Comments on: From the Jumbo Shrimp Lab

By: CGHill

CGHill — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:53:41 +0000

Well, here’s the issue: You’ve talked to 420,000 individuals and gathered various data points, and for what? To expedite marketing.

This may be my crunchy-con side seeping out, but so be it: there may be a lot of money to be made by marketing to me, or by marketing to somebody other than me, but it’s still just marketing, still just trying to separate person A from sum $. Pardon me if I don’t think this qualifies exactly as one of the Highest Aspirations of Mankind.

What I’m hoping Gen X can pull off is a 180-degree spin. Messages from the top down, the very model of 20th-century advertising, will no longer dominate the commercial culture. (See Doc Searls for a broader overview.) You can’t just amass a supply of something and then attempt to create a demand for it anymore.

And personally, to the extent that I am regarded as a marketing opportunity, I respond with as much negativity and resentment as I can muster. Fortunately, I am, in demographic terms, old — 56 this year — and therefore traditional top-down operations want little or nothing to do with me, with the exception of AARP, who can go fart up a flagpole. No doubt this leaves me out of the coveted ranks of the New Economic Order. But trust me: I can live without that distinction just as easily as I can live without Mensa, Armani, or the American Express Black Card.

By: Ross Honeywill

Ross Honeywill — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:17:24 +0000

Thank you. That’s my point. Age profiles like Gen Y or Gen X OR Baby Boomers are one dimensional and useless in determining attitudes or behavior. (has anyone actually read the story?)
And as for the original rant by Jumbo Shrimp Lab, I have interviewed 200,000 Gen Ys and 220,000 Gen Xs across 3 continents to inform my judgments, what about you? Opinions based on a sample size of one?

By: McGehee

McGehee — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:52:11 +0000

Brought to life or not, it’s still one-dimensional.

By: Dick Stanley

Dick Stanley — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:31:50 +0000

Media creations, all.

By: Ross Honeywill

Ross Honeywill — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:58:24 +0000

It’s true that all generational segments are fatuous – Gen X; Gen Y; Baby Boomer – they are all defined by one factor, age. So all they do is tell us how old someone is. That’s why the NEO typology, defined by 100 behavioural, 82 attitudinal and 12 discretionary spending factors, is so essential in bringing a one-dimensional view of society to life.

By: McGehee

McGehee — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:38:54 +0000

All Baby Boomers fit the stereotype, except for me and all of them I know personally.

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:20:54 +0000

Oh, good grief.

The whole “generational” thing is just one big stereotype, anyway. If it were actually true I would have had to have clerked in a video store for most of my 20s, instead of going to grad school.

Though those damn Millennials…now THEY do fit the stereotype ;)