A lot is being written about the near-absence of advertising targeted to Baby Boomers like me. It’s the $750 billion question. Why, if the over-50s account for over one-third of the U.S. population and control over half of its discretionary income, are we the targets of less than 10% of all the advertising?

Between business pundits, media critics and academics there is no shortage of theories. Do marketers and agencies think we’re too brand loyal to bother with, too rigid in our purchasing habits? Research says we’re not, that we seek value, style and brand cache, just as we always have, and will shop till we find it. Do you risk somehow turning off younger consumers by also talking to Baby Boomers? Again, no evidence of this at all.  Are we hard to reach? On the contrary, we watch plenty of TV, we’re the fastest growing online demographic, and we’re single-handedly keeping newspapers alive. Are we buying your stuff anyway, without being specifically targeted? Maybe. And maybe we’d be buying much more of it if we were. It’s worth repeating, there’s $750 billion on the table.

So, there’s no reasonable explanation for why you’re not talking to us.

Unless, you’re just not sure how.

After all, you see the Viagra nonsense and you know that’s not right. You see some idiot in a Just For Men commercial actually look at the camera and say, “Don’t trust anyone over 90″ and you know that’s not right. You see Dennis Hopper embarrass himself, Eric Clapton act bewildered and Sam Waterston act dead and you know that none of it is right. You may not want to risk stepping in it just yet. But, sooner or later, you’ll have to learn how to effectively engage the graying, slightly paunchy, disillusioned-but-still-idealistic, still eating, drinking, working, playing and spending elephant in the room.

I can help. In future posts, I will publish specific guidelines for successful advertising to Baby Boomers. I will share research, give you specific examples of what kind of creative works and what doesn’t and discuss how to create an emotional connection with your brand that will inspire Boomer choice and loyalty.

You must start with two basic assumptions. One, the precepts of good advertising to anyone, about anything, must be applied. Benefits, not just claims. Ideas, not just techniques. Relevance, not just cleverness. And - please - real life, not caricatures. No one I know has worn a tie-dye, dropped acid or flashed the peace sign at a stranger in a long, long time. Baby Boomers have endured bad advertising all their lives. We see it coming. You must get your fundamentals right.

Having said that, for advertising to Baby Boomers to be successful it must be calibrated to our core values and the ironic contradictions of our history. For example, we grew up challenging authority, yet respecting it. We valued community and shared sacrifice, yet we were the original Material Boys and Girls. We were, and still are, incredibly complicated. To really know us, you sort of have to be us. And that doesn’t square with the fact that the average age of an advertising creative person is 32. You must get your team right.

Much more to come in this space.

For now, take a look at these two spots, designed to speak to Baby Boomers:

The Olympics spot for P&G, thanking Moms for their hard work and sacrifice - and for their years of loyalty to P&G products - is brilliantly conceived and executed. The story is simple, the people feel real and the music is evocative. It’s a beautiful tribute to the target.

The one for Just For Men Touch of Gray, on the other hand, is quite possibly the most offensive commercial of all time.