Baby boomer foods

Baby Boomer Food Trends | Gordon Food Service

[[{"fid":"43691","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Boomers Age Infographic","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Boomers Age Infographic"},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Boomers Age Infographic","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Boomers Age Infographic"}},"attributes":{"alt":"Boomers Age Infographic","title":"Boomers Age Infographic","style":"width: 200px; height: 190px; float: right;","class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"1"},"link_text":false}]]We think we know what baby boomers like to eat. We know that this aging demographic favors more traditional flavors and protein dishes, and while not as innovative as the flavors some of the other generations might crave, that doesn’t mean that boomers should be overlooked. As they begin to look for dishes that suit their health concerns, they’re also looking for restaurant menu items which amp up the dishes they already know and love.

Making up 26 percent of the total U.S. population, and harnessing $2.1 trillion in spending power, this generation is one you can’t afford to miss.

Flavors Baby Boomers Are Craving

Though not typically adventurous eaters, boomers tend to favor traditional beef, pork, and seafood dishes on restaurant foodservice operation menus. But that doesn’t mean that these dishes have to be bland or boring. Amp up the flavor on your menu with these favorites:

Ranch and Caesar dressings. These classic dressings are a can’t-miss opportunity on your menu. Whether using them to top traditional house or Caesar salads, or using them to top a signature house creation, it’s the creamy, familiar flavors that boomers crave. You can even use them to marinade poultry dishes, or make your own homemade version of these dressings to serve on your menu.

Hot sauce, buffalo wing sauce. From macaroni and cheese and bar-style wings, to chicken meatballs and turkey burgers, the possibilities to add hot sauces, or buffalo wing sauces to your menu are endless. Serve up buffalo chicken meatballs with a ranch dressing dipping cup and you’ll not only be offering a bold, flavorful dish, you’ll be marrying two boomer favorites in one.

Herbal, savory seasonings. Seasonings can add a depth of flavor to your dish, whether it’s a traditional meatloaf, salmon, or a plate of warm fries. From rosemary, dill, tarragon, oregano, or any other herb seasoning, adding a savory note to a variety of dishes can create a craveable flavor that boomers love.

Jalapeno, chipotle peppers. Jalapenos and their smoke-dried variation, the chipotle pepper, may owe their rise to popularity with baby boomers due to the love of barbecue - everything from ribs to the addition of barbecue sauces on burgers, sandwiches, and even pizzas. Technomic Inc. found that chipotle alone appeared on menus 82 percent of the time over the course of 2013, with this trend only expected to rise over the next few years.

Tangy Asian flavors. Teriyaki, sesame ginger, sweet and sour, and even spicy Sriracha can be added to a variety of dishes to suit the boomers’ craving for tangy Asian flavors on restaurant foodservice operation menus. From salad dressings to marinades, the ability to add Asian-inspired flavors to your dishes open up a wide world of possibilities.

Boomer Favorite Foods

More than 69 percent of baby boomers say that they would be happy to eat burgers and pizza once every 90 days, according to Technomic, Inc. But their favorite foods are far from constricted to these two, below are the foods they would be happy to order regularly, and the percentage of boomers who would do so:

Seafood/Fish - 63%
Chinese - 60%
Sandwiches (other than burgers) - 60%
Mexican - 58%
Barbecue - 57%
Salads - 56%
Beef dishes - 55%
Breakfast foods - 55%
Chicken dishes (other than fried) - 54%
Pasta - 45%
Fried Chicken - 41%

While boomers are the traditional meat-and-potato lovers, their tastes are anything but boring. Use a variety of savory herbs and bold spices to amp up the dishes on your menu, and offer an infusion of healthy salads, and you’re sure to create something that boomers will not only love, they’ll crave.

Foods Boomers love that Millennials won’t touch

Peredniankina via Getty Images

Condensed soup

Homemade soup is a soothing, comforting meal that’s easy to whip up in just a few minutes — which explains why Millennials have stopped stocking their cabinets with this inferior product. You won’t catch young people cooking dinner by adding water to these already flavorless soups.

Famartin via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0

They’re more likely to lean toward bone broth from the local butcher, or pho from the trendy Vietnamese place down the street. When it comes to eating soup at home … many still reach for instant ramen, sometimes topped with an egg or some fresh veggies. It’s super cheap, nostalgic, and always hits the spot.

