Talking Aging With One of Advertising’s Most Strategic Minds
Changing Aging is pleased to interview creative and strategic guru Fred Senn. Fred began his advertising career by managing advertising for First Bank System. Pat Fallon recruited Fred to the agency side at Martin/Williams Advertising and then asked him to be one of the founding partners of Fallon in 1981. Since then, Fallon Worldwide has grown to become one of the world’s most critically acclaimed and creatively driven branding companies. Clients include Sony, Nestlé Purina, Travelers, TIME Magazine, NBC Universal, Holiday Inn Express, and New York Stock Exchange. Fallon Worldwide is a global network of Publicis Groupe, based in Paris, and has 500 employees worldwide. The company has offices in Minneapolis, London, Singapore, and Tokyo.
Fred’s many rolls at the agency included Director of Account Services and later, Chief Learning Officer, running Fallon University, and guest lecturing at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the firm they founded together, Fred teamed with his partner, Pat Fallon, to write “Juicing the Orange,” a book about applied creativity to business problem-solving, published by Harvard Business School Press.
How do you think the advertising industry is going to have to change for the age wave?
There are three dimensions of change happening simultaneously; first, the demographics, as you suggest. Secondly, even bigger than the age wave changes are the technology advances that change the way we communicate with each other, and how we get our news and entertainment. And third, we are beginning to see a values shift from a consumption based society to more of an experiential based society. These changes are so radical they will render our traditional business model obsolete. Nimble evolving organizations will prosper.
We hear that people are going to work longer. The ad industry has been one that seems to be dominated by youth. Do you think we’ll see more people working longer in advertising?
With these changes, especially in technology, it’s going to be hard for those of us who are older to maintain our relevance. The tool kit has changed, and too few of us are facile with the new technology tools. What we do bring to the table is strategic wisdom, and the ability to focus on the horizon. But, we have got to keep learning ourselves if we hope to have a voice.
Some commentators say today’s advertising misses the mark is ageist. What do you think?
I don’t see that we are misrepresented more than any other demographic group. We are in an era of equal opportunity misrepresentation. I work in a place where the average age is younger than my kids. I take hits about being in the seventh decade of life every day. Get used to it, and get beyond it.
The Dove Real Beauty campaign has been very successful. Do you envision more advertising featuring 'real people?'
Yes. Any form of storytelling asks its audience to identify with the characters. For too long we relied on aspirational characters €“ actors and models younger and prettier than those that inhabit our everyday world. People are jaded by that cliché. Smart communicators will rely on people with whom their audience can relate.
What do you think will be the characteristics of the new 'consumer majority,' those people 60+?
I think the very term €˜consumer’ is losing its relevance. As the bumper sticker says, “The most important things are not things.” Our own society is going to have to shift away from consuming, because we are going to be sharing resources with millions of others emerging from poverty around the world. I hope those of us who are over 60 can set the example, and reassure others that it’s the right thing to do, and not all that much of a sacrifice in the big picture. Our consumption habits in this country have created some very odd behaviors that we’d be better off without.
What is your vision for living in your 80s or 90s?
I’ve been inspired by my elders who do three things simultaneously. They are learners. They are teachers. And they are active beyond imagination, physically, mentally and emotionally. I’m going to try and follow their example.
I have learned that I make countless little choices every day that matter. The best way to make sure I get the big ones right is to practice on the little ones.
Changing Aging in America: It’s in Our Hands Says Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts
I encourage you to take a few minutes to read two articles that appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Sunday (links below). They provide insightful context to the tremendous opportunities for innovation in our profession, and Ecumen’s role in living our mission, vision and values to help lead and shape that change.
We Want to Be the Choice for Customers’ New Choices
The first story, The New Idea in Elder Care: Membership, outlines the work we and another Twin Cities-based senior services provider, DARTS, are doing to adapt Boston’s Beacon Hill Village “virtual retirement community” model in Minnesota. The Ecumen project is in Minneapolis, and it’s called Mill City Commons. It’s being designed to empower people to “age in place,” so they have the choice not to leave the neighborhood they love if they don’t want to. It also leads with the social dimension of successful aging rather than the medical dimension, while integrating both. Mill City Commons is paradigm-shifting work that’s challenging us to deliver our mission of creating home in a new way, while underscoring our vision for changing aging: We envision a world in which aging is viewed and understood in radically different ways.
We’re Making Change, Instead of Waiting for it to Happen
Star Tribune political columnist Lori Sturdevant writes in the second column Budget-Hungry Nursing Homes are So Last Century how 70% of the government dollars spent on long-term care in Minnesota goes to nursing homes. That’s not sustainable public policy, and it doesn’t match up with what consumers want. That’s why we’ve been diversifying €“ and will continue to diversify - our services across Ecumen.
