FieldGoals.us

TRACK Your Communications and Messaging to a FLAWLESS future!

2012 April 2 by admin

Marcel Holsheimer, a former Unica and SPSS executive now working in the enterprise marketing management division of IBM, describes the world today as one that offers up as many threats as opportunities for companies. Failing to adapt your business to the online world could mean eventual demise, he says, but embracing Facebook and Twitter and heavy-duty analytics tools offers new avenues for growth.
All this data is “a great asset for companies once they are able to use it properly,” says Holsheimer.
But reaching that level of capability is a challenge in itself. To succeed in what Holsheimer calles “the age of the smarter consumer” requires companies to have a much sharper focus on understanding their customers and prospects as individuals – not as markets.
In IBM’s survey, 14 out of the 19 sources of data used by CMOs to influence strategy provide a market-level understanding – things like market research, competitive benchmarking and campaign analysis. The sources IBM sees as important for understanding individuals – analyzing consumer generated reviews, blog posts and online communications – appear much further down the most-used list with only customer analytics ranking in the top five.
At FieldGoals.US, our principals have spent decades designing and developing custom benchmarking and tracking studies for financial institutions, retail grocery store chains, engineering firms, homebuilders, EVEN paper product manufacturers and many more…we understand the importance of collecting input from each of your department leaders-combining practical goals with futuristic desires to develop defined research objectives for your initial benchmark study. Next, our team and yours will work to develop a broad base of customers and potential customers (or do preliminary research to first determine who these consumers might be) with whom to address perceptions on competition, brand, image, actual product and service needs, price points, advertising touchpoints and message. A good tracking study will provide the flexibility to break out your data collection regionally, or by branch. Not only will this guide your marketing department’s advertising decisions, it will enable your team to see the effect each message has monthly or quarterly so you can continue to tweak your strategy to find that Silver Bullet.

Peace Corps’ Smiley Face on America – Mothers Protect your Daughters

2012 April 2 by admin

When a family member visits the Peace Corps website at www.peacecorps.gov, this is what he sees:

Family and Friends
When prospective Volunteers share their plans to apply to the Peace Corps, their family and friends often react with enthusiasm, support—even admiration. Parents, siblings, and friends are thrilled to see their loved ones follow their dreams. Sometimes, however, people who want to serve in the Peace Corps encounter concern and questions from others.

I love the Peace Corps. Ask anyone who knows me. Government orgs, not-for-profits, the Humane Society, the YMCA – I even shop at Salvation Army on occasion. I truly believe it is an part of the American culture to GIVE – time, money, leadership. Of course, most of our citizens CAN give – they can AFFORD to give of their time and money because mom and dad or the military or a program at church supports the efforts of those earnest young zealots who are going to make the world better, peace-filled, fed. But are they failing us in the most crucial of functions? The ability to protect our volunteers when they are not Stateside? Listen to my story.

For reasons of privacy, I will leave out names. A colleague very close to me recently experienced a mother’s worst nightmare – her daughter, a Peace Corps volunteer of one year, was brutally attacked and raped mere miles from a Peace Corps training center in Theiss, Senegal, West Africa. After a brief stay back in the States, she is being returned to this same country to fulfill the remainder of her service without any further security measures or apologies from the organization.

These types of events are so frequent and horrific in number that not only did CBS News conduct an exposé on the subject, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/11/eveningnews/main20062026.shtml?tag=currentVideoInfo;videoMetaInfo, but the Peace Corps actually has a PDF document on its website entitled “Peace Corps commitment to Sexual Assault Victims”! (No doubt as a result of the CBS piece.) http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.faf

It is certainly bad enough that so many of our young adults must die every year fighting in wars that may or may not be ours to fight. But to have bright, idealistic, beautiful young ladies sent into countries where the real safety and security issues have NOT been identified or addressed – with no money, little communication and an occasional visit from a bureaucrat to make sure the volunteer is still alive (once every SIX months in this victim’s case) – this it the antithesis of how solid, organized, structured, SMART outreach programs should operate.

