Nothing like a simple phone

The other evening I spoke at an event organised by a group called Women in Mobile Data.

As you can imagine the focus of my talk was about the role of mobile data applications and the 50-plus. You can download the presentation from my web site.

During the session I said that the mobile phone must be the single device that combines all of the physiological problems that people suffer as they age (eyesight, dexterity, cognitive and understanding of the latest technical jargon).

I was amused to open the Spectator magazine – audience predominately 50-plus - to see this ad for a Samsung phone/PDA. Now that really does look complicated. Dick Stroud

Eat your heart out Saga

I like dealing with the Dutch. Maybe it is because the Brits and the Dutch have a very similar sense of humour.

I have just returned from New York where I was speaking at an event staged by Bayard Press, the publisher of Plus magazine. This magazine is published in the Netherlands, Belgium and has just been launched in Sweden. Brent Green was the keynote speaker at the Swedish launch and has posted a great video on his blog.

I was joined in New York by Chuck Nyren and some other fascinating people involved in the 50-plus market. Laurel Kennedy of Age Lessons, John McMenniman (former president of the US’s Advertising Hall of Fame), John Migliaccio, Susan Silver, Mary Duffy, and Peter Himler.

A few facts. Plus claims 1.4 million readers and has a monthly circulation of 320,000. 60% of its readers are under 65 years old and 40% are men.

Saga has a monthly readership of 1,205,000 and a circulation figure of 610,771.

Remember that the UK has 4 times as many 50-75 year-olds than the Netherlands.

The biggest difference between the magazines is the quality of the advertising. Plus is laden with multinational brand advertising, something that is still a bit of a rarity in Saga.

Even though I cannot read a word of the Netherlands version of Plus it has a much more appealing and light feel than Saga.

If there are any Saga people reading this blog I reckon it would be worth taking out a subscription to Plus. Dick Stroud

YouTube, HisTube and HerTube

This blog posting is not specific to the 50-plus but they are very much affected by the topic. Click on the image to open it in another window.

I hate the term "the new killer app of the Web" but I really believe it is true when applied to video. The combination of the high uptake of broadband, Google’s interest in the video (purchasing YouTube), the simplicity of imbedding video into web sites and the richness it can add to the communications mix makes it a no-brainer. The only question is the speed of uptake.

It seems that right now video it is more popular with men than women. Movie clips is the only area where women watch more than men. This research was published by Piper Jaffray. It is a small sample size (200 people) but is the only research that I have seen about gender. Note to Piper Jaffray’s manager of Web content – if you your research is being published by third parties then make it available on your own web site!

My guess is that as the practice of web video moves into the mainstream we will see a reversing of this gender bias. Dick Stroud

The over-50s favourite songs – NO

Smooth Radio, the newly relabelled Saga Radio stations; has conducted a survey of their listener’s favourite music (Sample size 3,760). The age profile of Smooth Radio’s audience is predominantly 50-plus.

These are the top ten songs.

1. John Lennon - Imagine
2. Chris De Burgh - Lady in Red
3. Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
4. Ben E King - Stand By Me
5. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
6. Lou Reed - Perfect Day
7. Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
8. Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
9. Katie Melua - Closest Thing to Crazy
10. Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love

The trouble with this sort of survey is that you are really measuring the preferences of a very distinct group of people. Firstly, they listen to Smooth Radio (which says something about them – I am not sure what) and secondly they are the type of people who can be bothered (and have the time) to pick up the phone or text the radio station.

All in all a pretty meaningless exercise. Dick Stroud

Does User Annoyance Matter?

This is title of the latest e-newsletter from the big daddy of usability - Jakob Nielsen.

Nielsen researched the way that companies fail to think of the transaction experience from the point of view of the customer. This is bad for any age of customer but becomes increasingly worse for older web users.

This is a straight quote from the e-newsletter.

Annoyances matter, because they compound. Web sites invariably have a multitude of annoyances, each of which delays users, causes small errors, or results in other unpleasant experiences.

A site that has many user-experience annoyances:
- appears sloppy and unprofessional,
- demands more user time to complete tasks than competing sites that are less annoying
- feels somewhat jarring and unpleasant to use, because each annoyance disrupts the user's flow.

Even if no single annoyance stops users in their tracks or makes them leave the site, the combined negative impact of the annoyances will make users feel less satisfied. Next time they have business to conduct, users are more likely to go to other sites that make them feel better.

This quote should be on the table in front of all web designers.

