The Age Curve: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Storm (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: direct mail, shifting demography, age curve, United States, Baby Boomers, Silent Generation (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“To gain an overview of the coming trend, begin by reading the entertaining, inspiring new book, "The Age Curve: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Storm," by Kenneth Gronbach.” —Dr. Mildred Culp, “Workwise” syndicated columnist

“‘The Age Curve’ has one overwhelming reason to read and digest the book: it will make you re-think what you thought was obvious.” —Inland Empire Business Journal

“With a little guidance from ‘The Age Curve,’ readers will be better able to set their company on a path to future sales success.” —Houston Business Journal

“This lucid, well-written book is thought-provoking and accessible to a wide audience, and is especially valuable reading for business students and practitioners. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels.” —Choice

"Gronbach will inspire you to think beyond his examples, not only about what has already worked, but what also needs to be done in future." -- QRCA Views

"The book takes on what could be a mind-numbing topic, but Gronbach does it with interesting style and intellectual edification....The Age Curve is as enlightening as it is sobering." --Springfield Business Journal

Product Description

For years, marketers have held on to unwavering beliefs that have dictated how they market to their consumers. But the hard truth is that the changes we see in marketing and business are based on one undeniable factor--the size of the generations we are selling to. As each generation ages, what they buy and how much they buy will change. Each product and service has a "best customer" that sustains a business. As these customers grow up, the smartest marketers will stay ahead of them--and their money. In The Age Curve, marketing guru Kenneth Gronbach shows executives and entrepreneurs how to anticipate this wave of predictable demand and ride it to success. Using impeccable research, Gronbach reveals how our largest generations, the Baby Boomers and Generation Y, are redefining how we market and how businesses can anticipate their needs more effectively. Complete with entertaining examples of companies like Apple who have perfected their strategies for building a loyal customer base, as well as those who haven't (Levi Strauss and Honda Motorcycle), this book will show readers: how to determine their best customers * how successful companies are earning the loyalty of Generation Y and cultivating allegiance to their products for years to come * why Generation X is a much less valuable market than any of us have been led to believe * and much more Both shocking and compelling, The Age Curve will change the way companies look at their customers and how they market to them.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (July 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814401813
• ISBN-13: 978-0814401811
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #149,900 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #37 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Demography
  #51 in	Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Planning & Forecasting

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Life-Changing Book!, June 27, 2008

By	D. Friedlander - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

No, really, it is.

When I come across a book, speaker, slideshow or tv show that takes a complicated or mundane topic and explains it as clearly as Ken Gronbach has explained the essence of demographic transitions in "The Age Curve," I applaud the author. When the writing is not only clear and concise but also entertaining, I stand up and cheer.

Gronbach uses stories from his years of experience in the advertising and marketing business to explain what is important about basic data like how many babies were born in which years during the last century or so in the USA. Instead of being an actuary's idea of a boring meeting (no offense to actuaries!) it is a lively and humorous read, with lots of slap-your-forhead, "well, DUH!" moments. With real-life applications like blue-jean and motorcycle sales, stories about leftovers at the dinner table, and discussion of current events like immigration and China, Gronbach makes what some consider a dry topic into something you'll talk about at cocktail parties, with your spouse as you plan your future together, and, perhaps most importantly, at the conference table with your business associates.

After reading this book, you will start to see every issue that attracts or confounds you differently. You will analyze every business challenge, measure every political argument, and make every investment decision from a new perspective. And whenever you run into some executive making a lame excuse about not being able to predict the future and how it might affect stockholders, you will want to slap them with a copy of this book.

This book is a 250-page "a-ha moment." I recommend it to everyone who thinks or cares about the future of our culture, and who wonders why big businesses sometime run aground on issues that seem later to have been completely predictable.

Want bonus points? Hire Gronbach to speak to your business or trade group -- he's a great presenter with a show that will keep you awake -- even after a big lunch!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book with Insights You Won't Get Elsewhere!, July 23, 2008

By	Chris Forbes "gmnonprofits.com" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is an easy-to-understand guide to population trends that will affect every organization. I work with faith-based nonprofits and I have seen them so focused on reaching the 24-40 Gen-X segment, they miss the basic fact that that generational cohort is much smaller than people think.

The infrastructure (and mind-set) of the nation's largest faith groups and faith-based nonprofits are fit to the size of the Baby Boomers and I fear leaders in these institutions and organizations are setting themselves up for disappointment when population realities are realized in the very near future.

All these ministries and organizations need to respond to a realistic understanding of population trends and become more aware so they can get ahead of the population "parade." I will recommend my clients read this book as a resource to hep them open their eyes!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Age Curve Review, June 14, 2008

By	Robert E. Conti - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Most run so fast the daisies go by unnoticed. Why does the noise coming from the restaurant's ceiling sound like Chinese water torture..... no melody, no harmony, unintelligible lyrics?

The Deli is located on South College Street, that's why. I'm 72, that's why. The manager isn't willing to change stations. I ask for the Kingston Trio or the Limelighters. Who? She asks. I don't go there now for lunch. She doesn't miss me. I found a cafe associated with a book store. Nice. Soft background music playing.

Gronbach's "The Age Curve" showed me there was a rational reason for my satisfaction with the move and using his method of applying that data makes clear the significance of age group preferences and why demand shifts with time. Why wouldn't everyone prefer Pavarotti against the repetitive strumming of 3 guitar chords over and over accompanied by indistinguishable screaming, without melody or harmony for 3 whole minutes?

Enter "The Age Curve". Adding the principal of Ken's research into things like "what age group buys motorcycles" provides the answer to the mystery as to why growing motorcycle sales fell suddenly off the cliff. His method of applying these factors makes clear reasons for behavioral, buying and/or taste changes that can greatly affect your business success and where you go to lunch.

This text book reads like a hard-to-put-down novel, as the author recounts many fascinating product marketing cause and result, success and failure case studies from his own extensive international marketing experiences.