William Willis on his raft - the embodiment of "Nothing is Impossible"

Shel Kimen is SVP of Digital Strategy at SaatchiNY. In response to a recent Nielsen study on the baby boomer generation, she’s started a website dedicated to breaking down age barriers and opening up a discussion about one of the most misunderstood generations around.

4664 

1946 marks the beginning of the ‘baby boomer’ generation. And 1964 marks the end of that era. In 2010 those born in 1946 will be 64 years old, like my father. And those born in 1964 will be 46, like some good friends of mine.

Not Your Grandfathers Baby Boomer

In July, Ad Age reported on a Nielsen study with the hapless title: This Isn’t Your Grandfathers Baby Boomer that challenges marketers to look away from the shiny new mom and towards the highly influential, with disposable income, and not nearly-so-brand-loyal-as-we-think, market of baby boomers. Amen.

It seemed like a perfect opportunity to launch my new blog. A blog that thinks ‘boomer’ is an unfortunate pigeon-hole stereotype for people who are frickin’ cool and interesting and are in most cases much much smarter than me. Boomer says: Old fashioned, afraid of technology, and stuck in one’s ways. But when William Willis was 60 years old he built a custom raft out of 7 Balsa logs and sailed solo from Peru to Samoa… And he did it again when he was 70 (on a bigger raft that went farther)!

Age is irrelevant. It’s mindset we care about. So this slowly growing collection of anecdotes is about defying expectations and embracing the chutzpah of people who have enough experience to teach us a thing or two.

Check it out: http://sixty4.tumblr.com/

Tags: ad age, baby boomers, Shel Kimen