The Yankelovich Report on Generational Marketing: Reaching America's Three Consumer Generations

Ironically, Smith and Clurman, members of the Yankelovich Partners research firm, are the victims of their own success. Because the work of their team receives so much publicity, there is little that is new here. The premise that marketers should divide Americans into three primary groups based on age--Matures (born 1909-1945), Boomers (1946-1964) and Xers (post-1964)--when they go about selling their products makes good sense. And the sprightly writing, solid organization and use of charts that compare the generations at a glance make their research easy to process. But we already know that Matures respect authority, Boomers think rules are made to be broken and Xers don't presume success. Repeatedly hearing that information on generational marketing--which has become a cliche, thanks to the findings of Yankelovich--obscures the authors' few solid comments, such as ""large-type books have never been big sellers because they carry the stigma of being for old people,"" so marketers would do well simply to increase the point size and let customers discover the benefits on their own. (May)