dispatches from the new world of work

Must Market!

The economy is in the tank, etc., etc. But there will be an end to the gloomy tunnel, and the barrel of gold at the end of that tunnel—bruises and "new world" iterations notwithstanding—will be, for the Americans, our 80-million, mostly healthy, even if not quite as wealthy, Boomers. Some get it—and maybe it's not as hard as others think. For example, my bet is for great success for Jay Leno in his soon-to-be 10 p.m. slot. If "60 is the new 30," "10 p.m. is the new 11:30 p.m." Boomers may be healthier than their predecessors of the same age band, but they mostly go to bed by, say, 11 p.m.

(Startling success in general will go to those in the "rapidly aging universe"—e.g., U.S., EU, Japan—who vigorously pursue the BGB/Boomer-Geezer Bonanza.) (Reminder: "It" is not mostly about marketing; "it" is overwhelmingly about new products and services.)

Tom Peters posted this on 12/16/08.

Comments

Tom....

Thanks for this prompt to my thinking.....It will indeed be interesting to see what consumer habits change during this economic transition...

Already Wal-Mart is reporting significant changes in purchasing patterns as their shoppers seek to do more with less.

What new services will the wealthy boomers seek? What role will new government services have to play in all this? What impact will climate change policies and the emergence of new low carbon footprint providers have on consumer demand across the age spectrum? What types of transformational products will boomers and geezers buy?

Who is thinking about providing these new types of products and services and thus running the prototypes for them right now? How will these new services or products be delivered?

What will be the new spending patterns for young women, women with children (grandchildren), women in change of life, and older women? How will these women continue to shape the consumption patterns of their community, nation, and world?

What will the new credit product and service look like? Will banks become utilities like energy suppliers? Will credit continue to play a big part in our economy? Will barter re-emerge as a way of doing business especially in local communities (we do a lot of it within the semi-rural community I live in)?

What will a simple transformational product or service look like in 2009? Who is best placed to deliver it? How much of the old (TV formats like Leno) and how much of the new (YouTube videos) has to be incorporated into a transformational service/product for it to become successful?

Lot's of questions - out there someone/somewhere has even better questions and is working very very hard on providing unique solutions...

Richard.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at December 16, 2008 4:33 PM

"'It' is not mostly about marketing; 'it' is overwhelmingly about new products and services."

Being exceeds marketing without which there is no marketable sustainability. Who are we? What are the many possibilities? The above leads me toward creative action. It's about being that leads to doing that often markets itself through creating value based on the needs and desires of others. Is there a better bolder kind of marketing?

Thanks for the reminder!

Posted by Judith Ellis at December 16, 2008 8:07 PM

"It's about being that leads to doing that often markets itself through creating value based on the needs and desires of others. Is there a better bolder kind of marketing?"

Or formula for success for new products and services...creating value based on the needs and desires of others. Outstanding...thanks Judith!

Posted by Dave Wheeler at December 16, 2008 8:32 PM

Pleasure, Dave.

Posted by Judith Ellis at December 17, 2008 7:54 AM

Boomers & geezers may be finance history in this radical downturn = too many losing 40% of their wealth - plus fast rising healthcare costs & shrinking medicare/social security. 66 is the new 86 in that they must work 'til 86 - and/or they look 86 at 66 due to high anxiety! :>)

Posted by Contraire at December 18, 2008 8:11 PM

I do think Leno will be very successful while simultaneously dealing yet another blow to one-hour network dramas. He's a cheap hour of TV and nowadays that's all that matters to the corporate overlords.

Posted by Jeffrey at December 22, 2008 4:53 PM