Aging Means Business E-Newsletter

Volume 1, Number 3, Spring 2011

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.

Follow us on Twitter @AgingMeansBiz!

I. Comments from the Editor:

Boston is the site and inspiration for our 2011 conference, Aging Means Business: Design for a New Age.  Our program will spotlight local design leaders such as MIT’s AgeLab, the Institute for Human Centered Design, the Bentley University, and IDEO Boston. Also, this year we’ll debut our Student Design Competition—and the winners will join us when we meet in Boston in November. And, we want you to be there too! For more information and to register, click here.

-- Greg O'Neill, PhD

II. Age Trends:

A. America's Aging Population: Today, 40 million Americans are age 65 and over, but this number is projected to reach 89 million by 2050; and although those age 85 and over currently represent 15 percent of the age 65+ population, their numbers are projected to rise rapidly over the next 40 years so that by 2050, those ages 85+ will make up over one-fifth of the 65+ population. Such rapid changes in age structure can have major social and economic consequences. This Population Reference Bureau Population Bulletin examines the current and future U.S. 65+ population, and considers the associated costs and implications.

B. The Business of Ageing: Realising the Economic Potential of Older People in New Zealand: 2011-2051: This Ministry of Social Development report focuses on two opportunities for New Zealand's future growth. These include the potential to increase the number of older people who choose to remain active in the workforce, and to tap into the growing mature consumer market. Its key findings include: more older people will participate in the workforce; the economic value of older people's paid and unpaid work will increase; older people's contribution to tax revenue will increase; and the mature consumer market will become more important.

C. Do Parents Live It Up When Children Fly the Coop? The decline of traditional pen­sions and Social Security replacement rates has evoked concern about the adequacy of households’ retirement savings. Experts disagree on whether Americans are adequately prepared for retirement; these differences stem from varying assumptions of what parents do with money that is freed up when their children leave home. This Boston College Center for Retirement Research brief presents findings that show that parents maintain household-level and increase per-capita consumption when their children leave home, thus challenging the idea that parents will automatically save more for retirement post-children, and suggesting that more households are at risk of an unsatisfactory retirement. Click here to see a related working paper.

III. Marketing to Mid-Life and Older Adults:

A. 50 and Over: What’s Next?: Based on data from the third AARP Boomers Envision What’s Next survey conducted in early 2011, this report assesses the Boomer generation’s attitudes, assumptions, aspirations, and plans as they approach their later years. Looking at Boomer demographics, consumer actions, media usage, case studies, and lifestyle and psychographics, the report serves to inform marketers about the unique characteristics of the Boomer generation.

B. Baby Boomers: Neglected by Marketers, An Interview with Lori Bitter: In this eMarketer Digital Intelligence interview, Lori Bitter, President and CEO of Continuum Crew, describes how baby boomers use digital media and explains the best ways for marketers to reach them. She emphasizes that the best messages are aspirational and focused on interests and key messages, not on age. She also explains that while traditional media still works for the older end of the boomer segment, marketers must integrate digital media into their marketing plans to reach this population effectively.

C. The New Conversation: Taking Social Media from Talk to Action: This Harvard Business Scientific Review Analytic Services white paper explores how the exponential growth of social media—from blogs, Facebook, and Twitter to LinkedIn—offers organizations a chance to engage millions of customers around the globe. By analyzing how organizations are currently using social media and best practices, this report offers planning tips for those hoping to capitalize on social media, including groups wishing to reach older adults.

IV. Industry Updates:

A.  Mobile Devices

1.    Connected Living for Social Aging: Designing Technology for All: Baby boomers and seniors represent the fastest growing age segment to adopt social networking technology, but are faced with mobile devices that are complex and difficult to use, even as their use becomes a necessity. This AARP report evaluates the universal usability of current technologies that facilitate connected relationships, and argues that to enable a connected living and social aging experience, vendors need to step up and begin to design products for user experiences that can appeal to all age groups.

2. Generations and their gadgets: Many devices have become popular across generations, with a majority of individuals now owning cell phones, laptops, and desktop computers. This Pew Research Center report describes generational differences in the adoption and use of varying mobile devices. For example, while cell phones have become ubiquitous in American households of all age groups, most cell phone owners only use two of the main non-voice functions on their phones, taking pictures and text messaging. In contrast, Millennials use their phones also for going online, sending email, playing games, listening to music, and recording videos.

B. Travel and Leisure

1. How the Travel Patterns of Older Adults Are Changing: Highlights from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey: This AARP Public Policy Institute fact sheet presents findings from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey, including: older adults comprise an increasing share of the nation’s travel; although individuals are traveling less, particularly in private vehicles, public transportation use is up; older men are more mobile than older women, although that gap is narrowing; and the number of older non-drivers has grown significantly. These findings highlight the need for transportation planning to shift from increasing road capacity to providing more multi-modal solutions.

2. When It Comes To Leisure Time, Watch Out For The Generation Gap: This Engage:Boomers blog entry analyzes one particular question BIGresearch asked respondents in their most current Simultaneous Media Usage (SIMM) Study to help determine what media mixes best attract a consumer’s attention: “what are some of your favorite ways of spending your free, leisure time?” When sorted by generation, one can see that the four dominant generations in the U.S. today are worlds apart when it comes to leisure time.

V. Events & Worth Noting:

A. Register Now! Aging Means Business: Design for a New Age: This year’s business forum will take place on Friday, November 18, in Boston, MA, and will explore how strong design can successfully launch products and services and set best practices. Combining expert presentations and audience brainstorming, this event will highlight the importance of aesthetics, consumer convenience, and company goals by presenting examples of innovative design in the area of products, services, and environments. View the list of confirmed speakers, and check out our special discount for the first 50 students that register!

B. Aging Means Business Student Design Contest: The competition notification for the 2011 Student Design Contest is now online! We invite undergraduate and graduate students in gerontology, engineering, business, industrial design, architecture, and social work to showcase their design ingenuity by proposing an original product for adults age 50+. The judges panel will assess entries based on innovation of design, appeal and appropriateness for the 50+ population, and marketability of the product. Winners will join us at the Aging Means Business: Design for a New Age event for an awards presentation.

C. Irelands’ Business of Ageing Conference: The second annual Business of Ageing Conference took place in March 2011, and was attended by over 200 business professionals who came to find how they or their organization could benefit from engaging the fastest growing demographic: adults age 50+. Building on the 2010 conference, speakers delved into the practicalities of targeting the 50+ market: Who are they? What do they want? How do we target them? And how do we design for them? Click to view the summary of findings and the presentations.

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

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