Vienna sausages

Can we, as a society, agree to move on from sausage in a can? These creepy cylindrical snacks are filled with sodium, their texture is weird, and they just look gross. What dish involves these that wouldn’t be better off with some other type of meat instead?

Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

It’s no wonder that these mystery meat monstrosities are no longer flying off the shelves. We have better options now — like literally anything else. Let’s just pretend they never existed. And to those of you who eat them straight from the can: Who hurt you?

Meatloaf

Ah yes, cheap ground beef mixed with an egg and some basic seasonings, mainly flavored with ketchup. What’s not to hate? Even when you try to spice it up with things like bacon or cheese, it’s still just a brick of generically flavored meat.

LauriPatterson via Getty Images

Surely that same ground beef would be put to so much better use if it were made into chili, burgers, or tacos! Even the name of this dish is underwhelming. Meat. Loaf. Sounds appetizing, no? No. No, it does not. Millennials, it seems, are inclined to agree.

Breakfast cereal

Most breakfast cereals are overpriced junk, and there are so many better options out there. It’s hardly a surprise that they’ve waned in popularity with recent generations. Back in the day, a bowl of Frosted Flakes and milk was considered a popular “balanced” breakfast.

jirkaejc via Getty Images

Health-conscious Millennials, when they opt for breakfast, splurge on some satisfying avocado toast — which is more affordable than people think, especially when it’s prepared at home. The healthy fats in avocados keep you feeling full far longer than a bowl of sugary cereal would.

Fruitcake

Honestly, most Millennials aren’t overly jazzed about most types of cakes, but fruitcake has to be the worst offender when it comes to overly sweet, dense desserts. These edible bricks are usually packed with syrupy, gummy “fruit” bits dyed in bright colors, more reminiscent of soap than actual food.

NWphotoguy via Getty Images

Also, if you hate fruitcake, I’ve got terrible news for you: It basically lasts forever without spoiling due to its high alcohol content. Some folks have been known to keep “enjoying” the same hunk of fruitcake for YEARS by regularly dousing it in booze. Younger foodies prefer to eat cakes that were baked at least this month.

Watergate salad

A bowl of this mint-green goop may have been a welcome sight at potlucks of the past, but these days, you’d raise some eyebrows with this vintage dish. A cloying combo of pistachio pudding, whipped topping, canned pineapple, marshmallows, and nuts makes for a pretty unappealing dessert.

Mr.Atoz via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0

Historical rumors say that Richard Nixon soothed his frayed nerves with a big bowl of this glop during the political scandal of the same name, but there’s no actual evidence to prove it (unlike with the scandal itself). Regardless of its historical value, we’ll take a pass on actually consuming the fluffy green stuff.

Canned vegetables

Vegetables can be some of the most delicious gifts Mother Nature has to offer, but they get a bad rap — and we think canned veggies are to blame. They take freshly grown produce, drown it in water, and seal it away in a metal can for months. Obviously, it’s never going to taste the same as it once did.

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We get that canned veggies were the perfect solution when resources were scarce, but with modern-day farming techniques and field-to-table programs like CSAs, Millennials see no reason to eat limp, soggy vegetables that taste faintly of aluminum. They’d prefer some freshly picked lettuce, just-harvested beans, or even flash-frozen broccoli, please and thank you.

Fruit cocktail

This is just another example of abusing nature’s bounty by soaking it in water (or worse, syrup) just to make it shelf-stable. Crunchy-sweet pears turn into an unrecognizable mush, peaches become slippery and slimy, and don’t even get us started on the “cherries” they sometimes include.

David J via Flickr/CC BY 2.0

Though the fruit cocktail has long been a staple ingredient of so-called “classic” recipes, the younger generation is opting for fresh or frozen alternatives, without the added sugar. For a Millennial, a “fruit cocktail” is probably better defined as a White Claw with a slice of lime in it.

Cottage cheese

Now, Millennials do love their cheeses. They’ve been known to shell out big bucks on local fruit and cheese platters at brunch, or pick up a spendy wedge of artisanal aged cheddar from the deli counter at Whole Foods to pair with a nice wine and crackers.

