14 May 2013

Mature Marketing Association

It’s not all austerity and economic upheaval across the pond.  There are some folks promoting optimistic, practical approaches for sparking business growth:

The Mature Marketing Association
imageWe believe  that Europe's ageing population presents a unique set of marketing challenges and  opportunities which, if addressed correctly, will benefit both business and consumer.

imageInfluencing the formation of MMA was The New Millennium Tales – a collection of boisterous, savvy narratives and essays corralled by Kevin Lavery.  The title is on The Advertising Educational Foundation’s ‘Must Read’ List.

Many marketing/advertising outfits in the U.S. and around the world are MMA International Partners

Bookmark the MMA web site.

Official Launch: June (2013)

06 May 2013

Donna Highfill: Making Incontinence Cool

Over on Huffington, Donna Highfill pens a funny, trenchant piece about advertising/marketing incontinence products:

Making Incontinence Cool
image… Let's face it, if a person in their golden years doubles over in a public place and announces, I'm wetting my pants, most people vacate the area as quickly as possible. If we have wet marks on the back of our pants like that toddler, nobody smiles and says, Aw, bless his heart.

I toss up a comment with a link to a short presentation from 2012: 

I don't need it, but I'll try it on for charity.

Donna Highfill responds.

Make sure to zip through all the comments trailing the article.  Ms. Highfill certainly hits a nerve.

More Huff Posts from Donna Highfill.

29 April 2013

My post this week was written by The Ad Contrarian.

I was just about to put paws to keyboard and expose this exposé:

imageIAB to Rally Industry Against Bogus Publishers and Bots
By Mike Shields
The Interactive Advertising Bureau will take on the evil robots, shysters and shady characters who are stealing millions from advertisers—before the medium's reputation takes any more of a beating…

If you spend enough time in the murky world of ad exchanges, ad tech middlemen and real-time bidding software, you might come away wondering why any major brand even bothers with online advertising.

Not only are banners dull and clickthrough rates low, but all the technology flooding the industry promising perfect targeting perfection can't even deliver real human audiences...

Then I would’ve added it here:

The Social Media - WOMM - Web Advertising Posts 

But the intrepid Ad Contrarian beat me to it:

April 29, 2013
imageOnline Advertisers Getting Hosed
Click-through rates are abysmal. The odds of breaking through on YouTube are in the million-to-one range. Facebook is a big fat turd that seems to have a new ad scheme every week. QR codes are a cruel joke. Content and social media are sounding more like religion, and less like business.

And now we're starting to get a peek at massive advertising frauds being perpetrated on the web.

Oh, well. I guess I’ll do some work or something.

18 April 2013

We’re hot again.

For almost a month I’ve been on a Large Org Rampage, ignoring all late-breaking stories.  My news aggregator is clogged.  It needs a cleansing:

picWe’re hot again, wanted again, as we are every year or so for a brief time until everybody who wants us realizes they have no idea how to get our attention.

Dentists want us.

The Clergy wants us.

Book Publishers want us.

Even Hollywood wants us.

And to no one’s surprise, marketers and advertisers want us.  Recent headlines, with no links because it’s all been said before so why waste your time:

Advertising to the over 40s – the new rules of engagement

New Research Reveals Misconceptions of Baby Boomer Marketing

Marketing to Boomers Crucial to Bottom Line

Baby Boom Your Branding Strategy

Advertisers overlooking cashed-up Boomers

imagePeople are spending — just look at the Boomers

Marketing to Baby Boomers: A [Very] Valuable Demographic

I feel like Rip Van Winkle – except upon awakening nothing has changed – and that’s even more shocking….

One gold nugget from the sift:

Why You Should Remodel to 'Age in Place' Now
Safety and style should go hand in hand when making home modifications
By Louis Tenenbaum
… In my 35 years as a professional home remodeler, I've found that if I get clients to fold the health and safety solutions into the more enjoyable task of remodeling to suit their changing tastes, they are not only more responsive, but they're also excited and enthusiastic.

