Content area
Full text
Until a few years ago it seemed like every promotional and marketing campaign was aimed at consumers under 30 years old. Mountain Dew's "Do the Dew" and Nike's "Just Do It!" were typical advertising campaigns of the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. If people weren't hip, young, and cool, they didn't exist and advertisers didn't target them. But as one famous baby boomer said, "The times, they are a-changing."
One of the largest under-tapped markets in the U.S. economy today is the baby boomer generation. They have a disposable income valued at $28 trillion and a median net worth of $112,048-about 15 times the $7,240 reported for those younger than 35. By 2010, one in three adults in the U.S. will be age 50 or older. Look at these statistics (see "Sources"):
* 18% of boomers have hearing loss
* only 12.5% percent of boomers who need hearing aids have them
* the majority (65%) of people with hearing loss are under retirement age
* for every decade after the age of 55, the risk of stroke doubles
* one-third of all...