by Peter Huck

There is a strong human tendency to bracket people into groups or segments according to what are perceived to be shared traits, characteristics or backgrounds. Therefore, we continually see people grouped together in surveys, statistics, the media and in our daily lives based on such factors as race, sex, geographic region, income, employment status, level of education, marital status and age group. The practice of placing the population into categories is used not only by sociologists, but also by marketers hoping to discover and also predict consumer motivations, needs, habits and tastes that characterize one group from another. With this information, manufacturers and retailers of products can then more effectively target a particular segment of a population as ideal customers for a given product.

Since age impacts the types of dietary supplements that consumers need and want, as well as the kinds of marketing messages and strategies that they find appealing, this article will look at demographics and marketing considerations for the three most common age brackets: Seniors, Baby Boomers and Generation Xers. In Generations: The History of America's Future, 1594-2069, William Strauss and Neil Howe argue that a generation be defined as "a cohort group whose length approximates the span of a phase of life and whose boundaries are fixed by a peer personality." Although it is true to a certain extent that people in an age group share a common "personality" that manufacturers and marketers of products can try to specifically appeal to, many marketers in the dietary industry also cautioned that people generally do not like to be categorized as belonging to this or that group and want to be treated as individuals with unique needs and wants. The challenge for those who sell natural health products is appealing to the nutritional and health needs of different age groups without simulatneously pigeonholing consumers.

Seniors

The Senior age group consists of those who belong to the so-called World War II generation born before 1933 and those born in the Swing generation ranging from 1933 to 1945. Therefore, the Senior age group consists of Americans ages 53 and older. Many marketing minds have suggested that Seniors are the most under maximized and poorly targeted age group in terms of potential consumers, which may be surprising considering that households headed by people age 55 or older account for one in four dollars spent in the United States, and that Americans over the age of 50 control about 77 percent of the nation's disposable income.

The potential market of this group for the dietary health industry is tremendous because not only do Seniors have the free time and the buying power to consistently purchase health products, but they also have greater needs for many of the products offered. And nutritional and health needs are the first place to start when deciding how to target age groups. "The nutritional needs of people are different based on age, which is a scientific fact, so you really should try and figure out what the consumer is specifically looking for given his or her age," said Gerard McIntee, director of marketing for Nature's Plus.

With health needs being the major determinant in what products are ideal for a certain age, Seniors traditionally have been some of the dietary health industry's best customers, because while they are living longer and healthier lives than previous generations, most if not all chronic diseases and conditions nonetheless are most prevalent during older age. According to statistics from the National Centers for Health Statistics and Centers for Disease Control, 34 percent of Americans over the age of 65 have hypertension while 14.2 percent have ischemic heart disease. Alzheimer's is another chronic condition specific to older populations, and it is estimated that 10 percent of all persons over the age of 65 have the disease. Another significant health concern for seniors is arthritis with nearly fifty percent of those over the age of 64 afflicted. Other common chronic ailments for older people include diabetes, osteoporosis and other disorders of bone or cartilage, cataracts, ulcers, frequent indigestion, enlarged prostate, urinary incontinence and frequent constipation. Therefore, when targeting the Senior market, it is crucial that a product focus on one or more of these concerns.

"When designing a product for the Senior population, you are marketing to a huge group, and what we have tried to do is address the major concerns," said Marwan Zreik, director of marketing and research and development for Naturade, which offers Active Senior's Multi-Protein, a protein and nutrient supplement designed for an active Senior lifestyle."There are different ways to do this. The most obvious is to look at what are the major diseases of the age group, and you find things like cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's and other degenerative-type diseases. So in creating a product like Active Senior's, we tried to take those factors into account when choosing which nutrients to put in the formulation."