1,074 Peace Corps Volunteers reported being sexually assaulted while in service from 2000 to 2009 – and this certainly does not include the number that feared so much for their lives they refused to report the assaults. My colleague’s daughter was flown back to Senegal a mere 8 days after the attack took place to unwillingly participate in a three-ring circus of humiliation and shame, while forced to sit in a Senegalese judge’s chambers for SIX hours without food or water and then seated less than a foot from her attacker, while she was berated into identifying him TO HIS FACE! His friends sat outside – waiting and listening to the other PC volunteers who had arrived for support – and plotting their revenge on her daughter and the others, if indeed their friend was identified as the rapist. She was sent back to the same site after only two months in the states to complete her service.

The New York Times speaks out:
“Jess Smochek arrived in Bangladesh in 2004 as a 23-year-old Peace Corps volunteer with dreams of teaching English and “helping the world.” She left six weeks later a rape victim after being brutalized in an alley by a knife-wielding gang.

When she returned to the United States, the reception she received from Peace Corps officials was as devastating, she said, as the rape itself. In Bangladesh, she had been given scant medical care; in Washington, a counselor implied that she was to blame for the attack. For years she kept quiet, feeling ‘ashamed and embarrassed and guilty.’

Today, Ms. Smochek is among a growing group of former Peace Corps volunteers who are speaking out about their sexual assaults, prompting scrutiny from Congress and a pledge from the agency for reform. In going public, they are exposing an ugly sliver of life in the Peace Corps: the dangers that volunteers face in far-flung corners of the world and the inconsistent — and, some say, callous — treatment they receive when they become crime victims.

Founded in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, the Peace Corps has 8,655 volunteers and trainees, as young as 21 and as old as 86, serving in 77 countries. For most, service is, as the agency’s Web site boasts, ‘a life-defining leadership experience.’

But from 2000 to 2009, on average, 22 Peace Corps women each year reported being the victims of rape or attempted rape, the agency says. During that time, more than 1,000 Peace Corps volunteers reported sexual assaults, including 221 rapes or attempted rapes. Because sexual crimes often go unreported, experts say the incidence is likely to be higher, though they and the Peace Corps add that it is difficult to assess whether the volunteers face any greater risk overseas than women in the United States do.”

To follow is the letter my colleague sent to the Country Director only a few weeks prior to her daughter being returned to her site after the assault:

“I know you have been working with PC/DC and the State Department on the events which occurred on the morning of July 31, 2011 to my daughter, XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX in Theiss, Senegal, West Africa. These events have subsequently changed all of our lives forever.

As much as I appreciate your prompt attention and concern on the morning of XXXX’s attack and in the few days following, I would be remiss if I did not mention the [for better words] fiasco which took place only one week after XXXXX returned home to the United States – her required return to Senegal to identify her attacker. In the words of XXXXX’s therapist here in the States, this return visit “set XXXXX back months and possibly created greater harm to her emotional well-being and recovery efforts”. I am not sure you are aware of the chain of events, but if you check with your new ‘victim advocate,’ XXXXX XXXXXX, I am sure she will be happy to provide you the details. In short, XXXXX was forced to identify her attacker (when she was not 100% certain) while sitting less than THREE feet from five potential perpetrators – no glass, no protection – incredible! She was also not fed nor attended to for over 7 hours after an exhausting flight back and only a few days to recover prior to this, Stateside. The mishandling of this visit only solidified my certitude that the Peace Corps may not be providing the appropriate level of safety for a 24-year-old volunteer in Senegal, West Africa. I am saddened and frightened and need you to help provide a solution.

XXXXX tells me she asked not to be bothered when she first arrived home – as she felt there was an inordinate amount of unnecessary attention to her overall well-being which she interpreted as publicity disaster control, since we are all aware the PC has taken some hits in the media since the NBC expose. However, we all expected a little more proactivity with regard to process, including what would take place should it not be a good idea for her to return to Senegal (the man she reticently identified as her attacker had three of his friends with him at the police station – all of whom clearly saw XXXXX and her site mates, who were present to support her.) She would like to complete her service in the States, if possible, but if not – she deserves to experience the full benefit of having served in the Peace Corps and devoted most of her adult life to teaching and helping others for little or no compensation. She is a beautiful, delicate, magnificent woman and I would hate to think she had made this life-altering decision to leave her very close knit family and lifelong friends to create and promote business development in a developing country just to have her efforts thwarted, with no viable alternatives offered because of a crime that in no way her fault and which unfortunately represents a mother’s worst nightmare.

