10 April 2013

AARP Is All New Redux: Part IV (Entrepreneurs, VCs & Health Tech)

CVRCompIn 2005 I wrote Advertising to Baby Boomers.  Knowing a big chunk of the readers would be entrepreneurial Boomers and another chunk would be younger entrepreneurs developing and marketing products and services to Boomers, I made sure chunks of the book dealt with their concerns.

A few grabs, the first from the Introduction:

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Page 74:

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imageMary Furlong has been producing The Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit for a decade. AARP is one of the sponsors. 

Last year the organization plopped headfirst into the Boomers/VC/Start-Up pool. This year’s plunge:

AARP Health Innovation@50+ LivePitch
AARP Health Innovation@50+ LivePitch…is the premier showcase featuring the most exciting start-up companies in the “50 and over” health technology and innovation sector. The pitch event offers the venture capital and angel investor community as well as the media, the opportunity to connect with these outstanding start-ups.

If you don’t know your way around the 50+ Health/Tech industry, check out these thought leaders:

imageAging In Place Technology Watch
Industry Trends, Research & Analysis
Laurie Orlov

Richard Adler
imageIFTF Research Affiliate Richard Adler was born in New York City, raised in Colorado, attended college in New England, taught in the Midwest, and spent most of his working life in Silicon Valley. These many changes of scene have given him a broad perspective on American culture and a strong curiosity about what is coming next.

I’ve always been a big fan and supporter of tech and health tech.  Fabulous stuff is on the way.

But there will be backlash.  A handful of concerns for advertising/public relations:

  • Privacy Issues. Big Data is the buzz phrase of the day.  Corralling every piece of medical information about everybody (including DNA profiles) could be a tough sell.
  • Monitored. Many will balk at every burp being recorded, analyzed, crammed into an electronic spreadsheet and sent through the ether to who knows where. 
  • Wired. It probably won’t be wires stuck into every corporeal crevice, aligning every orifice – but whatever it’ll be will be considered invasive and unnatural by many.
  • imageAnxiety. Wired ‘n Monitored will create a whole new disorder for the mental health industry.  Having a device (probably something like a phone app or Google Glasses) that constantly flashes and beeps your vitals will cause over-the-top anxiety for many.
  • Boredom. That’ll be the antidote for all the anxiety. In 2009 I blogged about monitoring during exercise:
    I wonder if most of the above won’t get tired fast.  How biofeedback-onic do you really want to be while taking a walk in the woods or playing some doubles?    

    And beepers going off to tell you you’re a lazybones?  It sounds like fun once or twice, but pretty soon some sweats or tennis attire will be all you’ll put on.  Being wired like an android and having to perform at specific levels every minute while you’re ‘playing’ could cause a slew of new anxiety afflictions.   

    Of course, there will always be a few obsessive-compulsives.

More info:

Why Innovators Get Better With Age
By TOM AGAN (NYT)
Less gray hair sharply reduces an organization’s innovation potential, which over the long term can greatly outweigh short-term gains.

The AARP is looking for some good Baby Boomer entrepreneurs to back
By Ki Mae Heussner
Despite Silicon Valley’s preference for young entrepreneurs, the research may not be on their side.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers
All of a sudden every other news article about Baby Boomers is focused on business and entrepreneurs.


For reference:

21 March 2013
AARP Is All New Redux:
Part I

AARP is ‘rebranding’ itself for the umpteenth time.

27 March 2013
AARP Is All New Redux:
Part II

AARP will also step up its efforts to help businesses develop “their 50-plus strategy”…

02 April 2013
AARP Is All New Redux:
Part III (The Magazine)

There is a slow overhaul of AARP Magazine going on, no doubt for the better.