outrageously, wide of the mark, kiss-up to the baby-boomers ever. Citroen is airing an ad featuring a documentary clip of John Lennon, (yes he, the patron saint of boomers.) In the spot he tells us that looking back to the past for inspiration is not “rock and roll”. (Pretty rich coming from the greatest plunderer of old rock songs ever.)
Many balked; many boomers cried “sacrilege”. Lennon’s son, Sean, said he approved because he was “hoping to keep dad in [the] public consciousness”, and that there are, “Not many things as effective as TV.” Right on Sean! The car company said Lennon had been chosen for his “universal, timeless and iconic status”. I’m sure he’s both twisting and shouting in his grave.
This all goes to prove that ignoring the power of a nicely written, nicely executed TVC is probably surrendering to cheapness, disposability or instant gratification of the “new” media. What the boomers enjoyed and are still feeding back is the effect of those neat TV spots; some of them decades old, because possibly nothing else has the emotional pull, the ability to connect with a viewer. This is why the boomers remember. (They were also groovy brands, of course). I don’t want to sound spaced out, but will there be much viral stuff remembered in 30-40 years? Let me know.
And lest we forget, the greatest boomer of all is Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the world wide web!
And yes, I am a boomer, I was born in 19frgrfwn-ngfwernf.
Bummer!
PS: Further to last month, Unilever has now appointed a new CMO (chief marketing officer). Which is really fab. His name is (wait for it) Keith Weed. Is that a great Boomer name or what?
Paul Loosley is an English person who has been in Asia 30 years, 12 as a creative director, 18 making TV commercials. And, as he still can’t shut up about advertising, he tends to write every month. Any feedback; mail
p.loosley@gmail.com (but only if you’re a Boomer)
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