Amazon thus confirmed that even though the average e-commerce site should not copy its overall design it continues to be the leader in complying with usability guidelines for individual design elements.

Think of transaction design from the users’ perspective, don’t try and be clever and don’t be afraid to pay Amazon a compliment and copy their design principles. Dick Stroud

A photograph I never expected to take

I have just returned from New York.

Firmly clutching my newly acquired zillion pixel Sony camera I could not resist a snap of the Dove pro.age poster ad in Times Square. This is a sight I never expected to see.

I seem to remember reading a marketing textbook by some shmuck, marketing guru, that older women models - let alone of the naked variety – should never be used to promote cosmetics. Dick Stroud

Now that is what I call a mobile phone

On show at the Cebit hi-tech fair, the phone will go on sale around the world in May.

It has useful features like a built-in emergency, a loud speaker tuned for those who are either partially sighted or use a hearing aid, a big screen and buttons.

Created by Austrian firm Emporia the phone has been specifically developed for the older generation who find existing handsets too fiddly and complicated to use.

There are more details on the BBC web site. Dick Stroud

B2F Connections

According to WS’s study, titled "B2F Connections," boomers serve as important information sources for fellow boomers when making purchasing decisions. Nearly 57% are asked for their recommendations on products and services almost twice a week. Of those boomers who were asked to make a recommendation in the past year, the large majority (89%) advised their friends, or fellow boomers.

I just love the wording of these press releases

Our new study found that companies can forge new relationships with prospective customers by capitalizing on the power of B2F communications," said Weber Shandwick's Chief Reputation Strategist. "Companies can discover new avenues for reaching boomers by approaching boomers' networks of mutual advisors and creating marketing, advertising and other communications that portray boomers in realistic social settings to which they can relate."

I think this is a long winded way of saying that Word of Mouth marketing works for Boomers? Dick Stroud

Yet another over-50s social networking web site

Another “innovative paradigm of collaborative marketing” for baby boomers has hit the street. Well that is what the press release said.

I wonder how your average baby boomer is going to find time to do much else other than click through the numerous new web sites that are sprouting up for their entertainment.

The press release goes on to tell us that Boomer-Living.com, has compiled an online powerhouse of contemporaneous articles, interviews, seminars, workshops, webinars, exercises, and other activities and opportunities. How can you not click and visit? Dick Stroud

The BBC dissects the Baby Boomers

As part of a three part series about the “Blair Years” the BBC broadcasted three programmes about how life has fared for three groups in society, during the past decade. This is an extract from the first programme about Baby Boomers.

When portraying the boomer generation (something that is not accurately defined) there is a tendency to make a series of mistakes:

1. Spend an inordinate amount of time talking about the wealthy and healthy segment of the older population with only passing references to the majority who are not so wealthy.

2. To portray older people as absolutely obsessed with water and ball games. In the case of this programme we have a male para-surfer, a woman who spends most of her waking hours in a gym and a married couple belting the hell out of a table tennis ball.

3. To include a guy getting his thrills on a motor bike - preferably a HD.

4. Discuss the way that the over-50s are finding love and/or sex using the Internet

5. Discuss, in worrying terms, why a generation who are busy spending and not transferring their wealth to the kids will result in hand-to-hand combat between the generations.

This programme suffered from all of these afflictions. Having said that it did make a valiant attempt to cover a couple of the less salubrious issues of aging (like euthanasia).

I guess TV programme makers are always in a quandary between making a programme interesting and watchable, which results in them using a broad brush when discussing complex issues. The alternative is a more truthful and intricate programme that will bore the average viewer.

I think the BBC were a little too interested in popularism rather than accuracy and completeness.Dick Stroud

Dick Stroud’s Microsoft Webinar

A couple of weeks back I gave a Webinar for Microsoft Office Live about ways to improve online marketing to older consumers.

If you missed the event you can sit back and listen to my dulcet tones and watch the presentation - alternatively you can also download the file as a podcast. Great stuff this technology. Dick Stroud

Funky Hartford Stag?

The Hartford Financial Services Group, a really big US financial services and insurance company is launching a new marketing campaign encouraging Baby Boomers to “Prepare to Live” in retirement.

“Times have changed,” said Ann Glover, chief marketing officer for The Hartford. “Workers know they cannot depend on social security benefits, defined pension programs or retiree health benefits to fund their retirement, and are unsure about their ability to pay for rising health care costs in retirement. Through this campaign, we are encouraging Baby Boomers to understand their personal financial picture and goals and take control of their financial future. By seeking education and facts about their own situation, they can prepare with confidence for what should be one of the most rewarding times in their lives – their retirement.” So now you know.

