Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Amazon to Boomers: Mayday, Mayday!

Courtesy of Amazon.com

America’s tablet ownership is on the rise and, surprisingly, the 50+ crowd is one of the segments leading the surge (PEW Tablet Ownership 2013). Most people associate tablets and other gadgets with the younger generations but significant growth is coming from the “Baby Boomers” who have disposable income and the desire to spend it. Since the advent of the iPad and Apple’s One-to-One training sessions Boomers have adopted more and more technology, but it is rare for any of the major brands to make a concerted push for the older generation--until now. Amazon’s new “Mayday” feature tells me that the company is quietly positioning itself to capitalize on the still untapped market of people who are over 50 but don’t act like it.


The new Mayday feature on all new Kindle Fire tablets enables consumers to access free, live, 24/7 customer service support directly through their device. A customer service representative will pop up on your screen so you can see the person you’re speaking with, and they can either walk you through your solution or take control and complete the desired task on their own. While this is an unprecedented undertaking at Amazon’s scale, it’s a huge investment in making 50+ consumers (and others) more comfortable and independent in the land of ever-changing technology.


So what does this really mean for us (marketers) anyway? It means that tablet growth will likely increase at an accelerated rate among a group of consumers that is coveted by marketers everywhere, and their tablet of choice will no longer default to an iPad. The new Kindle Fires are designed with simplicity and empowerment in mind. Couple that with the new Mayday feature and you’ve got a compelling experience connected to Amazon’s powerhouse ad serving process.


If you’re targeting digital Baby Boomers keep Amazon Kindle advertising opportunities and Fire OS compatible apps on your radar.






1 comment:

  1. We talked about Kindle advertising opportunities when the released the reader with ads, before the Fires came out. I wonder what kind of results you could even see from that?

    ReplyDelete