USDA via Flickr/Public Domain

However, when it comes to the watery, lumpy concoction of curds that is cottage cheese — they’re not buying it the way their predecessors did. Maybe they’re still traumatized from being forced to eat it in their childhoods, usually paired with some equally unappetizing fruit cocktail. Whatever the reason, we won’t miss it.

Margarine/Oleo

Margarine was invented to be a lower-cost option when butter was in short supply, and while it’ll do the trick in a pinch, real, creamy butter just can’t be beat. Millennials know even plant-based butters blow this fake, flavorless stuff out of the water.

Gingagi via Getty Images

It’s also been touted as a healthier option because it contains less saturated fat, but some margarine can contain trans fat, which can lower “good” cholesterol levels. When given the choice between a tub of solidified oil and a tub of butter, we know what we’ll be choosing to top our toast with.

Canned pasta

Sure, we all loved those über-processed “pasta” concoctions at one point in our lives, but now that we have grown-up taste buds, it’s hard to imagine wasting precious calories on something as mundane as ravioli from a can.

BWFolsom via Getty Images

Especially when we know how truly delicious a well-prepared Italian dish can be — imagining eating a plate of this mushy, bland slop pretending to be pasta sounds unbearable. Give us a simple pot of spaghetti over this any day. Not even garlic bread can save this travesty of a meal.

Canned/packaged tuna

Among the bevy of products Millennials are said to have “killed” is the humble can of tuna, a classic staple of sandwiches and casseroles from years past. People claim that they’re too lazy to open a can, or that they don’t even own can openers (presumably they killed those, too).

Marco Verch Professional Photographer and Speaker via Flickr/CC BY 2.0

Though it’s true Millennials aren’t big on canned foods, we’re thinking the more likely reason they avoid tuna is the sky-high mercury content in commercially produced fish. Perhaps it’s the fact that overfishing is depleting our oceans’ ecosystems at an alarming rate? Or maybe — just maybe, canned tuna is gross.

Processed cheese product

What even is this stuff? It’s supposed to be cheese-like, but they can’t even legally refer to it as such. From the kind that comes in a gelatinous brick to the individually wrapped plasticky slices, the younger generation is abandoning “cheese product” for more delicious (and edible) options.

PeRshGo via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0

On its own, this mystery loaf is bland at best. Some vintage recipes, unsatisfied with fake cheese being merely unpleasant, combined it with things like chocolate, pineapple, and even peanut-butter-and-pickle sandwiches to make it a truly horrendous nightmare meal.

Bologna

Bologna may have one of the catchiest jingles of all time, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that it’s basically the garbage disposal of meats. Take all the bits of meat that you can’t possibly sell on their own, grind them into a paste, form a log, and slice that bad boy up — you’ve got yourself some bologna.

The_Termayonator via Reddit

Do we even need to explain why Millennials won’t eat this lamentable lunch meat? If it weren’t bad enough on its own, we’ve seen it combined with layers of mayo and spray cheese (offensive in their own right) to make an abomination called Bologna Cake. We’re sorry you had to see this.

Mayonnaise

Something about this condiment causes major tension across the generations. Mayo seems to be a main ingredient in nearly every vintage-era recipe we could find, from so-called “salads” to the objectively horrifying Bologna Cake.

Tom Kelley Archive via Getty Images

The viscous spread is rapidly declining in popularity among younger consumers, and it’s mainly because they consider the texture and contents to be pretty gross. Surprisingly though, “aioli” is on the rise, which those in the know will recognize as nothing more than fancy mayonnaise dressed up with some spices. Just don’t make a cake out of it, we beg you.

Jell-O salad

Of all the crimes against deliciousness we’ve seen while researching this article, these wobbly towers from the 1950s may just be the absolute worst offenders. Young folks are turned off by this unholy combo of chunks and goo, and it’s faded from modern menus.

Wandering Magpie via Flickr/CC BY 2.0

Unlike trendy foods like charcoal lemonade or avocado toast, various vegetables and fruits adrift in a wiggly sea of gelatin is not something you’ll see at the hottest new brunch place on the block. They’re staying firmly within the pages of Great Aunt Gladys’ cookbook, thank goodness. Also, just out of curiosity, why do they always have to use GREEN Jell-O?

