Boomer Marketing Report ::
Fall Seminar Series ::
WE'RE GOING ONLINE! |
The Boomer Marketing Report will finally be ready for primetime in late October. Due to demand for seminars across the country, we've decided to schedule online/audio "webinars" to present the findings. The first such webinar will be held Wednesday, November 3rd from 3:00-5:00pm EST. Learn more about the webinar and sign up to attend here. |
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News from the Boomer Project
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The good news is that there are only three more
weeks until the election is over.
The bad news is that we thought that in 2000 and
yet we were wrong by about two months. Let's hope
this time there is resolution by November 3rd.
Meanwhile, things are happening in the world of
Boomer Marketing. This month's newsletter will try to
keep you up-to-date.
First, we have some news ourselves. The Boomer
Project is expanding its footprint, with resources now
in New York, Boston and Northern California. Read
about it in Boomer News.
Second, we feature a piece written by Robin Raff of
Boomer Business & Beyond, our newest affiliate.
(See, now you have to read about our news). Robin's
piece, Flashpoint, focuses on the
intersection of Boomers over 50 and long-term care
insurance marketers.
Lastly, we're awarding our first "Boomie" to a
marketer who is getting it right when targeting
Boomers over 50. The Vanguard Group's print
campaign is highlighted in You Got Me
Rocking.
If, after reading, you have a thought or two to
share, send it in. Just drop us a line
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Last month's issue with comments on the impact Clinton's
heart surgery will have on healthcare marketing, and
a pointed discussion about the announced marketing
plans of Lexus, drew several comments. Keep it
coming.
Matt Thornhill
The Boomer Project
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Boomer News:
New Affiliates Announced
The Boomer Project has established two strategic
alliances to broaden our scope of services available
to marketers.
The first is with Mature Marketing &
Research, a consulting group focused on
increasing the awareness of the Mature Market's
importance in the marketplace.
Mature Marketing and Research, with offices in
Boston, Massachusetts and Cedarhurst New York,
has published a proprietary quantitative study on the
40-58 year old consumer-The Boomer Report-on a
periodic basis since 1997. The firm also services
marketers and their advertising and public relations
agencies with customized proprietary qualitative
research.
MMR's principals, Dr. Leslie Harris (Managing Partner)
and Howard Willens (President) are veteran research
and marketing executives-with major advertising
agencies, marketers and research firms. Their client
roster reads like a who's who in the marketing of
consumer goods and services.
In announcing the association, MMR and the Boomer
Project said that both organizations would retain
their separate identities and continue to serve their
current clients. However, they will also be embarking
on a series of joint projects that will bring the
benefits of the two firms' diverse areas of expertise
and experience to industry.
The Boomer Project will incorporate the findings from
MMR's "Boomer Report" into the "Boomer Marketing
Report" quarterly studies currently being compiled.
Howard Willens said "We both feel it is certainly time
for marketers and their agencies to wake up to the
economic power wielded by Boomers over 50. By
teaming together, we should be able to generate an
alarm loud enough to be heard."
More information about Mature Marketing & Research
is available at
www.maturemarketing.com
The second alliance is with Boomer Business &
Beyond, a consultancy in the San Francisco
area headed by Robin Raff, a long-time agency
executive, health care marketer and Age Wave
expert.
Boomer Business provides strategic marketing and
advertising consulting across all industries targeting
the 50+ segment, with a specific expertise in the
health care industry. Raff held senior management positions in
top advertising agencies like Ogilvy & Mather, Foote,
Cone & Belding, Grey Direct and others. In addition,
she spent five years with Ken Dychtwald, self-
described Boomer expert, at Age Wave Impact,
developing their marketing communications practice.
Robin Raff's strategic skills and tactical insights have
helped health care marketers like Blue Cross Blue
Shield, Searle Pharmaceutical, Hartford Long-Term
Care and others. She is teaming with the Boomer
Project to provide a West Coast presence for the
group, and to enable her clients access to the
Boomer Marketing Report.
