According to McKinsey Consulting, by 2010 50% of all consumer spending in America will be by people over the age of 50. And yet, the average age of an advertising agency creative person is 28. In fact, nationwide, less than 5% of agency personnel are over 50. The boy who never wanted to grow up would feel at home in just about any of today's advertising agencies, right alongside other young, bright, talented people whose job it is to create messages for a world of consumers who look, act and feel just like they do. In advertising parlance, it's called targeting the "sweet spot." The sweet spot is people aged 18 to 34. Ninety percent of today's marketing dollars are spent trying to reach this group. Marketers lust after them, and media companies do everything in their power to lure them to their websites, magazines, and TV channels. Which makes perfect sense. Or at least it did in 1975. Because in 1975, people 18 to 34 were smack in the middle of the baby boom. They were the sweet spot of the sweet spot, the "pig in the python," the largest group of consumers in history with the most money to spend in history. In the '70's and '80's and even some of the '90's, boomers could make or break a brand. They could also make or break an advertising agency. Thanks in large part to the baby boom, Madison Avenue found itself in a gilded age. Agencies that knew how to reach the 18-to-34 age group attracted the best clients and the most income. Along the way, 18-34 or "youth" became not only the sweet spot of marketing, it became the only spot. Unfortunately, biology being what it is, 30 years later, the "pig" has moved to the other end of the "python." Today, the boomer group is still the largest group of consumers with the most money to spend. But their average age is 53, not remotely in the sweet spot or in the sights of most marketers. If you find that surprising, the following will downright shock you: