JWT has launched a new division, called JWT Boom, which focuses on the 40-plus baby boomer market segment.
JWT’s former Mature Marketing Group becomes part of JWT Boom, which is headquartered in San Francisco and is backed by the entire WPP family. The new division has developed proprietary marketing tools like its Boomer Heartbeat—a trend monitor, and a national database tool.
“Boomers, the largest and most affluent demographic in history, represent more than $2 trillion in consumer spending in our country alone,” said Lori Bitter, senior partner for JWT Boom, in a statement.
Bitter, who was formerly senior vice president of Age Wave Impact, manages JWT Boom with real estate industry expert Helen Foster, who has been with the agency since 1995, and Mary Brown, formerly president of Imago Creative, the only U.S. firm focusing on Boomer women.
In addition, JWT formed a strategic partnership with ThirdAge Inc., an online media, marketing and consumer insight company that has been exclusively serving the boomer and aging marketplace online for more than a decade.
Through its online Web site ThirdAge.com and its sister site, Menopause-Online.com, ThirdAge attracts more than 500,000 unique visitors each month and has more than 1 million newsletter subscribers.
“We chose to partner with ThirdAge because they have pioneered the online boomer space and because they have a highly respected and trusted brand—valuable assets newcomers do not have,” Bitter said.
Under the new partnership, the companies plan to develop six pieces of proprietary research each year focusing on Boomer trends and aging lifestyles, including relationships, communities, and life-stage transitions. In addition, Boom and ThirdAge will publish trends and offer consulting services.
ThirdAge and JWT Worldwide recently released new research that found while the ubiquitous viral and word-of-mouth marketing trend has been attributed to much younger age groups, baby boomers and mid-lifers are sharing their thoughts, opinions and research with friends in numbers that should make any marketer stand up and pay attention.
More than 72% of “ThirdAgers”—defined as baby boomers and mid-lifers generally in their early 40s through mid 60s—access the Internet from broadband in their homes, significantly more than the national average across all age groups. More than 1,210 adults above the age of 40 participated in the survey.
Based on survey findings, over 96% share information and details about new discoveries with their family, 84% with their children, 83% with their spouses and 71% among their co-workers making this cohort one of the most active groups in the viral marketplace. Given the times in which they grew up, ThirdAgers know when something is real or not, and they trust people in their same life stage to be open and honest with their opinions,” Bitter said.
Research results also point to the fact that marketers would do well to understand the value of an integrated media plans when marketing to ThirdAgers as 92% visit an online Web site after they’ve read about it in a print article. About 89% typically visit a Web site after seeing a print ad, and 83% visit a site after seeing a television ad.
Today, close to 108 million people are over the age of 45. This powerful block of boomers and mid-lifers in transition comprises over 40 percent of the population, accounting for 70% of the U.S. net worth, controlling $9 trillion. In the next 15 years, the 50-64 age popular will grow by 50% and the 65-plus population will grow 32%, while the traditionally coveted 18-40 Gen-X and Gen-Y populations will grow only 3% combined.
Network