I would like to see XXXXX offered an opportunity to continue working with the Peace Corps in the US or to attend continuing education in International Studies, as was her plan upon completion of her Peace Corps service next July.
I realiize this decision is not yours alone to make but I am reaching out to you as Country Director to help us meet these challenges and move on with our lives. Please help me help my daughter, XXXXX. Thank you for your consideration.”

My colleague received no response to this email and her daughter has been returned to serve out her last year in the same village in West Africa.

This isn’t war people, this is some young kids helping others learn to create a sustainable agricultural and industrial environment in a developing country. It isn’t worth the price we are paying.

PA legislators: TAKE YOUR PLATFORM TO A HIGHER LEVEL

2012 April 2 by admin

PA legislators: TAKE YOUR PLATFORM TO A HIGHER LEVEL

Our FieldGoals.US commitment includes:

• Highly accurate results
• Fast turnaround time for analysis and reporting
• Educated, eloquent telephone interviewers specifically trained in conducting survey research polls
• Expert written and verbal presentations of survey feedback

FieldGoals.US has a full-service telephone call center and online programmers in-house, which means that all of our survey research programs are executed from our central offices, not outsourced to telemarketing call centers which can often jeopardize quality control, accuracy and the integrity of the survey interview process.

Best of all, FieldGoals.US is WBE Certified in the state of Pennsylvania. What does this mean to you? State and Federal agencies are required to use minority and women business certified vendors for a percentage of all research. The certification process is rigorous, in order to assure the highest quality deliverables. Not only has FieldGoals.US passed with flying colors, we have 25 years as research experts in the industry, to help you enhance or revisit your voter, your brand, address growth and target specific markets by exploring core voter values and modifying your message with businesses, blue and white collar workers and prospective voters. No other Pennsylvania polling service has this certification.

WE also have professional, educated field interviewers for consumer and business one-on-one interviews, mall intercepts and consultants to help you create and execute your research program for exacting results.

Our principal, Lori Aulenbach-Mader, has 25 years experience designing surveys, screeners, discussion guides and analyzing the information for you in concise, topline bullets in order to take action immediately. You can call her personally to chat about your upcoming needs – free of charge.

Go get ‘em. Let us help!

FieldGoals.US is a non-partisan research company committed to helping agencies provide the products and services Americans need.

Kathryn Elizabeth Aulenbach

2012 April 2 by admin

Kathryn Elizabeth Aulenbach releases another Anthropologic study today entitled Louga Lycee. Check it out!

Louga Lycee Video from Katie Aulenbach on Vimeo.

Have You Looked at YOUR Brand Responsibility?

2012 April 2 by admin

I was flipping through one of my favorite magazines yesterday (shout out to REAL SIMPLE magazine – keep up the great work!) when I came upon an advertisement entitled “Family is Everything” written by 5th generation SC Johnson CEO Fisk Johnson.

Fisk Johnson, 5th generation SC Johnson

He wrote,

“Family is everything, a thought that is with me every moment of the day. As a father – as a 5th generation Johnson. For years, we’ve said the SC Johnson is a family company – but I just want to take a minute to explain what that really means.”

Fisk went on to write,

“To start, it means that we don’t report to Wall Street. The decisions we make come down to caring for you and the world we share – not what analysts want to hear. And quite frankly, that doesn’t always mean doing what’s easy. But when I go to bed at night, I know what we’re trying to do is right. It also means that all those products you’ve come to trust over the years – you can trust that they’re made with your family’s interest in mind.”

He closed his comments with,

“To us, family is more than a relation. It’s our inspiration. Inspiration to care. To try to do what’s right. To always do better.”

After reading this, I visited the SC Johnson website where I was more than impressed to see an entire segment devoted to letters elicited from families all over the world, sharing their thoughts, traditions, and advice on the importance of family values. Wow!

