With all eyes on London these days, we feel inspired. What 50+ marketing resources emerged victorious on the playing fields of social media last week? Cue the music …
1. GOLD MEDAL: Senior Housing News reports that Boomers “aren’t delaying retirement—they’re redefining it, staying local.” The industry publication shared results of a PulteGroup Home Index survey of 500 pre-retirees aged 55 and older. The key findings:
* 61% plan to retire within the next 10 years, while only 17% said they don’t intend on ever retiring
* 42% said they expect they’ll retire at an older age than originally anticipated, nearly half (46%) believe they’re financially prepared to retire in the same time period they had originally planned on
* 62% said they planned to stay close to their current home once they retired
The news became Creating Results’ “most shared” item last week. Read the full article: http://bit.ly/NjAjSp
2. SILVER MEDAL: Do you want to make money? Get age friendly, because Age Friendly =Good Business, says Kim Walker, a leader in mature marketing in Asia Pacific. Kim delivered this excellent speech at a TED conference in Victoria Harbour (Hong Kong) last year.
Tip of the Olympic beret to Dick Stroud who first shared the video on his blog.
3. BRONZE MEDAL: Appropriately, two sports themed links share the third place spot on the podium. A little inspiration for your Monday morning?
* A competitive synchronized swim team with members age 60 to 100! http://ow.ly/cGtHl | I really LOVE their reasons for swimming.
* Meet the oldest Olympian to compete in 92 years – 71-year-old Japanese equestrian team member Hiroshi Hoketsu. http://huff.to/RNNkW1
What would a Games be without a little controversy?
Last week New York Times columnist Bill Keller took aim at his peers and called baby boomers “The Entitled Generation” in an op-ed that definitely caught the attention of the judges. “The notion that our generation has been spoiled rotten is not a terribly new thought,” wrote Keller. “But even though the caricature is way too easy, it has stuck, and we all know that it contains more than a nugget of truth. We are an entitled bunch.” Keller proposed that “greedy” Boomers should not join the Medicare and Social Security rolls but rather fight to reform those systems.
There were quick responses from a wide range of people, including
* economists – Jared Bernstein wrote “The issue of sustainably of Social Security and Medicare – I fear that the word “entitlement” feeds into the frenzy — actually has little to do with greed and is largely a function of our uniquely inefficient system of health care delivery, as that’s from where our real long-term fiscal problems derive.”
* journalists - Charles S. Pierce took aim at Keller’s premise that he had anything in common with most of his generation, writing that while Keller’s healthcare coverage was secure, “One catastrophic illness, and many of our families die on the vine. This is not hyperbole. This is how it works in the world.” (Warning! Angry post. Pierce will not win an sportsmanship award at this year’s Games.)
* and marketers – Brent Green wrote about Keller’s lack of balance in going for snip and snark – “If the fiscal mess now besetting the nation is to be resolved, then it must begin with sober reflection and sacrifices among all living generations, because, as Keller accurately implies: none are perfect; all have fallen short of creating a fiscally stable platform for future, unborn generations.”
What do you think? Do any of these arguments make points with you? Will this blog ever earn the respect of the East German judge? Share your thoughts below.
[...] to Mature Marketing Matters for awarding us a ‘SILVER MEDAL’ for Kim Walker’s “excellent speech at a [...]