Barbara Shipley
Barbara is the chief brand officer for AARP in Washington D.C. At the SXSW tech festival in Austin, Texas, she shared her toughts with ADWEEK CEO Will Lee during their fireside chat."Drew Barrymore to Beyoncé: How GenX & Millennials Embrace Aging"
Barbara, you are the Senior Vice President, Brand Integration, at AARP. I’d like to begin by discussing your AARP magazine, which is iconic in the U.S.
AARP the magazine is the biggest magazine in the United States, delivered to 22 million households and a constantly growing readership. It's pretty much a lifestyle magazine with a lot of useful and entertaining health, finance and travel content along with unique coverage of pop culture.
The magazine is exclusive value for our members and one of our best channels to educate and engage our members. It comes out six times a year and people are always excited when we reveal who will be on the cover. Many actors, musicians and entertainers embrace being on the cover. Like Drew Barrymore, who was on our last cover to celebrate her 50th birthday. In this world of digital communications and content, we also shoot video while they're being interviewed and have deeper content to include on our web site.
That means that celebrities on the cover are embracing aging?
Yes, and they also are understanding what AARP is doing and what the readers are looking for. And that it is a sign of confidence and control by embracing this time of your life.
I think here in the US and in Germany we always talk about THE 50 plus market. What is your point on the chronological age?
In the United States, you'll hear a lot of marketers and product developers talking about “the 50 plus market”.
But it’s just not as simple as that. As if everyone over a certain age is the same. First, in the U.S. alone, there are more than 110 million people over 50, which is more than the entire population of Germany. Given its size, it's not really a segment; it's like a country. And so, I think it helps marketers see this as a series of segments. Which means it's not homogenous.
Second, it is not as if everyone over 50 wants the same thing. Beyond insulting, it just isn’t true. Frankly, it’s less about specific age and more about the range of life stages people go through. Which aligns with the way you work in Germany.
And third, while marketers love data, we have to go beyond the data points if we really want to understand people. For example, I can line up three women who are all 54 years old and maybe even live in the same neighborhood.
With three fairly important data points -- gender, age and zip code, one could assume they have similar needs. When in fact, they could be three of the most different people you'll ever meet. One has a chaotic schedule with work and two kids in high school. One is a retired, first-time grandmother. One has no kids and is starting her own company. If you think about them not just as a person of a certain age, but as a person who's living a life with their own values, goals and experiences, you would market to them differently.
We have to stop developing products or marketing to people simply because they are in an age cohort. Instead, try to recognize where they are in their life.
Do you as AARP have a set of subsegments?
Yes, we use things like personas to help us get to “know” the people in more meaningful ways.
One big differentiator is whether people are still working, or how they are adapting to new ways of working. Like a retired person who starts their own small company. Or someone who starts working part time. Or someone who retired but then has to return to work to pay the bills. Varied aspects around work are big differentiators. Another is whether you have kids still living in the home. Are you raising teenagers? Maybe raising your grandchildren? Getting used to an empty nest. Maybe you started enjoying your empty nest but then your grown kids had to move back home or an aging parent moved in with you so you could care for them.
Everyone has their own story and we want to help make aging easier no matter where they are starting from or where they are going And some people find themselves in pretty serious situations. Health issues. Stretching their dollar. Isolation.
As work is so important, what is your view on retirement?
Retirement is definitely more fluid than it was in the past. Over the years people have reinvented retirement to fit their own unique lives, rewriting the rules, making it work for them. At AARP we work hard to reflect that in all our content, tools and programming. People may want to retire but can’t afford it. Or they fear that without work they will lose their identity or their purpose. We’re here to help them navigate these challenges and opportunities.
Another big topic is digital and online communications, which you talked about during your SXSW session
Yes. On the one hand, people over 50 are more comfortable with tech than many marketers think.Many buy and use tech as much as much as their 18-49 counterparts. But we also know that some need more training and support so they can be confident operating in a digital world.
This is why AARP has lots of content and resources to help them, from fraud awareness tools to an actual hands-on training program called Senior Planet. The more adept people are, the more they can do online, like booking travel or dinner reservations, banking safely, engaging with community or government services, shopping, streaming movies, and staying in touch with friends and family.
SXSW is a place for tech- In your session you mentioned the “agetech category.“ Tell us about that.
Several years ago we introduced a new dimension to technology we call AgeTech. We realized there was a lot we could do to help product developers and entrepreneurs leverage technology to help make aging easier for people all over the world. We have a big presence at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada and our booth and seminars have become a real focal point for many of the world’s biggest companies.
Innovation isn’t new at AARP. Our founder was an innovative educator who, back in the 1940s, 50s and 60s sparked lots of new ideas around aging. Today, we consider ourselves to be “everyday innovators in aging” and even have our own innovation lab where we work with startups and launched a dedicated ecosystem called the Age Tech Collaborative. There are big brands in there, startups as well as services organizations and test beds. The aim is to leverage technology to make aging easier for everyone.
Sometimes it can be a unique piece of technology like a wearable, but it also improves everyday items from dishwashers to cars, making AgeTech as much an ingredient in great products across sectors as well as a distinct focus. Healthcare is a very active sector as you can imagine.
We think of AgeTech as the intersection of longevity and innovation. As people live longer, we need new tools and advancements to help make aging easier. What’s really great, though, is when a product has been built or enhanced to address the needs of an older person and in fact makes life easier for everyone at every age.
That sort of captures what’s great about AARP. What we do, we do for all, because everyone is aging and everyone – no matter their age -- wants to be empowered to choose how they live as they age.
Barbara thank you very much for sharing this important facts.