Like Clearbrook, many marketers are realizing that there’s gold in them thar’ grandparents. As seniors become more affluent - and have more grandchildren to spoil - companies are tailoring pitches, creating products and designing direct mail campaigns to dip into the elder generation’s pockets. F.A.O. Schwarz, the toy giant, has added a Grandma’s Shop in its two largest stores and trains its sales force to help Grandma choose that special gift. Promises Kept., a mail-order company in Minneapolis, devotes a section of its catalog exclusively to quality toys for grandchildren. Jockey International even runs a print ad featuring a silver-haired woman in briefs, along with the message that her granddaughters wear them, too. Says F.A.O. Schwarz president Peter Harris: “We believe grandmas and grandpas are an enormous growing market.”
Why the sudden interest in wooing grandfolks? One reason is their sheer numbers. Currently there are about 40 million grandparents nationwide - many with several sets of grandkids, given the large number of baby-boom parents and their frequency of divorce and remarriage. And they aren’t just buying Christmas and birthday presents. There’s Easter, Chanukah, Valentine’s Day and, of course, those ever-important school graduations. Besides having the time to go on shopping sprees, grandparents also have the money. According to a study by The Data Group of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., the average set of grandparents spends about $819 per year on the grandkids. “Grandparents aren’t merely order takers,” says Data Group’s vice president Jeff Ostroff. “They’re making the buying decisions themselves.”
That knowledge has opened up a new target audience for makers of children’s products. Besides the obvious pitches to kids and their parents, some companies are running ads in magazines targeted toward the elderly, like New Choices and Golden Years, where grandparents are likely to see them. This fall an ad for Mattel Inc. invited readers of Modern Maturity to join the company’s Grandparents Club. For a $10 fee they received a book of discount coupons; Mattel, in turn, got a list of potential customers. “Grandparents are becoming a critical secondary market,” says Allison Cohen of Ally & Gargano advertising.
Tracking grandparents isn’t always easy; few direct marketers offer reliable lists. But almost everybody can figure out what makes them tick. Rare is the grandparent who isn’t a sucker for cuteness. Thus, MCI couldn’t resist featuring a cherubic grandbaby named Jordan on its commercial plugging personal 800 numbers. And to help Granny remind the kiddies to visit, The Little Tikes Co. has introduced Grandma’s House, a miniature dollhouse complete with high chair and grandparent figures. As everyone knows, “kids are in cahoots with their grandparents,” says Cohen. And you can bet marketers will continue to take advantage of it.
