Why the Digital Revolution is Missing the Big Picture

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

It's just they're a device that the older crowd has less interest in, thus they aren't wasting their time marketing to them when not many are going to buy it in that demographic vs. younger crowds.

They aren't avoiding targeting ads at the older set because they are wise and don't fall for hype. They're avoiding it as research has shown them that it's not worth the money as there's not enough interest in the device at that age group.

I'm sorry, but have you really missed the world-wide ad campaigns aboutwith the topic are you afraid of "getting old/getting wrinkles/not being able to live in a nice pension home/etc" created by United Insurers/Maybelline/Dove/etc? ;-)
Old people just have different worries (or, alternatively put, different fears they are told by TV they need to worry about). They're still statistically just as manipulable as everyone else. To be honest, I would think it an improvement if they were thinking about getting a portable music player in order to be bored less (and perhaps listen to TTC?)
(I do not mean to derail the wonderful conversation going on here.. )

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by kennyc

TLS ??

Times Literary Supplement

(or maybe Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol' )

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

IThey're still statistically just as manipulable as everyone else.

100% agree. That's the point I was trying to make, in response to Steve saying young people are targeted for gadgets like iPods as they're more susceptible to marketing. That's just silly IMO.

Originally Posted by kennyc

I still don't agree with your reasoning and simply don't think it's true.

If you have the surveys and the marketing research that support your claims, then please, let's see it.

I'm not going to go searching for it, especially since I have to go teach a class in a few minutes, you can google it on your own as it's just various surveys I've seen over the years.

And it's kind of common sense on the marking front--companies advertise their products based on what marketing research tells them about the demographics of people interested in their product. Thus all you got to do is watch who is targeted in ads for various gadgets to see what demographics their research told them to target. Or go to a Best Buy and look at the age of people looking at MP3 players and smart phones compared to TVs and cameras etc.

But we're going in circles here, so I'll make my exit now. Probably take a break from the site in general for a bit as the topics are getting stale and repetitive and I keep going over the same things again and again. Until there are some tablet devices out there's not much on the e-book from I'm interested in discussing anymore anyway.

Ciao.

[Hellmark]

Not to mention that the younger crowd tends to have more disposable income. Middle aged people tend to have kids, so their spare money goes for the family, and elderly are often retired with fixed incomes. Youngins don't have so much to worry about that.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Times Literary Supplement

(or maybe Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol' )

Ah, got it. Thanks.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

....
I'm not going to go searching for it, especially since I have to go teach a class in a few minutes,....

And it's kind of common sense ....

But we're going in circles here, so I'll make my exit now. Probably take a break from the site in general for a bit as the topics are getting stale and repetitive and I keep going over the same things again and again. Until there are some tablet devices out there's not much on the e-book from I'm interested in discussing anymore anyway.

Ciao.

Ah, thought so. Enjoy.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

I don't think it's marketing. Are you saying MP3 players suck and young people are just stupid and fall for the marketing. ...

They aren't avoiding targeting ads at the older set because they are wise and don't fall for hype.

I'm not saying MP3 players suck, nor that young people are stupid. I'm saying the advertisers have their media crosshairs right on kids' foreheads, and they've been at this game long enough that they rarely miss.

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

100% agree. That's the point I was trying to make, in response to Steve saying young people are targeted for gadgets like iPods as they're more susceptible to marketing. That's just silly IMO.

It may sound silly... and I'm not saying it should be this way... but it's an established fact. Madison Avenue knows exactly what it is doing when it creates ads. It knows very well how to target to young people, because yes, they do demonstrably respond to the suggestion, even when overt and obvious, that products will make them more hip or sexy, more than any other demographic. (Older Americans tend to respond to more covert suggestions of sexual potency or popularity, while the oldest Americans have largely moved on from those concerns to more basic self-enjoyment and health issues.)

When products... most any products, tech or otherwise... are developed, they are immediately considered against how well the 18-35 demographic will respond to them, because the most money stands to be made from that demographic. Products will even be tailored for that demo, to encourage those sales. It doesn't make young people stupid... it means they're unilaterally targeted with psychologically-refined, proven marketing techniques, and more often than not, they succeed in making sales.

As the overall population ages, and the Boomers take the retirement stage, these stats will change, and the ways products are marketed will change accordingly. But right now, oldsters are patently being ignored in tech marketing based on now-mostly-outdated notions of what "retirees" want and like to do, and suppositions about their mobility and dexterity that applied more to their parents, not so much to them. Madison Avenue is ignoring the market, because right now it's too easy to keep selling to the kids. Who knows when that will change?

