Aging Means Business E-Newsletter, Winter 2012

Aging Means Business E-Newsletter

Volume 2, Number 1, Winter 2012

This quarterly e-newsletter explores the intersection of business and aging. Installments highlight articles and reports that address the enormous potential for businesses to target seniors as both consumers and producers, spotlight select industries, and identify effective strategies for marketing to an older consumer.

The goal of this email publication is to reach teachers, students, researchers, and business professionals interested in understanding, attracting, and capitalizing on a growing senior market.

I. Comments from the Guest Editor:

Coming March 28, 2011, to Washington, DC, is the What’s Next Boomer Business summit. The summit features tracks on innovation and frugality; social, mobile and integrated media and marketing; the services economy; and entrepreneurship. Speakers will include Donna Brazile of CNN, Jody Holtzman of AARP, Ily Oshman of Weight Watchers, and Jeff Shoemate of United Healthcare. Companies represented will include Google, Hip Cricket, Verizon, Microsoft, Hartford, Living Social, and more. For registration information, see item V.B. below.

-- Mary Furlong, EdD, President and CEO, Mary Furlong & Associates

II. Age Trends:

A. Rise of the Grey Market: This two-hour video discussion organized by Cambridge’s Redstar Ventures addresses the enormous opportunities and challenges created by the aging demographics of the United States and Europe. Specific questions include: What are the trends that define this opportunity? What industries are affected by it? Who stands to win, and who stands to lose? Who is at the forefront of creating solutions to address this market, and who is investing in them? Moderated by Frank Moss and Jeet Singh, participants of the event included Joseph F. Coughlin, Jody Holtzman, and David Rose.

B. Long Live…Us! An Older America Can Be a Richer America: This special supplement and joint project of The Atlantic and National Journal explores the effects of the aging of the population. Authors address questions such as: Will baby boomers and their entitlements crush their children by weighing them down with debt? Will boomers put off retirement and take up jobs that younger folds want, touching off generational warfare? If Americans live longer and longer, will society inevitably outrun its resources?

C. 10 Ways Boomers Will Transform 2012: This Richmond Times Dispatch article by John W. Martin predicts 10 ways boomers will continue to transform our culture in 2012. Predictions include: more boomers will embrace city living; more boomers will be religious; boomers will become even more wired; boomers will volunteer even more; boomers will drive green innovations that matter; boomers will lead the age of responsible consumerism; and others. For a pdf version of this article, click here.

III. Marketing to Mid-Life and Older Adults:

A. Rise of the Olds: Advertising Catches up with a New Demographic: This Fast Company article explains that the advertising industry is beginning to recognize the necessity to cater to the senior market, which controls nearly one-third of total U.S. net wealth. The article identifies a challenge faced by advertisers: that adults age 65 and older are no where near as homogenous as marketers thought 20 years ago. Though some brands are making inroads, there is still much to learn and many fundamental changes that advertisers must make to the ways by which they communicate with older adults.

B. Boomer Women 50+: The Full Nest: This briefer by Vibrant Nation, based on their annual “Full Nest” survey on boomer women with adult children at home, outlines the behavior and needs of the woman age 50+ and offers a picture of what it means for companies that sell to these women. A key lesson from this research includes: women don’t stop being—or spending like—moms just because their children have graduated from college or have jobs. Therefore, advertising must reflect this reality in order to gain the business of women 50+. For an explanation of the survey results, click here.

C. Marketing to Baby Boomers Getting Older: Part One: This excerpt—from Brent Green’s book Generation Reinvention: How Boomers Today Are Changing Business, Marketing, Aging and the Future—argues that businesses and nonprofit organizations need boomer customers. The excerpt addresses three primary economic questions circulating in business circles that relate to the boomer market: What is a generation from a marketing and advertising perspective? How can we effectively market to the boomer generational segment? And what opportunities are developing to target boomer men?

IV. Industry Updates:

A. Encore Careers and Older Entrepreneurship

1. Understanding the Older Entrepreneur: This International Longevity Center-UK report delves into whether entrepreneurship could be a valid continuing career option for those approaching state retirement age. The report’s findings allow us to answer: How many older entrepreneurs are there? What motivates a person to become an entrepreneur? What will make older entrepreneurs retire, when they eventually do? How many businesses have older entrepreneurs been involved in starting? What are the characteristics that mark an older entrepreneur?

