Reviewed by Randy B. Lichtman for Readers' Favorite

You can’t get much better than Getting Better With Age: Improving Marketing in the Age of Aging by Peter Hubbell when you are looking to find out how to market toward baby boomers and seniors. Mr. Hubbell has written an excellent book on senior and baby boomer marketing, which takes us into the mindset and thought processes of our aging customers. It focuses on the art and science of marketing for companies which are marketing toward those markets providing valuable statistics, information and strategies in reaching them. As a very experienced expert in marketing, having worked with Saatchi and Saatchi and CEO/Founder of his company BoomAgers, Peter Hubbell has a wealth of information which he enjoys sharing with others who can benefit.

In the first section of the book, he provides us with tremendous background and statistics in “Aged to Perfection”, where we start understanding the basics of aging and are introduced to the “longevity economy”. He compares the size and characteristics of the baby boomer generation to the opportunities in a 21st century Gold Rush with this emerging market. In the second section of the book, he is creative and artistic in using specific topics as symbols and analogies for aging: wine, leather, cheese, cast-iron skillets, and memories. He explores each of these topics in depth and brings us closer to the mindset and advantages of addressing this important audience. Finally, he builds on his observations and philosophy of marketing in Part III — "Fifty Ways to Get Better With Age” - which presents us with an enormous amount of insights and recommendations which can improve our methods in developing our marketing strategies. In this section is a wealth of ideas, observations, and wisdom in 2-4 page mini-lessons such as: it’s about targeting shared values more than specific ages, speaking the language of the target group, communicating positive messages without focusing specifically on the problem, winning at the edges and not the core (differentiation), seeing the world as our customers see it, focusing on the joy of aging, strategic planning, and so many more valuable ideas.

Having experience in health services administration and financial services, I found this book to be an invaluable tool to those looking to focus on our aging market. It is full of facts, philosophy, and practical ideas worth considering when designing a marketing plan toward the Baby Boomers and beyond audiences. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in entering or developing this large and expanding market in their business.