Customer Persona

 Customer Persona

There is an old man who claims to break the stereotypes of his golf buddies. He begrudgingly moved into an apartment after he got injured one too many times landscaping his yard. He and his 80 year old wife live in a "hip" apartment building near downtown Dallas. To truly understand this man from a marketing perspective, one must get inside his head during his average day.
Charles wakes up at the crack of dawn to read before his 7:30 am tee time. He is most likely reading his Bible in anticipation of his upcoming Sunday school class that he will be teaching. Or, he is reading his thousandth war novel. (Charles spent the majority of his career as a FBI detective and CSI investigator. He was so high strung throughout his fifty year career that he is unable to fully relax in retirement. He views everyday as an opportunity to learn something new.) He will make breakfast for himself and his wife, consisting of bacon, fresh fruit, eggs and English muffins. ( He made a deal with his wife that he would cook breakfast and get the groceries if she would cook dinner. As they approach their sixtieth wedding anniversary, the bargain is still upheld.)
Charles will then start his carpool route where he picks up his friends who live nearby for their weekly golf game. He always receives a warm  greeting from these friends followed by a joke about whatever ailment one of them happens to be suffering from today. (Charles had to find a younger group of golfing partners to supplement his close group of friends as age gets the best of them. In retired life, Charles has limited social interactions, so finding enjoyable people to spend four hours with can be very difficult.) The golf game plays out the same every time. Each senior citizen either yells at his clubs, blames the poor condition of the greens, or threatens their partner who happened to speak during their backswing. Charles will collect his bets at the end of the round and buy lunch for the crew. (He serves everyone around him. He serves others because he has the ability to do so. He is a very healthy 82 year old and feels the need to assist the rest of his age group as their health declines. He routinely visits elderly widows to fix their plumbing or a broken cabinet.)
After golf and lunch, Charles will head home to be errand boy for his wife/children. Afternoons consist of visiting children or grandchildren throughout the metroplex. Charles spends even more time helping his fifteen grandchildren than he does helping the elderly. Afternoons are used as a time for him to research whatever topic he chooses that day. He spends hours researching various things that his grandchildren mention. Topics range from: Safest car for my 16 year old granddaughter to why would my grandson like Obama? He remains up to speed on the topics that pertain to his grandchildren. He keeps tabs on all fifteen grandchildren despite the fact that they are in four different countries and ten different cities. He will know the weather forecast of each city the grandchildren are in and warn them of any incoming storm.
After an active afternoon, Charles will eat a home cooked meal with his wife. The dinner will disregard any health precautions he received from his doctor. After a quadruple bypass twenty years ago, Charles claims that he would rather keep his heart happy with steak than live a couple extra years by being a vegan. Dinner is concluded by an episode of CSI where Charles relives his glory days. After a couple of phone calls/ skype sessions with some of the grandchildren overseas, Charles will call it a night.
In retirement, Charles refuses to be viewed as old or weak. He is constantly trying to stay up to date. As an active 82 year old man, he finds it difficult to be around people his age who are not as mentally or physically capable. He is heavily invested in his family and the majority of his purchase decisions center around products for these 18-30 year olds.