Brent Bouchez

Articles by Brent All articles by Brent

• What Happened To Aspiration?  in Engage:Boomers on 11/15/2010
  

  I have more aspiration than ever before. Different aspirations, yes. But aspiration is aspiration, no matter what it's for. And it's positive, it's something I'm looking forward to, it's something I can and will do because I want to.

• When It Comes To The Economy, It's The Boomers, Stupid  in Engage:Boomers on 09/20/2010
  

  Eighty million consumers earning $2.5 trillion annually with 2.5 times the discretionary spending power of any other group, holding 75% of the nation's current wealth and standing to inherit between $14 and $20 trillion over the next 20 years seems to me like a group worth targeting by marketers.

• Excitement Or Peacefulness?  in Engage:Boomers on 07/19/2010
  

  If your ad is truly targeted at the group in their 20's and 30's, you're making a critical decision. You're not just saying your brand is all about the younger group, you're also very clearly saying that your brand is not for the older group. You're saying, "Ignore this ad," to nearly 100 million consumers. You're saying, "Don't buy our product," to the group with the most disposable income on the planet.

• How Many Buying Cycles Do You Have Left? in Engage:Boomers on 05/17/2010
  

  A friend of mine was recently in Detroit pitching a medium that targets boomers. A very nice marketing woman who will remain nameless remarked that while she loved the medium and the content, her brand didn't communicate "to people over age 50 because they don't have a lot of buying cycles left in them."

• Was It Something I Said?  in Engage:Boomers on 03/15/2010
  

  The shocker was the number of comments that were negative. Many people actually took the time to not just disagree, but to disagree virulently.

• Who Shall Be First?  in Marketing Daily on 01/07/2010
  

  I believe there must be one. One CMO who will step up and step forward. One who will ignore the fear and accept the risk.

• Take Me To Your CFO  in Engage:Boomers on 09/21/2009
  

  Today, I'm going to bite the hand that feeds me. Actually, not so much the hand, more like the whole arm and part of the shoulder. Why? Because I'm addressing this article not to the Chief Marketing Officers of the world, the people who would normally hire me, I'm addressing it to the Chief Financial Officers.

• Thinking Ahead: Can't Be Done  in Engage:Boomers on 07/13/2009
  

  Boomers are constantly evolving, and turning 50 is affecting them in ways never seen before because it is the demarcation of a new and uncharted life stage. A life stage you can't understand at 25 or 30 or even 40.

• Maybe Peter Pan Should Move To Madison Avenue in Engage:Boomers on 06/22/2009
  

  Boomers have become smart, savvy, worldly, respected and ready for the next chapter of their lives. And they want to be marketed to in a way that understands and respects not who they were, but who they are.

Comments by Brent All comments by Brent

• Holiday Shopping Plans Are Generations Apart by Bob Shullman (Engage:Affluent on 10/01/2014)
  

  Am I not reading correctly? The headline alludes to generational differences but I didn't see any reporting on that. Maybe I missed it?

• Acura Bats For Fences With 'Made For Mankind' by Karl Greenberg (Marketing Daily on 06/24/2013)
  

  Made for Mankind? Maybe, maaayyyybeeee if it were for Tesla...

• Does 'Boomer' Now Mean 'Old'? by Stephen Reily (Engage:Boomers on 03/11/2013)
  

  Our research has shown that there is little to no upside in the term "boomer". Very few people who are boomers want to be referred to that way...it's a moniker that was applied to us by people who came before us...people who really didn't understand us. The one thing that we know for sure about the group of people that are now between 50 and 65 is that they are fiercely independent, that's how they grew-up...not wanting to be categorized or labeled by anyone. In many ways, as Stephen points out, "boomer" has become pejorative in it's use, especially by the younger groups. So why use it? And perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind if you make your living marketing to consumers over 50, is the fact that next year, GenX consumers will start turning 50...at Five0 we want our business to be about a life stage that many will be joining for years to come, not about a one-time demographic group.

• AutoHop Suit To Be Tried Mostly In California by Phyllis Fine (Around the Net In Media on 07/10/2012)
  

  Do you people understand that without commercials, the shows don't get produced? Where do you think the production money and the money to pay the talent comes from? At some point, someone has to pay for the shows, they're not free. The long-term result of watching television and skipping commercials is advertisers moving to other media and networks not producing shows any longer. In other words, nothing to watch. Ask the folks at PBS what it's like to make commercial-free TV...and how many of their shows are scheduled to record on your DVR? Should the New York Times not have ads? That would make the paper cost about $25 an issue...and most people already think it's too expensive at $2. Oh and by the way, without commercials, CBS, FOX, NBC, CNN and the others won't be able to bring you the news anymore. But I'm sure you can find everything you need to know on Huffington Post...oh wait, without ads, AOL doesn't exist either.