Liver

There’s something to be said for using every part of an animal, but the liver’s entire function is to filter toxins … do you really want to grill one up and eat it? Despite its purpose, it has long been considered a healthy food, filled with nutrients and protein.

Rodger Bosch via Getty Images

With that being said, even plenty of Baby Boomers grew up detesting the inescapable dish of liver and onions. It may be a healthy choice, but it’s hard to get over the overall “ick” factor. Nowadays, you’ll hardly ever see liver showing up on the dinner tables of Millennials, regardless of how many vitamins it contains.

American cheese slices

Despite its reputation for being plasticky, fake, and floppy, “American-style” cheese slices are still going strong among Baby Boomer shoppers. Why buy something that can’t even call itself cheese? With all the added ingredients, it’s surprising they can even call it food!

Savany via Getty Images

In addition to its status as a Frankenfood, American slices also generate a lot of plastic waste due to being individually wrapped. All the more reason to leave them behind, as an infamous footnote in culinary history.

Ham and Banana Casserole

This horrendous addition to the list of boomer foods is as repulsive as it looks. If your instinct is to gag when you see melted cheese over ham and banana, you’re perfectly human. It really boggles the mind that anyone would think to combine ham and cheese with fruit of all things.

This mid-century atrocity can be found in the McCall’s Casserole Cookbook, which is chock-full of cringeworthy concoctions. Believe it or not, this dish even made its way onto the Food Network in Paula Deen show.

Aspics

Not only are these some of the most off-putting flavor combinations out there, but they even look like a science experiment gone wrong. They’re intended to be “fancy” dinner party dishes that show off the colorful ingredients inside, but the effect is far from appealing for most modern tastes.

Peredniankina via Getty Images

They’re essentially meat stock-based jelly packed with “savory” ingredients like mixed vegetables (probably from a can, ick) and chunks of protein like hard-boiled eggs, seafood, or nondescript meats. We’re happy to leave this wobbly mess in the pages of vintage cookbooks forever, thanks.

Miracle Whip

If regular mayonnaise wasn’t enough to make most Millennials’ skin crawl, Miracle Whip will certainly do the trick. It was invented in 1933 and debuted at the Chicago World’s Fair as a dressing for those weird creamy “salad” dishes that seemed to be so popular back then.

Jamie via Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0

It has all the goopy texture of mayonnaise with an added “tang” that is supposed to set it apart. It does, in a way that most young folks find overly sweet and just kind of gross. Much like its cousin mayonnaise, Millennials are leaving Miracle Whip on the shelf.

Frozen dinners

Do you love limp, flavorless food that’s only over- or undercooked? Well then, do we have just the meal for you! TV dinners were once thought to be the “food of the future,” freeing ’50s homemakers from the tedious chore of prepping and cleaning up after dinner each night.

Twitter via @Super70sSports

We now know that these disappointing dishes served in plastic trays are not only high in sodium and always have one section that’s still cold in the middle, but they’re also lacking in flavor compared to their home-cooked counterparts. Kinda sad, if you ask us.

National-brand beer

It’s no secret that craft beer has taken the world by storm. Millennials in particular have come to favor a thoughtfully made, artisanal brew over your typical canned lager. National brands, like the BBQ standbys of the older days you’d find in your uncle’s cooler, are the beers of the past.

Dorisall via Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

We don’t see this trend changing any time soon, as the craft beer boom is far from over. Expect to see more and more microbrews hitting the market as Millennials continue to dictate the whims of the beverage market. Not a bad thing, if you ask us.

McDonald’s

The Golden Arches have not adapted well to the changing times, and it shows. Their prices keep getting higher for the same subpar food, and the younger generation has responded by choosing to eat elsewhere.

BrokenSphere via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0

Not only do they have a shocking lack of plant-based choices in this modern time, but the food they do have is disappointing and far from fresh. While Boomers were impressed by the burgers and fries back in the day, it’ll take more than a generic patty and oversalted fries to win the hearts of Millennials.

Spam

Spam was originally created as a wartime food, engineered to keep meat edible by stuffing it with so much salt and preservatives it would basically never go bad. It became super popular after WWII, mainly due to its convenience.

