20 brands catching baby boomers’ attention right now

Boomers plan on traveling—and they seem to have turned to Tripadvisor to do it. The travel review website tops the latest Ad Age-Harris Poll Boomer brand tracker, which ranks brands that made significant progress in gaining attention from boomers in the first quarter of 2024. Even though the company ended its subscription service Tripadvisor Plus, the brand has remained resilient, thanks in part to Viator, which helps travelers book tours, sightseeing and activities. Tripadvisor acquired Viator in 2014. Of late, Viator has been working with ad agency Fig, which is using AI to help it sharpen its message, as recently reported by Bloomberg. Other travel brands cracking the top 10 in the tracker include Yelp and Delta Air Lines. Wikipedia, which some travelers use for research, also made the list. Other brands included in the top 10 are Caesars Casino & Sportsbook, Sephora, Amazon Prime, Tempur-Pedic, Estée Lauder and Star Wars. “TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Wikipedia are among the first places to start when planning any trip or experience, and it’s perhaps unsurprising that these three brands place within the top four surging brands among boomers in Q1—especially as many plan their escapist summertime travel during the heart of winter,” said Harris Poll CEO Will Johnson. Also read: 20 brands catching Gen Z’s attention right now Yelp saw record ad revenue in the last quarter of 2023, all part of the platform’s plan to emphasize its advertising business. Wikipedia released its top 25 most-viewed pages for 2023, the top one being OpenAI’s ChatGPT (which gained ground with Gen Z this quarter). The site has also been dealing with internal conflict around how the platform navigates niche topics like Wikipedia pages about roads and highways. Delta generated positive buzz for offering a “path of totality” flight from Austin, Texas to Detroit for the recent eclipse. Based on the poll, the airline seems to have recovered with boomers from the backlash it got late last year when it announced changes to its loyalty program that would have had members spend more to reach certain statuses while cutting airport lounge access. It walked back some of the requirements after negative consumer feedback. Delta topped a poll published late last year from Harris Poll for Fast Company that scored the most preferred airlines. (It tied with Southwest and American Airlines among boomers—but was the top choice for millennials.) Published quarterly, the Ad Age-Harris Poll rankings are sourced from The Harris Poll’s daily brand tracking tool, QuestBrand, to identify companies with the greatest quarter-over-quarter increase in equity among specific age cohorts—that is, how much a generation’s perception of these brands is changing from quarter to quarter. The baby boomer generation is generally defined as people born between 1946 and 1964. Top Boomer brands by brand equity growth Brands are ranked by change in brand equity scores among Boomer consumers. Hover or click over brands to see more details, including factors that make up the score and gains or losses each brand made with other generations. Scroll to see the full list. *Consideration quantifies consumers’ likelihood to purchase a product or service; Momentum measures consumers’ perception of whether a brand is gaining or losing market position against its competitors; Quality signals how consumers perceive the quality of a particular brand’s product or service compared to the quality of their competitors’ offerings; Familiarity shows how recognizable a brand is to the general population. Numbers displayed for each of these attributes show the change in the raw score for Boomers from Q4 to Q1. Demographic numbers show how much the brand equity score increased for each generation, compared with the previous quarter. Source: Harris Poll. Credit: Infographic by Ad Age. Below, a closer look at the trends behind the first-quarter poll. Beauty boom It was a strong quarter for beauty brands, with Sephora, Estée Lauder and Olay all making the list. Sephora recently made headlines for tweens storming its stores for skincare products, including Drunk Elephant. Boomers also like shopping in real life—a Klarna survey found that nearly 40% of boomers still buy all of their beauty products in person. There has also been an increase in Gen X and boomer beauty influencers who post about applying makeup around wrinkles or hooded eyelids. Estée Lauder recently started selling Clinique on Amazon. Late last year, the Estée Lauder brand announced a three-year partnership with the Stanford Center on Longevity to fund research studying and targeting age reversal. In February, the company also announced layoffs to “rightsize” certain areas. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Estée Lauder (@esteelauder) Olay’s products made several “best anti-aging products lists,” including being named as a best retinol cream by Today in November and the best anti-aging wrinkle cream by the New York Post in December, while taking fifth place in a U.S. News and World Report wrinkle cream ranking in March. The Procter & Gamble-owned brand also recently launched a cosmetics science course on Coursera, hoping to attract more women and women of color into the field. Olay also made news when Dollar Tree shoppers found dupes of its skincare line for $1.25. “Anti-aging and age-reversal products have begun to interest even Gen Z on TikTok, but these products may also be responsible for the strong performance of Sephora, Estée Lauder, and Olay among boomers this past quarter,” said Johnson. Home products Pottery Barn, SimpliSafe, and Tempur-Pedic also gained ground with the older generation. Pottery Barn launched a new shopping and design app in November and had a whole line of home goods inspired by the movie “Elf” for the holidays. Pottery Barn Brands CEO Marta Benson retired in April after nine years with the brand. