Baby Boomer Values

The media has portrayed the Baby Boomer Generation in many lights. With increased educational, financial and social opportunities, the Boomer Generation is often portrayed as a generation of optimism, exploration and achievement. Compared with previous generations, more young adults pursued higher education or relocated away from family to pursue career and educational interests. Though the Boomer Generation saw increasing social and economic equality, they also came of age in a period when the country was frequently torn by differing views on politics, war and social justice.


Characteristics of Baby Boomers

Values

Individual choice
Community involvement
Prosperity
Ownership
Self-actualizing
Health and wellness

Attributes

Adaptive
Goal-oriented
Focus on individual choices and freedom
Adaptive to a diverse workplace
Positive attitude

Work styles

Confidence in tasks
Emphasize team-building
Seek collaborative, group decision making
Avoid conflict

Values + how they affect consumer behaviour

A definition for Values can be the important beliefs or ideals shared by the members of a culture about what is good or desirable and what is not. Values play a major influence on the behavior of an individual and serve as broad guidelines in all situations. (Business Dictionary)

How values affect consumer behaviour

Marketers  have  long  acknowledged  the importance  of  attitudes  and  attitude change in  the study  of marketing  and  consumer  behavior, but  the  role  of  values  has not received as much attention as expected. While  it seems  that  personal  values  have  important  implications for  marketing   researchers, values and  the ways in  which they influence  the  behavior  of  consumers  who look  at  and  choose  brands, product  classes,  and product  attributes  is  not  clear.  In order  to  investigate these relationships, it  is necessary to operationally  define  what  values  are,  and  to  identify  methods  available  for examining the connections  between  personal  values  and  consumer  behavior. 

The Role of Personal Values in Marketing and Consumer Behavior

Author(s): Donald E. Vinson, Jerome E. Scott, Lawrence M. Lamont

Source: Journal of Marketing, Vol. 41, No. 2, (Apr., 1977), pp. 44-50

Published by: American Marketing Association

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1250633

A way in which values affect consumer behaviour is that broad-based concepts such as freedom, security, or inner harmony are more likely to affect general purchasing patterns than to differentiate between brands within a product category. For this reason, some researchers have found it convenient to make distinctions among broad-based cultural values such as security or happiness, consumption-specific values such as convenient shopping or prompt service, andproduct-specific values such as ease of use or durability, that affect the relative importance people in different cultures place on possessions. (Cited)

Baby Boomer Generation Videos

Two short video clips on Baby Boomers, to help understand the characteristics and values of this generation.

“Consumer behaviour is the study of the process involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires.” (Solomon et al., 2010)

Solomon, M., Bamossy, G., Askegaard, S. and Hogg, M.K. (2010) Consumer Behaviour: A Eurpoean Perspective. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education.

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(Definition of consumer behavior which was meant to be in previous post)

CONSUMER BUYER BEHAVIOUR (Black Box Model)

CONSUMER BUYER BEHAVIOUR (Black Box Model)

The Black Box Model of Buyer Behaviour identifies the process in which consumers will undertake when deciding whether to purchase a product or service. The first part of this model shows how consumers will begin by identifying the marketing stimuli which would be Product, Place, Price and Promotion. Other stimuli that the consumer may take into account during this process are PEST factors.

This information is then put into the Buyer’s Black Box, which is where the consumer’s personal characteristics will be taken into account in order for them to begin the Buyer Decision Process. The characteristics that can have an effect on the behaviour of the buyer are:

Cultural - Such as specific cultures and religions

Social - Such as family and reference groups

Personal – Including age & lifecycle stage, economic circumstances and lifestyle

Psychological – Beliefs, perception, attitudes and motivation 

From the information that has been processed in the buyer's black box, they will then be able to provide a response as to which specific product/brand they wish to purchase and assess other factors such as pricing and if the timing for the purchase is right. 

A few key facts on generations

• Age Cohort - Consists of people of similar ages who have undergone similar experiences.
• Marketers often target products and services to one or more specific age cohorts as the same offering will probably not appeal to people of different ages. (use of language and images)
• The use of Nostalgia within an age cohort to highlight crucial changes around the same time.
• The 'Generation X' cohort is consumers aged 18-29 consisting over 30 million Europeans.
• Baby Boomers cohort born between 1946 and 1964 are the source of many fundamental cultural economic changes.
• Baby Boomers are the most powerful age segment because of their size and economic clout. As this group has aged, its interests have changed and marketing priorities have changed as well. 
• The needs and desires of Baby boomers have a strong influence on demands for housing, childcare, cars, clothing and so on. Only a small portion of boomers fit into an affluent, materialistic category.
• 'Gen-Xer's' , consumers aged 18-29, are a difficult group for marketers to get a clear picture of. They will be a powerful force in the years to come, whose tastes and priorities will be felt in fashion, popular culture, politics and marketing.
• As teenagers, Baby Boomers created a revolution in style, politics and consumer attitudes, which makes there market impact, a stronger force than other age cohorts.