Brindle Media

Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Alzheimer’s disease is an affliction which we tend to think of as an old person’s disease.

But beginning this year, Baby Boomers will be turning 65 at the rate of 10,000 every day. Now, compared to 65 year olds of previous generations, the Boomer group tends to be much more active, agile and adventurous.

Nevertheless, it’s estimated that one out of every 8 Baby Boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease and right now doctors don’t have any way to prevent it, cure it or slow down its progression. Today, someone in America develops Alzheimer’s every 69 seconds. By 2050, that rate is expected to increase to one every 33 seconds. Those are sobering stats especially considering the conversations that are going on in Washington, DC right now about the future of health care in America.

The Alzheimer’s Association has just released a study dealing with this issue. You can read and download “Generation Alzheimer’s: The Defining Disease of the Baby Boomers” by clicking on www.alz.org/boomers

Last week, Fareed Zakara interviewed Sony Chairman Howard Stringer on CNN. During their discussion about the impact on Japan’s economy of the recent disaster, Stringer also discussed SONY’s mistakes in creating products for vertical vs horizontal platforms. The conversation offers some useful perspective about platform thinking in the 21st century.

The internet has certainly made researching a topic, company or individual easier but, if you’re like me, you still encounter a lot of stumbling blocks. Ann Smarty offers some very useful advice in this blog about Advanced Social Media Search
http://mashable.com/2011/03/25/advanced-social-media-search/

I’ve never used Google Adwords and, to be honest, feel a bit daunted by the process. Here’s a good primer from Matt Silverman:
http://mashable.com/2011/03/27/google-adwords-tips/

I’m not a member of Rotary but my wife was once president of a local chapter and I have a lot of respect for the work that its members do. One of the missions of the International Rotary organization is to help eradicate polio. Here’s their latest :60 PSA

In a recent blog, radio consultant Fred Jacobs notes that advertising agencies may finally be readjusting their thinking about the value of consumers aged 55-64 year old.

“The demographic targets may finally be reacting to the Baby Boom generation. If that sounds totally counter-intuitive, the fact is that agencies essentially stopped thinking once they cemented the 25-54 target in place more than two decades ago.

The Boomer train continues to move, and those over 55 are abundant and a whole lot different than fiftysomethings of just a generation or two ago.

As David Poltrack, head research maven for CBS, points out in a recent Hollywood Reporter article, “The fact is an affluent 58-year-old is certainly more valuable than a 22-year-old who is just getting by.”
As TV demos age – the primetime average is now 51 – there’s a certain logic to advertising targets aging with them. As the Hollywood Reporter notes,Tom Selleck and Kathy Bates are winning in prime, while Classic Rocker Steven Tyler is reinventing American Idol.”

Duh!!

I remember having conversations with agencies about older consumers back in the early 1980s. Historically, the agencies used young adults in their early 20s to make decisions about the value of older consumers and there was a tendency to attribute irrelevant information about the buying habits of previous generations to modern consumers. Thirty years later, now that those 20-somethings are now 50-somethings, it’s nice to see that agency thinking is starting to change.

You can read Fred Jacobs excellent blogs at www.JacobsMedia.com

The March 7th edition of Time magazine features a cover story about pain management and discusses how the new medical concept that chronic pain is a disease of the central nervous system is impacting the approaches that science and medicine are taking to help provide relief.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2057269,00.html

Time also discusses non-pharmaceutical approaches using alternative treatments to ease pain including acupuncture and massage therapies. While reading these articles, I started thinking about about my daughter’s current project for her U.S. History course in which she’s researching PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and how it’s been viewed and treated in the context of various combat situations: The Civil War, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea , Iraq and Afghanistan.

