An impetuous 20-something year old team of startup founders may not automatically reach out to the AARP to bring its products to market. Ignoring the aging..
A team of impetuous 20-something-year-old startup founders may not automatically reach out to the AARP to bring its products to market. Ignoring the aging population isn’t the sharpest move, however. With its Innovation Champion Award , AARP wants to highlight that those over 50 have sacks of disposable cash and aren’t afraid to spend it — as long as the value is there.
“Historically, people would retire at 65 and then have another 10 years to live or so,” says Anne Marie Kilgallon, vice president of Enterprise Strategy and Innovation for the AARP. “But things have changed a lot since then. These days, people live into their 90s, and these ‘bonus years’ are important.”
Ageism is a real thing, and it swings both ways. Remember, oh, about 100 words ago, when I flippantly referred to startup founders as 20-year-olds? You probably didn’t even notice, because that sort of thing happens all the time. “Young people are selfish and impulsive” and “old people hate technology” are truisms that hold true less and less often. This is one fight AARP is picking with its Disrupt Aging campaign — and a part of that is its new Innovation Champion Award.
For most businesses, $10,000 is a nice chunk of change, but for the most successful of businesses isn’t going to move the needle.
