The Business of Aging

Why Marketers Can’t Afford to Ignore Baby Boomers

When it comes to marketing, the focus always seems to be on youth. According to Nielson, that's a mistake.

Born between the years 1946-1964, the oldest of the Boomers are beginning to retire. But today’s middle aged and older consumers are different than their predecessors.

Boomers spend 38.5% of CPG dollars. Yet, according to Nielson, less than 5% of advertising dollars are currently targeted towards adults 35-64 years old (which includes the latter half of Generation X in addition to Boomers).

With most marketers generally targeting 18-49 year olds, more than half of the affluent Boomer demographic is ignored entirely.

Nielsen facts about Boomers:

- Dominate 1,023 out of 1,083 consumer packaged goods categories
- Watch the most video: 9:34 hours per day
- Comprise 1/3 of all TV viewers, online users, social media users and Twitter users
- Time shift TV more than 18-24s (2:32 vs. 1:32)
- Are significantly more likely to own a DVD player
-  More likely to have 
broadband Internet access at home

And if you think that the web sites Boomers visit are entirely different than those visited by adults age 18-34, you’d be mistaken: 8 of the top 10 web sites are the same (see chart on this post).

Interesting.

Print Media Dying a Slow Death. Get Social and Get Online.

Erica Morris from PR Week wrote an article about a 2010 Media Survey they worked with CA Walker to conduct. Data is based on completed surveys from 268 media professionals and 285 PR professionals during January 11-19. Results were tested at a confidence level of 90%.

The findings were very interesting. A few findings stood out for me:

1. Growing importance (and acceptance) of pitching to journalists through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
2. Half of surveyed journalists say that only 0-25% of pitches they receive are related to what they cover.
3. Nearly 40% of journalists say pitches incorporating multimedia and high res photos help them better understand a story.
4. 84% of journalists consider email the best way to receive pitches.
5. Nearly 60% of journalists expect a further decline in print circulation and growing importance on the Web and other online channels. A blog post I made yesterday on HRmarketer discussed how the S.F. Chronicle circulation dropped 22 percent in last year! While there are exceptions we are seeing a definite trend of dropping circulations amongst print media.  

My reaction to these points:

• Senior Care vendors must do a better job at connecting, following and using social media in their media relations. Our SeniorCareMarketer.com customers have plenty of tools available to facilitate this including our database of social networking account information for senior care and boomer media and our real-time feeds of their media tweets. But they are not being used to there maximum value by most vendors.
• Knowing journalists prefer email is a plus for companies using SeniorCareMarketer.com because they can send media releases to senior care and boomer journalists. But many vendors still do not engage in ongoing media relations. This is a missed opportunity. 
• Finally, the fact that 50% of journalists say that only 0-25% of pitches they receive are related to what they cover is shocking to me. Elrond Lawrence, one of our media relations experts at our sister product HRmarketer, wrote several articles on effective media relations - read them here. And SeniorCareMarketer.com customers should review the notes we compile for journalists before sending them news releases (e.g., what they cover, what they want, etc.).

The bottom line is that print media is dying a slow death as online visibility grows in importance. More and more data is confirming this fact. As a result, companies targeting seniors and boomers  must aggressively invest in social media, SEO, SEM and other tactics that result in online visibility, web site traffic and sales leads.

Here are some free resources from SeniorCareMarketer that discuss many of the above points.

Disruptive Demographics: The Future of Retirement

I've been spending time this morning on Disruptive Demographics,  an online publication providing insights on the convergence of global aging and technology on business innovation and public policy.

Disruptive Demographics draws upon original research conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab, business cases, cross-national data, developments in technology, and lifestyle trends to present new thinking about old age.

In particular I wanted to share two audio interviews with Joseph Coughlin on the subject of disruptive demographics and the future of retirement – best characterized by the baby boomer’s new expectations for old age.

The next generation of retirees are more likely to demand the opportunity to remain engaged, productive, and to have the flexibility to work, care, learn and play in old age. What opportunities for business innovation do these expectations create? What personal and public challenges are ahead?

Listen to these excellent interviews with Joseph Coughlin - really interesting stuff.

Part 1. An Introduction to Disruptive Demographics 
Part 2. Envisioning Retirement Tomorrow  

Day Two - Aging in America 2010 & Boomer Summit

Most of my time has been spent around the exhibit floor so I cannot comment on the quality of sessions but virtually everyone I spoke to had nothing but positive remarks. Traffic has been pretty good on the exhibit floor with a very diverse mix of vendors representing all categories of senior care products and services.

