In this instalment of the DiGiTAL 3SiXTY, we would like to contribute our space to talk about the baby boomer generation, which most of our parents belong to.
Many books and articles were written about each generation’s characteristics, we want to put our digital goggles on and look at them from different perspectives.
This data might be surprising to all of us, but remember that this generation helped craft and witnessed many technological breakthroughs that shape our behaviour today.
01. PERFECT CONSUMPTION – THE QUEST FOR FLAWLESS EXPERIENCE CONTINUES
Baby Boomers generation, most baby boomers had been working hard for decades saving up small fortunes for later generations. However, with a declining birthrate and both Gen X and Y could support themselves financially faster than anyone could predict. Baby boomers now have large savings that can be spent to indulge their retirement. Decades of experience shapes unique expectations from this generation, and create demands for products and services that are ‘perfect’ to their expectation.
02. LONELY IS A THING OF THE PAST
Despite Internet penetration among 50+ years old in Thailand is still low, the number is growing steadily over years. The number of active users aged 55-64 years old increased more than 100% for Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ (GlobalWebIndex, 2013), Up to 66% of 50+ year old internet users use it to get news updates (eMarketer, 2013) and they are discovering more new possibilities of being connected.
The social network has become the platform for them to be more social than they have never imagined with long-lost friends and families. With more and more conversations starting to pop up and group chats of their university friends being created, there are many things to talk about when you have got decades’ worth of stories to share.
03. EMPOWERED BY TECH – TOOLS FOR PREVENTING, MONITORING, AND STAYING YOUNG
As baby boomers learned from taking care of their parents that medical bill can cost a fortune, they are willing to spend on preventive medicine and whatever that help eliminate the risk of developing serious diseases in the future. In recent years, new technological advances in the medical field are not only focusing on curing but also focus on detecting and preventing disease.
Another aspect of preventing diseases is to maintain their health and appearance, almost ¼ of vitamin supplement users and 20% of anti-aging cosmetic users in Thailand are baby boomers (Nielsen IMS, 2013). We before that wearable devices are becoming more relevant, so we can expect there will be devices that will aim at monitoring their overall health.
If you feel that wearable devices are too far into the future, there are apps that will connect to home-use medical equipment to monitor blood pressure, sugar level, and heart rate. There apps that remind you to take medication, suggest diagnoses that match with your symptoms, or even set goals for you to live healthier and younger.
Apple iPhone commercial used to say ‘There’s an app for that’, now they might have to change to ‘There are 100 apps for that’.
Baby Boomer adopted the concept of the Internet, personal computers, and mobile phones even before some of us were born, so you should not be surprised if they adopt the same technology as we all are. As we mentioned above, don’t let them fool you. All of us have received friend requests from our parents and older relatives, and some of them might be stalking on your Facebook right now (making you regret clicking that ‘accept’ button).
The digital landscape continues to grow at a rapid pace, brands and marketers are faced with new challenges and opportunities.
CONTRIBUTORS
KWANKAOW KOOSAKULNIRUND
Supervisor – Digital Strategy
mInteraction
HAZEL HAN
Supervisor – PR & Marketing
mInteraction