Ll1324 via Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

These days, it’s not quite the hit it used to be. Young people are turned off by its ambiguously meaty qualities and the fact that it lasts almost literally forever in a can. Mystery meats, in general, don’t fare well with Millennials … and we can’t blame them.

Artificial sweeteners

When artificial sweeteners were first discovered, they were a big hit. You could have all the sweetness of sugar with none of the negative side effects (i.e., weight gain and tooth decay). That was, of course, until we discovered all the negative side effects.

blowbackphoto via Getty Images

Artificial sweeteners are basically powdered science projects you can add to your drinks to make them taste sweet … and weird. While still a better option for diabetics than the real deal, fake sweeteners should ideally be limited as much as sugar. Millennials are realizing that a teaspoon of sugar is a far better option than 10 packets of sucralose.

Blue cheese

Blue cheese is one of those polarizing foods that people either love or detest. Not only is it pretty pungent, but it also has a lovely ribbon of straight-up mold running through it. If this sounds gross to you, you just might be a Millennial.

USDA via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0

Its sharp, tangy flavor isn’t many peoples’ cup of tea, even if you can get over its somewhat grody appearance (we can’t). Though it may be the humble hot wing’s best friend, the fact that it’s visibly moldy is turning younger diners toward ranch dressing instead.

Snack cakes

Look in any Boomer’s cupboard and you’re likely to find these old-school indulgences tucked in the corner. Once looked upon as the ultimate treat, packaged snack cakes have fallen out of favor when it comes to Millennials’ dessert choices.

NV Dave via Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

It’s easy to see why — these plastic-wrapped sugar bombs are dry, artificial-tasting, and chock-full of mystery ingredients. How exactly does one of these survive for years on end without spoiling? All we know is, we probably don’t want to eat it. Sorry, Little Debbie.

Fish sticks

Granted, this was the only way many kids’ parents could get them to eat fish of any kind as a child, but the whole idea kind of creeps us out now that we’re old enough to know what’s going on. Cheap fish, highly processed and deep-fried, does not sound like an ideal meal.

Griffin24 via Getty Images

Though they were the hot new thing after WWII, we’ve since realized that there are far better ways to enjoy fish, and far better types of fish to enjoy. Cheap remnants of various types of white fish are far from our idea of a delicious seafood dinner.

Whipped topping

“Let’s take something that’s normally delicious and make it fat-free!” It seems to be a common theme in foods that Millennials just won’t touch. Fake, overly processed foods just aren’t impressing the taste buds of the younger generations, and whipped topping is no exception.

Doug Waldron via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.0

It’s basically sweetened oil, furiously stirred until it becomes solid, and it’s a poor, chemical-loaded substitute for actual whipped cream. Some of us were even tricked into thinking frozen fat-free whipped topping was a replacement for ice cream as children, and maybe we’re still bitter about it.

Chain restaurants

One staple of the Boomer diet is the family-style chain restaurant, serving up comfort foods in a friendly, predictable environment — just like grandma used to! Millennials, on the other hand, prefer their home-cooked food to be home-cooked. Who could have known?

Joe_Potato via Getty Images

When they go out to eat, they like to try buzzworthy new trends or the hottest spot in town. In other words, they’re looking for an experience they can’t get at home! Whether it’s clever cocktail mixology or an inspired new dish they’re after, you won’t find them at the local chain diner.

What baby boomers like and how they buy, X, Y and Z - Retail in Ukraine

Baby boomers, X, Y and Z: marketing communications with different generations. What baby boomers, X, Y and Z like and buy, says Maria Lozhko, Creative Writer at Depositphotos for MMR.

You can deny the validity of the theory of generations, but you cannot deny the existence of the generations themselves with their baggage of cultural context and consumer habits.

The team of Depositphotos, a platform that has been helping photographers and artists to sell images for 10 years, and designers and marketers to use them to sell products, decided to share their experience and observations with clients of different age groups. Who is more profitable to sell - baby boomers, generations X, Y or Z? What do you need to know about them in 2020? Hints below.

Basics. Who names the generations?

At the beginning of the last century, Karl Mannheim defined what a "generation" is. In his opinion, people of the same age, cultural environment and historical context belong to him.