Here at FieldGoals.US we have had deep spiritual discussions with our clients regarding the opportunity global interconnectivity, return to family values and environmental awareness has offered in the past several years. We have even conducted research regarding agricultural and manufacturing trends, suggesting that on the tails of corporate improprieties, food contamination and environmental scandals, consumers are looking for brands that are social, fiscal and environmental stewards. CPG brands will find that “what you represent” will become almost as important as taste and cost. SC Johnson is already aware of that….

Christina Arena, author of the High Purpose Company asks, “Does Your Company Pass the Test?”

Is purpose invaluable to your company?

“Although many companies claim to stand for a grandiose purpose that serves the common good, few companies actually absorb and reflect that purpose to the point where their own success depends on it, where it becomes a dominant force for corporate performance and development. In true High-Purpose Companies, the concept of a higher purpose—of somehow serving society or protecting the environment—is so integral to the fabric of the organization that if you removed that thread, the company would start to unravel. Without their purpose, these firms would have difficulty competing in the marketplace, or even surviving”

Christina goes on to provide a “Litmus Test” to document whether or not a corporate promise of social responsibility is actually integral to the success of its company brand.

Pass the Litmus Test

* GE – “Provide imaginative answers to the mounting challenges to our ecosystem.”
* DuPont – “Create sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere.”
* SC Johnson – “Promote global well-being.”
* Toyota – “Make sustainable mobility a reality.”

“True High-Purpose Companies like GE, DuPont, SC Johnson, Toyota and dozens more outlined in the book exist to serve fundamental needs, such as the need to stop environmental degradation; to end poverty; to promote equality; or to create health, security and happiness. In contrast to the superficial needs catered to by so many other companies, the needs serviced by High-Purpose Companies tend to be deeply rooted throughout society. Thus, they are substantial enough to spur business performance over time.

For example:

* At GE, the higher purpose of “providing imaginative answers to the mounting challenges to our ecosystem” or “ecomagination” exists in the form of products ranging from energy efficient dishwashers to hybrid locomotives and solar-powered water purifiers. Revenues generated from these products reached over $10 billion in 2006 and are expected to climb to $20 billion by 2007.
* At DuPont, cleaner processes and scientific breakthroughs like Bio-PDO, an eco-effective polymer, reduced overhead by $2 billion, prevented 11 metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere and also accounted for 17% of the company’s $26.6 billion in revenues. By 2010, DuPont aims to derive 25% of its total revenue through products that create a “better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere.”
* At SC Johnson, ongoing environmental management and Greenlist™ initiatives have thus far eliminated over 460 million pounds of manufacturing waste and removed more than 13.7 million pounds of volatile organic compounds from SC Johnson products. Going forward, the company plans to continue to ‘promote global well-being ‘ by supporting cultural, educational and public health projects that improve stakeholders’ quality of life and by removing all toxicity and non-biodegradability from its household cleaning products.
* At Toyota, while a lean manufacturing process reduces waste by 86% and saves billions in overhead, the company’s aim to “make sustainable mobility a reality” gives way to creative leaps and technological breakthroughs like Hybrid Synergy Drive. By 2010, Toyota plans to sell more than 1 million hybrids annually while rendering the internal combustion engine obsolete.

A higher purpose makes each one of these companies literally worth more to shareholders and also, worthy of succeeding. While these firms might not be perfect, they succeed because society would be worse off without them.”

Christina Arena

To view the entire article, or to read either of Christina’s books on the subject: “Cause for Success: 10 Companies that Put Profits Second and Came in First” (New World Library, November 2004), and “The High-Purpose Company: The Truly Responsible (and Highly Profitable) Firms that are Changing Business Now” (Collins, January 2007), from which this essay is adopted visit http://christinearena.com

How do you know what attributes are significant in your industry? That’s where we come in. At FieldGoals.US we provide the answers to your local and global brand questions with responsible, affordable, academic quantitative and qualitative research initiatives, beginning internally and reaching out into your potential markets. Call or email us. We provide marketing with HEART.

Are you the boss from hell?

2012 April 2 by admin

Not a good way to start out a productive day…

http://smallbusiness.aol.com/2010/07/18/are-you-the-boss-from-hell/?icid=main|htmlws-sb-w|dl2|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fsmallbusiness.aol.com%2F2010%2F07%2F18%2Fare-you-the-boss-from-hell%2F

For anyone who has suffered at the hand of an unpredictable and belittling manager, this humorous blog from Steve Strauss strikes close to home.

