Marketing to generation X /

As so-called baby boomers age, there has arisen a new generation to be categorized, characterized, analyzed, stereotyped, written about, targeted, and advertised and sold to. And apparently none of this can happen without first tagging it with a label. The name that seems to have stuck so far is "Generation X," taken from Douglas Coupland's 1991 novel. If nothing else, though, that label suggests an unknown quantity and emphasizes the fact that the most recent generation to come of age is more diverse and fragmented than any before. Undaunted, Ritchie, a past senior vice-president at advertising powerhouse McCann-Erickson and now responsible for media buying for General Motors, argues that marketers and advertisers have ignored differences between "X-er's" and "boomers," which they must now face up to or risk losing this newly dominant market. Traits belonging to this group worth noting, suggests Ritchie, are its diversity, fascination with interactivity, resistance to obvious or patronizing marketing appeals, uncertain future, and general resentfulness of the attention the previous generation received. Because, as Ritchie points out, there is little information on targeting this particular market, most business libraries will want to consider this book. --David Rouse

Baby-boomer Ritchie's epiphany regarding selling products to younger consumers serves as the springboard to this primer for perplexed‘and, yes, aging‘marketers. Amply armed with relevant anecdotes from her personal experience as an advertising and media executive, as well as an arsenal of statistics, Ritchie presents detailed, contrasting portraits of her contemporaries and the now formidable generation born between 1961 and 1981. The author's insights function as a road map for deciphering the considerable information presented. Most interesting are the parallels drawn between generational perspectives, e.g., ``To Boomers, television is a mirror.... To Generation X, television is not a mirror, but a window.'' Although much of the media buzz surrounding Generation X has cooled, Ritchie wisely cautions that it is essential to understand this diverse and ultimately powerful group of 79.4 million people. This title will be a useful tool for many a baffled Boomer, as well as a pop-culture history lesson for ``Xers,'' validating much of what they already know. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved