Diversity = Productivity

I’m reading this piece in the New York Times about advertising to Baby Boomers, and just like everywhere else it's simply the same old, same old. (How many times have I said that lately?) And I just can’t get up the energy to blog it.

Yes, it’s a nice article - with an enjoyable surprise for me: a fascinating and challenging one-day colleague, Dr. Joseph Coughlin, is quoted. If you ever get a chance to see his presentation, it's mind-boggling.

Other than that … Yours Truly and others have said the same things over and over and over for years.

Then a few days later there’s an article/interview in the NYT that really is about marketing and advertising to Baby Boomers – but it sure doesn’t say so:

In Professor’s Model, Diversity = Productivity
By CLAUDIA DREIFUS
... Scott E. Page, a professor of complex systems, political science and economics at the University of Michigan, is a fresh voice... Rather than ponder moral questions like, “Why can’t we all get along?” Dr. Page asks practical ones like, “How can we all be more productive together?” The answer, he suggests, is in messy, creative organizations and environments with individuals from vastly different backgrounds and life experiences.

Yes, I’ve covered the same ground in my book, this blog, during my presentations. And so have others, including Rance Crain of Advertising Age. It’s nothing strikingly new. However, the gist of the article is truly what is needed today in the advertising industry.

Irony: The article with answers to how advertising can reach Baby Boomers doesn’t mention advertising or Baby Boomers, while the article that doesn't really have much to say on the subject is all about subject.