Happy Monday! Hopefully by now you’ve gotten back into the swing of things after the holidays (I don’t know about you, but for me it’s a process that involves kicking and screaming). Here are just a few mature marketing stories from the past week that had people talking and clicking. Have something to share? We’d love to hear from you in our comment section.
MOST CLICKED: Our most clicked mature marketing story actually revisited a piece from 2015 — demonstrating a continued interest in the topic. The article was from TransAmerica, entitled How Aging Demographics Affect the Investment Landscape. Many points withing the article are familiar ones – birthrates are on the rise (though families continue to have fewer total children) and people are living longer — with many an expert reporting that the number of people 65+ will increase significantly by 2050. What did surprise me (and may surprise you) is that the U.S. is 42nd out of 200 countries for the percentage of our graying population — with 1 in 5 people living in Japan, Germany and Italy already aged 65 or better.
According to the article:
The global aging trend is “without parallel in the history of mankind,” concluded the U.N., as reported by The Telegraph. Industries expected to be affected by an aging demographic include:
– Travel and leisure, including travel insurance – as more people pursue relaxation.
– Business valuators or appraisers as people sell their businesses to retire.
– Health care because older people generally need more medication and health products to maintain their quality of life.
Speaking of health care — according to the article those 25 or younger only spend 3% of less on health care, which those 65+ invest 13% in the service. The article ended with the final question: “If the number of people over age 65 grows as expected, imagine what that would do to health care spending.” I’d add — imagine what it would do to senior living? This article services as a continued reminder for senior living marketers of a need to forecast and implement services and living options that meet the desires and needs of future prospective residents will be required in order to capitalize on this growing population.
MOST SHARED: What would the start of the New Year be without a countdown list. The Ad Contrarian’s 5 Questions for the New Year provided a list that was of great interest (and last week’s most shared mature marketing article). The article tackled the top advertising questions (and insights), as the author saw it, for the coming year.
These questions included:
- What advertising breakthroughs do you foresee in the New Year?
- How will technology impact advertising?
- What does the ad industry need to do in the coming year?
I have to say that the answer for the advertising breakthrough question was of particular interest. According to the author:
The big breakthroughs in 2016 will come in the area of dead things. Traditionally, we have waited several years before we declared certain advertising modes dead. It took 60 years for us to decide TV was dead, but the QR code got itself dead in about 3 weeks. I’m hoping that 2016 will be the year we can declare things dead before they arrive.
At Creating Results one of our core recommendations for all clients is – strategic makes sense and new and shiny for the sake of using new and shiny does not. That being said, I’d add to the response to this question that exploration of new marketing opportunities can and should be an ongoing process. And while somethings are better off dead — other avenues when modified can certainly be resuscitated. But careful review of options to ensure they work within an integrated approach and can help you achieve your goals is always a wise approach. Because at the end of the day some new and shiny will just amount to one-hit-wonders. So do your homework and monitor results ongoing to determine which category your solutions fall into.