Daring Moments In Marketing: Ad Campaign Admits It's Targeting Middle Aged Men

Haggar is launching a new ad campaign aimed at -- gasp -- middle aged men. And look what they found:

To prepare for the campaign, (Haggar ad agency) Crispin sent staffers to Dallas and Minneapolis, where they visited the homes of about two dozen men, riffling through their closets and quizzing them about their shopping habits. The conclusion: Older men don't care about fashion trends or brand names in clothing. Middle-aged men "can tell you every brand of tool in their tool chest and every club in their golf bag, but they can't tell you the brands that hang in their closets," says Jeff Hicks, chief executive of Crispin.

- Wall Street Journal (sub req'd)

According to the WSJ, Haggar is fighting fashion industry orthodoxy that a brand need only market to a young target audience. Older consumers may be pulled along -- or not. "Even when marketers aim at baby boomers," the article says, "they figure middle-aged people like to think of themselves as young and thus won't respond to ads that show people their own age."

But it's not too late for Haggar to shoot itself in the foot. People may not mind looking their age, but do they want to look lazy?

One idea being considered is offering retailers specially designed mannequins -- dubbed "meniquins" -- that look like real guys. Some have mustaches while others hold a beer or a remote control.

No mention of whether they'll be horizontal on a couch.