Why Does So Much Marketing to Seniors Stink? And Other Questions With Tom Mann
'Changing Aging' recently sat down with brand consultant Tom Mann. Tom was 
instrumental in his role as senior vice president of advertising at Erickson Retirement Communities in developing and communicating in a way that made older consumers want to choose (rather than making a decision on need) Erickson communities as places to live. In addition to his branding work, Tom was recently the Task Force Chair of the State of Maryland’s recent report: The Dynamics of Elderly and Retiree Migration Into and Out of Maryland.Today, Tom runs an independent brand development consultancy, TR Mann Consulting (www.TRMann.com), which specializes in creating brands, selling real estate and marketing to the 50+ market.Why does most marketing designed to connect with older consumers stink?Maybe it’s just me … but it seems like the so called experts and media just want to talk about the 'Boomers,' as if looking beyond today’s cause célèbre, the pert Boomer, might cause blindness.In fact, they’ve come up with a nice, little label for the generation beyond the 'Boomers.' They want to call the age group beyond the 'Boomers' the 'The Silents.' I guess the experts think that those born earlier than 1946 have nothing to say. And if that doesn’t fit, your other option is 'The Matures.'Sadly, this incessant labeling overlooks one key fact … regardless of age, we are all individuals.David Wolfe, one of my favorite bloggers and a true expert on aging states on his blog Ageless Marketing:'Needs drive our behavior. Our need to be physically and mentally comfortable, whole, safe and secure does not change from one generation to the next. In Maslow’s hierarchy, that bundle of needs is the most basic of all needs. Then, our need for love and to be loved never changes from one generation to the next. The same holds true of our need for self-esteem and the esteem of others.What does change from generation to generation are the ways in which we strive to meet our needs.'What does all this have to do with the price of eggs? A lot!I don’t believe that everyone over the age of 65 is the same. In fact, I hate labels and consider them an evil by-product of lazy marketers. Sadly, if you are over the age of 65, Madison Avenue and Hollywood have decided you are dead. Want evidence?In recent history, several TV shows, including JAG, have had excellent ratings that were trending up and yet they were cancelled. Why? Because they were being watched by an older demographic. A prime-time TV show with the majority of their audience in Madison Avenue’s beloved 34 to 49 range can charge 30% more per a sixty-second ad than one targeted toward people over the age of 55. Regardless of the fact that the majority of wealth in this nation is controlled by people 55+. This, my friends, is insanity.What do marketers need to know if they want to authentically connect with older consumers?Marketers need to understand that it’s about 'stage' … not age. In other words, where is that individual in their personal journey? My favorite example of this is one of my clients, GRAND Magazine. GRAND doesn’t address the readers’ age; it addresses the stage of life this group (Grandparents) has just entered. By recognizing the importance of this role, the grandparent role, GRAND and its advertisers, connect with their audience on a much deeper level. Think about it this way, there are over 72 million grandparents in America, and according to Age Wave Communications they’ll spend over 30 Billion this year on their grandchildren. And I would say that $30 Billion is low, I’ve seen estimates of over $75 Billion a year!As seniors increasingly become the new consumer majority in the United States, do you see ageism disappearing in American media?No, I don’t think ageism will ever disappear totally. Remember when you were a small child, maybe 5 or 6 … to you that 35-year old uncle seemed ancient. Now that we’re a nation of Boomers, 50 to 60 doesn’t seem that old. But it will be a long time before the media portrays 80-year olds as anything but a stereotype. That being said, I do think you’ll see a wider variety of ages being portrayed in the mainstream media. Madison Avenue and Hollywood can no longer afford to ignore the facts. People over the age of 55 own more than 77% of the financial assets in America and they represent over $2.4 trillion, that’s right TRILLION, in discretionary buying power. These are numbers that major companies can no longer ignore, especially in a recession.How do you see advertising changing as America faces this unprecedented age wave?I believe we are entering a new age of relational marketing … which I believe has less do with age, than it has to do with technology. As ever-improving technology and quality improvement measures level the playing field in most, if not all industries, we are moving to a marketplace where your relationship with your customers is your key competitive advantage (or weakness). Simply put, it’s not what you do; it’s how you do it. A great brand is a friendship unfolding€”with each new interaction marking a new stage in the courtship. Advertising is just the invitation to join the brand in a relationship.Boomers tell us they’re going to work far beyond age 65, what about you?I don’t think I’ll ever permanently retire. I love my job, why would I retire? I enjoy helping real estate developers sell their properties. I enjoy helping publications grow. I enjoy helping companies reach a consumer they’ve never reached before!Instead, I’m looking to enjoy a life dotted with 'mini-retirements,' meaning vacations of one month or more. These longer vacations allow for the opportunity to invigorate the mind and soul in a more meaningful way that the traditional vacation. I think that this constant recharging of the batteries, mixed with work you love makes you a much stronger individual. Today, it’s a lot easier to slip between the world of work and play, thanks to technology. It’s now just as easy to get most work done from the sunny Caribbean as it is from DC, New York, Chicago, or LA.I predict that we’ll see this as a growing trend … longer careers dotted with mini-retirements.
