“The Millennials are coming,” and they are coming in fast on their shiny new social media roadster. An enigmatic group that is feared, maligned, and revered all at the same time, the Millennials dictate culture, counterculture, and the domains from which they are defined. They are internationally aware, hyper-connected, and disproportionally influential. Their cryptic language follows no dictionary, but is universal, they spend a legal tender that cannot be touched, and communicate loudly but sidestep speaking.
From educational institutions to medical clinics, media outlets to athletic purveyors, mom-and-pop shops to large corporations, all are anxious to tap into this fresh and emerging generation defined as being born after 1982.(1) And while their spirit may be free, their loyalty and commitment is far from cheap. They were born into a digitally padded world and nursed on a screen that never slept. How could they not help, albeit a bit tongue in cheek, have an attention span shorter than a goldfish.(2) Despite the stereotypes, we continue to pledge ourselves to meeting their desires and demands. Like celebrities, we strangely tend to be in awe of them as we attempt to attract them. I myself have been no different, having given no less than half a dozen lectures in the last 12 months plus penned two articles on how to communicate, market, and prepare my practice for a Millennial generation. But a year after following my advice as well as that of the other lemurs, I realized something sobering: the Millennials are not that profitable to my practice. Our Millennial patients tend to spend less, lack loyalty, and nudge my patient acquisition costs up. The new generation is less venerable to authority, requiring more of my and my staff’s emotional reserve. While I have no doubt that over the long term businesses and health care should prepare and adapt for the future, I now wonder if in all our frenzy we were too quick to divert all our attention only east, perhaps inadvertently blinding ourselves to the valuable founding contributors to the aesthetic market and its broad spectrum.
After identifying and sharing similar experiences with a colleague,(3) we evaluated our 2016 practice data. And the patient population that spent the most dollars in my practice was categorically an older population. In my practice, those above 40 make up for over 79% of our revenue. And each person over 40 spends 31% more on average than those under 45. Despite the obvious, I have disproportionally invested more time, energy, and effort attempting to attract a generation that returns significantly less financially and professionally. I have to ask myself, have I neglected the one I brought to the dance?
The Baby Boomers are those born 1946-64, and they are now entering into their golden years, yet are redefining what that means. Perhaps the most economically successful generation in history, they out-earned their parent’s generation by a landslide,(4) a fact the Millennials won’t be able to boast. The Boomers worked, produced, and gave long before asking for anything in return. Now many Boomers are enjoying expendable incomes and bourgeois lifestyles. As this accomplished generation ages, they are not beating down the doors to enter the nursing homes—rather, they are wanting to enjoy the fruits of their labor, checking off bucket-list items, learning new languages, and connecting with old friends. And yes, aesthetically exploring plastic surgery and cosmetic medicine. This generation doesn’t want to look younger, rather they want to appear as they feel. They are confident, and know what they want.
And this generation is being followed by an equally prosperous and independently minded group: the generation Xers, born 1965-1981. Expect to see Xers extending quality living well past the golden years—let’s call it, “Diamond Years.” In fact, today there are over 450,000 centenarians worldwide, and that figure is expected to increase from 10% in the UK up to 400% in Japan by 2025.(5) While I nor any of you reading this today will likely experience an aesthetic population dominated by nonagenarians and centenarians, its arrival is but a grain of sand sliding down the fundus of an hourglass. A foreseeable future is coming into view where nutrition(6) and the environment is optimized, and accidental deaths all but eliminated. Infectious, cancer-caused, and metabolic deaths will be a thing of the past. Living to 120 as foreshadowed in Genesis 6:3(7) will not only be feasible but expected. If you doubt, consider how far we have progressed in the last 100 years both technologically and medically. From televisions, airplanes, air conditioning to computers, credit cards, and smartphones. Polio has been wiped out, pediatric and infant mortality truncated, and death from car accidents are quickly fading in our rearview mirrors. And as technology duplicates every 18 months, crash-free cars are as much of a sure bet as is controlling Alzheimer’s. Genetic medicine will allow targeting and treating of disease before it happens. The possibility of prolonging natural life indefinitely is a sinister plot that may have a venue. Perhaps the only recourse to control a disease- and accident-free population will be to institute pre-planned expiration or death dates. Imagine a birth day being complemented with a government issued death day to be redeemed 120 years later. Admittedly, right now this remains only a nefarious philosophical thought—I bet our descendants will likely grapple with this issue.
This futuristic flight of fancy, however, does have a reflective relevancy today. As the current Gen Xers come of age, they will not be waiting in line to purchase AARP memberships and cemetery plots. Rather, their spark will ignite a whole new cottage industry offering second-life products and services. Secondary careers will lead to another concentrated university and college experience at age 50. Maybe your first career was a doctor but next time it will be a fashion designer, a poet, or an engineer. Educational bureaucracies, universities, and endowment fund managers will only be too happy to meet the second coming of higher education. But it only starts with schooling—expect new housing, electronics, and multiple markets to sprout as the capitalists seize the opportunity to provide new offerings for a thirsty septuagenarian consumer population. Expect to see Ferraris with comfortable seats, Tom Ford dresses that hug shoulders not hips, and iPhones with handles. The second-life themes will be driven by economics. And large multinational companies like the Nestlés, Unilevers, and GEs of the world that have weathered more generations than many of the countries at the UN will benefit from their crow’s-nest view in preparing for the coming tidal wave of commerce.
However, for those of us in the trenches and on the front lines, the future likely starts now. And it begins by not prematurely dusting away a maturing generation that is craving attention. While cultivating a practice ready to accept a Millennial generation is likely the key to the future of aesthetics, currently it is an expensive low yield and one met with a clumsy step. While there is no doubt we need to be open and welcoming to the glamour of the Millennials, the more fruitful, reachable, and affable population may be beside us, already on the floor, sitting just waiting to be asked … to dance again.
The views expressed in opinion pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BeautyMatter.
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