The New Old Redux

It was blogged last week – and now I’ve read The New Old: How the Boomers Are Changing Everything ... Again:

The book is … backed up with solid statistical support, but it is not primarily about numbers – it’s about people. It’s about new ground being broken, new ways of thinking, new kinds of social and work relationships, new products that can reduce or even eliminate the effects of aging. It (offers) a sneak preview of an entirely new society that is coming…

The book (lays out) specific strategies organizations must follow to take advantage of the opportunities – and avoid being rendered irrelevant and uncompetitive in the new order.

The author:

David Cravit has over 30 years’ experience in advertising, marketing, and consulting in both Canada and the USA. He has participated at the most senior levels in the creation and placement of over $5 billion worth of media advertising.  Mr. Cravit is Senior Vice President of ZoomerMedia.

And he’s a good writer and I’m a sucker for good writing.

Immersing myself in The New Old was like hanging out with business friends. While the glue for gab is usually marketing and advertising, we often chat about everything else: politics, psychology, art, creativity, family, sex, money, religion - and why we feel so weird being the ages we are. We’re sort of old but don’t feel old. And we don’t feel young, really. What is all this? We’re supposed to be winding down, yet we’re winding up. Aches and pains and lately the economy might give us pause – but they’re not stopping us. We’re frazzled, not fizzled. That’s what The New Old is all about.

David tells some funny stories. One has to do with Zoomers trading experiences with Expedia, Travelocity, etc. It’s a down-to-earth anecdote that mirrors a section in my book about a lame commercial:

In the final chapter Mr. Cravit has fashioned Ten Commandments for advertising/marketing to Boomers/Zoomers. I could list them here – but his savvy elucidations of each commandment are what makes them sizzle.

Read Brent Green’s review of The New Old.

The New Old on Amazon.com (United States)

The New Old on Amazon.ca (Canada)

Upcoming Webinar & Workshop

A few IMMN projects coming up:

 

Supermarket Guru (and IMMN Honorary Board Member) Phil Lempert will offer his take on The 2009 Product of the Year USA Awards with a webinar:

Newly Named Winners of the 2009 New Products of the Year and the Boomer Impact (February 18, 11:00 am EST)
IMMN is honored to have "Supermarket Guru" Phil Lempert, one of the country's leading consumer trend watchers and analysts, share his insight on these products' impact on boomers.

Mr. Lempert shows up regularly on The Today Show. Check out his blog Before You Bite.

On May 15th in Washington, DC (co-sponsored by The Market Research Global Alliance): Boomers & Beyond, a workshop.  I spoke at the first one in 2006:

Boomers and Beyond Conference: Big Success and Lots of Fun

Boomers power up by aging in place

Aging In Place and Universal Design expert and consultant Louis Tenenbaum is liberally quoted in this piece from The Washington Times:

Cover story: Boomers power up by aging in place
Carisa Chappell
The aging-in-place movement has become big with 89 percent of people older than age 50 wanting to remain in their own homes indefinitely, according to a recent AARP survey …

"One of the issues with older clients is getting into and out of a house," Mr. Tenenbaum said. "There are a number of ways to achieve the no-step entry, including integrating a lift into the landscaping … Mr. Tenenbaum said the bathroom can become a scary place for elderly people because it often is wet and has hard surfaces. He said such features as a no-step shower and tub and toilet grab handles are important.

Check out Louis’ AGING IN PLACE GUIDE blog.

More: a sample chapter from The Silver Market Phenomenon:

Universal Design – Innovations for All Ages by Oliver Gassmann and Gerrit Reepmeyer (PDF)

Ask the Brains: Is Midlife Crisis a Myth?

Scientific American has a monthly column, Ask the Brains.  The mag hands off questions to experts.  Here’s one I liked:

Is Midlife Crisis a Myth?

David Almeida, professor of human development and family studies at Pennsylvania State University, responds:
Many people expect that midlife brings forth inevitable crisis, but that idea is not supported by social science.

Makes mincemeat of this featherbrained campaign (and plenty of others):

Passat's Midlife Crisis
I was tipped off to Passat’s tongue-in-cheek web site by Steve Hall’s top-notch, often troublemaking blog, Adrants (rated way up there in some recent marketing/advertising blog poll)…

People generally get better.

I’m … umm … sitting somewhere, leafing through AARP Magazine.  There’s a wonderful, down-to-earth interview with Toni Morrison. 

A bit of it is perfect for the blog.  I convince myself that it’s worth doing something I never do anymore: actually type-in a chunk of a magazine.  (My rule: if I can’t copy and paste, forget it.)

The magazine is carried to my office, the page gets dog-eared, marked up, plopped and propped - and I almost start banging away. 

Then I decide to do something smart. I go to the AARP site and there’s the interview, ready for ethereal snatching. 

What got me all hot ‘n bothered:

Q: Do you find you’ve become more creative as you’ve gotten older? Oh, yes. I’m much, much better with creative things—people generally get better. They just know more.

Q: Your mind certainly seems to have stayed fertile. Yes, but what’s really important is humor—the way you see through things. And I don’t mean just “Ho, ho, ho!” but real irony about the diabolical nature of things. If you don’t have that, you just collapse.

I’ve blogged about this a bunch of times:

Old Masters and Young Geniuses

What Kind of Genius Are You?

Baby boomers are smarter than you think

Trust Your Gut

And there’s this NYT piece:

Older Brain Really May Be a Wiser Brain

Wiser, smarter, funnier, more creative.  Even if only half-true, only partially true - think of all the talent out there not being used in advertising (and hundreds of other creative industries).

Again (and again and again): Diversity = Productivity.