Citytv and much-music founder Moses Znaimer, the one-time king of youth boomer culture, is aiming to repeat his success. This time, however, he’s focusing on media products such as radio stations and magazines geared toward the affluent, aging and enthusiastic consumers of the “me” generation.

In 2006, he picked up Toronto’s classical music station, 96.3 FM. And, at the end of last year, he completed a transaction that makes him controlling shareholder of publicly traded Fifty-Plus.Net In-ternational Inc. , which includes CARP Magazine and a suite of online publishing entities, such as CARP Action Online, www.CARP.ca and www.50plus.com.

Znaimer is also executive director of CARP, Canada’s largest advocacy association for Canadians aged 50 and older, which boasts 400,000 members.

The realities behind Znaimer’s initiative are clear. “The world is run by 50- to 70-year-olds,” he says. “They drive the market. They make up 83% of households with savings or securities of more than $500,000. They make up 73% of households with income of $100,000 or more. And they purchased 58% of all cars sold last year.”

Marketers, including those in the financial services industry, could take a page out of Znaimer’s book, especially when it comes to focusing on financial resources rather than youth. The Toronto-based media mogul was called a visionary in the 1970s for tapping into the youth market by launching Citytv, known for its unconventional approach to news and programming; MuchMusic and a host of other national channels and stations geared to baby boomers in their teens, 20s and early 30s soon followed.

BOOMERS RUN THE WORLD

“What made MuchMusic a success,” Znaimer says, “was that the demographic it served was massive — not because it was the youth demographic — but marketers never understood that. So, they’re still focused on youth. The reality is the boomers’ kids are less than half the numbers of their parents.”

That’s why Znaimer, 65, is back in the business and out to corner Canada’s 10 million-strong boomer market by catering to boomers’ seasoned tastes and determination to live the good life for as long as possible. Znaimer has even coined a name for the cohort, now aged 44 to 62: zoomers.

In October, he will relaunch CARP Magazine, which comes with the $20 annual CARP membership and is mailed to 190,000 households, under the name of — what else? — Zoomer. An e-zine version will also be launched.

“I have a history of creating the media I want to consume,” says Znaimer, who can be seen in billboard ads around Toronto in a bathtub filled with bubbles advertising his classical music station. “Then, I find that other people want to do the same. I liked 96.3 FM, so I bought it. Zoomer magazine will be a magazine I want to read. And the Zoomer Web site will be a site I want to visit.”

Znaimer has built his success on identifying and catering to under-served niches. He notes that only 5% of Canada’s advertising dollars are being spent on attracting boomers. “Advertisers’ view of a 65-year-old man is a guy sitting in his rocking chair and buying dog food,” he says. “That’s their big mistake. Who has the money? I have. And the secret’s out that people don’t stop having sex at age 50. In fact, we’re having so much fun, we want to go on forever.”

Boomers are redefining retirement and aging, Znaimer says, but they don’t like to admit they’re growing old. The word “senior” is out; so is “elder.” Hence, “zoomer,” which, Znaimer says, means “boomers with zip.”

Znaimer has hired Suzanne Boyd, well known in fashion circles and a former editor of FLARE magazine, to transform the CARP magazine into a glossy lifestyle publication with more focus on relationships, fashion, beauty, food and wine. Zoomer’s 45-year-old editor-in-chief says the new magazine will differentiate itself from other lifestyle magazines on the market by focusing on men as well as women, and on CARP’s advocacy and policy issues.

Fifty-Plus.Net executive vice president David Cravit, 62, says health issues will continue to have a prominent place in the new magazine. “The boomers are starting to experience medical problems, and many have parents with health problems,” he says. “The difference between the two generations is that the boomers are refusing to let their medical conditions slow them down.”

@page_break@Founded by Lillian and Murray Morgenthau in Toronto in 1984 as the Canadian Association of Retired People, CARP provides its members with government advocacy and consumer discounts on everything from insurance to rental vehicles and long-distance telephone plans.

Znaimer has brought CARP into the AARP Global Network, a U.S.-based association of national membership organizations representing the interests of 50-plus populations in four countries.

He says the issues around abolishing mandatory retirement across Canada and the caregiving concerns of the “sandwich generation” are high on CARP’s advocacy agenda.

Susan Eng, Toronto tax lawyer and chairwoman of the Metropolitan Toronto Police Services Board from 1991 to 1995, joins CARP’s executive team as vice president of advocacy. One item on the agenda she plans to push is reaching out to multicultural communities.

“Many people in diverse communities don’t know about CARP,” she says, “and how it can help them.” IE