Art & Copy on PBS in October

This looks good:

Chuck,

George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow and Hal Riney may not be household names, but the advertising slogans they are responsible for - "Just Do It," "I Love NY," "Where's the Beef?," "Got Milk," "Think Different," as well as brilliant campaigns for everything from cars to presidents - are embedded in our national psyche. 

The social and cultural impact of their ads and those of other advertising legends are brought to light in Art & Copy, a dynamic exploration of art, commerce, and human emotion, premiering on the PBS series Independent Lens Tuesday, October 26 2010 at 10 PM. (check local listings).

Exploding forth from advertising's "creative revolution" of the 1960s, these artists and writers - some among the original "Mad Men" - all brought a surprisingly rebellious spirit to their work in a business more often associated with mediocrity or manipulation.  These artists knew they were moving culture and not just moving product…

I'm happy to send a DVD …

Sincerely,
A. H.
Senior Publicist

I’m taking her up on this. Along with chunks in my book and some blog posts, my presentations often include a history of advertising focusing on the most influential art and copy creatives over the last eighty years.

Smart Phones, iPads, and Baby Boomers

In March I headed up a workshop in Turkey:

Back from Istanbul.
There are 15 million people living in Istanbul – and I think I saw all of them. 

And I met about two dozen of the brightest.

Attendees included marketing executives from Fortis, Anadolu Hayat Emeklilik, Yapi Kredi Bankasi, and IS Bankasi.

I had only one regret. An attendee was looking for information and guidance and I wasn’t really prepared for the questions:

Baby Boomers and older in Turkey have not warmed up to online banking and financial services. They make an attempt - but soon become frustrated, returning to their old ways (needless trips to the bank, using mostly checkbooks and snail mail, etc.). They are simply not online.

That was almost six months ago.  Things change.  My answers have changed. 

I’ve talked about this before, as have others.  Two recent news pieces:

Re-thinking the Internet with security and mobility in mind
By Larry Greenemeier
The Future Internet Architecture (FIA) research projects are expected to re-think the network from the ground up, taking into account emerging security concerns, the demand for greater bandwidth and the growth of mobile devices.

NostraChuckus divined this months ago:

How this will play out, I don’t know – but the ‘web’ needs to be rethought.  Accessing a page on a desktop or laptop is not the same as accessing it on a Smart Phone.  There will have to be two separate ‘webs’ for large screens, small screens. People will get very tired very fast clumsily negotiating bulky pages on handheld devices. Usability cannot be ignored.  Laptops and Desktops will only be utilized for deep research or visual treats.

Your Smartphone Will Soon Double as Your Wallet
By Dan Macsai
…After years of talk, wireless carriers, banks, startups, and handset makers are now actively working to transform Americans' cell phones into mobile wallets.

So here’s my new answer for Baby Boomers and older in Turkey (and everywhere else):

Forget about the internet (in its HTML/Flash-enhanced form).  Concentrate on Smart Phones and maybe iPad/Kindle-type devices. 

People over fifty have cell phones – and they use them.  Soon, they will all have smart phones.  The learning curve is much easier for Smart Phones and iPads.  

This means:

1. You do not have to convince someone older to turn on a computer, log on, fumble around with a browser, etc.  It will be an easier transition from landline to cell phone to smart phone.
   
2. An app for a bank can be designed to be very, very easy – as long as the fonts and numbers are big enough for older eyes.
   
3. Promote your app in TV advertising, print – and in banks.  If someone is making a deposit, ask “Do you have a smart phone?  We can make it easy to check your balance, etc.  I will download the app for you.”  Once they know how to do one thing, they’ll be interested in doing everything else.
   
4. The web/internet will not be as popular as it is today. People will use their smart phones to access the web – so the web will be redesigned and become less visual and more practical for simple searching and doing business. 

I’m less interested in specific gadgetry, more in the concept of untethered connection.  Droid, Kindle, iPhone, iPad, whatever’s next – they’re all the same to me. 

Related Post:

Digital Advertising Natives and Immigrants

Dick Stroud’s Apps for Baby Boomers

Alzheimer's: No Magic Bullet

In January, NostraChuckus predicted that this would be the year of the Baby Boomer Brain. He’s certainly done a miraculous job so far. Everywhere you turn there are new studies, new theories, new books about that super-charged soggy stuff stuffed in our noggins.

It’s not all good news.

Years Later, No Magic Bullet Against Alzheimer’s Disease
By Gina Kolata
New York Times
…So far, nothing has been found to prevent or delay this devastating disease, which ceaselessly kills brain cells, eventually leaving people mute, incontinent, unable to feed themselves, unaware of who they are or who their family and friends are.

“Currently,” the panel wrote, “no evidence of even moderate scientific quality exists to support the association of any modifiable factor (such as nutritional supplements, herbal preparations, dietary factors, prescription or nonprescription drugs, social or economic factors, medical conditions, toxins or environmental exposures) with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.”

…There is only poor evidence, for example, that keeping your brain active, having a high level of education or exercising has a protective effect.

What does this have to do with advertising?  It’s time to cease referencing Alzheimer’s when marketing products and services. There are plenty of valid reasons for eating healthy foods, exercising, or challenging yourself with new mind and body activities. Stop flashing the false hope of staving off a perplexing disease that frightens every Baby Boomer.

Slippery copy even invades respectable sites:

 

 

 

 

 

My advice has always been to take the high road with the 50+ Market.  They’ve been around long enough to recognize most B.S. – and when they feel they’ve been fooled, say goodbye to them.