It also reminded me of a technique which I’d just learned about called “Tapping” which, in my admittedly primitive understanding, combines a mash-up of massage and acupuncture theories. “Tapping” is a term being used to describe EFT (Emotional Freedom Therapy) which was originally created by Gary Craig. This 19 minute video on the Stress Project site features vets from Vietnam and Iraq who suffer from PTSD and who have employed this therapy. I don’t doubt that you’ll be moved when you watch it.
http://www.stressproject.org/

EFT originator, Gary Craig retired in 2010 & transferred resources to the EFT Universe site. Craig warns about watered down or bastardized versions of EFT as “tapping” or “meridian tapping” therapies. You can see more details here.
http://www.eftuniverse.com/

The concept makes a certain amount of intuitive sense to me but I would need to explore it more fully. You can judge for yourself.

In the meantime, to quote Monty Python, “Now for something completely different”.

Digital media specialist and consultant, Shelly Palmer recommends that we fund PBS for just 3 more years and then cut them out of the budget. His argument centers around digital trends, not politics and whether or not you agree it’s an interesting read:

http://www.shellypalmer.com/2011/03/public-broadcasting-needs-three-more-years/

Either because they’ve chosen to retire or because they’ve been eased out of companies into an involuntary state of unemployment, many members of the Baby Boom generation who still want to pursue productive careers have become entrepreneurs and started their own small businesses.

If you’re one of those Boomers who I’ve just described, I thought that you might find the information below interesting:

If novelty drives attention, perhaps you’ll find an idea here that inspires you http://mashable.com/2011/03/01/video-business-success/

For years, there’s been an adage in the marketing community that older adults are brand loyal and aren’t worth the energy or investment needed to try and persuade them to switch. Of course, many of the people who believe this tend to be in their 20s! It may have been true of preceding generations but I would content that Boomers are a different breed. Although they may not be part of the “early adopter” cohort when it comes to new technology, Boomers aren’t Luddites, either. SmartPhone penetration among Boomers continues to increase so a significant percentage will have access to video on their phones within the next few years and it could become a significant factor for small business as part of the marketing mix.

Similarly, if you have expertise, podcasting (either audio or video) might be a venue to share your knowledge and build your brand. Here are some small business podcasting success stories.
http://mashable.com/2011/02/28/podcast-small-business/

Car & Driver Magazine predicts that internet in-car penetration will hit the 25% mark within the next five years which will make audio podcasts more accessible for drivers. Something to think about as you devise ways to build your brand and “drive traffic”.

Here’s some information that I thought you’d find useful or at least interesting:

BrandSavant, Tom Webster tells us that some radio friends in New Zealand are asking for our help. They’re not looking for monetary donations but are instead asking that we send voice messages of encouragement and support which they can play over the air to help boost the spirits of their countrymen as they cope with the devastation caused by last week’s earthquake.

All you need to do is record a quick MP3 file that gives your name, where you are from, and a short (5-10 seconds) message of hope, to tell the people of New Zealand that we are thinking of them during this very dark time. Please email those .MP3 files to Tom at a special email address he’s set up at : help_nz_audio@fastmail.fm. Tom will make sure he gets them, and that your voices ring out across the Land Of The Long White Cloud.

Skype simplifies cheap overseas calling from any phone.
http://mashable.com/2011/02/25/skype-overseas/

Linkedin Tool Visualizes Profile Updates in Your Network
http://mashable.com/2011/02/24/linkedin-profile-tool/

How music can boost your immune system
http://www.realage.com/tips/how-to-boost-your-immune-system-positive-mental-attitude?eid=1098931007&memberid=22592203

Staying focused is tough especially when you’re a home-based entrepreneur. I never realized how ADHD I was until I left the corporate office world where I had specific work hours , a defined job description and a list of specified daily tasks and responsibilities. Working solo, developing a business from scratch and being based at home leaves everything wide open and undefined. It’s wonderful, exciting and overwhelming. This blog by “Hello, My Name Is Scott” Ginsberg offers some useful advise:

http://www.hellomynameisblog.com/2011/02/how-to-focus-your-face-off.html

Adam Singer writes a digital marketing and PR blog called “Future Buzz”. Although his blog seems targeted at people in the Millenials and GenX’ers, it does contain advice that can be useful to entrepreneurial Boomers. For instance:
http://thefuturebuzz.com/2011/02/22/paid-promotional-tactics/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheFutureBuzz+(The+Future+Buzz)

Boomer Authority is a web-based social network for Baby Boomers. The organization has a website named Boomer StrataGEMS which provides useful information like this:
http://www.boomerstratagems.net/2011/02/how-marketers-can-use-mobile-technology.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+Boomerstratagems+(Boomer|StrataGEMS™)&utm_co

Check them out and let me know what you think about these ideas. I’d also be interested to learn what types of information would be of most interest to you!

