Thanks for the booklist, several of which look intriguing.

One question I must ask: who are "New Georgians"? A Google search just points to Tblisi. On a lifestyle basis I see them living in mock-classical Quinlan Terry houses in Surrey, reading poetry by Wilfrid Owen and Robert Frost, and revering the life and morals of the late King George V.

Or perhaps they are habitues of the New Georgian nightclub in London?

Although the punk example is interesting. Are you talking about Malcolm McLaren? I'd love to see how much of punk emerged from his efforts and how much simply followed as the outgrowth of dressing that way.

You're familiar, aren't you, with claims that Punk was first and last a reaction against disco? Thus we have a lifestyle for people who are emotionally damaged and socially maladjusted, who can't dress, who can't dance and who lack the social skills required to lure another person into bed. (Hence Punk's supposed disdain for sex.)

Yeah, I suppose you could use the above points to work out in detail the Punk lifestyle. But it'll always seem arbitrary.

No point, however, in belaboring it.

Some good reading upthread. Thanks.

I feel a little silly/presumptous posting this, since Culture and Consumption was a seminal book in my undergrad industrial design work. But here goes (and you likely know these already…)

"Subculture: The Meaning of Style" by Dick Hebdige. Haven't read this in ages so don't know for sure how spot on it will be, but think it will be relevant

"The Practice of Everyday Life" Michel de Certeau. A more philosophical take, but there's interesting stuff in there on how people consciously go about constructing an identity of otherness

"No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies" Naomi Klein

"The Cult of Mac" Leander Kahney. Haven't read this, but have heard amusing things about it, could be on target

There's a book I read years ago by Kenneth somebody or other, one of the British anthropologits of the 1960s who was a pioneer in material culture studies, but I can't recall the exact title. I'm in Germany right now, so don't have access to my bookshelf. I'll try to remember to look for it, and I'm sure there are others I can't think of right now. Perhaps I should get Delicious Monster to help out with these things…

ME-L, very, very good reading suggestions. One of my favorites. Thanks. Grant

Dilys, well said, people have been slow to get past the stereotypes, and the realities are still being reinvented. Thanks! Grant

One key would be to intuit and research some core values of your target, in sunbelt 55+'s such as Creativity. Integrity. Excellence. Connectedness&Generosity. And so on. David Wolfe has a blog called "Ageless Marketing," the content of which I mostly disagree with, but which beats the drum for "they/we're not what you automatically think." The marketer who finds and acknowledges the open secret about a demographic is the one that wins them over.

And now I'll just totter off for a cuppa and a snooze.

Not.

BTW, Grant, thanks for the book list.

Either you wrote too quickly or I'm not getting what you're asking.

Don't different lifestyles arise organically? asking us to create one out of whole cloth has a science fiction-y feel. You know — where anything's possible as long as it's internally consistent?

As future Big Swinging Dicks in the advertising biz, shouldn't our assignment be to understand existing lifestyles?

David Brooks, of course, has already done the heavy lifting to identify lifestyles that are of greatest interest to brands that are of greatest interest to people who work in the advertising biz.