A few decades later, the Americans Neil Howe and William Strauss (authors of the "generation theory") specified that generations are updated every 20 years, and, among other things, their representatives should be united by beliefs and behaviors. The theory of scientists is set out in the book "Generations: a history of the future of America, 1584-2069”, where Americans describe all generations, starting with the Arthurian (born in 1433-1460) and ending with the late millennials.

Why are generations important? In 2020, your customers can be representatives of four living and active groups: baby boomers, X, Y or Z. At the same time, Z, the youngest and wealthiest buyers, account for the lion's share of the market. Their consumer habits determine the market, and their outlook on life determines the trends of advertising campaigns. But not everything is so simple.

Baby Boomers

age - from 60 to 77 years
communication channel - television and print ads

Baby boomers were born from the 1940s to the 1960s, they are the great-grandparents of the millennials. In the absence of global television and, moreover, the Internet, the cultural context of these people is diverse. The only unifying factor is post-war optimism and television.

In their youth, Baby Boomers were full, cheerful and fearless. They are characterized by a "psychology of winners." Baby Boomers' desire to rebel has spawned powerful countercultural movements (think hippies, the sexual revolution, and psychedelic art).

American Boomers were influenced by Andy Warhol, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elvis and the Rolling Stones. The Baby Boomers of the USSR (“cold war generation”) were inspired by the first human flight into space, among their cultural idols mostly dissidents.

Interestingly, most of the baby boomers later turned out to be avid conservatives. In adulthood, these people worked hard to get a home and provide for their families, stayed at one job for many years and almost did not rest.

How to sell

In 2017, baby boomers in the US were still a significant group of consumers (over 72 million), but they were buying relatively little. Baby boomers are rational consumers who rarely make emotional purchases. They are guided by a long-established moral code, according to which every thing has a value, and every purchase must be considered.

To sell to baby boomers, it is worth investing in their traditional information channels - television and print. Advertising messages for them should be aimed at combating the belief "I can do without this thing, as I have done all these years."

Generation X (MTV kids)

age - from 59 to 39 years old
communication channel - television and advertising on the Internet

The last witnesses to the world before the advent of the Internet, generation X was born from 1961 to 1981. These are the parents of millennials. They are also called the "independent" generation, since the parents of the "X" disappeared for days at work .

Most Gen Xers returned from school to empty homes with televisions, spending more time with siblings and neighbors. In adolescence, they were addicted to the motley content of MTV or (in the Soviet version) figures of the cultural underground. During the formation of generation X in our region, the collapse of the USSR took place. Western generation X saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Prague Spring and the war in Yugoslavia.

Generation X's core value is choice. Children of MTV and their foreign peers are self-sufficient and pragmatic, they highly value personal freedom and are used to fighting for happiness alone.

How to sell

Generation X is the smallest market segment in many countries. This is due to zero population growth in the 60s, significant divorce rates and political instability. Three years ago, there were only 65 million X's in the US.

Many members of Generation X are indifferent to material possessions and cautious in choosing the necessary goods. The only niche in which the bet on the "X" is justified is travel, gastronomy and cultural entertainment , since, unlike the baby boomers, these people maintain a balance between work and leisure.

Generation X brought up personal computers. Television is still the main source of entertainment and information, however, almost a third of the viewing of shows and films occurs for modern "x" on the Internet. Advertising campaigns aimed at them should be made hybrid.

Generation Y (early millennials)

age - from 24 to 38 years old
communication channel - social networks, influencers

Millennials were born between 1982 and 2004 according to Howe and Strauss. But discrepancies are also possible. For example, the Pew Research Center calls generation Y those born before 1996, claiming that 1997 marked the arrival of generation Z. The second approach is more popular, although it contradicts the "generation theory" with its 20-year step.

Generation X was the first to master computers, but early millennials grew up in a world where life without gadgets - be it a phone or a computer - no longer existed . Not surprisingly, most of these people are tech-savvy.

In addition to technology, the children of the Internet were affected by the global economic crisis and the political instability of their time . As a result, they grew up even more distrustful of the world around them than their predecessors, moreover, they are extremely self-centered (sometimes called the “I-generation”) and are more likely to spend money on themselves.

How to sell

Early millennials are willing to invest in themselves, try out different professional roles and try new things. A significant item of expenditure for millennials is education, self-development, fashion and entertainment (including tourism).

