Creative directors of the future will be required to challenge their own prejudices of aging while communicating with Boomers. Unfortunately for them, most of the hotshots in the field are just too young to understand or empathize with Boomers, and that will be their downfall.

Baby Boomers hold 77% of the U.S. wealth and they spend 15 hours per week online -- two hours longer than teenagers each week

Sex sells, right? It's an adage as old as... well, far older than any of the consumers marketers typically seem to apply it to. When it comes to younger demographics, brands have used sex to sell everything from cars to toilet paper.

It's time for the financial world to start marketing to women -- Boomer women, in particular. And at the same time, it's time for women to take a more active and aggressive role in their retirement planning. With the economy and stock market showing signs of life, there should be a sense of urgency for all involved.

Contemporary theories of marketing are increasingly defined in the context of collaborative relationships between a marketer and consumers that operate on behalf of meeting needs of the latter. But honoring this idea is often problematic because a continuing focus on sales quotas pressure marketing and sales staff to concentrate more on making deals than on helping people meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations.

Boomers are proudly individualistic. They defy stereotyping, because they're ... well ...defiant. Always have been. They seem to have been born to rebel, but it might be more accurate to say that they were raised with a strong sense of entitlement.

There are 43 million Americans who care for elderly loved ones. These family caregivers, many of whom are "sandwich generation" moms busy juggling their own working and family lives, are responsible for making decisions about products and services for elderly family members. Compare this with 2 million brides and 4 million new mothers, and you can see that caregivers are a huge, and growing, market.

Generally, I share quantitative consumer research and insights that inform marketing strategy in this space; today, I want to look at the role of socio-cultural influences and how that shapes consumers. Specifically, mature consumers and their relationship to social strategy.

No matter what the media say, spend more time in 2011 thinking about the 54-year old Boomer than the 65-year old Boomer. You'll gain more business with her, and you'll be better positioned to serve Gen X when its first member turns 50.

Looking to the past for motivation, the present for strength, and the inevitable for inspiration.