Connecting older people to the world

Technology columnist Victor Keegan of The Guardian has a pretty good take on a few subjects I’ve been talking about for years:

Connecting older people to the world
Reared on rock'n'roll and the Spectrum or BBC computers, they are technically savvy with high spending power. Most have no intention of retiring quietly, a fact that technology companies are only just realising.

Pulled from the cover of the 1st edition of my book (March, 2005):

 

 

 

 

“Another new (website) aimed at older people is finerday.com, the owners of which have taken trouble to make it easy to use but have spoiled it with an entry procedure that will defeat most older people since it involves having to memorise a pattern of squares within a grid. No thanks.”

Dick Stroud has vetted finerday.com. I left a comment.

And I’ve talked at length about a certain cell phone.  Here’s Mr. Keegan’s menacing prediction:

“Manufacturers had better turn over a new leaf soon or the wrath of the baby boomers will know no end.”

Two Reviews

Financial Advertising Review

Trying to reach Boomers? Author zeroes in on the challenges

Paramount Market Publishing, Inc., Ithaca, N.Y., has published Advertising to Baby Boomers, a volume of thought-provoking ideas for advertisers who seek to reach this ubiquitous market. Author Chuck Nyren identifies the viewing and reading habits of the 44-to-64 year olds who control an increasingly large proportion of the nation's discretionary spending. He offers examples of how advertising fails in its efforts to reach this demographic - then explains why. The book includes provocative challenges such as this: "If you start telling us why we need something, an impenetrable B.S. shield goes up. We won't listen."

Healthcare Advertising Review

Book has fresh approach to Boomer marketing

Author Chuck Nyren shares his insights about marketing in his book, Advertising to Baby Boomers. This demographic, he says, has needs and interests that require a different style of marketing than do younger age groups. Among his observations: Boomers typically have longer attention spans than younger audiences, and they respond better to factual information than to a "hard sell."

Growing Bolder Series on PBS

Hi Chuck,
I thought you might be interested in our news about the Growing Bolder TV Show. I'm sure you know about the PBS 50+ Life Stage initiative. They decided "to do for 50+ programming what we did for children's programming in the 80's."

I think we have one of the first new shows in the pipeline …
Marc Middleton

This is great. Here’s more:

WMFE IS GROWING BOLDER 
The Growing Bolder TV Show, featuring local news veterans Marc Middleton and Bill Shafer, has been picked up by Orlando PBS affiliate WMFE-TV … The show will air weekly at 11:30 am on WMFE-TV beginning Sunday, October 5. Stories in the first few episodes include an exclusive home movie from Rock Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, a surprising intergenerational showdown in the swimming pool, a look at the family made famous by artist Norman Rockwell, Central Florida’s top philanthropists, "Banana" George Blair attempting to barefoot water ski at age 93, international turtle expert Peter Pritchard, tips on how to live to 100, cancer survivor stories and more.

No doubt that Growing Bolder will be picked up by many other PBS stations.  Underwriters had better be all over this one.

And to think I knew them when …

A few emails …

Snippets:

Hi Chuck,
My name is **** **** and I represent ThirdAge.com, a popular Web site for the 40-plus audience that was founded more than a decade ago. ThirdAge was one of the first companies to build a destination for baby boomers online that today receives more than 1 million unique visitors a month …. I would like to invite you personally to check out the new and improved ThirdAge.com. If you are interested in learning more about ThirdAge, or would like to speak to any of the expert resources for a story you are working on, please don't hesitate to contact me.

I think I know about this site.  My friend Mary Furlong had a wee bit to do with it. 

Nigel Hollis is Chief Global Analyst at Millward Brown and author of the upcoming book, THE GLOBAL BRAND: How to Create and Develop Lasting Brand Value in the World Market … The book explains the key differences between developed and emerging markets, how brands can leverage their company's scale without getting lost in it, as well as what global companies can do when they're up against brands with built in local advantage … If you'd like to interview Nigel …

No need to interview Nigel.  I hang out on his blog – and can ask him any question I want over there.  The book certainly looks like something I’ll be sticking my nose in soon.

Hi Chuck,
I stumbled upon your site and was thrilled that I did … I'm also a writer with a one-man ad shop and gray hair. I'll return to your site often … to get a kick out of lines like, "One of Chuck's favorite activities is writing about himself in the third person." Ha!

A fun portfolio to flip through. 

50 Plus Beurs 2008 Utrecht

My friend Martijn de Haas of the marketing firm Active Development attended this year’s 50 Plus Beurs. He’s been anointed Guest Blogger Extraordinaire:

Last week I visited the 50 plus fair in Utrecht (The Netherlands) to have a look at the world biggest event aimed directly at 50-plus consumers. My first emotion was again astonishment over the numbers of the exhibits and people present. As Chuck mentioned in a previous post there were about 600 companies present. We are still waiting for a press release on the number of visitors.

I had a chance to attend twice this year, and noticed that the average age seemed to have dropped a little. We definitely spotted more Baby Boomers and we think it’s because they used alternative media targeting a somewhat different audience.

Followers of Chuck’s blog know that when you add a 50+ label to a service or product, you will attract an average crowd that is at least 10-15 years older. Especially Dutch women in their fifties don’t want to be confronted with age like that. Still, with the turnout it’s a great market to tap into. This sometimes creates a problem in our industry as companies that want to approach 50 plussers take part in this fair and their young marketers end up seeing their misconceptions about the 50-plus confirmed.

Most of the companies do really well and one can imagine the sales that will occur in follow-up sales. As many gave out freebies or let visitors take part in competitions, people went home with bags full of goodies and the hope of winning prizes later on.
In return they gave the companies their addresses.

A partial list of industries represented:

Housing
Whirlpools
Many, Many Travel Agencies
Cars
Furniture
Food Supplements
Wellness
Charities
Political Parties
Care Products
Publishers
Newspapers
Stamps
Bikes
Kitchen Equipment
Nordic Walking
Golf
Nintendo Wii
Staying Fit
Fashion Shows
Music
Entertainment

There were not as many financial and insurance companies present compared to recent years. We don’t know if it had to do with the current crisis or with the fact that exhibiting in the past didn’t bring them enough business. From our consulting activities we know for a fact that insurance companies are actively developing products and services for older consumers.

All in all we think they didn’t break the 100,000 visitors this year and it could be a consequence of the shift in advertising. The average age of the consumer seems to have dropped a little which may indicate that the event is evolving into an event targeted at Baby Boomers. Enough reasons for anybody in the business to visit it again next year!

Martijn de Haas

Added 10/09/08: More Pictures

 

 

 

 

 

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