Fast Company Names Joseph Coughlin to Top 100 List

Dr. Joseph F. Coughlin has been awarded a spot on this year’s Fast Company list of Top 100 Most Creative People In Business.  Here’s why:

#87 - Joseph Coughlin: Director, MIT's AgeLab
Coughlin, 47, runs the first multidisciplinary research lab devoted to using smart technology to bolster older folks' quality of life.

In my book (2005) I hint at a few things Dr. Coughlin talks about in the video clip.  An excerpt:

And that’ll be due to pragmatic visionaries like Joe Coughlin and his research team.

Dr. Coughlin and yours truly ‘gigged’ together a few years ago:

MIT AgeLab
As you can imagine, I've 'seen'em all' when it comes to presenters and pundits specializing in age-related issues. Dr. Coughlin's presentation was nothing I'd ever heard or seen before. Mind-boggling technological advances are already here or down the road apiece.

More about MIT AgeLab and Dr. Joe Coughlin:

Bookmarked Brains

Asia-Pacific Tourism Summit

Next week in Sydney, Australia:

Asia-Pacific Tourism Summit
Baby boomers are the travelling phenomena of this era.  Destinations and tourism operators wishing to be part of this exciting demographic niche need to start planning urgently to cater for the interests and requirements of the travelling baby boomer.

 eTurboNews has a good piece about it:

Tourism operators pulling down the shutters for Australia - without realizing
Forget Gen X and Gen Y. It could be the baby boomers generation throwing the tourism industry a lifeline …

I’ve been writing about all this for years.  A blog post and excerpt from my book:

Cookie-Cutter Cavalcades

The eTurboNews article also addresses the bigger picture:

… Advertising research has shown the baby boomers feel overshadowed by younger generations when it comes to products and services, and no-one is interested in courting them or their money. 

No kidding.  That’s my book, my blog.  A recent post:

Why couldn’t it have been…?
A car?  Laundry soap?  A computer?  A razor?  Anything but some age-related malady.

Managing Director of Tourism Australia Geoff Buckley will address this question: Are Baby Boomers the recession busters? 

Could be.  I likewise mention this possibility in an online presentation (skip to the 17:30 timeline mark).

2009 Boomer Venture Summit

Mary Furlong, my good friend and heroine of all things Boomer, is hosting the sixth annual Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit on June 16th and 17th.

We invite you to join us for an exciting two-day program consisting of leaders across a wide range of industries. They all have one thing in common – they invest in or serve the boomer consumer.

The juiciest event will be The Boomer Business Plan Competition:

Grand Prize Winners will be selected on Wednesday, June 17, 2009. All finalists will present their business plans to an esteemed panel of judges at the 2009 Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Business Plan Competition at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA.

If you’re not able to attend, make sure to track down press about it afterwards.  You'll find out about the winner and many of the finalists.  Their ideas for products and services are always refreshing, creative, and smart.

A post about The 2006  Boomer Venture Summit.

Advertising/Marketing Resources

Evergreen Advertising/Marketing in Australia offers free PDF downloads of some sterling resources, including:

• The introduction to Section One of David Wolfe’s seminal Ageless Marketing
  
  
• Chapter Two of Dick Stroud’s 50-PLUS MARKET (Yours Truly contributed a section elsewhere)
  
  
• An issue of Prophets Profit magazine focusing on the 50+ market 
  
  
• A Brochure for The Evergreen Report
  Women over 50: Their perspectives on
  life and portrayal in advertising
  
  
• The Preface and Introduction (The Geritol Syndrome) from my book Advertising To Baby Boomers
  

When you get there scroll a bit and click the thumbnails for downloads:

Evergreen Resources

 

A direct link: Advertising To Baby Boomers Preface & Introduction

Oprah & Dan … & Chuck

I’ve blogged Dan Pink:

What Kind of Genius Are You?
A new theory suggests that creativity comes in two distinct types - quick and dramatic, or careful and quiet … Science News reports on a study that says an aging brain may be a more emotionally astute brain…

And I talk about his book A Whole New Mind in my presentations.

Of course, Oprah and Chuck go way back:

Boomers Beyond: Marketing to a 50-Plus Audience (2005)
I'm the selfless sort. If Oprah's name cozying up to mine will boost her career, I'm glad to help.

So it was especially gratifying to me when they finally powwowed:

Oprah Talks to Daniel Pink
... I think baby boomers are going to do something quite spectacular. They say, "Sixty's not old. Oh, I've got 25 years left." Then they look back 25 years and say, "Holy smokes, that sure happened fast. Are the next 25 years going to happen as fast? And if they are, what's my legacy going to be? When am I going to live my best life? What kind of imprint am I going to leave on the world?" Roughly 100 baby boomers turn 60 every 18 minutes in this country. Imagine the collective force of that …

I’m a bit miffed that they didn’t invite me to join them. Oh, well. You know how people get when they go big time. They forget who helped them get there …