You have seen my blogs on this issue in the past. I once experienced working with a colleague who was so hostile and whose behavior was so erratic, not only ONE company but TWO came crashing down under her disturbing leadership attempts. Good talent will not tolerate abusive behavior in the workplace. Our team at FieldGoals.US feels it is important we help our executive coaching clients recognize these dangerous personality types and make sure they get the proper guidance to turn aggression into an asset! There is hope.

Among some of the signs and practices Steve discusses in his blog “Are You the Boss from Hell” micromanaging, rude and unreasonable behavior, unrealistic expectations, “hogging” the credit and casting the blame, and playing favorites are among the top deadly behaviors a borderline psycho-manager can embrace. “It takes work to be a bad boss,” Steve says.

“Being a bad boss mandates that you really not trust anyone to do his job right. Instead, you must continually watch what employees do and how they do so as to discern the slightest variation from the ‘norm’. And then, when you do find them doing something “wrong” — jump on them for it!

Of course, the consequences of this management style are obvious. Always worried about upsetting the apple cart, the employee of the micro-manager lives in fear, resents the boss and treats customers accordingly.

So if you want to lose customers, instill fear in your staff — it works every time.”

“When someone does a good job, a bad boss takes credit. When someone else has a bright idea, he presents it as his own. When something goes wrong, he blames others. Enough said,” Steve writes. “The bad boss clearly has favorites, and everyone knows who they are. He or she also has those who are — how shall we say — less popular. Everyone knows who they are too. The upshot is a workplace where work, credit, kudos and benefits are spread out unevenly, with dissension bringing up the rear.” All of these pitfalls were present in my last place of employment, and the effect one manager had on a successful, thriving, happy business was devastating.

First off, creating a zero tolerance anti-bullying policy is essential. This policy should be part of the wider commitment to a safe and healthful working environment and should involve the appropriate Human Resources representative. Workplace management bullies exhibit behavior which includes:

• Unwarranted or invalid criticism
• Blame without factual justification
• Treating certain team members differently than the rest of the work group
• Swearing
• Excluding or socially isolating team members
• Shouting at or humiliating certain team members
• Making certain team members the target of practical jokes
• Excessive monitoring

The second step is to address all levels of employees from executive management down, providing professional workshop training to cover all areas of leadership and team building including:

• The characteristics of an effective leader
• Vision/Futurism
• Leadership flexibility
• Balancing work and life
• Time management
• 15 principles of management
• Leading with emotional intelligence (MY FAVORITE!)

At FieldGoals.US our core values include marketing with HEART. Learn how to help your team focus on productivity and quality and love every minute of your workday!

50 is the new 30. Not so fast.

2012 April 2 by admin

I Googled physical changes at age 50 today. You may ask, why, as a 55+ researcher, I would need to do this? My answer would be – because, after a weekend of yard work and cooking for my prodigal children, who have recently returned home from a year at the university, this 50-year-old had to have her husband sit her up in bed this morning! A slightly dim light bulb went off inside my aging brain which made me realize that, no matter how much more athletic, physically fit, diet and body conscious and spiritually connected we are “50 is the new 30” is only true on the surface. And frankly, this is, at least in some part, due to the advances in aesthetic dermatology!

“The key to aging well is choosing your parents wisely.” It has long been debated whether lifestyle choices-more than genes-determine how well we age. Drs. John W. Rowe and Robert L. Kahn outline those vital choices, including changes in diet, types of exercise, mental stimulation and self-efficacy and dynamic connections in their book, “Successful Aging.” According to this team of 55+ researchers, these choices can make a difference no matter how late in life they are made. But what conditions of aging cannot really be changed?

NIH in association with our beloved Pennsylvania Department of Health and (wow!) organizations like the National Cancer Institute, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and five or six other big guns have announced a funding opportunity in the amount of $275,000 for research involving this subject. Their description of the project initiative: “Diet and physical activity are lifestyle and behavioral factors that play a role in the etiology and prevention of many chronic diseases, such as cancer, coronary heart disease, and overweight/obesity as well as in maintaining weight loss. Accurate longitudinal data on physical activity and dietary intake patterns would be especially helpful in understanding how these factors may impact on health and functional status over the human lifespan, [especially older adults.]”