And thanks to two folks for mentioning me in their posts/articles:

Baby Boomer Bashing: I just don’t get it.
by Erin Read Ruddick

BOOMHER: A is for….
By Nancy Hill

10 April 2013

AARP Is All New Redux: Part IV (Entrepreneurs, VCs & Health Tech)

CVRCompIn 2005 I wrote Advertising to Baby Boomers.  Knowing a big chunk of the readers would be entrepreneurial Boomers and another chunk would be younger entrepreneurs developing and marketing products and services to Boomers, I made sure chunks of the book dealt with their concerns.

A few grabs, the first from the Introduction:

image

Page 74:

image

image

imageMary Furlong has been producing The Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit for a decade. AARP is one of the sponsors. 

Last year the organization plopped headfirst into the Boomers/VC/Start-Up pool. This year’s plunge:

AARP Health Innovation@50+ LivePitch
AARP Health Innovation@50+ LivePitch…is the premier showcase featuring the most exciting start-up companies in the “50 and over” health technology and innovation sector. The pitch event offers the venture capital and angel investor community as well as the media, the opportunity to connect with these outstanding start-ups.

If you don’t know your way around the 50+ Health/Tech industry, check out these thought leaders:

imageAging In Place Technology Watch
Industry Trends, Research & Analysis
Laurie Orlov

Richard Adler
imageIFTF Research Affiliate Richard Adler was born in New York City, raised in Colorado, attended college in New England, taught in the Midwest, and spent most of his working life in Silicon Valley. These many changes of scene have given him a broad perspective on American culture and a strong curiosity about what is coming next.

I’ve always been a big fan and supporter of tech and health tech.  Fabulous stuff is on the way.

But there will be backlash.  A handful of concerns for advertising/public relations:

  • Privacy Issues. Big Data is the buzz phrase of the day.  Corralling every piece of medical information about everybody (including DNA profiles) could be a tough sell.
  • Monitored. Many will balk at every burp being recorded, analyzed, crammed into an electronic spreadsheet and sent through the ether to who knows where. 
  • Wired. It probably won’t be wires stuck into every corporeal crevice, aligning every orifice – but whatever it’ll be will be considered invasive and unnatural by many.
  • imageAnxiety. Wired ‘n Monitored will create a whole new disorder for the mental health industry.  Having a device (probably something like a phone app or Google Glasses) that constantly flashes and beeps your vitals will cause over-the-top anxiety for many.
  • Boredom. That’ll be the antidote for all the anxiety. In 2009 I blogged about monitoring during exercise:
    I wonder if most of the above won’t get tired fast.  How biofeedback-onic do you really want to be while taking a walk in the woods or playing some doubles?    

    And beepers going off to tell you you’re a lazybones?  It sounds like fun once or twice, but pretty soon some sweats or tennis attire will be all you’ll put on.  Being wired like an android and having to perform at specific levels every minute while you’re ‘playing’ could cause a slew of new anxiety afflictions.   

    Of course, there will always be a few obsessive-compulsives.

More info:

Why Innovators Get Better With Age
By TOM AGAN (NYT)
Less gray hair sharply reduces an organization’s innovation potential, which over the long term can greatly outweigh short-term gains.

The AARP is looking for some good Baby Boomer entrepreneurs to back
By Ki Mae Heussner
Despite Silicon Valley’s preference for young entrepreneurs, the research may not be on their side.

Entrepreneurs & Baby Boomers
All of a sudden every other news article about Baby Boomers is focused on business and entrepreneurs.


For reference:

21 March 2013
AARP Is All New Redux:
Part I

AARP is ‘rebranding’ itself for the umpteenth time.

27 March 2013
AARP Is All New Redux:
Part II

AARP will also step up its efforts to help businesses develop “their 50-plus strategy”…

02 April 2013
AARP Is All New Redux:
Part III (The Magazine)

There is a slow overhaul of AARP Magazine going on, no doubt for the better.