• The 18-49 Bad Habit by Gary Holmes (TV Board on 02/28/2012)
  

  Unfortunately, over delivering 50+ is the argument that gets made all the time and it doesn't hold water. Over delivering with messages crafted for a younger audience delivers nothing. Our research shows that most people over 50 feel they are ignored by advertisers. This isn't because they don't see the ads, they do. It's because the ads aren't relevant to them and the lives they lead today. The real issue isn't media numbers, it's messaging. People over 50 think differently than people in their 20's and 30's. They've been around, they've learned more, experienced more and they have different desires in life. The job of agencies has never been to just buy the right demo, it has been to craft advertising that will be persuasive to that demo. Pretending that everyone over 50 still thinks like a 30 year-old is a big mistake. I can't tell you how much my life and lifestyle has changed since I was 30...and today's 30 year-olds are different still. More unemployed, more likely to be living with parents, more likely to be in heavy debt. Their perspective on life, their needs from products and services aren't anything like those of someone in their late 40's or 50's. I'm not saying don't advertise to them, you just can't expect the ad you make for the 30 somethings to have any affect whatsoever on the 50 somethings. How many people over 50 reading this article find most advertising juvenile and without any real message? 30 somethings tend to like that kind of ad. 50 somethings, on the other hand, are saying "tell me something about your product, tell me why I should buy it, inform me." It's time to get the right messages to the right audiences...especially the audience with all the money and all the buying power...today and for the next decade at least.

• Neiman Marcus Preps Foursquare Challenge by Tanya Gazdik (Marketing Daily on 09/29/2011)
  

  Is anyone going to ask the obvious question? Does this sound like something that goes with the Neiman Marcus brand? A scavenger hunt? Really? I'm sure it will draw a crowd...but does it send the right message about a luxury brand? As oneconsumer who really likes NM, I would say no.

• BMW: Multi-tier, Multi-year Sponsorship Of Team USA by Karl Greenberg (Marketing Daily on 07/27/2011)
  

  Not to be overly jingoistic, but isn't BMW still a German car company headquartered in Munich and traded on the German and Swiss stock exchanges? I can understand wanting to be a sponsor of the Olympics and spending a lot on media in and around the games...but sponsoring the U.S. Team? Something about that just doesn't feel right to me.

• Toyota's Venza Walks Line Between Boomers, Gen Y by Karl Greenberg (Marketing Daily on 07/07/2011)
  

  Toyota is realizing that we live in a different world than we did 30 years ago when the "rules" about targeting were written. Today, people 50+ buy 65% of all new cars. Now that they've got the target right, Toyota needs to work on the messaging. The older people in these spots still appear to be the classic casting "gray hairs" and the fact that they are out mountain biking is another cliche. Even the idea about changing over the kids room is a bit out of touch, a lot of these people have kids who have moved back home after college or even kids who are still in middle-school. What Toyota needs now is an agency that gets this target and is populated by people who are the target. You can't ask someone who is 35 to create spots for people in their 50's, they just can't get it. We have a built-in bias against aging when we are younger, Boomer Project did a poll among advertising agency employees that showed that younger people thought of people who were "over the hill" as anyone over age 57. People over 50, on the other hand, said "over the hill" was over 75. How can someone who thinks 57 is really old crate great advertising for that group?The other thing Toyota is forgetting is that this isn't a boomer story, it's a life-stage story. It's about entering a new phase and a new chapter after age 50. Toyota and others need to keep in mind that in less than 5 years, GenX'rs will be turning 50. Forget the word boomer.To learn more about creating the right messaging for the 50+ group, talk to Agency Five0. We do it every day and our partners have been seriously involved with BMW, Porsche, Mercedes Benz, Acura, Chevy, Harley-Davidson and more, so if it's cars you want to talk about, you won't find people with more experience.

• Ford Takes A 'Bold' Step To Reach Boomers by Matt Thornhill (Engage:Boomers on 06/30/2011)
  

  I really wanted to read this article...but the type was too small. I think it was about selling cars though. And any car marketers who read it and agree, should contact Agency Five0. The partners there have worked on BMW, Mercedes Benz, Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Porsche and Harley Davidson. One of the founders actually helped to launch the Acura brand in the US. In other words, no agency of any kind, let alone a boomer-focused agency, has the kind of automotive marketing experience that the team at Five0 has. Two things Matt didn't mention: In 2010, people 50+ accounted for 63% of all new car sales and leases. Up from 56% in 2008. The average American household buys 13 cars in it's lifetime. 7 of them after the head of household turns 50. Yes, more than half of the cars we buy in our lives, we buyafter the age of 50. And yet, we have heard car marketers say (truly) "We don't target consumers over 50 because they don't have a lot of buying cycles left." I can tell you that the person who said that doesn't work atFord, so maybe Ford should run it as a quote in a full-page ad with a credit for the person at their competition who did say it.

• Land Rover Lets People Evoke Their Evoque by Karl Greenberg (Marketing Daily on 05/06/2011)
  

  So, I'm not going to sugar-coat it any longer. This is the dumbest idea I have ever heard of. Who are the people who are willing to pay $46,000+ for a Range Rover who have the time or inclination to tell Henry what to do? Please show them to me...really, I want to meet them. Henry is a hapless twit. He's what, 25? He wakes up at 10 in a bad apartment and walks to his destinations. He can't afford a Vespa, let alone a Range Rover. Has this client never heard of something called aspiration? What's in the vehicle? Why should I consider it? What does Henry have to do with anything? Why should I care?Last year, the average car buyer in America was 56 years old. Yes, 56. The car company that is in the most trouble post-recession is Scion, a brand built for youth. 18 to 30 is the group with the highest level of unemployment while the 50+ group has the lowest. It seems to me that Range Rover would do a lot better to ensure that it's reaching every SUV buyer over 40 with a smart, convincing message instead of trying to build games for slackers without bank accounts.

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