Laurie Orlov’s take on it all: Alzheimer's hype, hope, oops...reality.

A pretty piss-poor advertising medium.

This’ll be a mish-mash follow-up to a few posts:

Foretellings
NostraChuckus, that uncannily somewhat accurate prognosticator who mostly deals with predicting common sense, is at it again…

Spending goes where the eyeballs are.
New Media technology is getting smaller, not bigger. Eyeballs are squinting…

Digital Advertising Natives and Immigrants
Baby Boomers have been inundated with technology all their lives. We were the first generation of television natives.

Wired Magazine’s nail in the coffin:

The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet
By Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff
Two decades after its birth, the World Wide Web is in decline…

Dick Stroud’s take on it.

Well … Wired is supposed to be provocative.  But it has a point – one I was hammering on in those posts above.

And the article mirrors other points I’ve made through the years:

The Web was built by engineers, not editors. So nobody paid much attention to the fact that HTML-constructed Web sites — the most advanced form of online media and design — turned out to be a pretty piss-poor advertising medium …

The ineffectual banner ad, created (indeed by the founders of this magazine) in 1994 — and never much liked by anyone in the marketing world — still remains the foundation of display advertising on the Web.

Consumers weren’t motivated by display ads, as evidenced by the share of the online audience that bothered to click on them. (According to a 2009 comScore study, only 16 percent of users ever click on an ad, and 8 percent of users accounted for 85 percent of all clicks.)

Finally, after years of experimentation, content companies came to a disturbing conclusion: The Web did not work. It would never bring in the bucks.

There are dissenting views in the piece(s) – and the Web defenders make good points.  I have my own views.

But this blog is only interested in advertising – and Baby Boomers.  From Foretellings:

1. The visual power of the web will fade as more people use handheld devices.  Goodbye, fancy-schmancy web sites. People will get bored sifting through it all when they can find what they need with their smartphones.
2. How this will play out, I don’t know – but the ‘web’ needs to be rethought.  Accessing a page on a desktop or laptop is not the same as accessing it on a smartphone.  There will have to be two separate ‘webs’ for large screens, small screens. People will get very tired very fast clumsily negotiating bulky pages on handheld devices. Usability cannot be ignored.  Laptops and Desktops will only be utilized for deep research or visual treats. 
3. That silly retronym “traditional advertising” will remain the premiere force for introducing people to a product or service, along with sustaining its shelf life. Television, print, radio, and billboard ads will continue to have the visceral power they’ve always had – if only for their sheer size, simplicity, and cutting-edge audio/visual qualities.  Advertising on smartphones will be considered an annoyance, invasive, and rather dinky – while marketing (coupons on steroids, and more) will flourish and dominate.

More reading:

Is 500 million a big number? (Nigel Hollis)

Word-of-mouth may not translate to loyalty (eMarketer)

Baby Boomers & Universal Design

I received an interview request the other day from a fellow putting together a piece for a Hanley Wood pub.  At the last minute there was an emergency on his end and we didn’t get to chat.

I’d already thought about his email, dusted off some digital ether, and was prepared for:

I was hoping to get your perspective on what Baby Boomers are looking for in a home and why some shun the term "universal design."

On that same day Louis Tenenbaum emailed me out of the blue:

I  have not talked to you for a while but I referred to you in this blog:

Marketing Universal Design

Instead of “Look! It has this and this and this,” we’ll be sniffing around for friendly, useful spaces. You’ll want us to say, “Look! There’s a perfect place for my pottery wheel,” or “There are plenty of windows and sunlight. My house plants and indoor herb garden will do fine in here,” or “Good. I can put up big, deep shelves for my books and CDs,” or “Here’s the perfect room for our side business on Ebay,” or “Here’s a place where I can soundproof a recording studio or  entertainment center,” or “This oversized back door is great because I can roll my bicycle in and out without squeezing and jerking it around – and the extra-wide hallway means there’s plenty of room so I can just lean it against the wall and we won’t bang into it every time we walk past it.”

Chuck has it. It is not what you show a boomer, it is what the boomer sees in their own mind’s eye. It is about creating a canvas for the art of their lives. Chuck turns the undifferentiated opportunities inherent in Universal Design into the aspirational opportunity of the boomer shopper.

I have to admit – it’s nice to have nice things said about me by a gentleman who’s actually out there designing and building stuff.  The last thing I built was with Lincoln Logs.

Also to prepare for the didn’t-happen trade mag interview, I reread this post and linked NYT piece:

A House Not for Mere Mortals
Its architecture makes people use their bodies in unexpected ways to maintain equilibrium, and that, she said, will stimulate their immune systems.

… I’m still sticking with UD meaning Universal Design – not Undulating Danger.

But there are lessons to be learned from this wacky adult funhouse. Flipside: You don’t want Baby Boomers wandering around a UD model home and feeling as if every room is a padded cell where you couldn’t hurt yourself even if you tried.

There is a possibility of UD homes becoming places where you turn to mush. This is the current juicing the popularity of Brain Games – along with exercise routines that value balance and elasticity more than strength and endurance.

The ‘No Mush’ perception factor will be a challenging balancing act for UD communities, Aging-in-Place designers, builders – and advertising/marketing folks.

More reading:

Universal Design As A Beginning, Not An End

Selling Universal Design and Aging In Place (PDF)

Update 9/9/10: Finessing Universal Design for Boomers by Scott Rains