Is there a generation gap? You bet your sweet bippy. But that doesn’t mean we can’t keep it real among all of us (even the Grups). Here’s how to bridge the gap.

You’ve seen those Chinese zodiac placemats in restaurants that define your personality based on where in a 12-year cycle your birth fell. For example, besides the current year, Years of the Rat include 1984, ’72, ’60, ’42, ’36 and ’24 (among others). People born in those years are said to be leaders; they’re charming and cunning; but they can also be obstinate and controlling.

Generational theory is similar in that it’s based on a cycle, but instead of single years, it classifies personalities by generational groups. The idea is that your personality will be shaped by where you’re born in relationship to a Crisis (say, World War II), a High (like post-war prosperity and peace), an Awakening (think of the ’60s) and an Unraveling that leads into another Crisis. (Yes, we’re looking at that about now.)

Here, we’ll focus on how the generations – generally speaking – respond to promotional products.

Silent Is Golden

The Silent Generation is typically defined as the group born from about 1925 to 1942.

“These are ‘the millionaires next door’: wealthy – and frugal,” says Jessie Newburn, an integrative communications consultant who uses social media and generational dynamics to address organizational concerns. She sees Silents responding well to functional promo products that save them money, like a calculator or a ruler.

“No flash or edginess needed,” she adds. “Just functional and quality enough to be something they would buy, but don’t need to.”

The Silent Generation is geared to practicality. “The product needs to serve a purpose. Examples could be health-related items, like the medical information booklets given out by medical institutions, travel aides, flashlights, pedometers and more.”

Prospects looking to reach out to the Silents might include travel agents and destinations, local casinos, senior centers, health-care organizations, insurance companies and attorneys.

Boom Boom

Much has been said about the Baby Boomers and their might in numbers. What are they all about, in a nutshell? “Boomers tend to orient around people and companies whose vision, values and religion/spiritual mission they can understand,” Newburn says. “They align behind purpose. Boomers are much more willing to forgive the inefficiencies and mistakes of a company, as long as they believe they are headed in the right direction. Much of that ‘10% of proceeds goes to a charitable cause’ talk appeals to Boomers.”

Mulligan views the group as very into travel and related products, like organizers, passport holders, compact travel clocks, electronic games, multifunctional watches and USB drives. “Education is another hot topic for Baby Boomers,” she adds. “Products such as customized journals; Zagat tourist guide books; environmentally friendly shopping bags; football and basketball team items, such as decals on the cars, logo chairs, clothing and more.”

Newburn says that Boomers may be the easiest group to please when it comes to promotional products. “Just give them something free,” she says with a laugh.

X Marks the Spot

Generation X is kind of a lost generation, born into the Awakening of the 1960s, only to face an Unraveling as the ’70s devolved into the “Me Decade.” As a result, they tend to be alienated.

“Gen Xers orient toward principles of survival, liberty and honor,” Newburn says. “They want access to info – all hours of the day or night. They want efficiency and intelligent use of technology. They like quirk; edginess; raw and real, personable and deinstitutionalized information. They trust people over companies.”

Chris Reams, owner of Ichabods, got his start in college creating T-shirts geared for Gen Xers – his peers. Now 33, he also focuses a lot on the up-and-coming Millennials and an in-between group he identifies as Grups (short for grown-ups). For Grups, he says nature-inspired, eco-friendly products are the way to go. “I’ve created designs like floral prints and Asian-inspired artwork that only print on bamboo and organic cotton clothing. And it’s not just T-shirts; it’s skirts, dresses, vests, scarves, handbags – that sort of thing. Then, they’re also going to have kids, so I have a kids’ line,” he says.

“I basically wake up in the morning, drink my coffee, and check out MySpace and YouTube … not my profile, specifically, but profiles of people that are my demographics.” – Chris Reams, Ichabods

A Young Man’s Fancy

Millennials are the main audience for Reams’ clothing designs. He says that having grown up enveloped in technology, the group can be impatient and mercurial in its tastes, but he’s found a way to keep his finger on the pulse. “I basically wake up in the morning, drink my coffee, and check out MySpace and YouTube,” he says “… not my profile, specifically, but profiles of people that are my demographics.”

He checks to see which videos on YouTube are getting the biggest buzz, but his most valuable tool is MySpace. “You want to find your demographic? Do a search by age. Do a search by male or female. Location even,” he says. “Start taking mental notes: ‘Oh, they all seem to like ’80s colors right now – pink and blue and turquoise and green. They seem to like this music. They all have the same band playing on their MySpace page, so let’s go to this band and see what their page looks like.”

What does Reams think appeals to Millennials? Environmentally oriented items, for one thing. “It’s a movement that is really strong with the younger generation right now,” he says, “because they want something, like we all did when we were young, that separates them from the adults.” One item that has gone over well with the group is his messenger bag design, dubbed Alternative Energy. The bag features a graphic of the Statue of Liberty, but instead of a torch, Lady Liberty is holding a wind turbine.

Bridging the Gap

What about the times you need to appeal to more than one generation – or all of them at once? Is there any category of promo products that fits the bill? There just may be, and it’s something you’ve been hearing a lot about it lately: eco-friendly products.

“Boomers go for big ideas, big vision,” Newburn says. “So the eco appeal allows them to decorate and express with a personally held value. This is good. GenXers – many I know – see a lot of eco-stuff just as a marketing ploy, but if the item has some quirk and style to it, then it’s good.”

Reams has observed that going green is particularly appealing to Millennials. “They want something they can relate to that’s different. It’s a rebellion in a sense, and it’s a better way of living.” As for Generation X, he says, “They are just as into ecology now as anybody, because maybe they always wanted to take part in it, but there was never a real movement. The Gen Xers – we were lost.”

But that’s not where it stops. “As this grows,” Reams adds, “we really end up relating to a lot of the Boomers from the ’60s, who were hippies in the peace movement. They started it. As more and more people catch on, the gas prices go up, the wars are fought with the underlying idea that it’s all for oil and such, more and more people who think outside the box are really going to team up.”

So, is this a particularly good time to reach across the generations? He thinks so. “This is it,” he says. “This is that time.”

(By Jen Zorger)