So it was with some amusement (because I know him) and a lot of appreciation that I read these words on Ray's weblog (Crosswalk.com). Ray was writing about my recent addition to the weblog fold at Crosswalk.
"Kudos to Dave Burchett for a stellar first week as the newest Crosswalk blogger. Dave is an accomplished author, an award winning sports TV director, and an extremely trenchant commentator on the issues of the day. Dave is an old friend, and I've always wanted to use the word "trenchant," and now I've done it. Check him out. He's says things we need to hear."
Trenchant? Meaning number one according to dictionary.com is forceful, effective, and vigorous. Thanks Ray! But then I got to the second listing. Caustic and cutting. Wait a minute...which one did he mean? Since I am generally a glass half-full guy I will go with meaning one. Ignorance is bliss and there ain't no more blissful guy than me.
It was an encouraging note from Ray that someone at my age (and his) could still be effective and maybe even worth hearing. That had been a concern recently because when I passed 50 the advertising world, television executives, and marketing wizards put me out to pasture as no longer desirable. The gold standard in advertising has been the 18-49 year old demographic. CBS News ran a story about the rethinking of the value of that demographic. Here are some excerpts from that report.
The AARP began running magazine ads in an effort to draw attention to what it sees as demographic discrimination. "These days," the ads say, "doctors don't pronounce you dead, marketers do."
"You're either 18-to-49, or you're dead to most marketers," says Matt Thornhill, president of The Boomer Project, a marketing research and consulting firm in Richmond, Va. "You don't exist. Or if you exist at all, you exist to wear denture adhesive or to drive a Cadillac. And that's about it." Marty Kaplan, media analyst and associate dean of USC's Annenberg School of Communication, says that "some programs are positively 50-plus averse. If you have statistics that show you are watched by that demographic, it's like kryptonite to advertisers. They don't want to be uncool."
Ouch. It is painful to think that some ad executive is distressed if uncool Dave watches his or her show. For the record, I welcome all age groups to buy my books. Your money is good with me!
CBS reporter Jerry Bowen noted that it's long been the reality for those who make and sell commercials, based on the belief that the 18 to 49 year old population, some 120 million Americans, is where the money is. Advertisers also believe younger viewers are more impressionable, more susceptible to advertising, and more willing than their parents to try new things. But, Bowen points out, there is a growing body of evidence, study upon study, that indicates the business model of television is wrong; that if advertisers really want to reach consumers with the most money to spare and spend, they need to aim older. They need to go after the 77 million-strong baby boomer generation, more than half of whom are in their fifties.