One of the biggest dilemmas of marketing to Seniors is deciding whether or not to target them according to the term "Seniors." Not surprisingly, many people past the age of 53 do not care to think of themselves as so-called Senior citizens, and even those who are past the age of 65 may resent being called a "Senior" because it is a term that can evoke a stereotypical image of someone who is feeble and unable to care for him/herself. Furthermore, many older people do not like reaching a specific age and then immediately being designated as suddenly belonging to a new age group or market. Zreik acknowledged that there is a segment of older persons that do not want to be called Seniors. "This was a marketing challenge because how do we market a product toward Seniors without calling them Seniors? But other terms do not convey very well the message of who this product is designed for. We don't believe the product name Active Senior's is going to isolate or offend people because it is not emphasizing that you are old but that you are active and taking care of yourself."

To avoid the problematic term "Senior" all together, many companies focus on the health concerns of this group rather than age. Enzymatic Therapy manufactures and markets a number of products that are designed for the health needs of specified age groups including GS-500 for support for the joints and Remifemin designed for women experiencing menopause and other mid-life changes. However, the marketing approach of the company is not to explicitly focus on age but rather on the health benefits the products offer. "We intentionally don't put any designated age on these products, because we leave it up to the consumer to decide which product category they fit in," said Carol Cassell, public relations director. "We hope that the ingredients will speak for themselves in terms of what a consumer needs and is looking for."

Scientific considerations can also contribute to marketing strategies. Lucas Meyer offers phosphatidylserine under the brands of Leci-PS and Corti-PS. The reason for offering two products is not that the products may primarily be used by different age groups, but rather that the mechanism of action is different. "The marketing is not only different for the two products, but the scientific base is different as well," said Peter Rohde, president of Lucas Meyer. "As a memory enhancer and booster, PS works on the membrane level in the brain to improve signal transfer and repair damaged cells, which improves cognitive functioning. On the other hand, PS in sports nutrition is at a much higher dose and the mode of action is the suppression of cortisol levels. This is why we have separated the products with two different trademarks even though it is the same substance." Rohde also explained that while much of the marketing for Leci-PS is toward people over the age of 50, this is in large part because clinical trials up to this point have more or less only been conducted on that age group.

Baby Boomers

With all the attention the Baby Boomer generation receives, it often seems that it is the only generation that marketers should concern themselves with. This impression is due in part to the fact that they are the largest generation in terms of numbers. Consisting of those born 1946 to 1964, the Baby Boomer generation is currently peaking at 78 million, and they compose about 40 percent of the adult population. Even as their numbers begin to decrease as this age segment experiences higher mortality rates, their political and economic power will continue to grow. As was noted during Bill Clinton's presidential victories over George Bush and Bob Dole, Baby Boomers became in the last decade the new movers and shakers in American society.

Many have tried to delineate some general characteristics of the Baby Boomers. Despite high divorce rates, they are likely to be married and still have children in the home. Baby Boomers are more highly educated than any previous generation. They are an age group in the peak of their labor force participation and are on the verge of their top earning years. Subsequently, they have a basic feeling of economic security. Whether fairly or not, Baby Boomers have been given a reputation for being self-oriented, as well as selfish about their leisure time and more careless than other generations in spending money. Since many Baby Boomers came of age in the tumultuous 1960s during the civil rights struggle and the Vietnam war, and then later watched Watergate unfold on their television sets, social commentators have described the Baby Boomer generation as marked by skepticism and a propensity for rejecting authority. Ironically, in surveys, Baby Boomers remain suspicious of the status quo even as they increasingly become its power-brokers. Financially secure and highly active, Baby Boomers are seen as the perfect customers to target.

Despite being at the apex of American society, the Baby Boomer generation is aging. Every eight seconds, one of its members turns 50, offering the dietary supplement industry substantial growth opportunities as this generation begins to feel the aches and pains that accompany older age. However, do not expect Baby Boomers to go quietly into that good night.

"Baby Boomers will fight aging every step of the way, which is good because it means that they exercise and eat nutritionally and will take other steps to take care of themselves," said Karena Dillon, partner with Sheldon Baker Marketing Communications. "But their resistance to aging is much greater than that of their parents. Baby Boomers will generally do whatever it takes to stay young and beautiful." This fact should signify a surge in overall supplement sales as Baby Boomers battle against the many effects of aging, as well as the chronic diseases that emerge around the age of 50.

