Beware generation clashes.

Something that happened to Howard Dean on the way to his unexpectedly poor finish in the Iowa caucus illustrates the value of getting seniors closely involved in programs that market to seniors. The Dean campaign had hundreds of young volunteers knocking on doors during the week before the caucuses. Not surprisingly, most of the folks that the volunteers found at home were retirees and older homemakers, the very people who are more likely than any others to take the time and trouble to turn out for caucuses. (If you watched any of the TV caucus coverage, which was extensive this year, you probably remember seeing a lot of white hair.)

It so happened that we were conducting an e-mail survey during the weekend before the Iowa caucuses. One of the questions that we asked was whether our shoppers were hearing anything from any of the candidates that meant anything to them as consumers. Responses from panelists in Iowa gave us an unexpected and serendipitous insight into why Dean's poll numbers were dropping in the days before the caucuses: His fast-moving, energized, and aggressive young volunteers actually scared older voters by ringing and knocking intently and even opening unlocked doors to ask if anyone was home. Confronted with all that fast-paced energy, some of the seniors decided and told their neighbors that the Dean campaign was "too fast and feisty for them" days before Dean himself lost his cool before the voters and TV cameras.

There is a strong message here for marketers who want older shoppers' business. Marketers should:

* Look at older shoppers as more than bundles of needs and preferences with money to spend

* Visit the homes, offices, and cars of older shoppers to make sure you understand their experience of your offerings

* Invest in research that keeps you on top of their needs and interests

* Take the time to shop with older shoppers and see some of what they experience firsthand

* Most important, take the time and make the effort to explain how things work and the benefits of innovations and changes that seem obvious to younger consumers.