Do You Sell to Seniors? You will.

Seniors are considered 65 and older.  Right now that group makes up 13% of the US population.  Within 15 to 20 years that group will make up more than 20% of the population pie.

It is a group that will control much of the wealth, buying power, and political power of this country.  eMarketer estimates that less than half this population is currently online.  But the number is growing as more and more Internet-abled boomers age.

Seniors lag behind the total population for cell phone users.  Seniors also still prefer landlines.  Seniors are slow to adopt to social media as well.  It would be easy to say this group is inconsequential.  But in this economy, seniors are one key demographic target that is well-funded and rapidly growing.  And within a few years, with very little effort, it will be the largest group of Internet users—changing it forever.

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Multitasking Consumers

Some things just go together.  Glazed donuts and a cup of coffee.  A glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and a New York strip steak.  Television and surfing the Internet. 

Nielsen estimates that 60% of TV viewers watch television and surf the Internet during a month.  Sitting on the couch, watching TV with a laptop open and running (in fact I’m writing this blog watching “Criminal Minds”) just seems so natural.

What also seems natural is that with the computer open, you are open to messages with drive-to-web strategies.  You can track traffic on your website by tracking your traffic by time and comparing it to when you aired ads in particular programs.  Sure, you test if TV works for your messaging, but also which particular programs draw the most interest.

You can also test different messages in the same programming to see which draws the most eyeballs.

TV and the Internet:  Now add a glass of red wine and a donut and you’ve really got something.

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Marketing Rio

Now that Rio has won the bid for the 2016 Olympics, it’s time to look back and see how marketing played a role in the successful bid.

Rio’s branding line was “Live Your Passion.”  It’s what we like to call a ‘big you’ statement that focuses more on the 90 members who vote than on Rio as a location.  It’s a branding line, not a brag line.  The Chicago bid was, “Let Friendship Shine.”  Chicago spent a lot of time talking about ‘introducing Chicago and America back to the world.’  Hmmm.  As a voter (and that is the only audience), would I want to let ‘friendship shine’ or ‘live my passion’ when I go to the next Olympic site?  I’m going to Rio. 

The Rio (english) website had a quick-loading video right off the top that gave you a great feel for the beauty of the country and the people.  If you click on the Rio 2016 tab, you will see a great video on the facilities and areas, which allows you to really ‘see’ the vision.  Based on the arresting animated city fly-through graphics showing the Rio venues, I’m sold (www.rio2016.org).  The Chicago website is static, even using a Google map to show the areas (www.chicago2016.org).  Nearly 6,000,000 people voted on the Rio website to support Rio’s effort (the tally is displayed on the website); only 1.3 million clicked to support Chicago’s effort. 

Rio’s site may be a bit less ”designed” as websites go, but the use of video makes it a much better selling site.  I don’t believe it was anti-American sentiment, political workings or the highly publicized Chicago murder prior the vote that sealed the deal for Rio.  It was Rio’s focus on the key audience and better marketing.   Live your passion.  In RIO. 

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