Alzheimer's: He won’t be needing them anymore.

This blog seems to be on a health kick lately. Usually the catalysts for posts are news pieces – so blame the media, not me. I’m as dilapidated and mentally frazzled as I ever was.

There was this recently:

Uh-oh. We’re in trouble…
The good news you know: many Baby Boomers will live longer, healthier lives – more so than in any previous generations. The bad news you also know: by 2046 a huge chunk Boomers will have passed on, and another huge chunk will be dealing with acute diseases and afflictions.

A powerful, poignant piece by Nancy Stearns Bercaw in the NYT:

When All Isn’t Enough to Foil Alzheimer’s
As my father approached middle age he began to experiment on himself, with diet supplements. By age 60 he was taking 78 tablets a day. He tracked down anything that offered the possibility of saving brain cells and killing free radicals: Omega 3s, 6s, 9s; vitamins E and C; ginkgo biloba, rosemary and sage; folic acid; flaxseed.

After retiring from his neurology practice in Naples, Fla., he spent hours a day doing math. Even when I was visiting, he’d sit silently on his leather recliner with a calculator to verify the accuracy of calculations he did by memory.

Very sad.  So be prepared.

Unfortunately, the advertising/marketing industry - along with much of the media - isn’t preparing you.  They are lying to you. From August 2010:

Alzheimer's: No Magic Bullet
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.

More from Nancy Stearns Bercaw:

While he watched a televised baseball game one afternoon, I walked into his den and eyed the wall of supplements he used to take — bookcase after bookcase of pills with names like Memoral and Sharp Mind. Won’t be needing them anymore.

Marketers Should Be Wary of Playing Up Living Long

Buzz McClain, a twisted freelance writer and Editor of Selling To Seniors, called me not too long ago. We chatted for a bit, and out popped this:

Marketers Should Be Wary of Playing Up Living Long
Rarely has someone in marketing been as frank as Chuck Nyren. The international creative strategist, consultant, columnist, speaker and award-winning copywriter doesn't hesitate to take the sizzle right out of anyone's seemingly misguided marketing campaign, particularly those aimed at Boomers…

The piece is behind a pay wall, so I’d cause even more trouble if I drilled a hole and sucked out more. 

What prompted Buzz to buzz me:

03 January 2011
Uh-oh. We’re in trouble…
The problem is that well-meaning articles in the press like the USA Today piece, along with mountains of 50+ marketing fodder, are setting up Boomers for a psychological fall. There will be a backlash.

Buzz McClain on Boomer Authority™.

Two Experts, One Superb Article, One Superb Presentation

A couple of gents I greatly admire continue producing cutting-edge, trenchant, authoritative work.  While no surprise to me, the timing of their releases were only hours apart.  What’s a conscientious blogger to do? 

Each is worth its own post here – but we’re living in an era of austerity, so…

Dick Stroud, the Emperor of Boomer Apps, chose his 50+ marketing blog to embed an article penned for The Marketing Society:

Connecting With Older Consumers (PDF)
Apple’s success with its iPhone and iPad has been the consumer technology success story of the year. Dick Stroud explains why these products are particularly relevant to older consumers and the implications this has for marketers…

The combination of the app and the smart device creates a new platform for the consumption of media.

If marketers think that …. developments
are relevant only to the younger consumer,
they are making a serious mistake…

I’ve also written on this subject (and usually rip-off most of what I say from Professor Stroud):

Baby Boomers & Microsoft Advertising

Foretellings

Smart Phones, iPads, and Baby Boomers

Dr. Joseph Coughlin has tossed up his November 2nd presentation produced by Transportation@MIT and MIT World: 

The Future is Gray, Small & Female
The talk (it's nearly an hour long, so grab a cup of coffee) provides an overview of three demographic driving forces: aging, household size, and the predominance of women in an older society…

Do yourself a favor. Give Dr. Coughlin’s presentation ten minutes and you’ll be hooked.

The Fallaciousness Of Web Metrics

The Hound of the Advertising Basket Cases, Bob Hoffman (aka The Ad Contrarian) has sniffed up some interesting, foul-smelling stuff:

… In a test of the impact that TV advertising has on online sales, a TV campaign (with no change in online advertising) resulted in a 2000% increase in online sales. 50% of this (or a lift of 1000% in sales) would be typically attributed to Google or other online media. This is a joke. Without TV the lift would be zero…
...billions of dollars in sales are incorrectly being attributed to online advertisements that are completely or partially being generated by television.  This is resulting in an incorrect ratio of perceived value between television and online media...

Sounds right to me.  I’ve been screaming about the ubiquitous power of (silly retronym ahead) traditional media for years.  Here’s a slide from one of my presentations, circa 2007:

And television:

The Crystal Ball of Common Sense Goes ViralIn effect, the videos that got watched the most on the Internet are those that bought their popularity through traditional offline advertising, especially on TV.
 

More from Bob Hoffman:

Any ad in any medium that directs you to a website or leads you to a search is probably contributing to the inflated value of online advertising.

At this very moment…

On January 7th 2011, 10:16 am (PST), Advertising to Baby Boomers is the most popular book published by Paramount Market Publishing. 

This won’t last for long. Blink and it will be gone. That’s because PMP has a superb selection of titles and a bevy of the best business writers out there.

But … for the next few days or so, allow my ego to run amok.