Understanding how different generations engage with advertising is essential for brands aiming to maximise the impact of their campaigns. New data from Marktest’s 2025 Publivaga Tracking reveals a compelling insight: Baby Boomers remain the generation with the highest advertising recall, outperforming younger cohorts across several major categories.
In a landscape where marketers often focus on Gen Z or Millennials, the findings highlight the enduring attentiveness and brand receptiveness of an older audience that continues to hold significant purchasing power.
Baby boomers lead in overall advertising recall
According to Marktest’s 2025 weekly Publivaga study, Baby Boomers generated 77.3% of references among the six categories with the highest advertising recall of the year. When extending the scope to the Top 10 categories, Generation X and Baby Boomers dominate, reaching 85% and 84.9% of total mentions, respectively.
This reinforces a consistent pattern: older generations continue to show higher levels of advertising memorization, offering brands a valuable opportunity for more efficient reach.
Category preferences: where attention concentrates
1. Food retail: a clear standout for baby boomers
Baby Boomers show the strongest affinity for advertising from food distribution brands, with a recall level of 41.9%, 13.3 percentage points above the total universe average.
Across generations, recall in this category increases progressively:
- Gen Z:6%
- Gen Y: higher
- Gen X: higher still
- Baby Boomers:9%
This upward trend highlights how essential retail remains as a touchpoint for older consumers.
2. Automotive: consistent across generations, except gen z
The automotive sector ranks second for all generations except Gen Z, where it drops to sixth place. For younger consumers, electronics, sports, fashion/perfume, and telecoms take precedence.
This gap emphasizes how media consumption behaviors reshape sector visibility among younger audiences.
3. Telecommunications: strong among older generations
Telecom brands rank third overall (9.2%) and maintain this position among Gen X and Baby Boomers (9.8% and 9.1%).
For younger groups, telecom ads move slightly downwards:
- Gen Y: fourth
- Gen Z: fifth
4. Electronics, fashion/perfume, and sports: rising toward gen z
These categories gain prominence as we move to younger cohorts:
- Electronics reach second place among Gen Z and third for Gen Y
- Fashion and perfumes peak with Gen Z in fourth place
- Sports become Gen Z’s second most recalled category
This confirms a generational shift in interest toward lifestyle, performance and tech-oriented products.
What this means for brands in 2025
The study underscores a crucial reality: Baby Boomers remain an advertising segment with exceptional responsiveness, often overlooked in favor of younger groups.
For brands and insight professionals, three strategic implications emerge:
1. High efficiency for campaigns targeting baby boomers
Higher recall suggests that campaigns targeting or including Baby Boomers may deliver better memory impact and ROI, especially in categories like food retail or telecom.
2. Tailored media mixes are essential
Generational differences in category recall reveal the importance of differentiated media strategies that reflect both interests and consumption patterns.
3. Intergenerational Planning Matters
Marketers should combine strong engagement among Baby Boomers and Gen X with rising interest areas among Gen Z and Gen Y to shape holistic strategies.
About the data
This analysis is based on Marktest’s Publivaga study, which measures advertising recall and memorization weekly. Results reflect individuals aged 16 to 74 living in mainland Portugal.
