It’s Just a Faze – Part 2

This is Part Two of a 2-part post.  If you didn’t read Part 1, read it here.  I promise it will be worth the back-tracking. 

part 2: reading and writing

The e-mail was from a marketing company explaining how to sell products to the Baby Boomer generation.  Only partly peaking her interest, Jen continues to skim the message, while deciding if she has enough energy to fight with the Mr. Coffee machine.  Luck!  There’s still coffee in the pot from yesterday.  Feeling unmotivated and decidedly sure that any coffee she makes fresh won’t be half as good as the day-old stuff, she pours herself a cup and pops it in the microwave. 

As her favorite mug spins on the turn-tray and 1:20 counts down on the timer….

she reads….

“Instead of targeting age groups, ad campaigns should approach their target audience with a “stage mentality.”  In other words, consider the stage of life your audience is in, not their biological age.”

“Think about it this way, there are over 72 million grandparents in America.   Did you know that the average age of a grandparent in the U.S. is 48? If you applied a traditional approach to reaching grandparents (a presumed age) you would miss much of the market.”

“Oh goodness,” she thinks.  “I know there are people in my age group who are grandparents, but I am not in that life stage and might never be.  A pointy-eared cat is all I can handle right now.  Sadly, I think I’ll be skipping the grandma stage.”   

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.  Jen grabs the black handle to open the microwave door, pausing for a moment as she reads a few more lines…

“Most Boomers and seniors are at completely different stages of their lives.  To reach potential customers on a deeper level you need to determine their life stage.  Are they working…active…caring for kids…caring for parents…retired…healthy?”

Deleting the message with her right hand while pulling the microwave handle with her left, she curses the e-mail for making her think about her own life stage.  “I wish the message was from Ada after all.  A bad date story would have been less mind boggling this early in the morning,”  she decides.

Just then, Jen realizes the cat is sniffing her coffee, still waiting for the Whisker Lickins to appear.  “In a minute!” she scoffs, “I think I’m going through a phase faze.” The cat turns, disappointed, as Jen notices the sunrise that’s beginning to appear outside her kitchen window.

Finding a Sharpie, she quickly jots down a list…

 

…and determines that she’s gone through nine life phases and is currently in a mature-minded but young-at-heart Discovery Phase II.  “Sounds like a NASA mission to me,” she smirks. “I feel like I’m on the launching pad and ready for take off.  Nothing like a cup of day-old, black coffee for fuel.” 

How many life stages have you gone through?  What stage are you in now?