Once a product makes it to the store shelf, brand appeal and package design can’t always carry it to success. That’s when companies turn to marketing. But when the market is filled with millions of individuals of various ages with different backgrounds, marketing can turn into a puzzle. Marketers are tasked with not only determining their message, but also the product’s audience and the best ways to reach them. If all of these pieces don’t fit, the brand’s target audience might not be enticed to purchase the product.
The two largest generations of consumers currently are baby boomers and millennials, says Ty Law, U.S. research analyst at Euromonitor International, Chicago. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, members of the baby boomer generation were born between 1946 and 1964. Millennials were born between 1977 and 2000, according to Kansas City, Mo.-based marketing firm Barkley. Sandwiched between these two generations is Generation X, which includes people born between 1965 and 1976, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.