Mary Furlong & Associates' Boomer/Senior Market Report
Exploring the 10 Trends Powering the Age Boom
September 2006 – Vol. 3, No. 5
In This Issue:
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Today, we are beginning to understand a new definition of the center of the universe. For those of us in the field of aging and technology, and in particular those with an eye on boomers, the epicenter no longer exists in any one place. Web 2.0 has had a role in that phenomenon. As Internet surfers become Internet content-producers, thanks to new technologies like blogs, the power is being given back to the people.
This new online movement is changing how we do business. In public relations, for example, Web 2.0 gave birth to PR 2.0 –- a new way for companies to communicate in a two-way conversation with their customers, often taking advantage of the great new technologies available today on the Web. I am very excited to announce that we at MFA have just launched new PR services to help companies working with boomers and seniors effectively reach these folks through the myriad of media sources out there today –- everything from blogs to podcasts to traditional media. These skills are a natural extension of our current marketing services, and we hope to help companies reaching out to boomers and seniors connect with their customers in open and direct ways. Later on in this newsletter you can read more about PR 2.0 and our new PR services.
Even in the real world and out of cyberspace, the universe no longer revolves around single hubs of power. When my son, Daniel, was little I used to stop at Shumman's donut shop each Tuesday and Thursday to recover from the trauma of being a working mother and transition into the role of professor. One morning I overheard another customer say, "I live in Washington because it is the center of the universe." An interesting perspective and one that seemed perfectly correct to me at the time. When I left DC a few years later to come to California, a colleague told me that I was now on my way to Silicon Valley, which was fast becoming the new center of the universe.
Today, I can see at least five new mini-epicenters of trends in the boomer and senior marketplace. One of these centers is China. By 2010 there will be 332.4 million adults age 50+ in China, and by 2025 there will be 525.8 million. Just take a look at this chart:
Any company with an adaptive technology will want to focus on this giant marketplace. Some of these technologies include: text to speech products, voice amplification, Braille technology, magnifiers, eye tracking technology and keyboards, hearing products and accessibility to the Internet. Companies, nonprofits and government agencies are beginning to explore this marketplace. In October we will be participating in a small “thought leader” conference in Hong Kong, the First Annual Assistive Technology Conference. This event will point to innovations in mobility, cognitive fitness, and interactive gaming and community. Participating groups include the US Department of Education, McGraw Hill Digital and the Concurrent Technologies Corporation Foundation. The conference is part of a three-year strategy; next year more than 100,000 participants are expected, and the following year more than 700,000. Understanding how to do business in China, such as knowing the points of distribution and partnership, is crucial to tapping into this global marketplace.
A Silicon Valley event that filled the room was the MIT Enterprise Forum on Consumer Directed Health Care. Donald Jones, Vice President of Business Development at Qualcomm, Inc., shared why we should program and plan for a mobile platform in the future.
If you want to hear some impressive numbers, Paul Kleyman of Aging Today and Age Beat highlights the New York Times piece "At Some Publishers, Nonbusiness Is Going Strong" by Richard Siklos. Siklos reports that while a lot of publishers are still trying to grow ad revenue, nonprofit publishers AARP and Consumers Union have been doing quite well. AARP publications increased ad revenue in 2005 by 37% to $106 million from $77.6 million in 2004. Ad pages for AARP The Magazine were up 13.6% in the first seven months of 2006.
Traffic continues to be strong on Consumer Reports Online. MORE magazine also has a very thick issue this September with Jamie Lee Curtis on the cover. Yes, boomers read. Moreover, Steve Slon, editor of AARP, is getting the voice right. He also features some of the best voices, including former ThirdAge editor Denis Boyles. Denis, author of A Man's Life, among other books, has one of the best voices in publishing and certainly gets the boomer audience.
Washington does continue to be one of the epicenters in the field of aging. In December, the Consumer Directed Health Care Conference will feature a day-long session on the boomer marketplace. Companies large and small are developing initiatives to learn about wellness. The data are all too alarming. There are 41 million people in the United States, ages 40 to 74, who have pre-diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. We have to try new initiatives to empower consumers and citizens to take more responsibility for their own healthcare. Now, I am the first to say, it isn't easy as you get older. Losing weight is like chipping concrete. And the body parts are strained –- knees, ankles, backs. So it seems we need to learn about the issues and then apply fun and technology to the program. Maybe we can bring back dancing. In the next five years, expect that consumer-directed healthcare will be a key topic at every turn.