Same Stag, but now using computer-generated imagery. Does it work for you? Dick Stroud

Another day another boomer social networking site

Friday, must be about time for another social networking web site. Yep, here we go BOOMj.com.

Feeling in a good mood, with the weekend looming before me, I will dish out a bit of free consulting to the guys at Boomj.com

1. In the ‘About’ section of the web site you need a tad more than ‘Headquarters: 3753 Howard Hughes Pkwy Suite 200, Las Vegas, NV 89109’.

2. There is something strange about the way the site is using the ActiveX control MSXML5.0. It has my IE7 browser bleeping like a demented gerbil. Maybe a bit more site testing?

From a press release I learn that BoomJ is:

A Web-based lifestyle portal for a niche market serving Baby Boomers and Generation Jones. BOOMj.com provides an integrated and highly focused community which incorporates personalized social networking, e-commerce, travel, health, finance, political and entertainment news for our target market.

Well, good luck guys with the new venture. I still have a pile of concerns about the viability for the swarms of social networking sites that are hitting the Web. But, you don’t actually need to make money from these ventures, just generate enough traffic to convince others that they can make money, then sell and get out. Dick Stroud

Too many naked women

Apparently the Dove pro.age ads are not being shown in some countries because the sight of naked older ladies is thought to be too much for the fragile viewers.

Dove’s decision to leverage this fact is pretty smart. Dick Stroud

Enough with baby-boomer predictions

This a grumpy lady. I have to say that I share many of her irritations.

Here is a sample: “I would rather watch cartoons on Nickelodeon than one more television stint of Dennis Hopper’s beach commercial telling us that we are not living our parents’ retirement. Dennis, after all, at age 70, should more properly be selling to our parents anyway”. And so it goes on. Dick Stroud.

Forget Helen Mirren meet Jeanne Stawiecki

I decided to climb the highest peak and run marathons on all seven continents and by the way I am 56 years old.

This is what Jeanne Stawiecki said to me last year when she was in contact about finding sponsors for this phenomenal feat of endurance and courage.

Well she has just completed the last of the marathons (Antarctic). That just leaves the trivial part of the exercise – Everest.

Jeanne, I do hope you found your sponsors. Reading about her achievements has made me even more convinced that I must blog less and exercise more. Dick Stroud

What will happen to all the dankai no sedai’s cash?

A good question.

I bet you didn't know that the Japanese for Baby Boomer is dankai no sedai.

This article is written by an American and looks at what life holds in store for the dankai no sedai and how companies might encourage them to part with their hard earned dosh. Dick Stroud

Data about eons.coms

Having said earlier in the week that there is no data about eons.com it now seems to be gushing out from every newsletter.

This article tells us that:

According to Eons' internal tracking the site has drawn more than 500,000 unique visitors a month and 125,000 registered users.
COM Score Media Metrix puts Eons' monthly traffic at about 250,000, while Nielsen//NetRatings has it considerably higher, at more than 800,000--highlighting how widely traffic estimates can vary for smaller sites.

eons.com’s founder (Jeff Taylor) is upbeat about the future: "We're already ahead of plan and on our way to a couple of million unique visitors by the end of the year". Looking a bit further out the goal is 5 to 10 million users.

This article contains one of those statements that you thought had been consigned to life’s great trash bin: "One of the challenges is that their (50-plus) brand preferences are already solidified and hence marketers want to go after younger consumers whose tastes are still forming”. So thinks David Cohen, executive vice president of digital communications at Universal McCann. How quaint. Dick Stroud

Alexa is back into my life

Long ago I was infatuated by Alexa (the web ranking web site). How was my web site doing – had it gone up a few notches. It is a bit like the Amazon book ranking score – how is my book selling – how is selling compared with XYZ?

I had forgotten all about Alexa and then yesterday I received an e-mail about my comments that there were no details of eons.com’s Web traffic and telling me that if I looked on Alexa I would find that it is the 14,000th highest visited site on the Web. That is high!

That started me on an hour of looking at the ranking of other web sites.

So how well is your web site doing – go and have a look.
Dan, thanks for reacquainting me with an old lost love. Dick Stroud

Watch out myspace – 50plusmarketing has you in its sights

Between my first and second cup of coffee this morning I set up my own social networking Web site. Really. Go and have a look.

Ning is a new venture that claims to be the only online service where you can create, customize, and share your own Social Network for free in seconds. The network can be public or private.

