María Soldani doesn't want to be called ''Grandma.'' ''I don't feel like one. I have more energy than a grandma,'' says the 59-year-old Pompano Beach resident. 'My grandchildren call me `Tita,' my childhood name from Cuba. It feels more appropriate.''

You could call it the generation that refuses to age gracefully -- the 78 million-strong baby boomers.

This year the cusp of the post-war population explosion -- about 4 percent of babies born between 1946 and 1964 -- turns 60, creating an up-and-coming boom for hearing aids, assisted-living facilities and other products for the soon-to-be seniors.

But there's a catch. Unlike previous generations who largely accepted aging as an inevitable end-of-life slowdown, baby boomers typically want nothing to do with becoming ``senior citizens.''

''I don't feel any age,'' says Jim Casey, 59, a Coral Gables labor lawyer who still listens to the likes of Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix. ``Age starts in your mind and in the mind of others.''

For marketers hungrily eyeing the growing base of mature consumers, that attitude makes pitching products geared toward those entering their ''golden years'' a delicate balancing act of selling need over desire.

The stakes in this market are high. Boomers tend to transform industries when they hit different life stages. In the '50s, it was ready-to-eat baby food; in the '90s, anti-wrinkle creams. And boomers are now entering the years of their highest net-worth.

''This is a market so big and so wealthy, people can't afford to ignore them,'' says Jim Fishman, group publisher of AARP publications.

But society remains steadfastly youth-oriented. That has made many marketers turn off boomers as they passed 50 and entered a decidedly unglamorous age in which things such as pensions and long-term-care insurance, topics that reek of the dreaded three-letter word ''old,'' must be addressed, albeit reluctantly.
On top of that, advertising agencies are typically filled with youthful creative types who don't always relate well to the concerns of the aging boomer crowd.
''It's very, very difficult for people to deal with aging,'' says Stephen Gordet, president of Gordet & Schmidt, a Miami marketing firm that specializes in the senior market. ``It's very easy to turn people off. Your self-image is much more easily hurt than when you're younger.''

Particularly when you think of yourself as, on average, 15 years younger than your biological age -- that's what baby boomer focus groups have found, Gordet says.

''Emotionally, you don't want to be perceived as 23, but you certainly want to be hip,'' he adds.

Consumer-product companies have traditionally figured that the mature set didn't warrant much special marketing as their brand loyalties were forged years ago and, after all, the critical market of baby boomers fell into a younger bracket of the population.

Marketing experts say that attitude is starting to change as companies see a shrinking market of 18-49 year-olds into the future.

'Companies are all just waking up and saying `what the heck should I do?,' '' says Matt Thornhill, president of The Boomer Project, a research and marketing firm in Richmond, Va.

Aiming largely at the boomer set, Tropicana Products last month introduced a fiber-enhanced orange juice to store shelves. ''The boomers are the backbone of the macro health and wellness trend,'' says spokesman Pete Brace.
Bally's Total Fitness launched a program called ''Build Your Own Membership'' that pivots on giving older customers a tailored fitness and nutrition schedule in keeping with boomers' penchant for both fitness and personal service.
Thornhill says health clubs are an industry that will be transformed by boomers in upcoming decades.

Financial services is another as boomers seek to stretch out their savings over what could be a 25- to 30-year retirement span.

Fidelity Investments last fall signed on 63-year-old Paul McCartney as its spokesman, figuring he would appeal to both the grey-haired as well as younger savers. The message is that people reinvent themselves throughout their lives so even in your 60s, tomorrow is something to look forward to.

''People really relate to it. The response has been better than we expected,'' said Claire Huang, executive vice president of marketing and segment management.

There'll be plenty of new businesses springing up for oldsters, too.
Thornhill points to grandparenting as a key one. 'The `Baby on Board' crowd will be even more proud of their grandkids,'' he says.
Gordet names new options for travel and tourism for the leisure-time set, as well as personal care and beauty to help stave off the ravages of time, even for men.

If there's a golden rule that goes across the board, though, never mention the word or concept of ``old.''

''Everyone wants to stay young and active,'' Gordet says.
Soldani, the 59-year-old director of public relations at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, certainly does.

''I have at least 10 good years before I retire and then I would explore something different,'' she says. ``I'm shooting to be in my 70s easily and still be contributing to society. If you slow down, you'll feel the aches and pains.''
Tropicana met plus de fibres dans ses jus de fruit. Fidelity Investments a engagé Paul McCartney en tant que porte-parole. Les boomers favorisent l'adaptation de l'industrie des produits de consommation en fonction de l'évolution de leur demande avec l'âge. Mais la société reste majoritairement orientée vers la jeunesse. 

De nombreux professionnels du marketing se sont désintéressés des boomers dès qu'ils ont franchi le cap des 50 ans. Mais, les experts affirment que cette attitude est en train de changer car les entreprises font face à un marché des 18-49 ans de plus en plus réduit.