Social networks are an integral part of millennial life and the main channel of communication with them for marketers. It is better to give preference to non-traditional advertising, and influencers , as millennials only believe the words of those they know well.

Another interesting detail. About 70% of Generation Y suffer from Lost Profit Syndrome (FOMO) . This is actively used by marketers: on Facebook or Instagram, a couple of catchy lines in the spirit of “the last day of the sale” can easily make a millennial want to consume.

Generation Z (late millennials)

ages 7 to 23
communication channel - interactive in social networks, personalized user-generated content

If we agree that 1996 was the last year in which representatives of generation Y were born, it turns out that generation Z is people born between 1997 and 2012. However, there is no generally accepted boundary here.

The older Gen Zs are turning 23 in 2020, and the younger ones are still in school. Gen Z is synthetic, partly composed of Gen Xers and young millennials. This is partly why the Zetas are so numerous: there are more than 90 million millennials in the US alone!

Millennials have more purchasing power than any generation in history. It is about $44 billion a year and continues to grow, which makes them so attractive to marketers.

How to sell

Generation Z grew up and matured in the era of high-speed Internet and smart technologies, so digital marketing is the only possible way to attract the attention of these consumers. Amazing statistic from WP Engine: 27% of Generation Z are able to be offline for no more than an hour. And, fortunately for sales teams, almost a quarter of “late millennials” are willing to provide companies with personal information to personalize the content on their platforms. Worth taking note!

The Randstad study also confirmed that Generation Z values honesty most, both in personal and commercial contexts . In other words, the more open a brand is in communicating with millennials, the more likely it is to buy.

photo: Depositphotos

how to hook an audience of 50+ — Marketing on vc.ru

There is a well-known myth that millennials buy only on the Internet, while baby boomers prefer exclusively offline.

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Each generation has its own values, its own buying scenarios, and they need to be taken into account when creating advertising content for different ages. Today we will talk about the 50+ audience with the owner and founder of 8Bit Group Denis Lagutenko.

People who are now about 50 were born before the age of the Internet. They studied from books, searched for information in libraries, processed large volumes of text, analyzed. These guys have lived through the experience of maximum media trust and the collapse of this trust. They mastered the Internet because in modern society they can’t go anywhere without it, but, honestly, they won’t be bored without the World Wide Web.

However, baby boomers use the Internet, make purchases there, which means that it is necessary to properly build communication with this audience. Moreover, its main advantage is stability: if you like the product and the store, baby boomers will come back again and again.

Product quality

This is the first and main criterion by which baby boomers make a purchase decision. “The trendiness of the brand, the environmental or social responsibility of the manufacturing company, the stylish presentation of the goods will not help if the advertising message does not prove its high quality,” says Denis Lagutenko. - „Follow the link and see how our cows are kept. Their health guarantees the excellent taste of our milk”; “The robot simulating landing on a chair performed its operation 15,000 times - the chair does not creak or break”; – examples of proper communication, conveying the idea of product quality”

Text

Baby boomers consider comics and graphics to be a frivolous tool for presenting information, they prefer texts. The content should be written in an understandable language, without the use of youth slang, foreign words and industry-specific Swahili. Life hack for a copywriter: read your text aloud, if something is difficult to pronounce, cuts the ear or confuses, you need to rewrite it. The 50+ audience wants to skim through the page and evaluate whether the product or service is useful to them or not. If they want to read, they will choose a book (paper!) and not a website.

Design

Yes, the baby boomer generation is not as sensitive to pictures as, for example, millennials. But this does not mean that the design of an advertising banner or website does not matter. Font size and contrast are important. With age, vision deteriorates, and aesthetic exercises like white calligraphy on a light beige background will not be appreciated by the audience.

The text should be readable, structured, visible, moderately contrasting. Otherwise, the audience will leave and not return. The banner or website should not be too bright - neon colors irritate the eyes. The baby boomer audience is not accustomed to associating themselves with ideal images, therefore, to promote a product / service, it is better to use photos with real people, and not European age photo models. So there will be more trust, because the photos show clear characters who can be neighbors, acquaintances or friends. Information on how to receive the goods should be presented as accessible as possible: one-click delivery, step-by-step payment instructions - friendly navigation will help keep older customers.