This is a smart Web site and I really hope it succeeds. My nagging doubt is that now I have all of this networking power – what I am I going to do with it? Probably more important – when am I going to have time to use it? I have a blog, I have my own channel on YouTube and couple of Wikkis and now Ning.

I am drowning in opportunity. Dick Stroud.

White collar volunteering – who will stick the stamps?

I find this report about volunteering depressing.

The Corporation for National & Community Service has produced a detailed document about the future of volunteering and the impact of the retiring Boomer hordes.

Now here is the rub. The type of volunteer work Boomers do has a big impact on whether they stay with it over time. Retention from the first year of volunteering to the second year is highest when they're involved in professional or management activities, such as strategic planning, marketing or volunteer coordination. Nearly three-quarters of boomers performing those typically white-collar duties returned the following year, as did 71% of those who volunteered in music or other performance activities.

Seven out of 10 who tutor, mentor or coach also stick with it into a second year.

Those involved in general labor and rote tasks such as driving, construction and meal preparation were least likely to continue volunteering the following year, with only 56% persisting.

This is the volunteering equivalent to the problem of trying to find a plumber.

I can find mentors, creative writers, planners, coordinators, strategists, marketers, researchers galore but somebody to mend a leaking tap or install a new electric plug is like gold dust. I have this image of volunteering organizations festooned with committees – advisory boards – management groups and inspiration outreach workers, all populated by deadly serious reitred Boomers, whilst a few poor dorks are left to do all of the real work. Dick Stroud

The Swing Generation report from Euromonitor

This new report from Euromonitor is all about marketing to 65+. Why ‘swing generation'? Because of the popularity of swing music at the time of their birth – well that is what the press release says.
Strange combination of the name ‘swing’ with the imagery of somebody with a walking stick. No doubt this was the creative paradigm shift from some youthful marketer beavering away in the bowels of Euromonitor.

Euromonitor’s reports are normally pretty good so why they chose this banal statement for the press release, confounds me: “Many over 65s are determined to enjoy retirement, doing and buying all the things they feel were denied to them earlier in their lives. This presents significant opportunities for all consumer industries, but particularly for marketers of luxury goods and services”. Well I be damned!

The report is reviewed in this week’s edition of Marketing Week (subscription only). It contains some interesting analysis; like that 51% of the Asia-Pacific population is 65+ and that sales of canned/preserved food to the 65+ increased by 52,800% in 2006. I just hope it the explanation for this nonsense is that the artwork person at Marketing Week was having a bad day and that this in not a reflection of the report’s analytical accuracy! Dick Stroud

New Web site to help Baby Boomers with their parents

Thanks to David Weigelt, from immersionactive.com , for telling me about this new magazine and Web site.

ELDR's mission is to: " help baby boomers and their aging parents deal with the challenges (and opportunities) of aging by providing the most useful, thought-provoking and trusted information available anywhere". Well that is what the Web site says. We will have to wait until June 2007 to find out if that is true. Dick Stroud

The 'old and bold' looking for love

This is part of Channel 4’s Bafta award-winning 'Only Human' series and destroys many of the stereotypes of old age. The result is a film which is funny, poignant and surprising. It was broadcast on the 5th March. For those of you who want to watch, it is available via the Channel 4 web site. It will take a while to get the download software loaded but it will then give you access to most of the channel’s broadcasting. You can rent the Silver Surfers programme for $2. Pretty good deal.Dick Stroud

More of the same

These are the top trends emerging from the Fourth Annual What’s Next Boomer Business Summit in Chicago. I guess it is one of the restful and stress-free things about working in the 50-Plus market that not much changes from year-to-year. Dick Stroud

Eons raises more money

Eons, the “50- plus media company for loving life on the flipside of 50” today announced $22 million in new financing.

Interestingly, the press release makes no mention of visitors, visitor growth, revenue, profit forecasts, impressions…….

Still, Eons must be doing a lot of something to convince the VCs to stomp up another $22 Million. Dick Stroud

Blogburst syndication

This is what it says on the Web site.

Pluck's BlogBurst network is an opt-in aggregation and syndication service that brings high-quality, topical blogs together with high-traffic web sites. With BlogBurst, bloggers gain visibility, audience reach and traffic through placement on major online publishers and media destinations in real time.

We will see if it works in practice. All of your publishers out there - click the icon for more information.

Films and the older women

The British Film Institute is staging a session (in London) on Thursday (8th March) about older women in films. How fitting that this event is occurring at the time when Helen Mirren (born 1945) gets the Oscar for best actress.

