AARP is on the move

This article about the changing times at AARP appeared in the New York Times (you might need to register).

These are some of the products that are scheduled for release in 2006.

An investment fund aimed at people over 50, the first such product it has developed on its own.

A consulting service to help companies develop their own products for the 50-plus crowd.

A "seal of approval" program in which, for a fee, AARP will endorse products it likes.

AARP is also talking to several drugstores about possibly selling AARP-branded items that are now available only by mail and is prodding companies to develop new products for older people, not just passively vetting the products that industry comes up with. For example, it is looking for a telecommunications partner to help it devise an elder-friendly cellphone service, and for vendors who will make easy-to-open luggage, better home lighting and other products that AARP can sell.

The New York Times certainly seems to think that the age of the 50 plus is dawning.

Corporate America certainly sees boomers as a tasty new market. Pfizer created Viagra for them. Fidelity Investing has new funds for them. Procter & Gamble's Olay group is pushing antiwrinkle treatments at them, and Procter's drug division now has more than 30 products aimed at the 50-plus crowd.

The sheer size of the baby boom population gives them an obvious importance to us, said David S. McCracken, a Procter spokesman.

Retailers, too, are jumping in. Home Depot just began offering free home improvement clinics for people over 50, and is working with its own vendors to develop products for older customers.

Interesting times. Out of small acorns and all of that.... Dick Stroud