Technology and Active Aging Story by MinnPost.Com
Technology is going to play an increasing role in aging and the transformation of America for the Age Wave.Christine Capecchi, a reporter with MinnPost.com, spent time with Honor Hacker, an Ecumen customer, yesterday (at left) at the Ecumen community of Lakeview Commons. Here is Christina’s interesting story.Honor and Kathy Bakkenist, Ecumen’s COO and senior vice president of strategy and operations, will be testifying tomorrow before members and staff of the Senate Special Committee on Aging on the subject of aging and technology.
Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign
Posted By John Korzendorfer, Senior Director of Campus Operations The ongoing dialogue on the Changing Aging blog about 'IT' fascinates me. 'IT' is comprised of numerous factors, and today I would like to talk about one of them as they relate to America’s nursing homes.
SIGNS!
In my work I have the opportunity to visit numerous nursing homes, and so many of them have this in common:
SIGNS!
I’m not talking about directional signs…Remember the chorus from the mid-70’s song 'Signs?''Sign, sign, everywhere a signBlocking out the scenery, breaking my mind.Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?'You know what I am talking about…
And, if we do put up a sign, how about using other ones, such as:Welcome!Our Mission is to Create Home. How Can We Help?We Want Your Ideas.Thank You for Choosing Us.We’re Proud to Serve You.We’re Thankful for You.How Can We Do Better?If you have 'IT,' you will look 'IT.'
Churches and Senior Housing Development - Leadership in America’s Age Wave
Churches across America have a tremendous opportunity to play a significantly positive role in the aging of America by helping create vibrant communities that bring multiple generations together.Looking closer at this emerging leadership role, we have introduced a white paper entitled: 'A New Wrinkle on Aging, Congregational Senior Housing.' Author Kay Harvey shares one congregation’s experience as it turns a vision into reality.
Ecumen’s North Star: Our Mission, Vision and Values
We’d like to introduce Changing Aging' readers to our North Star: our mission, vision and values. We introduced them today throughout Ecumen.If you’ve ever been involved in developing a mission statement, you can appreciate how difficult they can be to shape …and then doubly tough when you add vision and values.But what was so cool about this process was that our board of trustees did it quickly, intuitively and decisively. The work sessions had the help of a wonderful moderator - Dr. Louellen Essex, a leading management consultant and author (if you’re ever in need of a highly skilled navigator who helps people move through complexities, she’s at the top). It was a lot of fun watching the trustees thoughtfully whittle and craft the words that our work give life to today and guide us in shaping tomorrow.
Our Mission
We create home for older adults, whereverthey choose to live.
Our Vision for “Changing Aging”
We envision a world in which aging is viewed and understood in radically different ways.
Our Values
Service:We intensely focus on serving our customers and delivering what they want with excellence.People:We believe in hiring and investing in dedicated, passionate people who make Ecumen communities great places to live and work.Innovation:We celebrate creativity and ingenuity, anticipate change, and understand that responsible risk is essential to delivering cutting-edge products and services.Spirituality:We honor our faith-based heritage by creating welcoming, inclusive communities that nurture and support the spiritual needs of the people we serve.Wellness:We believe that physical, intellectual, spiritual, social, emotional, and vocational growth is essential to wellness.Collaboration:We partner with other progressive organizations to maximize solutions for the people and communities we serve.Stewardship:We are committed to being financially successful and good stewards of our resources.
Ecumen to Discuss Aging Services and Technology at Capitol Hill Hearing
Technology is playing a transformational role in aging services and senior housing, and that role will only grow with the age wave.
On January 30th, Kathy Bakkenist, (pictured left) Ecumen’s chief operating officer and senior vice president of strategy and operations, and Ecumen customer Honor Hacker (below left viewing a wireless QuietCare sensor in her apartment), will testify before members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging and the Senate Medical Technology Caucus.Kathy and Honor will be joined by Mike Magee, M.D., senior fellow in health policy, Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) and commissioner on the National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care; and Darrin Jones, senior business development manager for Intel’s Global Digital Health Group. Kathy and Darrin also are commissioners for CAST, a collaboration of leading technology companies, aging services companies, research universities and government representatives.