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

It may sound silly... and I'm not saying it should be this way... but it's an established fact. Madison Avenue knows exactly what it is doing when it creates ads. It knows very well how to target to young people, because yes, they do demonstrably respond to the suggestion, even when overt and obvious, that products will make them more hip or sexy, more than any other demographic. (Older Americans tend to respond to more covert suggestions of sexual potency or popularity, while the oldest Americans have largely moved on from those concerns to more basic self-enjoyment and health issues.)

So I lied and came back for one more post since the thread was still on my screen upon returning from my teaching.

That's, IMO, a VERY small part of the reason ads focus on that age group.

Another poster hit the nail on the head--its the age group with the most disposable income.

Once you get toward 30-35 and above most people have kids, mortgages etc.--more costs, more need to save money for kids' educations, retirement. Retirees tend to be on fixed incomes.

The 20-35 set is where you have the single, young professionals who are making real money for the first time, aren't paying for kids, mortgages, or all that worried about long term savings yet.

That and some products like iPods just aren't going to sell all that well to the 65 and up crowd currently. They wouldn't get enough extra sales from that demographic to justify the costs to targeting some ads at it.

Down the road when the people 65 and up are people who grew up with video games, mp3 players etc. I suspect we'll see more broad tech ads since we'll have a whole society who's been immersed in tech gadgets their whole lives. Vs. now where as the older you go the less technology people were exposed to in their youth, the less they used it in their work etc.

I do think for some gadgets, there missing out on sales by focusing to much on the younger crowd. But I don't think they'd miss many in terms of a business focused tablet device like the MS Courier. Look how many people on here bitch and moan about how they don't want that as it would be expensive and they don't need all the extra features and just want something they can read on.

But things like iPods, HDTVs, Blu Ray players I think they do focus too much on the younger crowd as they are easy to use and I think older segments of the population would buy in more with some more targeted marketing. It just becomes less so when you get at complicated gadgets more aimed at the young professional crowd--both for age reasons and likelihood of having a career that is aided by such gadgets.

[petermillard]

Just had my elderly (mid-eighties) parents to stay for a week. I show this thread to my dad, who thought it was hilarious. Of course, he had to put down his PRS500 and switch off his iPod first...

[Superlucky]

Originally Posted by petermillard

Just had my elderly (mid-eighties) parents to stay for a week. I show this thread to my dad, who thought it was hilarious. Of course, he had to put down his PRS500 and switch off his iPod first...

I think that's great. My grandmother is that age and she just stares at my ipod and Reader as if they came from another planet. She's always saying, "Are you still reading that same book?" She can't quite grasp the concept of more than one book (much less thousands) on the device. She lives in a small town.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by petermillard

Just had my elderly (mid-eighties) parents to stay for a week. I show this thread to my dad, who thought it was hilarious. Of course, he had to put down his PRS500 and switch off his iPod first...

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Superlucky

I think that's great. My grandmother is that age and she just stares at my ipod and Reader as if they came from another planet. She's always saying, "Are you still reading that same book?" She can't quite grasp the concept of more than one book (much less thousands) on the device. She lives in a small town.

I'll bet she can grasp the idea of more than one program coming out of her television...

Not that I'm criticizing your grandmother... some people just show no interest in some things, and so they don't really try to "grasp" the concept. Others, who are truly interested in it, will soon learn enough to astound you.

Or maybe she's just teasing you...

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

.....

Or maybe she's just teasing you...

.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Not that I'm criticizing your grandmother... some people just show no interest in some things, and so they don't really try to "grasp" the concept. Others, who are truly interested in it, will soon learn enough to astound you.

And thats also not just a function of age either, you see such behaviour from all ages with the worst version of it being when people seem to almost delight in their ignorance about something as if not knowing nor wanting to know something is actually a badge of honour to them.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Crowl

And thats also not just a function of age either, you see such behaviour from all ages with the worst version of it being when people seem to almost delight in their ignorance about something as if not knowing nor wanting to know something is actually a badge of honour to them.

Right. Like the kind of guy who says he enjoys lugging five heavy books with him on a trip...

FYI: The article is back.

And now that I've actually read the whole thing, I have to say that Pinter has a good point, the real point to the article, to wit: E-book devices are being marketed to the wrong people, in the wrong way. They are showing us ads of people. Staring quietly at we-don't-know-what on a screen. If you read, you'll like reading on this. Whoa, stop the presses.

Reading devices... and for that matter, reading in general... should be marketed to those who don't read. Devices should bring something to reading that will make it more attractive to readers, and potential readers... and the ads should demonstrate that. They don't... not even close.