The Over 60 Market Consumes Traditional Media and The Under 60 Market Consumes the Internet

Written By Ted Grigg

What is your reaction to this headline?

As with any broad declarations like the one made in the headline, further investigation reveals underlying complexities.

DMCG Results

For one thing, this neat cut between old and young does not stand up to the facts. A significant number of baby boomers buy more over the Internet than many younger segments. Besides, older folks represent the largest, growing segment of the population with the most wealth.

Research shows unprecedented adoption of interactive media by the older generation.

In her October 6, 2007 New York Times article entitled The Web, Despite Its Promise, Fails to Snare Iowa Voters, Julie Bosman compares the effectiveness of the Internet in the presidential campaign in Iowa versus New Hampshire.

In Iowa:

“Yet even the campaigns concede that many caucus goers in Iowa are happily encased in  an old-media bubble, immune to the digital overtures of the modern presidential campaign and much more tuned in to commercials on television than to videos on a candidate’s Web site.

… Though the typical caucus voters here are avid followers of the news, they get their information in traditional ways. They read the morning papers, watch the network news and tune in to the Sunday news programs with the fervor of Washington political operatives.”  

In New Hampshire:

"New Hampshire voters, by contrast, appear more plugged in. Many residents live in the Boston media market and work in the technology industry. And while local blogs are scarce in Iowa, they have proliferated in New Hampshire.”

It is clear that the market continues to evolve and based on this article, it appears that there are geographic differences that transcend age.

Regardless of age, people consume the Internet, email, broadcast, print, direct mail and all media in various degrees based on their personal preferences. That's why strong direct marketers sell to people the way they want to be sold.

Ted Grigg
What Ted does best is increase response by beating controls, applying multiple channels to target markets, profiling customer databases and generally improving sales results using deep direct marketing principles. Regard Ted as your personal “think-tank” for your direct marketing planning and strategy development. After analyzing several hundred million dollars of direct response testing in all channels, he brings with him the knowledge accumulated from seeing what tends to work and what does not. Having worked on both the agency and client side of direct marketing, Ted understands the unique challenges faced by agencies and their clients. Agencies need to sell themselves and deliver sales results. And clients not only require results, but need ideas they can implement while focusing on tracking response using a relational database. If Ted brings nothing else to the table, by profiling customer databases and creating response propensity models, he quickly becomes the clients’ expert on their own customers. His formal training includes a BA from Abilene Christian University and two years of graduate work at Texas Tech University. For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, Ted developed a revolutionary direct mail format that beat most standing direct mail controls for this company. He also generated more profitable business for this firm by expanding compiled list circulation of less than 10% to more than 30% of total direct mail circulation within a year. (Insurance business generated by direct mail demonstrated higher persistency than customers coming from other media such as print and DRTV.) Ted’s plan and implementation of Medicare lead generation campaigns for over 60 regional and national HMO/PPO organizations combined multiple channels that surpassed some sales projections by as much as 60%. Additional industry experience over the last 30 years includes B2B or B2C for finance, securities, home security, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, government, technology, nonprofit, retail, transportation, communications, and multiple categories in the services industry. As the founder of Wyse Direct (a division for Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, OH), he successfully launched and branded a new technology product for Seiko-Mead by supporting a nationwide sales team with a predictable flow of qualified sales leads. While a VP of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, Ted acted as the direct marketing strategist who refocused the agency’s culture to attract new commercial and fundraising accounts. At the time, Grizzard was essentially a direct mail fund raising production operation. His leadership and team building effectiveness prepared Grizzard for the eventual Omnicom acquisition and Grizzard’s successful integration into Omnicom’s large group of advertising agencies. An independent DM consultant, Ted continues to write numerous articles and conduct webinars on direct marketing techniques. He also wrote The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan — A Step-by-Step Guide publishing it through Executive Enterprises in New York City. During his youth, Ted was raised in Lille, France with his missionary family attending French schools becoming fluent in reading and writing French. Away from the job, Ted is a computer geek, blogger and science fiction buff!
http://www.dmcgresults.com
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