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Pottery Barn (@potterybarn) In January, Tempur-Pedic unveiled a new line of mattresses to address pressure relief. Parent company Tempur Sealy plans to acquire Mattress Firm, with the deal slated to close this year. Its Tempur brand added David Beckham as a brand ambassador. Caesars Casino and Sportsbook ran a Super Bowl promo that gave new users up to $1,000 in bonus bets. The site also became the official sports betting partner of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, Madison Square Garden and MSG Networks. Sports betting was also popular with Gen Zers, with BetMGM gaining ground with the younger demographic. But profit pressure is forcing sports betting brands to pull back on advertising. The Amazon Prime subscription service appears to be enjoying loyalty with boomers at the same time Gen Z is exploring other shopping options. Recently released research from Mintel shows Amazon is the most-shopped brand for U.S. online shoppers. Mintel found that nearly half of Gen Z shoppers say they are actively trying to shop less at Amazon compared to only 20% of boomers. (However, Temu appears to be wooing more boomers and Gen Xers.) Also in the first quarter, Amazon’s Prime Video launched its ad tier. The Star Wars franchise is still going strong—or at least Disney thinks so, as it keeps pumping out new series, with “Ahsoka” recently renewed for a second season and “The Bad Batch” set to air its third season. Another new series, “The Acolyte,” will come out in June. And “The Phantom Menace” will return to theaters for its 25th anniversary. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Star Wars (@starwars) In February, GoFundMe announced that its users had raised $30 billion since 2010. However, research suggests that the crowdsourced funds disproportionately benefit the wealthy. GoFundMe funding has also become a more common piece of the American healthcare puzzle as a way to cover skyrocketing drug and treatment costs. While GoFundMe has been used to send aid to Gaza, The Verge recently reported on how the platform has put many Gaza-related fundraisers under review. In October, Bacardi teamed up with Grammy Award-winning producer Boi-1da to make an album with five up-and-coming artists who could use generative AI trained on Boi-1da’s beats. The company also worked with Google’s Arts and Culture group to make a virtual museum called “Aperitivo Through the Ages” focused on the Martini brand. The spirits company also opened a new system in Puerto Rico aimed at reducing the company’s greenhouse gas emissions. For Women’s History Month, Bacardi spotlighted Doña Amalia Bacardí Moreau, the wife of Bacardi company founder Don Facundo. Patagonia has been using a series of nonprofits to support wildlife and nature conservation efforts around the U.S. and supporting political causes such as voter registration. It was also named the most reputable company in an Axios-Harris Poll survey. Founder Yvon Chouinard and Vincent Stanley, the company’s director of philosophy, wrote a new book, “The Future of the Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned from Patagonia’s First 50 Years.” On the heels of the success of the “Barbie” movie, parent company Mattel has been looking to breathe new life into the American Girl and Fisher-Price lines. The tot toy brand seems to have made the list as grandparents bought gifts for their grandkids. Fisher-Price plans to relaunch an animated Barney series, and make a Thomas and Friends movie. The global kids’ toy market is estimate to hit $183 billion by 2030. Also read: How Mattel’s ‘Barbie’ playbook will push it forward View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fisher-Price (@fisherprice) Gap-owned Old Navy this quarter made both the boomer tracker and the recently published Gen Z tracker. Old Navy sales were up 6% in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended just before the brand in early February hired Zac Posen as chief creative officer to try and woo consumers looking for fashion at an affordable price point. Old Navy’s basics and price points make it more accessible to older consumers as well. “Old Navy seems to have threaded a needle in raising its brand equity among both Gen Z and Boomers in Q1,” said Johnson. “Such demonstrated cross-generational appeal may suggest campaigns like leaning into Y2K fashion nostalgia can resonate with young and old alike.” More: Gap hires a key Mattel exec behind Barbie revival as CEO Merci Chocolate also gained ground with boomers, perhaps because Costco sold Merci assorted chocolates for the holidays. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Costco Love (@costco.love) Google-owned YouTube is the most-used free video service for all generations (52% of boomers), according to October data from eMarketer. If the TikTok ban goes into effect, there is a chance that YouTube Shorts could benefit. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs

20 brands catching baby boomers’ attention right now

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