The kids of today understand this decentralization of power. My students are very curious about the next-stage market opportunities and how to reach and serve the early-stage and later-stage boomer markets. They want to know how to serve the Chinese and European markets. And they want to know how to leverage the social networking sites to build value.
As a professor, it helps to bond with my students. I always try to find the right purse and shoes to show that I care about the fashion that they like. This year, the “in” color is brown. Taryn Rose, the hip, orthopedic shoes, also work. I catch up with the newer generations by looking through the Beloit College Mindset List. The kids in the class of 2010 were born in 1988 and have only known two presidents. For them, there has always been only one Germany, and “Google” has always been a verb.
By the way, hope you enjoy the new look of our Boomer/Senior Market Report. This version makes it a whole lot easier for you to navigate your way around our site -– without adding more strain on those eyes. Let us know what you think.
All the best,
Mary
PR 2.0: Changing the Way Companies Communicate with Their Customers
By Caroline Goldman
Once again the power of the Internet is leading a new revolution, this time in public relations services. “PR 2.0,” as it’s called, is the hot PR topic on all the blogs. It’s packed with cryptic jargon such as “silvercasting,” “wiki” and “firememe” and, according to some posts online, seems to be scaring PR professionals out of their press releases.
But PR 2.0 isn’t really so cryptic, and it’s really not so scary either. It’s simply a different way for companies to communicate with consumers. Thanks to new Web technologies and social media, companies can now have an ongoing, direct two-way conversation with very specific groups of customers rather than talking at general populations through third parties such as journalists. In short, according to Jim Nail, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at Cymfony, this new public relations outlook is a “fundamental change in the relationship among consumers, media and brands.”
It may sound straightforward enough, but the implications of this new way to communicate can be far-reaching. Here are the basic traits of PR 2.0.
1. Web 2.0. The tools and technologies we use on the Internet these days, such as blogs and other user-created sites, have changed the underlying function of the Web. Rather than only being a tool for surfers to find information, today the users themselves are the masters of the content. Easy-to-use programs like wikis allow even the most computer-phobic person to shout their opinions online. Networking and online communities have also exploded in this second generation of the Web. Sites like MySpace, ranked the #1 brand on the Web by Nielsen//NetRatings, allow users to create content and connect to each other. In fact, Nielsen//NetRatings found that half of the 10 fastest-growing Web brands are user-generated content sites. And according to Technorati, a search engine for blogs, about 75,000 new blogs start up every day, with 1.2 million daily posts, “or about 50,000 blog updates an hour.” With all these new voices on the Internet, public relations must adapt to having...
... 2. Two-Way Conversations. “Media is going two ways. Readers can now respond, not just consume,” explains Karen Orton Katz, Principal of Mary Furlong & Associates’ Internet Strategies Group. “Understanding how and where that conversation takes place is key.” Thanks to blogs and wiki technology (Web communication programs that allow even technologically-challenged folks to post and edit Web pages), “[journalists] are not god anymore,” Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman PR, is said to have declared. Rather, with the customers themselves now holding much of the selling power, companies can no longer dominate the perceptions and spins of their products. If a product stinks, no amount of great press releases, news articles or traditional advertising will change the public’s mind after the hordes of everyday Internet bloggers pipe into the conversation. The result? Companies will have to ensure that their product is as good as their PR.
3. Segmented Markets. As Web 2.0 offers countless options for everyone from babies to boomers to post and communicate, the market becomes highly specialized. “Media is getting more segmented; publications are getting more niched and seeking audiences that are narrower,” says Katz. “This means that today you can reach your customer on more ‘channels’ than ever before.”
PR 2.0 may mean new conversations, new players and new media, but it’s far from a brave new world. In fact, PR 2.0 calls for more transparency and less spin from public relations professionals. It’s an ongoing and open conversation where anyone interested can have their say.
Mary Furlong & Associates is stepping up to the challenge of PR 2.0 with its new line of public relations services. As the general market becomes more finely segmented, companies that understand their niche market like MFA will be better positioned to reach their target audience, both online and offline. “MFA is helping its clients by not only crafting messaging that speaks to boomers and seniors, but also starting the conversations where the mature audience lives, both in their real-world as well as their cyber homes,” explains Katz. “We combine our knowledge of how to speak with boomers with how to reach them.”
Find out more about MFA’s public relations services.