Raff is a member of Adaptive Business Leaders in
Health Care, and is on the Board of Consumer
Directed Healthcare Committee. She has an MBA in
Marketing, and a Bachelors Degree in Business
Administration. More information about Raff's
company is online at
www.boomersandbeyond.biz.
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Flashpoint:
Boomers Over 50 and
Long-Term Care Marketing
by Robin Raff, Boomer Business & Beyond
We see a flashpoint coming: insurance companies will
start aggressively marketing long-term health
insurance to an uneducated, but increasingly
motivated Boomer over 50 audience.
Why uneducated?
Mostly because Boomers haven't thought much about
long-term care issues, at least for themselves. And
what they have thought hasn't been right.
According to MetLife's Long-Term Care IQ Test,
apparently two-thirds of respondents failed. Results
of the test, recently shared at an event hosted by
the American Society on Aging, MetLife Mature
Market Institute, and the Milbank Memorial Fund,
most Americans lack a basic understanding of long-
term care:
- 55% of folks between the ages of 40 and 70
incorrectly associate long-term care exclusively with
nursing homes
- 41% mistakenly believe that they are entitled to
basic coverage for long-term care in addition to
health insurance from the government at
retirement
Guess what? That's wrong. Long-term care is
generally not covered by health insurance policies,
disability insurance, or the government. Medicare
pays only limited amounts for skilled care (not
custodial care) following a hospital stay (and of
course has half a zillion restrictions on coverage).
One option some folks know about is to spend down
your assets so you can qualify for Medicaid. But if
you've spent time in a Medicaid covered facility,
compared to a private facility, you'd probably happily
pay the premiums for long-term care insurance
instead.
Why increasingly motivated?
Two factors: Boomers themselves are getting old
enough to feel or see the impact of aging on
themselves or their friends. Plus they have seen - or
are now seeing - what their own parents have had
to endure dealing with long-term care. It isn't for
them.
But the reality of long-term care is this: two out of
every five Americans will need long term care at
some point in their lives. For Boomers now over 50,
who once thought that applies only to the extremely
old, it's time for a wake-up call: 1 in every 5
Americans over the age of 50 is at risk of needing
long-term care within the next 12 months.
A different kind of biological clock has started ticking.
That means while Boomers over 50 may not know
what they need to know, at least now they're
motivated.
The nexus of these two facts means insurance
companies need to get on the stick and start telling
their story to this audience. Historically, they've used
direct mail to reach previous generations of seniors
(and those delightful two minute infomercials with
Wilfred Brimley, Ed McMahon and others).
Now they'll need to change their approach to
effectively reach Boomers over 50. Plus, they'll need
to make better use of the Internet, since so many
Boomers use it to do their homework on a new
subject.
So our prediction: long-term care insurance
marketing will undergo a transformation over the next
several years.
Insurance companies that get it right will prosper.
Those who don't, won't.
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You Got Me Rocking:
Vanguard Campaign Right for Boomers Over 50
Here's an example of a marketer who is getting it
right.
Click to enlarge
The Vanguard Group, who sells mutual funds
and other investment products, has been running ads
from this campaign in the business section of major
newspapers.
The campaign does many things right in trying to
reach older Boomers.
First, it presents the message using an
easy-to-understand metaphor of a chapter from a
book. "Chapter 15 -- Lifetime Income" is the header
of the ad. The chapter title "How to reach retirement
and actually get to stay there," effectively draws
the reader further into the ad without making too
boastful a claim or over-promising anything.
Second, the ad contains plenty of copy explaining
their offerings. Far too often advertisers fear older
consumers don't want too much information in an ad.
While long, boring, uninteresting ads can certainly
work against you, our research among this audience
indicates a frustration that advertisers don't tell
them enough in an ad. In order to take action, the
reader needs to know something worth acting upon.
This ad delivers.
Third, the ad acknowledges Vanguard's role in the
consumer's life. They aren't the one and only answer,
just there to help. The ad doesn't boast that
Vanguard has all the answers, just some related to
properly funding the retirement you want.
Vanguard gets this month's "Boomie" for
getting it
right. Next month, we'll look at some misguided
marketers and their mistakes (let's call them
"Doomies").
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