Kathy will discuss the role of technology at Ecumen and how we’re using it to serve a changing marketplace, and Honor will be discussing her role as a consumer of aging services technology. We see the growing intersection of people and technology as fundamental to improving quality of life, adding years to life, enhancing independence, sharing knowledge across generations and connecting people across the country and world. To learn more about the role of technology in senior hosuing and aging services, we invite you to download this white paper: Technology Transforming Senior Housing and Aging Services.As part of this work, we’ve introduced a variety of technologies in the last three years, including: QuietCare sensor technology; [m]Power cognitive fitness technology; CareTracker, which eliminates paper charting in long-term care settings; and Ivivi SofPulse, which uses pulsed electromagnetic field technology to speed tissue healing.If you’re going to be in D.C. next week, the Senate briefings will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Room G50. In addition to taking testimony from the people above, a number of technology companies will be holding demonstrations.
Thoughts on MLK Day, Segregation and Long-Term Care in America
There are days when you pause and think about how far America has come and at the same time how far we still have to go. Today - when we honor Martin Luther King, Jr. - is one of those days.It’s hard to believe, but it wasn’t too long ago, where you wouldn’t have whites and blacks living or working side-by-side in America’s senior care communities. Yes, things have changed. But then you read studies such as that led by Vincent Mor, chair of the Community Health Department at Brown University. Last fall he and his fellow researchers released a study that found that 60% of African Americans in U.S. nursing homes ended up in just 10% of the country’s nursing homes €” typically ones that had been cited for quality problems. Other key findings in the study:
- Blacks were nearly three times as likely as whites to be in nursing homes that predominantly cared for Medicaid patients.
- Blacks were twice as likely to be located in homes that had provided such poor care that they were subsequently kicked out of Medicaid and Medicare.
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Blacks were nearly 1½ times as likely as whites to be in homes that had been cited for deficiencies that could cause immediate harm.
The study also found that nursing homes in the Midwest were most likely to be racially segregated. Nursing homes in the South were the least likely to have an unequal distribution of minorities.
Segregation. It’s ugly. It’s still alive. And it underscores how public policy decisions connect generations. It’s time for an American Aging agenda.
Behind the Alzheimer’s Cure Headlines
Every 72 seconds another person gets Alzheimer’s. No surprise that baby boomers list it as one of their biggest concerns about growing older.You might have seen the recent headlines about a potential Alzheimer’s cure reported in the United Kingdom. Here’s a quick summary: An 81-year-old man was injected with arthritis drug (Etanercept) and within 10-minutes, his memory came back to the utter amazement of his family.It was fabulous news, and if you heard it, you might have wondered, why didn’t it get more headlines in the coming days? You wouldn’t be alone. The devil is in the details. Trisha Torrey, who blogs at Every Patient’s Advocate, provides some great context on this story and goes behind the headlines as does this article by the British Broadcasting System.
Baby Boomer Grandparents Redefining Grandparenting in Age Wave
Are you a grandboomer? Is it different than what your experience was like with your grandparents?The Age Wave is redefining grandparenting.- More than one in three baby boomers are grandparents, with the average age of grandboomers being 53.-With life expectancy at record lengths, baby boomer grandparents will be part of their grandchildren’s lives longer than any previous generation. - The newest grandchildren will see work as an integral part of their grandparents' lives as boomers will work longer than previous generations of grandparents according to our study of boomers.- Grandboomers are driving new products such as grandboomers.com and Grand Magazine, which was founded by grandboomer Christine Crosby, who skates, does yoga and videoconferences with her grandchildren.
The Age Wave and America’s Public Policy Agenda
Thirty years ago last Sunday, former Vice President and Minnesota U.S. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey died. He was only 66.It’s interesting how America’s public policy agenda changes over time. In Humphrey’s 1976 campaign brochure the theme was: Humphrey … The Man for All Reasons.Guess what Reason # 1 was? Senior Citizens.When you open his 1976 brochure this is the text that hits you first:Senator Humphrey believes that Older Americans should be able to live in dignity, independence and security. The man who fought for Medicare also has worked to improve Social Security and Supplemental Security Income and to ease the restrictions on Social Security recipients. Senator Humphrey’s legislative efforts have focused on providing older persons with better nutrition and medical care, improved access to transportation, adequate housing, and expanded opportunities for recreation and enjoyment of the arts. In short, Senator Humphrey wants to see that older citizens have a place in the mainstream of American life.Aging is going to rise on the American agenda again, especially as 78 million baby boomers find that aging is very personal. Yes, it’s interesting how America’s agenda changes over time.