More details about the event can be downloaded from my Web site. This is an excellent document that the BFI has produced on the subject of older women on the big screen. Dick Stroud

The Economist pushes its luck

The full inside back page of the Economist had this advertisement. The purpose of the ad was to publicise an Economist study about the EU.

I think it is amusing – just. When you think that the average age of Economist readers in the US is 47 years and in the Europe it is a sprightly 45 years. Worldwide over half of its readers are 45+.

Maybe people who read the Economist are fearful of the future, need its words of wisdom because of their self doubt and spend too much time reading magazines and hence increase in size. Word of advice – don’t push your luck too much further. Dick Stroud

Not a good time for companies targeting the over-50s

Readers of this blog will know about the demise (‘rationalisation’) of Heyday. Last week Gap pulled the rug under Forth & Towne and now a UK company called Dream Direct is re-evaluating its future.

Dream Direct specialises in leisure and entertainment products targeted for the over 50s.

One of its companies sells DVDs. If you look on the Razamataz web site you will see that the featured DVD, called Downfall, costs £17.99. The price on Amazon.co.uk is £7.97 (No not £17.97)

You have to offer a lot of additional “over-50s” benefits to justify that price differential!

I hate seeing any companies have problems but the reasons are normally very simple and obvious. That applies as much (if not more so) to over-50s companies. Dick Stroud

Marketers like WiFi users

Research from Pew Internet concludes that wireless users are more frequent Internet users and they get more news online than boring home broadband users.

Wireless Internet users are, on the whole, younger and better educated, and they have higher incomes than Internet users in general.

As you can see, WiFi hasn’t made too much of an impact on the 65+. Dick Stroud

Factlet of the day – UK Regions

This is only vaguely linked to 50-plus marketing but very important if you are interested in the distribution of economic activity in the UK.

This chart from Oxford Economics shows the regions that are net beneficiary of government expenditure (i.e. who receive more than they contribute in taxes). As you can see; London, the South East and Eastern regions fund the rest of the country.

This is a rough indication to the wealth profile of the UK and illustrates the highly distorted nature of the UK economy. If this subject interests you then a report just published by IPPR gives a detailed breakdown on the levels of over-50s economic inactivity across the UK. Dick Stroud

Here is an economic puzzle for you to think about

How can a country have both problems with shortages of workers whilst at the same time the amount of money being spent by consumers remains weak? Normally, shortages of labour lead to increasing prices and increasing consumer expenditure.

Give up?

Well this is what is happening in geriatric Japan. As great swathes of high paid workers retire they are being replaced by much younger people who are paid less and hence spend less. Japan is experiencing labour shortages and falling/static consumer spending.

This phenomenon is something that Europe will experience. Strange stuff, the economic impact of the aging population. Dick Stroud

Learn secrets of Web marketing to older consumers

This is the title of my first Web broadcast for Microsoft that will take place on Wednesday 7th March at 17.00 UK time. You can read all about it on the Microsoft web site.

Why not register and attend. It is FREE! Dick Stroud

The Gay - Grey markets

This week I gave a conference speech with Jo Rigby from OMD. The event was staged by the Ingenious Group, the UK’s leading social marketing company.

Jo and I were on in a slot called ‘Diversity Special’ with Ian Johnson, Managing Director, Out Now Consulting. As the name suggests this company targets the Gay market. Listening to Ian’s excellent presentation I was struck at how many similarities there are between the Gay and Grey markets. Both are treated as slightly ‘odd’, stereotypes abound and they are a mystery and a something of an embarrassment to most marketers. There is also that unspoken (sometimes spoken) assumption that appealing to one of the 'G' markets will alientate the 'normal' market. I think these similiarities are worthy of a bit more some investigation.

My conference presentation is available for downloading. Dick Stroud

The great generational robbery

This article appears in the New Statesman (The UK’s main left-of-centre weekly magazine).

It is the simple story of how mum and dad have mugged their kids and grandchildren. The IPOD (insecure, pressured, overtaxed and debt-ridden) generation versus the rich oldies.

How strange it is that when loads of articles like this keep appearing the marketing industry still maintains its love affair with yoof.

I was amused to see the article contains reference to what now seems to be a ‘fact’ that the:” 50-64 year-olds have the largest carbon footprint – 20% bigger than other age groups”. In a previous blog posting I pointed out the weaknesses in this research, but it makes a good headline and who really cares about the truth!

In my view this article understates the case – the generational wealth differences are going to be much larger. Dick Stroud