The year is 2014, and niche marketing has never been so accessible nor marketed. It’s for this very reason that I wish to discuss (or rant rather) about the categorization of the baby boom generation. I propose that individuals between the ages 50 to 54 in the year 2014 (born within 1960 to 1964) be no longer considered part of the “baby boom” generation.
I have never related to the label “baby boomer”. Mostly because I never felt part of this generation. I never shared their childhood history. For the most part, the baby boom generation is defined as anyone born from 1946 to 1964 – that’s an 18 year span! When looking at Gen X, Millennials (Gen Y) and now Gen Z, these generations have at most a 15 year span.
Baby Boomers were inline with The Beatles and hippies – those now between the age of 50-54 were not!
Consider this, when The Beatles came into popularity, those born form 1960 to 1964 were less than five years old! Our experience with The Beatles and our involvement with defining the tide of rock music was inconsequential. The tide had already come and gone by the time we even had a thought or a voice about music!
How about Flower Power and the hippies? Again, those who were born in the last four years of what is considered the baby boom generation had been on the planet less than a decade when that movement hit its peak. All I remember from the Flower Power days is that my mom made me hot pants to wear – I was barely 8 years old… nothing hot about that!
Frankly speaking, by the time I get to retirement, most of the baby boomers will no longer be such a huge segment. And as always, the people that are at the tail end of this formidable generation will be lost and likely forgotten. After all, we road the coattails – we didn’t do any of the driving.
Being part of the last four years of the baby boom generation segment has been problematic. We are the in between segment and I for one have always felt left out. I don’t have much in common with the majority of the baby boomers and I’m not quite part of Generation X. Those born from 1960 to 1964 are caught in a non-generation zone. We may have the same work ethic as the baby boomers, but we definitely don’t have the same psychographics.
I propose that this sub-segment of the baby boom generation be called Generation V – because we have always been caught in a vortex! We have been and continue to be very present, very viable and very economically prolific. We are the ones that are young enough to mesh with Gen X, and still hip enough to communicate with Gen Y. However, we are also old enough to influence Gen Z aspirationally!
I’m speaking to all of you born in the 1960 to 1964, four year window. What do you think of where you stand within the generations?