You're not just getting older; products are getting better

Age isn't the only thing creeping up on the baby-boom generation. Consumer product design and marketing are too, like wolves on cattle.

The United States' 79 million boomers, now 35 to 53 years old and at the peak of their earning power, make an exceptionally fat herd. They represent an enormous new market of special needs because they are getting older and have money to burn. But tell them that advancing age is the issue behind what they're about to buy and enjoy and they stampede.

As a result, industries from automobile makers to soft drink bottlers are developing sheep's clothing: a new generation of easier- to-use products specifically designed and marketed to a population that refuses to acknowledge the prospect of failing eyesight, hearing and dexterity. Boomers can believe that life hasn't changed, but the landscape of products is shifting subtly around them. From bathroom fixtures to recreational equipment, the design of everyday objects is slyly morphing. Existing products like household utensils are being redesigned and new products like retirement- community vehicles are being introduced with the intention of luring the aging consumer by creating stylish products that quicken the pulse while cosseting the creep of infirmity. What to do about the march of time? Give it great costumes. "They're the richest group of people who ever existed," said Bruce Hannah, a professor of design at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. "And they're willing to pay for three things: ease of use, safety and comfort. That plus the best design. Couple that with discretionary income and you have a market." The corporate challenge: selling age-related products to older consumers without asking anyone's age. For the boomer buyer who means to stay young into senior citizenship, it's like the reverse of being carded. "We don't mention the age word," said Linda Halfmann, an associate product manager for bathing products at Kohler, one company benefiting from the record amounts of money spent by boomers on home improvement. Whirlpool baths with grip rails are replacing standard tubs, which can't knead aching backs and weary legs. Shower stalls now routinely include seating. "I tell the sales force they're smart showers," Halfmann said. For industry, the stakes are high. At an automotive engineers convention in March, Lear Corp., the world's largest independent supplier of auto interiors, held its breath as it introduced the TransG, a minivan refitted with aging drivers in mind. The vehicle included larger controls, more legible instrument panels, sliding floors for easier cargo loading and powered swiveling seats to help passengers enter or leave. "In consumer clinics, they have been asking for this type of design, but they don't want to be told when it's there," Leslie Touma, Lear's director of corporate relations, said of the company's focus groups. "Packaging is important." Touma said response to the TransG at the convention was positive and strong. "The point of this vehicle is that the design is modern, exciting, not built to accommodate older people," she said. At the heart of much recent product development is a movement called universal design, which proposes products be accessible to the widest range of people, from the very young to the very old, by taking all their limitations or disabilities into account. Marketers love it too and have pushed it in areas important to boomers, like home improvement and gardening. It's a kind of philosophical expansion of ergonomics, design values that became a buzzword in the 1980s for products promoted as user-friendly. Good Grips, a line of 15 kitchen utensils introduced in 1990 by Oxo International, was the first big touchdown for universal design. Created by an entrepreneur for his arthritic wife, the roly-poly, pudgy-handled utensils were especially popular with boomers, who responded to both their look and ease of use. Grips have generally become larger and rounder, in response. Later this year Oxo, which has expanded its kitchen line to 350 items, is introducing handyman tools like screwdrivers and car tools like ice scrapers. Pepsi-Cola Co. is also test-marketing a universal design -- a pinch-waisted, two-liter plastic bottle called the Grip that requires less hand strength.

Copyright 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.