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4 million American Gen Xers turn fifty each year and leave the over-valued 18-49 demographic to join the Boomers in the world’s 3rd largest economy. Boomer / neXt is the socio-cultural authority on this vibrant blended generation.
Managing partners Barry Robertson in Boulder, Colorado and Marc Matthews in New York City lead a future-focused team coaching brands to re-imagine and re-generate in the 50+ space.
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Recent Posts
- OK Boomer Jumps the Shark as the Boomer Economy Rides the Wave
- Why Americans 50-Plus are the Engine of EV Success
- 50 Years of Woodshtick
- Times Square Drops The Ball Once A Year: Madison Avenue Drops It Every Day
- Amazing News! Millennials ARE Driving. And Their Cars Are A Mess.
- Gen X Marketers: Older Now, But Still Runnin’ Against The Wind
- How Detroit And Boomers Killed The American Sedan, As Seen Through The Overton Window
- Boomers Bounce Back As Millennial Members Shrink
- Colorado’s Frozen Dead Guy Cure For Creative Snow Blindness
- Gone In 2017: Two Who Turned Boomer World On With Their Smiles
Author Archives: Barry Robertson
OK Boomer Jumps the Shark as the Boomer Economy Rides the Wave
Grownups hijack cute Generation Z meme We’re all for young entrepreneurs. But the sad reality is that many – maybe most – see their Big Ideas co-opted by interlopers. So it is with OK Boomer, the Generation Z meme of … Continue reading
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Why Americans 50-Plus are the Engine of EV Success
Major motor shows spotlight EVs as the future. Again. The reassuring news from the 2019 motor shows in Frankfurt and Tokyo – the first major auto expos on the 2019-2020 circuit – is that electric vehicles are still “the future.” … Continue reading
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50 Years of Woodshtick
Generational stereotyping: catnip, clickbait … a crock Finally, it’s over! The 50th anniversary of Woodstock Woodshtick has come and gone – the endgame of five long decades of punditry and pontification over a messy 1969 mudfest in upstate New York that, … Continue reading
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Times Square Drops The Ball Once A Year: Madison Avenue Drops It Every Day
Dropping the ball, adland style A year from now, at the end of 2019, as the ball again begins its annual 60 second Times Square drop, some 95 million American Boomers and older Gen Xers – the Boomer-next Generation™ – will be living, … Continue reading
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Amazing News! Millennials ARE Driving. And Their Cars Are A Mess.
Dirty driving / mobile mayhem New research from Vizionation – a Boomer / neXt sister company – looks deep behind the scenes of everyday Millennial and Gen X lives to reveal vehicle interiors that bear little resemblance to the pristine … Continue reading
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Gen X Marketers: Older Now, But Still Runnin’ Against The Wind
Adland blacklists 17 million Gen Xers – including clients. Oops! With summer almost gone and plastic pumpkins poised to promote America’s retail places, the marketing media will soon be prepping for January 2019 and its annual look back/look forward ritual. January, … Continue reading
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How Detroit And Boomers Killed The American Sedan, As Seen Through The Overton Window
By the time you’ve read this there may be no American sedans left Everywhere you look commentators are belatedly noticing the death of the traditional American 4 door sedan. It’s been a long goodbye. The American family sedan has been … Continue reading
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Boomers Bounce Back As Millennial Members Shrink
Boomers back on top as America’s largest generation For a few years at least, we thought we knew the birth years that define the Millennial Generation. In 2015, after a decade of confusion and conflicting opinions, the U.S. Census Bureau stepped … Continue reading
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Colorado’s Frozen Dead Guy Cure For Creative Snow Blindness
Advertisers in the winter of Boomer discontent Anyone in adland worth their paycheck knows Americans aged 50+ represent the world’s 3rd largest economy, hold 80% of US household assets, own two-thirds of the homes and account for 55-60% of the … Continue reading
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Gone In 2017: Two Who Turned Boomer World On With Their Smiles
So many Boomer icons passed in 2017 Boomers lost way too many icons in 2017 … so many candidates for the annual review of those who played key roles in the ever adaptable – and still adapting – lives of older … Continue reading
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Boomers And The Age-Agnostic Advertising Trap
Mid-Century Modern – Millennials mesmerized / Boomers bifurcated Everywhere you look, mid-century style is on trend – high end collectibles to modernist inspired designs to mass affordability from popular furniture and decor chain West Elm to Target, Kohl’s and Best Buy. It’s … Continue reading
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Can EVs Redefine, Reinvent And Re-generate VW In The U.S.?
Redefining mobility: Volkswagen’s Roadmap E to the electric Microbus The 2017-2018 Auto Expo season kicked off at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September with energy-saving electric vehicles gleaming under a gazillion spotlights – powered, hopefully, by sustainable wind and solar, not … Continue reading
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’70s TV Catchphrase Returns: The Fickle Finger Of Fate Finally Finds Adworld Gen Xers
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds The Victorians had a more ornate, verbose way of saying things – even now it makes them seem sophisticated. But if Charles Mackay, the canny Scottish author of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the … Continue reading
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Ad-taxation Without Representation: Revolting Boomers Should Declare Independence
Taxation without representation, adland style As everyone knows, when Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776, the American colonies were done with being bossed around by the Mother Country. And mom was none too happy either, … Continue reading
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Part 2/2: How A Humble Ford Pickup Became America’s Best-Selling Vehicle By Channeling Boomer World
Continued from Part 1: reprise … Although import nameplates captured 55% of the U.S. new vehicle market in 2016, the three best-selling vehicles – by far – were all full-size domestic brand pickups. In contrast, when Boomers were growing up, American passenger cars … Continue reading
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How A Humble Ford Pickup Became America’s Best-Selling Vehicle By Channeling Boomer World: Part 1/2
Anniversaries and milestones Outside the automotive community, one of the sneakiest trivia questions around is what is the best selling vehicle in America? It’s easy to see why most people guess wrong: the highways are full of cool, stylish offerings with suave foreign … Continue reading
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Study: Millennials Say Adulthood Starts At 30 … The Average Ad Agency Creative Is Only 28. Boomer Consumers Not Surprised.
Half of Millennials say adulthood starts at age 30 A new study by CBS researcher David Poltrack finds the median age at which Millennials say adulthood begins is 30. Apparently, the other half see themselves fending off grown up status until as late as 40. … Continue reading
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The Force Is With Us: 7 Boomer-Driven Life Changers Since Star Wars
Long, long, ago in a galaxy far, far away When the Star Wars franchise launched in 1977, bell-bottom pants, platform shoes, FM radio, cassette tape players and pocket calculators were the E Rides of cool. Yessiree Bob, technology was king. Why, … Continue reading
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Millennials Rule The Ski Slopes Today, But It’s All Downhill From Here. Just Ask The Boomers
Ski resorts: No Country For Old Men Did you ever have to deal with a skiing injury? It begins with humiliation – being wrapped like a mummy by the ski patrol and loaded onto a rescue sled in front of a gawking throng. … Continue reading
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To Understand The Boomers, First Understand La La Land
February milestones in La La Land In February we celebrate two icons whose careers intersect in that magical place called La La Land – architect Paul Revere Williams (1894-1980) whose birthday falls on the 18th and “Oscar” whose award ceremonies … Continue reading
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