Today I want to bring attention to the NCOA's new "Straight Talk for Seniors on Health Reform" initiative.  The NCOA cosponsors this event with the ASA and they really are an excellent voice in the aging marketplace. If you are involved in this market I highly recommend joining and supporting the NCOA  - it's a quality organization.

The NCOA launched their new Straight Talk for Seniors on Health Reform initiative yesterday. It lays out five straight facts on how health reform will affect seniors, including Medicare benefits and premiums, long-term care, and more. And because the NOCA is a non partisan, non profit organization they cut though the politics to give straight answers. NCOA President & CEO James Firman said:

“For 40 years, NCOA has proudly stood up for the interests of older adults, from supporting the passage of Medicare in 1965 to helping people understand and navigate complex benefits programs today. Seniors know they can trust NCOA to provide the straight talk they want on this important and complicated issue.”

Read it here and share it widely with the older adults in your life. It's only two pages, with an optional third page of citations.

55+ Demographic Post Highest Rate of Entrepreneurial Activity

Laura Lorber's article Older Entrepreneurs Target Peers in the Wall Street Journal's online edition discusses how Americans in the 55-to-64 age group have posted the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity - beating out youngsters just finishing college and even 30-somethings embarking on second careers.  This according to research by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Very interesting. I had no idea.

The article profiles Art Koff who founded RetiredBrains.com in 2003 after "retiring" from a 40 year career in recruitment-advertising communications. Mr. Koff figured that many of his age-group peers needed a diversion or some extra income, too. 

"I got up at the crack of dawn," Art says. "I can't imagine what would happen if I didn't have someplace to go and something to do."
 
The article discusses how many of these "older" entrepreneurs target their age group as customers - "inspired to create a product or service because they feel no one else understands or is interested in the older demographic".  

Linda Brown, age 65, is also profiled in the article. After losing her job in the insurance industry she started a business to help people with Medicare claims.  And then there is Jennifer Campbell, 56, who founded a memoir-writing service. Her typical clients are age 60 to 65. 

According to Art Koff, there are drawbacks to running a business in retirement - such as raising capital. According to Art,  "Banks don't like to lend to people in their middle 70s. They don't think they're going to be around that long. A lot of people will make assumptions until you spend some time with them." There's also the risk of losing one's retirement savings if the business does not work.  

Read Laura Lorber's article here. It's really great. Kudos to Laura for writing such a wonderful article on a really interesting topic - and to the Wall Street Journal for publishing it..

Sizing Up The Market For Assisted Living: New Report from Harvard Medical School.

Thanks to Kathy Mills from Factix Research, LLC whose blog post alerted me to this excellent new report.

The report's abstract is: (Get full report here)

"Assisted living has emerged as an important housing and long-term care option for older Americans. To date, development of this sector has occurred largely without government financing or regulation. In this study we used primary data that we collected on county-level assisted living supply to gain a fuller understanding of this sector nationally. Reflecting their reliance on private resources, assisted living facilities are located disproportionately in areas with higher educational attainment, income, and housing wealth. As this sector evolves, policymakers will have to contend with issues related to access to services, public financing, quality of care, and regulatory oversight."

Kathy sums is up perfectly:

"If you're in the assisted living industry, you may want to check out this new study: Sizing Up the Market for Assisted Living. It contains data on the national level, which is difficult to find elsewhere. The researchers provides some helpful statistics and interesting maps, including a map detailing the correlation between assisted living penetration and an area's sociodemographic traits. The data was based on the market as of 2007. "

Caregiving in the U.S. 2009: New Report

Paula Span from the New York Times wrote a very good blog post today describing "Caregiving in the USA 2009", a new report from the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP.  She writes:

"Every few years, the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP team up to survey the nation’s family caregivers and produce a massive, highly detailed study funded by Metlife. The first of these reports appeared in 1997, the next in 2004. The latest, released this week, provides an interesting picture of what’s changed in five years and what hasn’t."

Some interesting facts:

• Elder care remains primarily women’s work
  
• Most caregivers continue to juggle unpaid caregiving and paid work.
• In 2004, the proportion of elders over age 75 was 55 percent; now it’s 63 percent.
  
