Posted on 01/16/2007 7:32:49 AM PST by qam1
Now approaching 50 itself, AARP is heading off a midlife crisis with a new TV ad that celebrates the aging process to the strains of the Buzzcocks' classic punk song "Everybody's Happy Nowadays."
The image overhaul, aimed in part at future AARPers now in their 30s and 40s, is part of a long-running effort to reposition the organization formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons (it has gone by just AARP since 1999) as one devoted to vigorous, working people who are 50-and-up.
There is a lingering perception that AARP is a retiree organization," said Emilio Pardo, AARP chief brand director. "But people are living longer and working longer and we want to reflect that back to them. We are in a position to further enhance the lives of people 50-and-over."
A cornerstone of the brand update is a theme with five words that reflect members and future members' needs: "Health. Finances. Connecting. Giving. Enjoying."
The AARP spends close to $115 million annually in measured media, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
The AARP logo itself also has been updated, via Siegel & Gale, New York, to resonate with the brand's more energized spirit.
Ads are designed to increase Washington-based AARP's 38 million members, who pay annual dues of $12.50. In return, the organization lobbies for pet issues like Social Security and provides discounts with participating brands.
The first TV ad, one of seven brand and advocacy ads slated for this year—via GSD&M, Austin, Texas—was set to break yesterday during the Golden Globes Awards. The 30-second spot shows several generations of a family celebrating the matriarch's birthday.
"There's a new focus on creative that is energetic, engaging, very emotional and multigenerational," said Pardo.
The Internet and digital technology will play a big role in the overhaul; a revamped, more interactive Web site and blog will launch in the third quarter.
Since the "R" stands for "Retired", why is this a problem?
AARP reaps in the suckers.
Punk rock or not, the AARP is still liberal and pushing for ever expanding government programs.
USA Next is the alternative!
http://www.usanext.org/
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
Johnny Rotten turns 51 in a couple of weeks.
Captain Sensible is 52 and Dave Vanian is 50.
Ian Curtis would be 50 now.
AARP is all about ripping off the working generations.
I cant tell you how many times I sent back their mailers with notes to cease and desist....
....they never do.
...next prepaid mailer goes back taped to a gift-wrapped brick.
Wow... Pete Shelly is just frightful these days. Elfin, androgynous looks are great at twenty, and... sad at 60.
This is appealing to people in their 30s? How many people in their 30s 'identify' with the Buzzcocks? Even The Clash was putting out music into the 80s, and it's only the wider-known stuff that most people in that age group would recognize. It's been my experience that people in (for example) their mid-30s at this point share more cultural similarities with people in their mid-20s than with those in their mid-40s.
Buzz??? Seems they might soon be reduced to humming! ;-P
I wonder how many people join w/o knowing their money goes to promote lefty causes such as gun control. We called and told them to take us off their mailing list and thankfully we have not heard from them since.
It is a lobbying organization, and the "R" stands for "Rip-Off". They CLAIM to be working for older people (tax breaks and Medicare legislation, for example) but they are completely on the wrong side of Social Security reform and tax policy. They are also a front organization for somebody else's insurance programs, supposedly getting better deals on life and auto insurance, but they are less effective than AAA.
A guy I know said his Ma had one of their 'Gap-Filler' policies. After her death in cleaning up her affairs, he had the lawyer write to them too see if they'd pay any benefits. They replied " we don't pay any until you've been in hospital 90 days!" Little " gotcha there sucka'" so to speak. They are pure fraud. I send mailers back EMPTY, sometimes.
How so boom? I heard their insurance rates are very reasonable.
I did not join AARP and have no intentions of doing so.
Bah! I'm 34 and love the Buzzcocks. But what's NOT appealing to me is hearing them in an AARP commercial. It's a BIT early!! They can stick with their "Big Chill" tunes like the ads with Dennis Hopper that are playing these days (not AARP but you get my drift).
I guess it's just inevitable when all the former teenage artsy-fartsies grow up to work in advertising and marketing...you get Tones on Tail played in Starburst ads, yikes!!
AARP is for AARP, only morons join, the Association of Retired Americans is head and shoulders above the leftist AARP..
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