DALLAS, Mar 30, 2006/ --- The U.S. demographics is changing and it is altering the way marketers is doing business as the nation’s 78 million Baby Boomers turn 50 over the next 10 years reports the SIR Boomer Project.

Leading age Baby Boomers already turned 60 this year, one of the most famous is lovable Goldie Hawn. And while her group become seniors, younger Baby Boomers are turning 50 with this population segment undergoing a tremendous change, increasing 25% in population size from 89.3 million in 2006 to 111.3 million in 2016.

With this transformation of the demographics, marketers face new challenges. For almost 40 years, marketers have been obsessed with the 18-49 year-old demographic segment. To them, if you were 50 or older, you did not exist.

But, according to the SIR Boomer Project, the 18-49 segment is "dead" - virtually no population growth at all from 2006 to 2016 (from an estimated population of 135.1 million in 2006 to 135.9 million in 2016).

"Marketers trying to grow their business over the next ten years can either target the stagnant 18-49 segment, or they can develop strategies to appeal to the fast-growing 50+ segment," said Matt Thornhill, president of marketing research and consulting firm the SIR Boomer Project said in a statement.

In a recent SIR Boomer Project national study with Survey Sampling International among Boomers and younger adults, the SIR Boomer Project learned that most Boomers over 50 see themselves in early "middle age" and that "old age" will not begin until age 75. That means they will remain active, vital consumers across all industries and categories for 20 or more years to come.

Compounding the perception that those over 50 are no longer important consumers is the finding from the research that younger adults, those under 40, think someone is "over the hill" at age 57.

Those perception gaps between aging Boomers and younger adults in charge of marketing budgets will need to be bridged, and soon.

"Marketers ignoring Boomers simply because they are now over 50 is not just shortsighted, it's fiscal suicide," said Thornhill.

For more information, please log on: www.boomerproject.com