ICAA gathers experts to help businesses understand older consumers

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New Marketing Symposium targets overlooked 50-plus adults

[Vancouver, BC] –While half of all money spent in North America is by adults aged 50 and over, a staggering 95% of marketing dollars are spent on people 30 and younger.

The discrepancy is both a huge oversight and an enormous opportunity for those who know how to talk to the older adult crowd, says Colin Milner, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA).

And it’s why his organization decided to hold its first-ever Marketing Symposium in advance of this year’s ICAA Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida.

“People 50 plus are responsible for at least $7.1 trillion in annual economic activity in the U.S. alone,” says Milner. “By 2017 they will represent half the adult population. If that isn’t a huge business opportunity, I don’t know what is. Organizations that correctly focus their products and services on this under-addressed demographic can expect to make significant gains on their competitors.”

The Marketing Symposium is designed for – and open to – anyone interested in learning how to effectively market products and services to the older population. This includes company principals (presidents, VPs, directors of sales and marketing), chief marketing officers, marketing managers, PR directors, social and digital marketers, developers, architects, and anyone else whose business targets the 50-plus demographic.

The Keynote Speaker is Alexis Abramson, an award-winning journalist, entrepreneur and PhD gerontologist who has been featured in Time, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and Entrepreneur. A leading expert on those over 50 and the author of four acclaimed books, she has also appeared on NBC’s Today show, CNN, CBS, MSNBC, and on other media outlets.

A number of other distinguished speakers and panel members will also be featured at the Symposium.

Alyssa Malinski Erickson, marketing manager for UnitedHealthcare, has more than 15 years of experience in healthcare and marketing, specializing in mental health, medical device and health insurance issues. She leads the company’s Medicare education initiative, which focuses on providing educational information to Medicare beneficiaries and caregivers.

Todd Harff and Erin Read are president and director of strategic planning (respectively) at Creating Results, a marketing, advertising and PR agency that specializes in marketing to mature consumers.

Elliot Jacobson is senior vice president for RLTV, an NBC-owned network created exclusively for the boomer and older-adult population. He has produced 38 series and 37 specials for the network since its debut in 2006.

Mary Ferron is vice president, fitness programs at Healthways. She is in charge of marketing, developing and maintaining a network of 15,000 fitness locations, and leads overall operations and manages the delivery system for the company's fitness initiatives, including its SilverSneakers® Fitness and Prime® Fitness programs.

Steve French is managing partner of NMI, a leading strategic consulting and market research firm. He has over 25 years of strategic marketing, business development, market research and management experience.

David Weigelt is president and CEO of Immersion Active, a digital marketing agency focused solely on 50-plus markets. He is also the coauthor of Dot Boom: Marketing to Baby Boomers Through Meaningful Online Engagement; a founding board member of International Mature Marketing Network, and an active member of The Society – thought leaders on aging. His clients include AARP, Del Webb and Home Instead Senior Care.

The all-day Marketing Symposium will be held as a separate event on the ICAA Annual Conference’s registration day, Nov. 12. The Conference itself takes place from Nov. 13 to Nov. 15 at Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center.

For information about the Marketing Symposium, visit http://icaa.cc/conferenceandevents/icaa-marketing-symposium.htm

For information about the Conference, visit http://icaa.cc/conferenceandevents/overview.htm

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About the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA)

The International Council on Active Aging® is the professional association that leads, connects and defines the active-aging industry. ICAA supports professionals who develop wellness facilities, programs and services for adults over 50. The association is focused on active aging--an approach to aging that helps older adults live as fully as possible within all dimensions of wellness (i.e., physical, social, environmental, vocational, intellectual, emotional and spiritual)--and provides its members with education, information, resources and tools. As an active-aging educator and advocate, ICAA has advised numerous organizations and governmental bodies, including the US Administration on Aging, the National Institute on Aging (one of the US National Institutes of Health), the US Department of Health and Human Services, Canada's Special Senate Committee on Aging, the European Commission, and the British Columbia ministries of Health, and Healthy Living and Sport.

For questions:

Contact: Colin Milner, CEO, ICAA
Toll-free: 1-866-335-9777 (North America)
Telephone: 604-734-4466; cell: 604-763-4595
colinmilner@icaa.cc