• Ad Age, Thursday, March 30, 2006 11:45 AM

Marketers spending billions of dollars targeting the 18-to-34 demographic group are spending their money in the wrong place. That was the message from well-known demographer Ken Dychtwald, who told a gathering of advertisers and media buyers in Manhattan this week that they should instead be targeting older consumers found in the 40-60 year old bracket. "As an outsider, I see a situation where the boundaries and lines of demarcation don't effectively line up with the new market opportunities and lead people to mistakenly believe it's a snapshot of the marketplace," he said. If marketers turned their focus to audiences in segments of 18-to-39, 40-to-59 and 60-plus, he said, they would find "a landscape that's breathtaking." He also admonished marketers who believe boomers are too set in their ways to be influenced by brand advertising. "Here's the good news and bad news," he said. "Lifelong brand loyalty is disappearing." Youth, he said, is not where marketers will find the growth, money and consumption. The 40- to 60-year-old age group comprises $2.1 trillion in spending power and they are leading spenders in categories such as movie tickets, computer hardware and software, cell phones and home electronics.

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