Eighteen months ago, I inherited my wife’s old BlackBerry and started using it when I was at a convention. Previously, I’d been using an old Nokia as a cellphone just to check messages and to make or receive an occasional call. I didn’t want the outside world to be able to access me during every moment of every day. However, it dawned on me that it would be much easier checking and sending emails from the Blackberry while at the convention rather than lugging around my laptop and searching for WiFi hotspots.

Now, of course, I’m constantly checking email for business and texting with my family. My Blackberry isn’t particularly adept at connecting me with websites and I don’t have the ability to access apps. It seems like it’s time for me to graduate to a more advanced phone.

Many of my friends seem very happy with their Droid smartphones and it does seem like the Droid is replacing the BlackBerry as the phone most favored by traditional business people. The iPhone is favored by creative types and, let’s face it, Apple has been brilliant at positioning the iPhone as the standard by which all other smartphones are judge and at generating all the industry buzz.

But I don’t like to be cavalier when making these kinds of decisions. We became AT&T wireless customers years ago due to an arrangement made by a former employer. Although we live near an airport and the cellphone service near our house is terrible, we haven’t had many problems with AT&T. I’m not sure that switching to Verizon would make much sense or that Verizon’s much vaunted superior service will continue when all those AT&T customers transfer over and clog up the Verizon network.

It seems like there’s a lot to consider and that’s why I found this recent article by Shelly Palmer useful.
http://www.shellypalmer.com/2011/02/how-to-switch-from-att-to-the-verizon-iphone-4/”>

Remember what the social media world looked like three years ago? Probably not because you’re too busy trying to keep up with the new products, devices and services which seem to pop up on your radar screen every day.

XKCD and the marketing firm Flowtown have created “The Map of Online Communities” based on information from sources such as USA Today, Alexa,and Compete which gives some great perspective on how this have changed in the world of social media over the past 36 months.

First, the map of online communities for 2007:

Compare that information with the map for 2010:

Can you find MySpace on the 2010 map? Look southwest of Facebook.
Also, note the growth of Farmville.

How do you think the map will change by 2013?

Thanks to Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media bring the XKCD/Flowtown maps to my attention.

During 2010, the oldest Baby Boomers turned 64 and, no doubt, wistfully hum the Paul McCartney tune while the youngest boomer will celebrate their 46th birthday. It’s got to be pretty discouraging to those younger boomers that HR departments now consider anyone older than 40 to be over the hill.

The original name for this blog was Buzz4Boomers and its intent was to provide information was to serve a translator of information about new technologies and social media for those Baby Boomers who tend to be intimidated by change. One thing I know about myself is that I am not an early adopter. But I am fascinated by new discovery and tend to be optimistic about the future. So, I frequently find that I fall halfway between those folks who are always using the hottest new technology or social media tools and those who are at the other end of the bell curve.

My challenge is that I tend to be a dilettante with a range of interests that’s a mile wide and a base of knowledge that’s an inch deep. So a review of my blogs over the past couple of years shows diverse topics such as the story of my customer experience using social media in negotiating with a large chain store, rants about musicFirst and the Performance Rights Act, and stories about augmented reality.

When I evaluated my professional broadcasting career after I left the industry in 2007, I realized that what I really enjoyed most about my job as a program director and on-air personality was helping people find ways to cope with the challenges in their lives. That could happen when I was able to provide important health or consumer protection information during a public affairs show or by simply playing a song that provided a listener with a brief distraction, sense of joy or peace of mind.

My ultimate goal for this blog is to make you aware of ideas/ events/ discoveries that are impacting our world and that a reader might not have encountered in hopes that it will provide some assistance in coping with change.