Here Come the U-Boomers

Some sharp folks at McKinsey have identified what they think is a big consumer segment largely ignored by markters: "U-Boomers."


The "U" stands for (are U ready?): financially unprepared yet undaunted and uncompromising baby boomers (we would have called them "unBoomers" because that takes us back to the days of 7Up's uncola, and we're all about marketing).

Seriously, they make an interesting case for the "...24 million middle-class American households approaching retirement with lofty lifestyle aspirations, a thirst for new products and brands, and limited financial resources."

This article about U-Boomers in Forbes, makes the key point for marketers:

As the economic clout of the cash-constrained, highly discriminating u-boomers grows, companies will need to rethink how they deliver services while keeping prices down. Web-based tools that lower delivery costs while retaining a sense of personalization and high-end service are part of the solution. One of the fastest-growing usage segments for Skype's Internet videoconferencing is grandparents talking to their grandchildren. It's not a big leap to imagine financial services providers using this same technology to deliver personalized financial advice.

It's an interesting segmentation of the Boomer cohort, and one worth closer examination.

Retire? Forget About It.

Ah, the problems with reporting on a generation that numbers more than the population of Canada, Chile and Cuba combined.

First, there's a five-part series on retiring Boomers this week in USATODAY.

Then, there's Robert Powell's piece at MarketWatch advising Boomers to plan on two or three careers, putting retirement off for decades.

And now there's a new initiative by the Federal Government and IBM to recruit retired Boomers into the federal workforce (to solve the problem of retiring Boomers).

This back-and-forth reporting isn't wrong -- it just isn't quite right either.

The point for any organization interested in understanding today's Boomer Consumer is that it isn't one group, with one mind-set and one plan. Boomers are many different groups and segments, with millions of mind-sets and about a trillion plans.

Focus on your customers/clients/consumers who are Boomers and understand what is important to them. Don't paint them all with the same brush.

Such a monochrome view will doom you.