Over at An Alameda Garden Claire posted about her trip to The Nor Cal Show in San Mateo. This is northern California's big nursery trade show.

Claire mentions how at the end of one of the exhibit halls four displays were aimed at appealing to four different demographics. As Claire say's Generation X, Generation Y, the Baby Boomers, and the generation that I fall into, the unfortunately named Jones Generation. How was each presentation supposed to appeal to each group? You got me. All four of them looked interesting but staged and styled beyond any semblance of reality and none of the individual elements seemed to me particularly suited to any special demographic.

I was unable to attend the Nor Cal Show this year so was unable to see the displays. Claire's comments would seem to indicate that this type of marketing is not going to work in our business. I don't see how it's possible to segment our consumers into such fine demographic distinctions. Can anyone say for certainty how Gen. X gardens differently than Generation Jones, or Gen.Y?

Wouldn't it be better to market to a lifestyle that embraces the out of doors whether it is Gen. Y or the Baby Boomers? T here is too much cross over in what each demographic appreciates in a garden to attempt to segment the consumers into such narrow divisions.

Wouldn't a display aimed at Generation Y appeal to Baby Boomers looking for what's new and hip. How about a display aimed at Baby Boomers that appeal to Gen Y that is looking for something they think of as retro? A modern, colorful, well thought out display should have good crossover appeal to every generation.

We can build our nursery displays in a way that we think appeals to the young and hip Generation Jones, yet I bet most of the purchases out of that display will be made by Baby Boomer's, since they account for the largest segment of our sales in the nursery. Claire couldn't quite discern how each display related to that generation, and the consumer won't either.

P.S.

I have added a link after Carol mentioned in the comments she hadn't heard of "The Jones Generation." Linda, who's comments also appear below left this link to Jonathan Pontell's web site. He first coined the term "Jones Generation." I made the mistake in the post of assuming that "The Jones Generation" was a younger demographic. It's actually used to describe the ages 41 and 52 which puts me smack dab in the middle.