• Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, May 9, 2006 12:30 PM

In the latest trend, marketers are trying to kill two birds with one stone by targeting two separate and distinct demographic groups with their advertising efforts. Honda Motor Co. is at the forefront of the movement with ads for its new subcompact called the Fit. Some Fit ads appear in youth-oriented niche publications like Filter music magazine while others have been placed in Time and similar titles with older readerships. Television commercials for the Fit feature cartoon characters such as a "speedy demon" that appeal to the young but evoke 1970s comic books, says David Smith, creative director for RPA, Honda's ad agency. "We want to appeal to the Gen Y buyer, but we also wanted to let empty-nesters know that the car is available," says Thomas Peyton, senior manager of national advertising for Honda. The Japanese automaker is not alone. General Motors is also trying for a generational twofer with new ads for its Chevy Aveo coming out this summer. Chevy is putting together a nontraditional campaign focused on viral marketing that will also appeal to boomers, according to Cheryl Catton, marketing director for GM's Chevy. Catton added that the divide between so-called Generation Y and the Baby Boomers isn't that great and that the two population sets overlap to a degree in terms of their wants, needs and outlook on life--allowing marketers to create campaigns that appeal to both. "Everybody wants to stay young, including boomers," she says. "There are blurred lines."

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal »