Are boomers NOT a good ad target?

[MightyFrenchman]

I included this during a response to the post about an all psychadelic format but I want to post the thought again as its own topic. I think there's a broad generalization that people over 55 (or over 50) have fixed buying habits...that they can't be swayed by advertising. That they're simply going to continue buying the brands and services they've been buying for the last 20 years. That may have been true of baby boomers' parents and grandparents but it hasn't been true since then. The question is, how can that be proven? Once it's proven, then the 70s format can succeed.

 

[semoochie]

You'll have your 70s station by default as soon as Oldies/Classic Hits stations evolve out of the 60s. Of course, the problem with any format set after about 1970 and increasing exponentially thereafter, is that it isn't "mass appeal". It's going to be extremely difficult to attract people to non-current music as time goes on because there won't be enough commonality!

 

[Oldbones]

YIt's going to be extremely difficult to attract people to non-current music as time goes on because there won't be enough commonality!

And even harder to attract people to current music. As you said, tastes have been fragmenting since the 70s...there's almost no such thing as a mass-appeal hit song today.

 

[bobeeboxer]

We already have had 70's stations go belly up and we already have had 80's station go belly up, but 60/70s stations are still alive. I feel that as the 18-34 demo gets smaller and we know fewer and fewer 18-34 are listening to radio as they go to internet, ipod etc that advertisers will use radio to get the 35-64 demo that has money to spend and it use to be the 25-54 demo and then a station that can have a base of 65-76 with the right pre
64 and post 76 songs as added spice will grab ratings back that they have lost

 

[oldiesstation]

hope you are right..bobeeboxer.very logical..i grew up with these oldies and played them as new,that is scary...But stations are jumping off to the variety hits format.i've even thought about going to soft ac .i pitched a pgm to the local hospital ,when i told her we play oldies, i swear i thought she was going to vomit, of course she's alittle 30 year old that knows it all...there is a hole in the market for a good ac or soft ac, but our listeners and advertisers still love the station.like a catch 22, do we piss them off and change formats just to try for additional revenue.? our book was 1.3 12 plus, 3.6 18-34 and 5.6 50 plus. one thing we need to do is dump the oldies 106.9 jingles and moniker and maybe go with something like Q106.9,Super Hits of the 60's and 70's.i think the oldies name turns off some the the female demo's..working with my pd on this now.

 

[drpickle]

The boomers are closed minded artistically as they seem happy to listen to music from their era over and over but as far as advertising I believe they can still be reached and stations will be successful

 

[radiofriend1]

The boomers are closed minded artistically as they seem happy to listen to music from their era over and over but as far as advertising I believe they can still be reached and stations will be successful

has nothing to do w/being *closed minded*

people like what they like and don't bother with what they don't like------regardless of age, demo, region, race, gender

 

[drpickle]

Not true! When the kids at the bar tell me about some young emo band I may snicker but I will at least listen to them and make a decision. Back in 85 when I told folks that REM and U2 were great they never gave them the chance. In most cases the emo band sucks but I will at least listen and try to understand. The baby boomers nevre did that and never will!

 

[radiofriend1]

how do u know "they never did"??????


we could try it the other way around..............try and get a 24 yr old to check out mamas & papas or early beatles----- they hate it. they hate 50s music even more cuz it sounds like grandpa's music

so are they (the 20 somethings) closed-minded too?

 

[Radiologist]

I work for an Oldies station in a college town and I have college students all the time telling us that they listen. We're VERY heavy 70s with late 60s and early 80s in for good measure.

We also have a CHR and we'll get people coming in to pick up prizes (20-somethings) that we're sure are CHR listeners and it turns out they won on our Oldies station.

As far as the "commonality" of the music, I'd say that memory fades over time and that "commonality" will remain true with 60s/70s/80s stations for years to come. Here's an example...I was in High School in the 80s. I hated most of the music in the 80s -- especially the "Hair" bands. But, now 20-something years later, when I hear a song from the 80s, it brings back memories and I'll listen to the song.

Think about songs from the late 60s...you've got acoustic stuff like Simon & Garfunkel, Motown like the Supremes, Beatles, "hard rock" stuff like Steppenwolf. I'd argue that the music then was just as diverse as today's Top 40.

Here are the Top 10 from 1968 as an example...
1-"Judy In Disguise"-John Fred/Playboy Band
2-"Green Tambourine"-Lemon Pipers
3-"Love Is Blue"-Paul Mauriat
4-"Dock of the Bay"-Otis Redding
5-"Honey"-Bobby Goldsboro
6-"Tighten Up"-Archie Bell & The Drells
7-"Mrs. Robinson"-Simon & Garfunkel
8-"This Guy's In Love With You"-Herb Alpert
9-"Grazing In The Grass"-Hugh Masekela
10-"Hello, I Love You"-The Doors

To me, that's a pretty diverse grouping of songs. Yet, we can listen to all of those songs in an Oldies format and there's a "commonality" to them.

I'd say Oldies/Classic Hits/Classic Top 40/whatever you want to call it will be around for a long time.

In answer to the question that started this thread, Boomers are the BEST ad target. 20-somethings don't have any money and are getting harder and harder to reach. My parents are in their early 70s. They change products all the time based on advertising.

Ad agencies need to get with the program. 35-64's are ruling the world NOT 18-34s! And another thing...it's time to put the 25 - 54 demo out to pasture. A 25 year old and 54 year old are such polar opposites, it's not even funny!

 

[radiofriend1]

I work for an Oldies station in a college town and I have college students all the time telling us that they listen. We're VERY heavy 70s with late 60s and early 80s in for good measure.

We also have a CHR and we'll get people coming in to pick up prizes (20-somethings) that we're sure are CHR listeners and it turns out they won on our Oldies station.

As far as the "commonality" of the music, I'd say that memory fades over time and that "commonality" will remain true with 60s/70s/80s stations for years to come. Here's an example...I was in High School in the 80s. I hated most of the music in the 80s -- especially the "Hair" bands. But, now 20-something years later, when I hear a song from the 80s, it brings back memories and I'll listen to the song.

Think about songs from the late 60s...you've got acoustic stuff like Simon & Garfunkel, Motown like the Supremes, Beatles, "hard rock" stuff like Steppenwolf. I'd argue that the music then was just as diverse as today's Top 40.

Here are the Top 10 from 1968 as an example...
1-"Judy In Disguise"-John Fred/Playboy Band
2-"Green Tambourine"-Lemon Pipers
3-"Love Is Blue"-Paul Mauriat
4-"Dock of the Bay"-Otis Redding
5-"Honey"-Bobby Goldsboro
6-"Tighten Up"-Archie Bell & The Drells
7-"Mrs. Robinson"-Simon & Garfunkel
8-"This Guy's In Love With You"-Herb Alpert
9-"Grazing In The Grass"-Hugh Masekela
10-"Hello, I Love You"-The Doors

To me, that's a pretty diverse grouping of songs. Yet, we can listen to all of those songs in an Oldies format and there's a "commonality" to them.

I'd say Oldies/Classic Hits/Classic Top 40/whatever you want to call it will be around for a long time.

In answer to the question that started this thread, Boomers are the BEST ad target. 20-somethings don't have any money and are getting harder and harder to reach. My parents are in their early 70s. They change products all the time based on advertising.

Ad agencies need to get with the program. 35-64's are ruling the world NOT 18-34s! And another thing...it's time to put the 25 - 54 demo out to pasture. A 25 year old and 54 year old are such polar opposites, it's not even funny!

anecdotal story from a small town. still, overall, people in their 20's think 50's and 60's music sounds old & stuffy--- people in their 50's think hard rock & rap sound noisy and obnoxious. in the 60's parents thought rock n' roll was noisy and obnoxious. not much has changed and IT STILL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING CLOSED MINDED. just because somebody likes X type of music and not Y type of music simply means they prefer one over the other. virtually NOBODY likes every kind of music...............and that doesn't make virtually anybody closed-minded.

sheesh

 

[MightyFrenchman]

These last two posts were very interesting points of view. I'd say radiologist is correct and radiofriend1 is incorrect.

 

[radiofriend1]

These last two posts were very interesting points of view. I'd say radiologist is correct and radiofriend1 is incorrect.

so all these advertisers who do millions in research are also incorrect?

wake up

 

[MightyFrenchman]

These last two posts were very interesting points of view. I'd say radiologist is correct and radiofriend1 is incorrect.

so all these advertisers who do millions in research are also incorrect?

Now you're correct.

 

[radiofriend1]

These last two posts were very interesting points of view. I'd say radiologist is correct and radiofriend1 is incorrect.

so all these advertisers who do millions in research are also incorrect?

Now you're correct.

how are they wrong? U mean the millions in research they do to find customers who will spend $$$ buying their products and services-----yer right and it's all WRONG???????

 

[Radiologist]

anecdotal story from a small town. still, overall, people in their 20's think 50's and 60's music sounds old & stuffy--- people in their 50's think hard rock & rap sound noisy and obnoxious. in the 60's parents thought rock n' roll was noisy and obnoxious. not much has changed and IT STILL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING CLOSED MINDED. just because somebody likes X type of music and not Y type of music simply means they prefer one over the other. virtually NOBODY likes every kind of music...............and that doesn't make virtually anybody closed-minded.

sheesh

The subject of this thread is "Are boomers NOT a good ad target?"

