Baby Boomers and Beyond

They spend over $3 trillion annually. Own over 70% of America's personal financial assets. And for too long, they've been overlooked. Except by us.

JWT BOOM knows more about who they are and why they buy than anyone else.

As a fully integrated communications group, we've focused on the Boomer and mature market longer—and looked a lot deeper—than anyone else. Under one roof we've gathered everyone from seasoned advertising creatives, media pros, strategists and researchers, to Boomer thought leaders, as well as interactive movers and shakers. We're here to find new ways to identify Boomer's concerns—to capture their attention. To earn their trust—and their business.

Connect with the 40+ market. Connect with the future. Connect with JWT BOOM.

Meet the JWT BOOM Executive Committee

Lori Bitter
President, JWT Boom

Recently returned to San Francisco from a stint in JWT's New York office, Lori is a seasoned Mature Market professional who began her career in health plan marketing with the Carle organization in Urbana, Illinois, and Kaiser Permanente in California.

Formerly Senior Vice President/Director of Client Services for Age Wave Impact (Age Wave), Lori has more than 25 years of advertising, public relations and strategic planning experience, working for clients such as AOL, Listerine, Sunsweet, AARP, IBM, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield and many more. She has worked as a copywriter, account planner and account director—and has owned two advertising agencies.

In her role at JWT BOOM, Lori manages the production of "LiveWire: The Summit," now in its seventh year. She is editor of LiveWire, the quarterly publication of JWT BOOM, and is the author of numerous white papers on topics relevant to the senior and Boomer populations, and a contributor to two books on the Boomer population.

Lori has been honored with the Zimmerman Award for Achievement in Advertising. She has spoken for Pacific Coast Builders Association, National Association of Home Builders, South by Southwest Interactive Conference (SXSW), RAMA, Marketing 2 Women, Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, and The Aging of Massachusetts in preparation for the White House Council on Aging.

Lori holds a Masters degree in Advertising from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is a former Associate Professor of Advertising and Public Relations. Lori is a frequently consulted expert for publications ranging from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal to Fast Company magazine. She is an empty-nester with two daughters and is currently at work on her first book.

Mary Brown
Partner/Insight & Strategy

Mary spearheads the Boomer market focus and leads strategy for key JWT BOOM clients. She has more than 20 years of experience as a brand champion, most recently as President and Founder of Imago Creative, the only marketing firm in the U.S. specializing exclusively in marketing to Boomer women.

Mary co-authored the definitive book on marketing to this demographic: BOOM: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer—The Baby Boomer Woman. She is a sought-after speaker and consultant to companies worldwide on the power of the Boomer woman consumer in categories ranging from fashion and travel to home building and technology. As a recognized expert on the attitudes and buying patterns of Boomer women, she is frequently quoted in the media.

Her extensive agency experience has included Trilogy/Shea Homes, Celebrity Cruises, Clearblue Easy, Affinia Hotels, Esprit, Liz Claiborne, Timex, and Cole-Haan, among others.

Mary, her husband and teenage daughter recently returned to the Bay area from Portland, Maine. She studied humanities at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and received a BFA in photography at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Jim Hallock
Executive Creative Director

"A brand creates a relationship that makes the purchase decision easier and more rewarding".
This is what Jim claims one of the most important lessons of his 25+ years in advertising creative.

Jim started his career as an art director at McCann-Erickson, San Francisco, where he produced award-winning campaigns for Wells Fargo Bank, AT&T Wireless, Safeway and Microsoft. His Clio-winning campaign for Wells Fargo featured stories of the heroes who built Wells Fargo since 1852. The historically accurate TV vignettes created a strong brand affinity, translating into customer recruitment and retention, and outperformed Bank of America, which was outspending Wells 4 to 1. This campaign supported Wells Fargo's climb from #7 to #3 retail bank in California.

Jim later served as Creative Director at Age Wave, specializing in marketing to the 50+ segment. Here is where he proved that deep understanding of a core market segment can yield powerful insights and compelling creative, which in turn yield powerful results for clients including MSN TV, Nature Made, Bulova and Blue Shield. Most recently Jim served as Creative Director in-house at Shaklee, where he named and oversaw the creation of the Cinch brand of weight loss products and the Get Clean line of green home cleaning products.

Jim is a graduate of the University of San Francisco, where he received a BFA in Advertising through the Academy of Art College. He is the proud dad of a teenage daughter and an accomplished African drummer.

Sherry Bennett
SVP Media Director

Sherry directs and manages all media initiatives at JWT BOOM. In this role she is responsible for strategy development, execution, tracking and optimization of media performance.

Prior to joining JWT five years ago, Sherry worked for several independent agencies and owned her own media business for 12 years. She has a breadth of media and business experience helping a variety of companies translate their marketing opportunities and challenges into successful media programs.

Sherry understands the increasing complexity of media choices brought about by the digital era—a reality that one could hardly have imagined just ten years ago. For every program a measurement tactic is included to track and optimize media throughout the campaign in order to deliver best results. Sherry's philosophy extends beyond the media strategy to include extensive tracking on the back end. She makes it her best practice to keep up with consumer trends and demands.

Sherry's experience spans across the globe, ranging from start-ups to F1000 companies. Her client experience includes Trilogy/Shea Homes, Zounds, Wine Growers of California, Gurlani Fine Foods, HomeGain.com, Hewlett Packard, Symantec, and Motorola.

Sherry is a dedicated mother of two teenage children. She enjoys entertaining family and friends, traveling and from time-to-time a good game of tennis. Sherry studied advertising and marketing with an emphasis on business administration at Golden Gate University.