Mary Furlong & Associates Adds PR Services
Firm combines traditional and digital PR with expertise in the boomer and senior markets; first agency to offer these capabilities
San Francisco, September 6, 2006 – Mary Furlong & Associates (MFA) announced today that it is adding a full range of public relations services. The move broadens the firm’s portfolio of client offerings, which includes marketing, research and business development services.
In addition to more traditional public relations, such as working with mainstream print and broadcast reporters to secure media coverage for clients, MFA specializes in “PR 2.0” -– reaching consumers through weblogs, e-newsletters, podcasts, Web promotions, mobile devices and other emerging digital channels.
Working-Age Population Set to Decline
Growth of the country's working-age population will slow down and lead to labor shortages, a leading expert warned yesterday after it was announced this week that the number of Chinese aged 65 or above hit 100 million.
Mobile Phone Monitors Old Patients
New mobile phone software can monitor users' daily needs, reducing significantly the cost of continuous care.
"Intelligent" Homes Can Improve Lifestyle for the Elderly at a $6350 Cost
Homes can now come equipped with a myriad of technological devices that make life easier. In countries with an increasingly aging population, the concept is likely to be popular.
TV Land Explores How Boomers Shook the World and Redefined the Rules in Network's Four-Part Series, Generation Boom
Special Examines How Boomers Play, Live, Love and Wire the World Beginning Tuesday, September 26
The Allianz Women, Money, and Power Study
Women’s college graduation rates, numbers in the workforce and earning power are at an all-time high. Despite these numbers, a majority of women say that they do not feel financially secure and state that they don’t know enough about financial management and investing.
China's Aging Population to Slow Economy: Report
China's one-child policy has led to an aging population and labor shortages that could undermine a key basis for the country's economic growth -- its seemingly endless supply of cheap workers.
Generations Will Feel Pension Act Differently
The pension legislation President Bush signed last week will make the most significant changes to U.S. retirement laws in three decades, affecting workers of every age, from graduates on their first job to employees who are about to retire.
Bush Signs Sweeping Revision of Pension Law
Employers Forced to Bolster Traditional Retirement Plans
President Bush yesterday signed the most extensive revision of the nation's pension law in three decades as the federal government moved to shore up often-shaky private retirement programs for 44 million Americans and head off a crisis like the savings-and-loan bailout of the 1980s and 1990s.
China to Outsell US Nutraceutical Ingredients Within a “Few Years”
Serving a health foods industry worth nearly $200 billion, popular nutrients such as soy and omega-3s will help the food and supplements ingredients market grow by 5.8 percent annually until 2010, when demand will be worth $15.5 billion, according to new research from Ohio-based analyst The Freedonia Group.
Boomer Parents Buy Cashmere for Infants and Toddlers
Three-year-old Chloe Colligan’s mother, 37-year-old Cleveland entrepreneur Victoria Colligan, isn't alone in her choice of expensive fabrics and styling for infants and toddlers. As couples wait longer to have children and raise smaller families on higher salaries, they are spending more on their kids. A lot more.
Stocks Won't Suffer Boomer Backlash
Some baby boomers would get hurt if the stock market slumped as they approached or entered retirement. But what about the reverse scenario: Could the impending retirement of millions of boomers by itself cause a meltdown in stock prices?
Forever Cool: Educating Baby Boomers in Aging Fashionably
Sherrie Mathieson takes baby boomer steps to make clients appear youthful but not young.
A Boomer in the Garden: Tale of Age, Spare Time and Tomato Vines
"I think gardening is like the antithesis to this terrible trend of people just looking at the television," said George Ball, Jr., president of the nation's largest retail seed company, W. Atlee Burpee & Co. "When you hit 40 your body changes, and if you let it sit there it's going to turn into jello."
Lacking in Wills
Big inheritances to fund boomer retirements unlikely.
Baby Boomer Retirement Statistics
The Center for Carolina Living identifies current retirement trends based on "lifestyle surveys" of 50,000 families over 20 years and national change of address (NCOA) audits. Their findings help community planners provide lifestyle amenities now desired by people planning the next phase of their lives.
More reading at:
http://maryfurlong.com/index.php/articles/docs/290
Boomer/Senior Market Report
Published by Mary Furlong & Associates 3527 Mt. Diablo Blvd. #128, Lafayette, CA 94549 Telephone: 925-283-7698 http://www.maryfurlong.com
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