The point I was making was that boomers ARE a good ad target and that the Oldies format will be viable for years to come because the "commonality" of the music comes from the era that the music is from -- not the style of music.

I simply said that the national ad agencies need to understand that it's 35-64's that are doing the most buying and decision making NOT 18-34's. Besides that the 12-24's aren't growing up with a connection to radio the way we did.

In answer to your comment about 20-somethings thinking music from the 50s & 60s is "old & stuffy", then why are these ad agencies who apparently know everything using so many songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s in national advertising???

And finally, I'm not quite sure what being in a small market has to do with anything.

 

[TheFonz]

The subject of this thread is "Are boomers NOT a good ad target?"

The point I was making was that boomers ARE a good ad target and that the Oldies format will be viable for years to come because the "commonality" of the music comes from the era that the music is from -- not the style of music.

I simply said that the national ad agencies need to understand that it's 35-64's that are doing the most buying and decision making NOT 18-34's. Besides that the 12-24's aren't growing up with a connection to radio the way we did.

In answer to your comment about 20-somethings thinking music from the 50s & 60s is "old & stuffy", then why are these ad agencies who apparently know everything using so many songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s in national advertising???

And finally, I'm not quite sure what being in a small market has to do with anything.

You are correct, but unfortunatly you will lose the battle. We've been fighting this fight on the '50s/'60s Oldies board for the last 5 years. And we know what has happened to THAT format. And the truth is that ALL terrestrial music formats will eventually die. 55+ listeners are leaving because advertisers don't want them, so there's no music programming for them. And younger listeners don't need terrestrial music radio............they have too many other options. So the math tells us that eventually no one will listen to music on terrestrial radio.

 

[LKellerIII]

"55+ listeners are leaving because advertisers don't want them, so there's no music programming for them."

This subject has come up in many threads on many boards here. On the San Francisco board, it came up when the Bay Area lost it's only Oldies station (KFRC) to the Movin' format. I kept saying that Boomers should be prized by advertisers because we are the most affluent generation in world history, have more leisure time than young adults, and have more money to spend.

Finally, an advertising industry professional responded and explained it - according to this guy, we Boomers are set in our ways, and are not easily persuaded by advertisting. And when advertising is aimed at people in their 50s and 60s (i.e: luxury cars, vacations, prescription meds, etc.) they prefer televsion and print advertising to radio.

So in another ten years, 80s music will be disappearing from radio.

 

[OldiesCat]

boomers discussion

The first line of the previous post is wrong, in that it's backward.

I've said this before and I'll say it again for any new folks in the Oldies discussion: if 55+ radio listeners were that attractive to advertisers, radio would be falling all over itself to target them with their preferred music formats. Today's radio owners are constantly under fire for being so bottom-line, for being "all about the money". If we assume that to be true, sixties-based Oldies, 60+ Nostalgia and other similar formats would be growing in today's radio landscape, not disappearing. You are contradicting yourself if you are the "radio is all about the almighty buck!" mindset yet profess major revenue will happen if radio just targets the Boomers. I'm afraid you can't have it both ways.

It's pretty simple: most major advertisers, those whose dollars would be the bloodline of 55+ radio formats, do not see a great return on investment nor a profitable future in targeting 55+ audiences. They have proven by their actions (much of which is based on exhaustive consumer research) that they won't be sending major advertising budgets to Oldies stations. That's not an opinion, it's fact.

It doesn't matter if it's right or if we agree with it-it is what it is.

So, our choice is: continue to fight what is clearly a losing battle or look forward to where radio is going vs. where we think it should have gone. If you want to stay in denial, that's fine for you and good luck. Most of us who want to continue doing successful radio are living in the real world of radio instead of the ideal world of how we'd like to be.

 

[MightyFrenchman]

Re: boomers discussion

The first line of the previous post is wrong, in that it's backward.

I've said this before and I'll say it again for any new folks in the Oldies discussion: if 55+ radio listeners were that attractive to advertisers, radio would be falling all over itself to target them with their preferred music formats.

It doesn't matter if it's right or if we agree with it-it is what it is.

This is a very interesting conversation. I think that most of the baby boom generation still considers itself forever young. That, unlike its parents' or grandparents' generations, it doesn't always do things the same way which would include buying goods and services the same way as we get older. We don't! Many of the people who submit posts to these boards refer to research which of course is just a synonym for fertilizer. The baby BOOM generation was so-named because of the huge number of people born during that time period. Does a fertilizer firm or ad agency have the gall to tell us that that many people all buy the same way, all travel the same way, are all fixed in their ways and cannot be influenced by radio advertising? That kind of "research" and $1.68 will get me a small coffee at Starbucks.