Although Baby Boomers will increasingly search out therapies and treatments for chronic health conditions associated with age, they will remain reluctant to join the "mature" market. As Dillon explained it, aging members of this generation will get more proud of being Baby Boomers and will not want to give up that designation for the title of "Senior." Companies and retailers therefore will have to rethink how to approach people in their 50s. "The Baby Boomers are going to be a different type of Seniors," said Jeff Hilton, president of Integrated Marketing Group. "Manufacturers are going to have to be more careful about how they talk to this age group, because they do not want to be spoken to in a way that implies that they are at all out of the mainstream. I think that, increasingly, the way to reach Boomers as they age is to talk to them as if they were mainstream customers and not treat them differently. By the way a company treats its labeling and the look of the people in the advertisements, it can subtly state that the product is for an older consumer."

Another aspect of the potentially huge market that aging Baby Boomers offer the dietary supplement industry is that while they begin to use new products to deal with the nutritional needs and health concerns of an older person, they will continue to utilize many of the same supplements they began using in their 30s and 40s. "The Baby Boomer generation is the first generation that has not wanted to pass the baton as previous generations have," said Danny Wells, president of Danny Wells and Associates. "Most of the time, when a generation reached a certain age, it was time to retire and age gracefully while letting the next generation take charge. The Baby Boomers do not want to age, so in this respect, this age group is going to be a much broader market for products that will keep them more youthful or work to give them more energy, whereas the current group of Senior citizens who are 70 and 80 would think it was a waste of money to put something on wrinkles."

Craig Larson, director of research and development for AmeriFIT, which offers the Baby Boomer Nutritionals line of supplement, as well as other products such as Estroven for women in mid-life, explained that Baby Boomers are not looking to just treat chronic conditions, but also to maintain a high level of health. "The Baby Boomer line has generated significant interest," he said. "The responding group is generally well-educated, financially secure and active physically. They also are very knowledgeable about nutrition and products and their health needs are generally not illness or need-based, but preventative. They have the desire to be healthier and realize that nutritional products offer many cost-effective advantages. Quality of life is their primary concern."

Generation X

If the Baby Boomers are not willing to move into old age and let the next generation take over, where does that leave those born 1965 to 1976 and whom have been given the somewhat derisive moniker "Generation X?" From the standpoint of sheer numbers, this "baby bust" generation, with 45 million members, is already at a disadvantage in comparison to the Baby Boomers' 78 million-member legion. Generation X also has been characterized in a multitude of forums as shiftless, lazy, indifferent and indecisive--as slackers or quitters with few or no long-term goals. If this is the competition, the Baby Boomer generation appears not to have to fear being replaced on the throne.

However, the image of Generation X is beginning to be reevaluated. It has been more than seven years since Douglas Coupland in Generation X: tales for an accelerated culture coined the term for this age group, and some have since questioned whether the stereotype of the twentysomething slacker is based more on hype than reality. At least one commentator has said that the negative personification of Generation X was an intentional propaganda campaign designed to make young people seem less desirable to employers, thus preserving jobs and career options for Baby Boomers by slowing the next generation's ascension to power.

According to surveys, it turns out that most members of Generation X actually do think about the future and financial security. A recent survey of college freshman found that they generally are motivated, hard-working and self-reliant. As consumers, Generation Xers are renowned cynics who are not usually inclined to accept advertising claims as quickly as previous generations, according to Karen Ritchie in Marketing to Generation X. They also are cognizant of advertising methods and have an understanding about modern marketing approaches. Finally, Generation X is an extremely diversified group, which potentially makes them harder to target or make sweeping generalizations about as a consumer market.

"I don't think Generation X is a primary target for this industry," said Hilton of Integrated Marketing. "They don't tend to be health store shoppers anyway, and the primary information from the mass markets is that this age group isn't really buying supplements. I don't write them off, and they can sometimes be an overflow audience that you can reach with some of your efforts. But I don't think anybody is particularly targeting that group right now." Dillon of Sheldon Baker Marketing added that Generation X is a difficult group for the dietary industry to market to because they have an indomitable attitude and think they can do anything.

