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Take me to your CFO

MediaPost Publications, 9/21/09

Abstract:

I make my living as an advertising creative director in New York City. For the last 30 years, I've done campaigns for major brands that you have no doubt seen, won industry awards and made a very nice living.

Today, I'm going to bite the hand that feeds me. Actually, not so much the hand, more like the whole arm and part of the shoulder.

Why? Because I'm addressing this article not to the Chief Marketing Officers of the world, the people who would normally hire me, I'm addressing it to the Chief Financial Officers.

CFOs love numbers, especially the kind that are black and accrue to the bottom line. This article is loaded with them, but it's not about a new type of accounting or a way to shelter revenue from the IRS, it's about the numbers that CMOs are ignoring at the expense of their brands success, especially in this economy.

According to McKinsey Consulting, by 2010 (3.5 short months from now) 50% of all consumer spending in America will be by people over the age of 50. People 50+ earn $2.4 trillion annually compared to $1 trillion for the 18 to 34 group (and they spend at the same rate)...

...And yet, less than 10% of all U.S. marketing dollars are spent against the 50+ consumer, and nationwide research shows that the majority of consumers over 50 feel that advertising and marketing either portrays them negatively or ignores them altogether.

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