This is a groundbreaking study which will ultimately help us determine the level of personal intervention we must have in our health as we grow older; but for me, the musculo-skeletal system, especially in active adults who in their younger years thought that exercise would help make the body STRONGER and LESS FRAIL as well as strengthen bones and thwart arthritic joints – well I am just plain disappointed. The bodily aches and pains, beyond any other ailment naturally occurring in my 50+ anatomy by far make me feel older and fear my mortality more than any other factor in my life right now. According to RN Panush, in Rheum Dis Clin North Am. “Recreational exercise has achieved great popularity. Possible benefits to participants include increased longevity, decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, improved psychological well-being and greater fitness. [However] an important but yet unanswered concern is whether exercise or physical overuse conditions play a role in the pathogenesis of OA [Osteoarthritis]. In humans, anecdotal observations have suggested relationships between recreational activities and degenerative joint disease.”

This, my friends, is the primary contributing factor, at least in my world, to “feeling old.” …well, that and having to wear my reading glasses in the shower so I can defer between shampoo and conditioner.

At FieldGoals.US everyday lifestyle conditions and remedies in the 55+ older adult community are our focus. From investigating issues like the above – whether or not we can change physiological and mental deterioration by simple modifications in diet and exercise – to helping retirement communities implement complex health and wellness programs to address what we have discovered through quantitative and ethnographic research initiatives- FieldGoals.US will be there every step of the way to guide your growth in the 21st century.

Burned Bridges Make Growth Impossible

2012 April 2 by admin

Burned Bridges make Growth Impossible – Stop Looking over your Shoulder and Position Yourself for Opportunity

“In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?” Carl Rogers

I have always wondered why companies continue to stalk employees after they have left the nest, spying on blogs, friending on Facebook, playing detective on LinkedIn as if THEY had offered that EMPLOYEE information to improve HIS skills rather than appreciating the contribution to growth and value this employee had brought to the table. By virtue of the constant monitoring, it could be suggested that the employer should have never left that employee go, which in many cases turns out to be the motivation for the continued observation. “We don’t want him, but we don’t want anybody else to have him either!”

In new business development I have NEVER looked back. Once I have visited that path, I rarely want to beat the heck out of the same clients, same initiatives with the same routine using the same approach. We Renaissance men and women have an insatiable thirst for unique approaches we have created from scratch. Taking the positive lessons learned from each experience and putting them to use WITH YOUR OWN CREATIVITY TO IMPLEMENT NEW APPROACHES AND STRATEGIES TO EXISTING CHALLENGES is the way to get the doors to open. From an employee perspective, this means I AM ALREADY OVER IT, PAST EMPLOYER! and moving forward to the next step in my life. How can you turn this adversarial relationship into a tool for success? Employers – don’t burn your bridges!

At FieldGoals.US we are dedicated to your success. Our clients include leaders from all professions, levels and industries. One of our specialties is team building and employee rapport . My colleague and good friend Angie Pincin, at CoachPeople, Inc. has been providing the support you need to develop your team for the past 20 years. Angie’s philosophy:

“The most influential leaders all have one thing in common: They all have a strong sense of who they are , their unique talents and areas of development. Above all, they are comfortable with themselves. Some refer to this strong sense of self as ‘executive presence’, others refer to it as having a strong brand that ‘stands out’—we refer to it as a person who Leads by Values. “

Let us show you how to embrace the talents of even those with whom you have parted ways and use the experience and the relationship to re-build trust, provide successful insights and even re-generate some of that business that may have gone out the door when they left . It may just involve re-crafting the employer-employee relationship into something that works. Don’t lose good talent because you made an error in judgment. Fix it!

Website Usability for Older Adults

2012 April 2 by admin

Website Usability for Older Adults: Don’t Miss Out on 70% of the Country’s Disposable Income!

Age is a state of mind.
Youth and age exist only among the ordinary people.
All the more talented and exceptional of us;
are sometimes old,
just as we are sometimes happy,
and sometimes sad.