• Caregivers’ average age rose from 48 to 50.
  
• A higher proportion are caring for seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
• The proportion whose older relatives had aides, housekeepers or other paid workers dropped to 41 percent from 46 percent; the use of paid help also declined among all caregivers. 
• Unpaid caregiving supplied by other family and friends has risen.

Download the full report here (PDF).

Census Bureau Provides First Profile of Baby Boomers in 13 Years

The U.S. Census Bureau has releases an outstanding PowerPoint presentation that provides a look at a variety of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the baby boom generation (the population born between 1946 and 1964 ), such as geographic distribution, marital status, educational attainment and income, and compares them with adults in younger and older age groups.

To access the PowerPoint presentation visit this page (http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/age/general-age.html#bb) and near the top of the page under the Baby Boomer header you'll see a line "Selected Characteristics of Baby Boomers 42 to 60 Years Old in 2006 [PPT] | [PDF 2.3M]". Just select PPT.

The USA Today does a nice job summarizing the findings but I highly recommend you download the PPT. 

Enjoy.

Companies that Ignore the Over-50 Set Do So at their Peril!

A great cover story article in Baron's titled Boomer Consumer discusses how companies that continue to ignore the over-50 set do so at their peril, as "boomer consumers" eat up a larger slice of the nation's spending pie.

I've blogged about this topic extensively the last twelve months (including related topics):

- Event Review: 2009 Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit
 
- Staying Relevant With An Aging Population. An Elderhostel Case Study.

- Recession Turns a Graying Office Grayer

Key points from the Baron's article:

• Increasingly, the 77 million [aging boomers] are being ignored by advertisers and marketers.
• By 2015, when all the boomers will be 50-plus, folks aged 50 to 75 will account for 40% of adult consumers, up from 36.8% now. And they will boast the most spendable cash. Yet advertisers and marketers still seem to devote about 90% of their energy to wooing the 18-49 group, and 10% to those 50-plus.
• Does it make sense, after all, for NBC's suits to judge a new TV show like Jay Leno's mainly on its appeal to 18-to-49-year-olds, as some published reports say is the case? Leno's advertisers include companies such as BMW, many of whose buyers are 50 or older.
• But while the aging boomers certainly will be a bonanza to health-care outfits -- they already account for two-thirds of the spending on pharmaceuticals -- they will be anteing up a lot more for other things.
• The 50-plus set already accounts for 45% of all U.S. consumer spending and, Francese predicts, the figure could ultimately approach 50% by 2015.
• One myth is that older Americans are much more interested in shedding furniture and housewares than in buying them because most are empty-nesters. The reality: Older consumers account for more than 40% of the money spent on new household furnishings and equipment in the U.S.
• Bottom line: Older consumers will keep trudging off to Bed Bath & Beyond,  Target,  Wal-Mart Stores and Ikea for years.
• Boomerologist Martin partly blames ad agencies for what he views as 
  " He says a disproportionately large number of advertising copywriters, account managers and art directors are young. "Ask them to do an ad targeting the 50-plus demographic, and they default to a gray-haired senior limping down a beach trailed by an aging golden retriever," he adds.
• Take 1965 (see chart on this blog post) when the oldest boomers were turning 18, then jump to 1995, when the very oldest were turning 49. Over these three decades, the number of U.S. residents aged 18 to 49 soared from 78.6 million to 125.9 million. In the same period, the 50-to-75-year-old cohort, many of them a product of the birth dearth of the 1930s, rose far more slowly.

Great article Baron's.

Boomers Putting Off Retirement: More Research.

We've blogged quite a bit about stories and research showing a significant number of aging Boomers are expected to delay retirement.

Today I read another report confirming this fact.

Researchers at the University of Michigan collected data from 4,412 older Americans in April and May of 2009. Those over the age of 51 were quizzed about career plans.

"We asked the same older workers what the chances were that they would still be working full time after age 65, and they went up from 47 percent to 57 percent between 2008 and 2009---a very rapid change after a long period of stability," said Michigan economist David Weir, director of the Health and Retirement Study. The chances of working past 62 went up from 60 percent to 65 percent.”

The focus of the research was on how older American's are weathering the financial crisis of the last year but regardless of their reasons, we are seeing more evidence of Boomers planning to remain in the workforce.

Go here to read about the research report, "Older Americans: How they are faring in the recession".