2. Purpose, Passion, and a Paycheck in a Tough Economy: A new study supported by the MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures, illustrates how the current economy has affected encore career interest and plans for encore careers. Results show that boomers have tempered their expectations at the same time exhibiting resilience and an unwillingness to give up on efforts to create a better world for future generations. This research also found that more than 12 million Americans ages 44-70 want to start small businesses or nonprofits that create jobs and meet community needs. For a synopsis of research findings on encore entrepreneurs, click here.

B. Senior Living & Housing

1. Myths & Realities of Continuing Care Retirement Communities: A new report, launched by AgeWave and sponsored by Vi, describes how older adults make the decision to move to a continuing care retirement community (CCRC). It discusses their priorities, hopes, concerns, and questions during the decision-making process. The report highlights a recurring theme: there are prevailing myths and misperceptions about CCRCs which do not match today’s realities, and which can sometimes complicate or mislead decision making. The report describes these five myths, explains the root causes and misconceptions that are often behind them, and presents the reality of today’s CCRC offerings.

2. Ecumen Senior Living Cost Comparison: A new interactive calculator compares the costs of living in one’s own home with living in one of Ecumen’s senior living communities. This calculator was launched in conjunction with the launch of a new resources website that offers a wide variety of information about senior living, Alzheimer’s and memory care, healthy aging, home care, and many other topics related to aging.

V. Events & Worth Noting:

A. Aging Means Business Forum Recap: Last year’s Aging Means Business forum (review the agenda here), held in Boston on Friday, November 18, 2011, brought together the nation’s brightest, most successful minds to share breakthrough ideas, innovations, and market strategies for success in the older adult consumer marketplace. Louis Tenenbaum’s write-up highlights the key take-away messages from the event. Other media clippings are listed below. Plus, view photos from the event and view the winning designs from our Aging Means Business Student Design Contest.

Media Coverage
- Aging Means Business, Boston, Nov 18 (Aging 2.0)
- Design for a New Age (GracefulAging.com)
- Top Boomer Business Ideas (SecondAct.com)
- Move Beyond Age - Let's Talk Better Design (Mediapost.com)
- Design for needs of aging populace (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
- Rethinking the “retirement community” for boomers (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
- Inspired in Beantown! (LouisTenenbaum.com)
- Design for a New Age (InnovateLTC.com)
- Architecture Student Honored for "Aging in Place" Project (Penn State News)

B. Ninth Annual What’s Next Boomer Business Summit: Subscribers to this e-newsletter receive a 20% discount off registration to the ninth annual What’s Next Boomer Business Summit on March 28, 2012, from 7:00am to 6:00pm in Washington, DC; to receive the discount, use code wndc12gsa upon checkout. With a theme of “The new normal…a groundswell in social media, surge in the services economy, and rise of the independent sector,” the summit will include four primary tracks: The Innovation of Frugality; Integrated Media and Marketing: Social, Mobile, Gaming; The New Service Economy: Housing, Caregiving, Mobility, and Healthcare; and Entrepreneurship! Encore Careers and Personalized Business Models. Attendees of this summit include corporate brand managers at companies where boomers and seniors are the primary customers; leaders of innovation in government agencies; designers of products and services; media, analysts, authors, and bloggers; and association and non-profit leaders who want to learn best models and metrics of social entrepreneurship and business partnerships. To receive updates via Twitter, follow @WhatsNextBoomer and track the hashtag #BoomerSummit.

C. Boomers' Perspectives on Multicultural Brand Messaging and Media Content: On Thursday, April 26, 2012, the American Advertising Federation—in conjunction with AARP, Draftfcb, Leo Burnett, and Omicon Group—will facilitate a two-part, national simulcast discussion regarding boomers' perspectives on multicultural brand messaging and media content. The goal is to provide direction for the development of brand messaging that speaks to boomers and effective ad placement within media content. Participate from host locations in Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC.

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Newsletter Editors: Greg O’Neill, Sarah F. Wilson, and Dani Kaiserman, National Academy on an Aging Society