Seminars

“Deny if you can the desire to roam new roads … Take off from the crowded highway, the mob is not for you. Seek the unspoiled spots and strange scenes.” Jeepster, 1949

Over 70 years later, SUVs still tap into the same emotions and fantasies – just one of many examples of the enduring power of cultural imprinting.

VizioNation seminars and publications immerse brand leaders in the the unspoiled spots and strange scenes that shape consumers’ private inner minds decades, even generations, after they were first embedded.

Neither traditional surveys nor data science can fully reveal the silent socio-cultural software that influences generational attitudes, motivations and buying behavior across our fast-changing mass consumer society.

Brand teams are not immune from these mechanisms – how they perceive U.S. consumers is inevitably colored by their personal inner-mind software. Our seminars help managers escape the box of their own imprinting and seize brand share from those who cling to convention along the crowded highway.

One Day Seminar: 60 Is the New 60

Reimagining the U.S. 50+ Demographic: Brand Share Bonanza for Marketing Mavericks

Held back by convention and obsolete theories, most mainstream advertisers avoid proactively engaging the U.S. 50+ demo. This highly immersive seminar trains venturesome brands to leverage socio-cultural realities and steal sales from laggards

Curated by our Boomer / neXt consulting unit, 60 Is the New 60 captures the youthful mindset of the 50+ demographic but reminds that while they act younger, 60-year-olds are still 60 in terms of the silent software of their inner minds. Buying behavior is pre-programmed by long and often complex timelines of brand perceptions and relationships.

• Relevance: most marketers are imprinted by – and operate within – the socio-cultural touchstones of the 18-49 demographic, while the programming of Boomers and older Gen Xers involves a deeper portfolio of embedded reference points. Conversations are hampered because brands lack fluency in the silent languages of the 50+ audience.

Supported by comprehensive data and case histories, VizioNation immerses participants in the generational imprinting and socio-cultural/socio-economic dynamics that – unseen, unheard – drive purchase decisions in the U.S. 50+ consumer space, the world’s 3rd largest economy. The agenda includes:

• Generational imprinting1945-2020: received history, mores, trends and technologies
• Mass consumer society redirection in the 1970s/80s: even more transformative than the 1960s
• Modifiers and transference: Boomers are the parents of Millennials, Gen X the parents of Gen Z
• Winners or losers, all brands compete in generational contexts that shape their outcomes
• Hidden consumer attitudes, private agendas and secret selves that refute myths and myopia
• Case History: upending the automotive market – curiosity vs. orthodoxy, insularity and inertia
• Othering and offending millions through clumsy messaging hurts stockholder equity. Not OK.
• How ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) ratings will penalize ageist brands and advertisers

 Priced from $10,000 per organization; contact us for full details, content licensing terms and conditions.

One Day Seminar: Marketing to Midlife Millennials

New Priorities, Regression Toward the Mean and Unexpected Boomer Influence

After decades of clickbait cachet, Millennials are proving the “experts” wrong and regressing toward the mean of cultural normalcy, They are forming couples and families, buying new vehicles, moving to suburbs and discovering new brands.

• The early 21st century marketing meme was that Millennials would reinvent – even reject– their Boomer parents’ lifestyles and consumption patterns. It’s time to forget the silly glib OK Boomer media mantra: hidden imprinted connections to previous generations are emerging to sway real-world behavior.

America’s new midlife mass market – Millennials in their 30s – is adopting cultural conformity. CPGs to autos and home appliances, new realities trigger new decisions in which Boomer parents and Gen X influencers play powerful roles. But to engage Millennials, winning brands must also engage their older mentors.

• U.S. national and regional cultures: the unseen hand in generational aspirations and attitudes
• Long before brands target midlife Millennials, received history and imprinting shape perception
• The American Dream: why most Millennials feel they have achieved or will achieve it
• Changing realities: consumption patterns at 35-49 are radically different from those at 18-34
• How dormant Boomer/Gen X cultural/economic attitudes now mold midlife Millennial decisions
• Boomer/Gen X imprinting constantly updates; to leverage their influence, brands must update too
• Generational interaction case histories: automobiles, consumer durables and first home decisions
• Generational interaction case histories: CPGs and child-related products – the grandma effect

 Priced from $10,000 per organization; contact us for full details, content licensing terms and conditions.

One Day Seminar: Crossing the Pond Post-Brexit – Mind the Gap

For EU and UK Brands:  Marketing to U.S. Generations – Possibilities, Promise & Pitfalls 

UK and EU brands rebooting in the U.S. post-Brexit have metrics galore. But learning the subconscious imprinting of America’s generations avoids costly stumbles with consumers and creates more productive conversations with U.S. colleagues. 

• America’s generations perceive and prioritize the same brands, products and technologies differently because they have been imprinted differently. And they communicate in different socio-cultural dialects, not only from one another but – too often – from U.S. marketing, product and advertising teams.

• Defusing confusion: generational names, stereotypes, birth years, populations, spending power
• Generational imprinting1945-2020: received history, mores, trends and technologies
• Granola, running shoes and SUVs: hidden cultural connections that changed whole industries
• Interactions and transference: Boomers are the parents of Millennials, Gen X the parents of Gen Z
• Conversation/connection chasms: 28% of marketers are over 45 vs. 56% of adult consumers
• The age-agnostic advertising trap: there is no such thing as age-agnostic perception
• Costly myths and myopia in the 50+ demographic: half of U.S. spending power, but mostly ignored
• Case histories: shipwrecks (Tesco, Volkswagen) vs. seamanship (coffee pods and cargo vans)

 Priced from $10,000 per organization; contact us for full details, content licensing terms and conditions.