Hermann Hesse (1877 – 1962)

Ok. AARP has now emailed me 19 times in the past two months. 19 times! These folks really understand the meaning of “the early bird catches the worm!” I am 48 (and holding) years old and I SEE THE VALUE OF BLASTING (email, that is) upcoming Boomers a couple of years before they actually turn 50, which is the age one is eligible to join AARP. But let me share with you one of the email blasts they sent to me in September.

You have received this e-mail on behalf of AARP because you requested to receive information from the company listed at the bottom of this message. To stop receiving future AARP mailings, please see the link below.

It’s yours FREE, just for joining!

Get a FREE membership for your spouse! JOIN AARP and receive a

Well, you get the picture. I am not kidding. I copy and pasted this (it went on for two pages!) from an actual email. Let’s look at this from an older adult perspective for a moment.

First of all, what the heck are all these links for?

According to a white paper published by the Robert Wood Johnson Scholars in Research Program at Harvard University:

“We also consider the availability of social support for problems individuals may encounter in using the Internet. Older adults are often presumed to have younger surrogates who can help them navigate new technologies as needed. While such help is undoubtedly available to some older users, we think it possible that those whom we might expect to need the most support might actually have the least available. For this reason, we consider whether cognitive ability is related to the likelihood that users have significant informal support they can draw upon.”

In other words, there is no one to tell me why all of these links are in an undistinguishable email with no explanation in my Inbox and what they are asking me to do or what information they hold. Why would I randomly click on 52 individual links to find out what precious piece of older adult intelligence lives within?

We need to address content and usability. Personally, here’s what I want to know from AARP before I am 50:

* What are all of the perks I get when I turn 50, i.e. what discounts for entertainment, food, insurance, lending, what special tax dispensations, what write offs, what free money/products/services are out there for me to partake?

* What kind of planning do I need to do with regard to health, finance, long-term care, nutrition, retirement, insurance, exit plans for the business, etc.

* Give me a list of agencies/associations that I may need in my aging years which would include social services addressing overall aging, Alzheimer’s, taking care of elderly parents, guidance to retirement communities and Cork’s, health insurance options, hot lines to emergency situations and so on.

* Social/business networking with other older adults in my community.

Here are some other practical things to consider:

Websites tend to be produced by young designers, who often assume that all users have perfect vision and motor control, and know everything about the Web. These assumptions rarely hold, even when the users are not older adults. However, as indicated by our usability metrics, older adults are hurt more by usability problems than younger users. Among the obvious physical attributes often affected by the human aging process are eyesight, precision of movement and memory.

Also, many older adults retired without having used computers and the Internet extensively during their working careers. Thus, they have not necessarily learned good conceptual models of how these technologies work, which makes it more difficult to understand their quirks. For example, we observed several users who did not differentiate clearly between a website’s search box and the browser’s URL box. After all, both are input fields that you type in when you want to go elsewhere. The lack of experience with good conceptual models is obviously not fundamental to human biology and may disappear as the current workforce retires.

Our testing identified many instances of poor design that compounded to make the Web more than twice as hard for older adults to use. Complying with the guidelines for designing for older adult would remove many such usability problems. And, while Web usability might still be slightly better for younger users, the differences could be reduced drastically.

The most widely known principle for supporting older adult computer use is to support larger font sizes than those younger users prefer. The principle may be well known, and it was indeed confirmed by our study, but still, it is frequently violated by sites that freeze text at a tiny font size.

Sites that target older adults should use at least 12-point type as the default. And all sites, whether or not they specifically target older adults, should let users increase text size as desired — especially if the site opts for a smaller default font size.

For hypertext links, large text is especially important for two main reasons: 1) to ensure readability of these essential design components, and 2) to make them more prominent targets for clicking. You should also avoid tightly clustered links that are not separated by white space. Doing so will decrease erroneous clicks and increase the speed at which users hit the correct link. This rule also applies to command buttons and other interaction objects, all of which need to be reasonably large to be easy to click.

Pull-down menus, hierarchically walking menus, and other moving interface elements cause problems for older adults who are not always steady with the mouse. Better to use static user interface widgets and designs that do not require pixel-perfect pointing.

