Thank you for a great first season of The Business of Aging radio program – See you in Septemb
We have just completed our first block of episodes for The Business of Aging on WGRN (WeEarth Global Radio Network) and I wanted to say “Thank you” to all my guests, the team: Allan, Kat, Nick and Judy, and my Continuum Crew team. These last couple of months have enabled me to get back to my radio roots (so much fun!) and have some of the most insightful and inspiring conversations around the implications to businesses of an aging population.
Looking back, these interviews have been with some of the smartest people from a diversity of disciplines who are experts on the aging consumers and their needs, such as when I got to speak with Patricia Lippe Davis, Vice President of Marketing for AARP Media Sales, when we delved into the current state of advertising targeting this age group, dispelled myths of marketing to mature consumers, and discussed the issues with getting the mature consumer on the radar with ad agencies and brands, all in our debut show.
Next we got both Christine Crosby, founder of GRAND Media, LLC & Publisher of GRAND – The Online Magazine for GRANDparents, and Jonathan Micocci, President of GRAND Media, who know about the enormous opportunity for marketers to reach older consumers as they enter the grandparenting lifestage, and the rich potential of digital publications, for advertisers reaching older consumers.
Where is there more opportunity to serve elders than in technology? That is why we sought out both Peter Radsliff, founder of Aging Technology Alliance, for this show, and David Inns, President & CEO, GreatCall, Inc., creator of Jitterbug cell phone, for this show.
What about how they are using social media? We spoke to Ashley Mercier, Group Publisher for Eons.com, an online social network for baby boomers, and Ri Regina, the Director of that same community, for a show about boomer social networking.
A program looking at the needs to be met within this space would not have been complete if we ignored the needs of a group nearly the same size as the baby boomers themselves – the more than 65 million Americans that play the role of caregiver. We got a better understanding about this with the help of our guest Sherri Snelling, a nationally recognized expert on America’s caregivers, founder of Caregiving Club, and chair on the National Alliance for Caregiving.
A mature population means a mature workforce, and the issues related to it, including its value (discussed with Steve Shefveland, founder & CEO of Tree Rings), social entrepreneurship & legacy (discussed with Jim Emerman, Executive Vice President of Civic Ventures, a think tank focusing on boomers, work and social purpose), and Randy Paynter, founder, President and CEO of Care2, and navigating both the work and life midlife transitions (with Barbara Waxman, executive & life coach for those ‘at midlife and better’ and by far the most conversational interview I did – Barbara is especially easy to talk to).
We know that there are few that rival the spending power and influence of the Boomer woman, which made it so fascinating to chat with Stephen Reily, an author, speaker and expert on Boomer women, and founder & CEO of VibrantNation.com.
We received different perspectives on the major issue of where and how the eldest of our population will live. We heard about the smart design concept of Livable Design from Erin Clay at Eskaton, got access to Sally Michael, president of the California Assisted Living Association (CALA) to get deep insight into Assisted Living, and heard the most inspiring stories from my most recent guest Stephen Winner, co-founder of Silverado Senior Living, their ‘chief culture officer’, and co-author of the Silverado Story – a beautiful book about what he and his co-founders have created for people with Alzheimer’s and other memory impairments.
I hope you’ll check out any of the interviews you may have missed, perhaps downloading them and giving them a listen on your commute. WGRN has recently formed a partnership with Stitcher Radio, which streams content, such as our podcast of show interviews, to mobile phones without ‘syncing’, and it is free (the app is available here). So this will make it more convenient to get each show automatically downloaded to your phone for listening anytime, (just look for The Business of Aging show in Stitcher).
We will return in September when we’ll continue to get the current research, best resources and practices created to fill the needs of the mature market. Then we’ll translate those trends and data with our guests and turn them into actionable strategies for you, the listeners, to whom I also want to say ‘Thank you’ for your support, reactions and responses. I am grateful for the new connections I’ve made because of this program – and the conversations it has started.
What do you have to say?
As always, if there is a subject you would like us to discuss as the focus of an upcoming show or any general feedback on this season’s episodes, post it in the comments on this blog.