While twentysomethings do not as a general rule think about meeting their nutritional needs, statistics have shown that many Generation Xers actively exercise and are concerned about physical appearance. Thus, two potentially appealing categories for members of Generation X may be natural sports nutrition and diet products. However, according to the data from the Energy Times' Profile Analysis shown on page 19, this age group is not significantly using a higher percentage of weight loss or health and beauty aids when they buy products at a health food store. Furthermore, Hilton noted that a dietary supplement category such as sports nutrition has a niche target audience that is essentially a subgroup consisting of bodybuilders and athletes. "Sports nutrition is kind of a world within itself," he said. "I think those consumers are buying sports supplements for very specific needs and goals, but apart from people in that kind of lifestyle, I don't think these products are really of interest for the Generation X age group."

If the Generation X market for dietary supplements sounds bleak, one aspect of this age group to consider is that they may not be as strapped for cash as is generally assumed. While it is true that their incomes are lower than those of Seniors and Baby Boomers, they are delaying marriage and children even longer than their parents, the Baby Boomers, did. The average female Generation Xer does not marry until age 24, and the average male does not marry until age 26. This potentially means that people in their 20s have more discretionary income and more time to spend it.

And there is always the so-called Baby Boomlet generation, consisting of those ages 3 to 21, for forward-looking marketers to set their sights on. Although this population has yet to become consumers on their own behalf, they already make up approximately 25 percent of the population and consist of about 70 million people. Generations of consumers come and go, and manufacturers and retailers may want to keep in mind that the Baby Boomlets are expected to overtake the Baby Boomers in percentage of the American population by the year 2010.

Supplement Choices: Seniors

Antioxidants--Included in this category are vitamins C, E and beta carotene; minerals such as selenium; and botanicals such as grape seed extract and pine bark extract. Antioxidants quench damaging free radicals in the body.

Chondroitin--May protect existing cartilage from premature breakdown by inhibiting certain enzymes that destroy cartilage and enzymes that prevent the transport of nutrients.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)--Useful for heart problems including congestive heart failure, arrhythmia and angina pectoris. CoQ10 increases energy production within the heart muscle, which allows the heart to utilize the nutrients and oxygen it receives more efficiently. Also improves the heart's pumping action and electrical activity.

Ginkgo Biloba--Reported to enhance blood circulation and to increase the supply of oxygen to body parts and organs. May also boost the brain's production of ATP, enhancing memory, alertness and energy.

Glucosamine--When taken in a supplemental form such as glucosamine sulfate, it is selectively taken up by joint tissues. May be helpful in prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and tendinitis.

Supplement Choices: Baby Boomers

Black Cohosh--Helps relieves hot flashes, menstrual cramps with back pain. May also lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Calcium--When a person is deficient in calcium, the body will pull calcium from the bones, eventually resulting in osteoporosis, particularly in postmenopausal women.

DHEA--Levels of DHEA in the body declines with age, and it has been suggested that DHEA supplementation may prevent chronic diseases and promote longevity.

Isoflavones--Believed to bring estrogen levels up to normal. Low estrogen levels are associated with symptoms of menopause, as well as with an increased risk of osteoporosis and heart disease.

Kava--Induces mental and physical relaxation and reduces anxiety and stress.

Saw Palmetto--It is suggested that this herb inhibits the production of dihydrotestosterone, a hormone that contributes to the enlargement of the prostate. Also acts as a diuretic and urinary antiseptic. May also enhance sexual function and desire.

Supplement Choices: Generation X

Sports Nutrition and Weight Loss--Many supplements fall under these overlapping categories including: chromium picolinate, CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), creatine, ephedra, HCA (hydroxycitrate), protein, pyruvate and tribulus terrestris.

Gimmick Products--A number of products, such as Herbal Ecstasy, are designed and packaged to appeal to the lifestyle and attitude of the twentysomething age group.