Now we’re talking. The biggest issue in marketing to older adults is the fact that marketers haven’t done their research. Not even AARP—the biggest association for older adults in the world– to deal with older adults!
This is one of the reasons we established FieldGoals.US. I realize non-profit organizations maintain a large volunteer force of wonderful, brilliant, big-hearted people and sometimes have limited budgets for research initiatives. FieldGoals.US provides FREE proprietary research to identify basic physiological and psychological insights and will continue to do so in order to increase awareness and improve the life of our 55+ generations. Great strides have been made—many more need to arrive, and rather quickly, in order to satiate the thirst for knowledge inherent to our upcoming Boomer and GenX generations.

Food Manufacturers and Grocery Stores

2012 April 2 by admin

Food Manufacturers and Grocery Stores – Listen Closely, Your Older Consumers Need to be Heard!

Every time I think I know a little more about the multiple layers of the 55+ generation I am again enlightened by another experience that broadens my view, represents anomalies I believe have never been revealed and strengthens the momentum created by generations in constant motion. I have the best job in the world. I get to sit still and observe a constantly evolving phenomenon, trying to pinpoint a fraction of a second to analyze for my clients—the product and service providers to the largest, richest population ever to dwell on this earth.

Part of the process is to continually interact with these generations through ethnography: learning to live exactly how my target lives—heck, I AM my target in a few years. Through a recently revived research methodology called “shop-alongs” I get the chance to have a birds-eye view of the shopping process in older adult consumers- retail, restaurant, grocery- in order to non-judgmentally observe the little stuff that affects everyday living and lifestyles of the aging. How important is this to manufacturers, food distributors and service providers? It’s huge!

During a recent grocery store shopping experience with an elderly married couple, I discovered how little manufacturers know about product placement, packaging and POS. No disrespect intended, thou General Mills’ of the world, just the facts. My advice – get basic, get in the stores and let’s talk.

The two most significant insights I have gleaned from my shopping experiences with older adults are: 1) they don’t always look at prices; 2) they don’t often purchase on impulse. Now, let me clarify, these are my findings in the 75+ age bracket, not in the younger, up-and-coming boomer factions. The 75+-ers are list-makers, brand-loyalists, shopping–with-my-spouse-with-purpose-and- for-exercise-and-entertainment group. These folks are not easily swayed by end-cap displays of ergonomically packaged laundry detergents that cost twice as much as the giant powder keg at Sears and Roebuck for $7.99. They have money, but they are not giving it up if the product isn’t exactly what they had in mind when they left the homestead.

While we shopped, I asked what I thought were the important questions:

Question: When you walk down the aisle, do you look for sale items?

Answer: No.

Question: Do you prepare a list at home?

Answer: Yes.

Question: How does the list work?

Answer: We keep a running list of everything we have run out of and everything we have seen in the newspaper that we might want to try (ahhh, so you might fall into the category of ‘early adopters’—who’da thunk it!) and we bring it to the store and shop for only those items on the list.

Question: So you never go off the list and make an impulse purchase?

Answer: Not usually, but every once in a while we see something that catches our eye because of the smaller packaging (for two), the ease of use or a totally new product that is specifically geared to make it easier for us to make dinner or reseal a package and then we buy it.

Bingo. So, be true to your brand message and traditional packaging, but offer alternative, smaller, easier-to-open packages.

I have much more to share as I delve into the shopping experience, but for now, manufacturers remember these sage pieces of advice from a wannabe WWII-er: package it simple, stay true to your brand color, font, message and overall traditional labeling and get your food distribution network to place your product at its comfort level on the planogram: where it is expected to be found-not too high, not too low-and shelf label the daylights out of it.

Price is not as important as product name and size on the shelf tag. Make sure it is well-stocked (we are not patient and will immediately switch loyalty to a brand that has five shelf facings at all times in our favorite grocery store) and be competitive in the periodical coupon flyer in your Sunday newspaper.

Most importantly, be aware that 70% of the world’s disposable income is at your fingertips. Invest in a little research. That’s where FieldGoals.US comes in.

We have reinvented the art of field data collection by going back to basics – leadership with full-service experience, quality-controlled, superior interviewing and recruiting and down-to-earth costs that won’t break the bank in this very challenging economy. C’mon, get personal with your consumer.