The column commends our profession for “looking forward,” and highlights a citizen’s workshop held last week by the Citizens League, a leading non-partisan public policy organization. The workshop, which involved several Ecumen people focused on shaping ideas for providing and financing aging services. Ecumen helped convene the workshop as part of our commitment to shaping “what’s next.”
Two forces are coming full speed at our profession and country: new consumer expectations and needs to finance senior services in new ways. What an incredible time to be where we are today: making change instead of waiting for it to happen to us.
Changing the Aging Services Paradigm at Ecumen: Vitalize! Wellness Center
Yoga. Massage. Tai Chi. A salt-water pool. Personal trainers. Bike racks. And a Wii machine.What could be mistaken for an upscale spa or gym is actually a glimpse of the future of aging unfolding in Chisago City. Read the Minneapolis Star Tribune article on the Vitalize! Wellness Centre at Ecumen’s Parmly LifePointes community. Or see the Vitalize! video here.
Long-Term Care Financing Solutions: AARP
Earlier we blogged here about the long-term care financing forum at the University of Minnesota. One of the solutions put forward came from AARP. Here are highlights from Enid Kassner, director, Independent Living/Long-Term Care Public Policy Institute. Next we’ll share an approach from the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.AARP’s Goal:Create an affordable, consumer and caregiver-focused system providing coverage for, and access to, high quality long-term services and supports for independent living.1. Promote - nationally and in the states - reform of delivery and financing for long-term services and supports.2. REFOCUS reform debate on providing: long-term services and supports for independent living … rather than on 'long-term care' or 'Medicaid Reform.'3. Include ALL opulations, people with: developmental disabilities and physical disabilities . . . while improving services for seniors.4. Defin 'long-term services and support system' as FOUR separate, but related components:1. Caregivers2. Housing3. Health Care4. Long-Term and Community-Based Supportive Services… . plus mechanisms to finance each component.FIRST: Revamp Medicaid- Revamp Medicaid as one vehicle for both: System financing ---- structural reform.- See that proposed reforms: promote increased home and community-based services and cover additional services, populations- Eligibility: move from 'categorical' to 'financial means plus functional need.' Oppose restrictive changes to eligibility and services- Oppose mandatory, risk-based managed care, but recognize managed care can be vehicle for reform.SECOND - Delivery Reform- Support for family caregivers: respite services, financial help, single point-of-entry, navigation assistance- Workforce development and quality: recruitment, retention; enhancing image of workers; promote workforce training by U.S. schools, esp. community colleges- Consumer-directed programs for obtaining needed services- Quality measures and incentives- Regulations and standards- Support Innovative Models for long-term services and supports: - Endorse, help expand and fund effective, existing, new or demonstration models and promising state models for financing and care delivery. - Use states' efforts as means for galvanizing a national FOCUS ON REFORM- Encourage personal planning for and family conversations about long-term care- Motivate consumers to demand more options for long-term services and funding- Promote products and services that help consumers with decision making, navigationTHIRD - System Reform- Federal disablity-based insurance system that protects ALL Americans.- Expanded chronic care coverage and management under all insurance programs- Navigation help - and financial help - for informal caregiversLONG-TERM CARE REFORMED1. Rebalanced Medicaid to emphasize home and community-based care2. Single point of entry and navigation help3. Supports for informal caregivers4. Chronic care management under Medicare5. Quality improvement throughout6. Consumer-driven options7. Workforce development8. Insurance against disability for allFINANCING THIS APPROACH1. Medicaid Rebalancing- Older Americans Act and state funding2. Delivery System Reforms- Medicare with chronic care funding- Tax credits for caregivers- Home equity options- Private insurnance3. Federal InsuranceValue added tax dedicated to health care and long-term care
Next Generation of Older Americans Seek Encore Careers
At least 6 percent of Americans between the ages of 44 and 70, or 5.3 million people, are working in second careers with non-profits, governments, schools, or other organizations that benefit society, according to a new survey.And half of the people in that age group who aren’t already involved in so-called “encore careers” say they would like to find such employment -- a great opportunity for professions in aging.The survey was commissioned by Civic Ventures, a charity in San Francisco that seeks to engage older Americans in civic activities, and paid for by the MetLife Foundation, in New York. It was based on telephone interviews with more than 1,000 people.
