BOOMERS

In the last post, Derumo, as usual, gave a long comment over and above the call of duty. He mentioned about the various generations and the perceived presence of Generation Gaps. Derumo mentioned the ubi kayu generation, the nasi lecek generation, nasi lemak/nasi bungkus generation up to the Starbuck Generation.

To the US marketers or people who deal in US markets, the generation that mattered was the Baby Boomers. Baby Boomers are people born between 1946 and 1964. This is America's largest and wealthiest market segment. Most of the ads are targeted at them.

The Baby Boomers had kids of their own and this generation of kids born between 1982 and 1995 are dubbed the Echo Boomers. The Echo Boomers make up 27.5 percent (80 million kids) of the US population. These young people are unlike their parents and they are expected to influence great changes in markets, attitude and society in this century. These young people, because of greater integration in school, take up many things from the minorities of America like choices in music, fashion and language. There seems to be a gender reversal role too. Echo Boomers males are more likely to colour their hair and wear jewellery. The females, meanwhile will try those power tools, sanders etc as they carry out their own odd job around their home or apartment. Both sexes are urged to have careers and be self-reliant. Girls will no longer have marriage as the ultimate goals.

The Echo Boomers are slaves to fashion and dress according to peer values and taste. They spend more money keeping up with fashion fads. They are not clothes-horses altogether. Most are in tune with technology.

One thing that is interesting to the marketing people is these Echo Boomers have their own money to spend. They spend USD 100 billion per year. Ads for them will be interesting to watch because they are different from their parents.

Now, since I do not go out much, I do not have the chance to watch Malaysian teenagers, you tell me this: Do we have our own Echo Boomers? If they are like the US Echo Boomers what would the implications besides changing ads to suit them?