Green Senior Housing Community for North Country Health Services in Minnesota to Be Developed by Ecumen
New senior housing development could become one of country’s few LEED-Certified CommunitiesSHOREVIEW, MN, June 17, 2008 -- https://ecumen.org €“ Aging services provider Ecumen, one of the country’s largest non-profit senior housing companies, is developing a green senior housing for North Country Health services in Bemidji, Minn. It is seeking to be one of the country’s few LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) senior housing developments.The $20 million senior housing development, to be owned by North Country Health Services and developed by Ecumen, is being built using environmentally friendly or “green” features and methods. For example, underground parking will lessen impervious surface space and reduce water use, lighting features will prevent light and energy waste, and many construction materials will be harvested locally.North Country Health Services and Ecumen plan to submit the project for third-party LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the United States Green Building Council.“Three words stood out as we began to shape this project €“ mission, vibrancy and sustainability,” said Jim Hanko, president and CEO of North Country Health Services. “The new housing will complement our mission of assuring a lifetime continuum of quality healthcare services, it will be a vibrant community that allows people to live in Bemidji for a lifetime, and it will help sustain natural resources that we all share.”“This project fully embraces a philosophy that aging is all about living,” said Sandy Bensen, North Country Health Services’ (NCHS) vice president of senior and community living services. “This will be a community that promotes healthy, successful aging and that honors and celebrates a person’s life to its very end.”Slated for a late-summer groundbreaking, the senior housing development will include independent living apartments, assisted living apartments, and memory care apartments. The link to the NCHS mission is most evident with the “aging in place” concept where older adults can move in not needing any services and as they age, assisted living services are brought to them when they need them and on an ala carte basis. All living spaces will link to Neilson Place, the North Country Health Services skilled nursing care center that opened in 2004. The project is anticipated to open in the fall of 2009.When completed, the Anne Street site will have more than 148,000 square feet of livable space in two buildings. Eighty catered living apartment homes, which feature independent living and assisted living, will have underground parking. The one-story memory care building will have 27 studio apartments.Other features will include a library and media center, grand fireplace lounge, commercial kitchen and dining room, two guest motel-like suites, a hair salon and barber shop, community room, fitness room, and outdoor patios and walking paths.“We’re extremely proud to be working with North Country Health Services and helping make this shared vision become a reality,” said Steve Ordahl, senior vice president of business development for Ecumen.About North Country Health ServicesNorth Country Health Services (www.nchs.com) is a community-owned, not-for-profit health system comprised of North Country Regional Hospital, Neilson Place, Baker Park, Bemidji Medical Equipment, and the North Country Health Services Foundation.About EcumenEcumen (ecumen.org) is based in Shoreview, Minn., and is one of the largest non-profit senior housing, services and development companies in the United States. The name Ecumen comes from the word ecumenical, which in turn is derived from the Greek word for home: “Oikos.” Ecumen’s mission is to create “home” for older adults wherever they choose to live. Ecumen is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and has 4,000 team members. Ecumen writes about news and ideas that are shaping the future of aging services at its Changing Aging blog: https://ecumen.org/changing-aging/
Coming of Age in Philadelphia
This is a cool mission statement:
To transform a source (the knowledge, talent and skill of the region’s 50+ population) into a force for enriching our community by helping individuals find meaning and the means to contribute to the greater good.
It’s the mission of Coming of Age, a Philadephia collaboration of four partners: Temple University’s Center for Intergenerational Learning, WHYY Wider Horizons, the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, and AARP Pennsylvania. Coming of Age has three objectives: 1. Helping people age 50+ plan for the future;2. Promoting 50+ volunteering, learning, and community leadership;3. Working with nonprofits to recruit, train, and retain 50+ volunteers. Coming of Age is a great model for other communities who want to seize opportunities of an unprecedented age wave. It’s fresh, invigorating, inspiring, fun … It’s also drawing dollars … Atlantic Philanthropies recently gave it $1.8 million to expand in other parts of the U.S.. … .Do you know of any other communities that are doing this?
Tim Russert’s Tribute to His Father
Thank you to the late Tim Russert for giving us this story. A tribute to a Father, this Father’s Day weekend.
Fewer Than 1% of China’s Oldest Citizens Live in a Nursing Home
An interesting new study on China’s 'oldest old' has been released by Duke University researcher Dr. Matthew Dupre and is available in the American Journal of Public Health. (note: you have to have a paid subscription to access it) He did the research while at the University of North Carolina and is now at Duke University Medical Center. Highlights of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study, which included a sample size of more than 13,000 people include:- Fewer than 1 percent of of Chinese 80 and older are living in nursing homes.- Most are free of chronic disease and not disabled or cognitively impaired.- For urban men and women, living in larger households was associated with longevity, suggesting that residing with one’s children, or grandchildren, might extend lifespan.- Most study participants said they 'looked at the bright side.'- Rural women - likely the most disadvantaged group in China - showed the greatest longevity benefit from being optimistic. Most people in the survey have a positive outlook.- Most also eat veggies, and a lot of them are poor, have little education and drink and smoke, challenging some of the advice we get in regard to living a long time.
How Many 70-Year-Old-Football Players Do You Know?
Thanks to Changing Aging reader Jon Riewer for sharing this item from up Fargo way…Pictured here is Bob Bonawitz, a linebacker for the Fargo-Moorhead Liberty, a semi-pro football team. Bob, 70-years old, got the itch to play again after getting bored with retirement. He had last played football in the 1950s as a member of the Moorhead High School Spuds.You can see more photos of Bob taken by Fargo Forum photographer Dave Walls here.