It’s great to see renewed media attention for issues relating to aging in our community. As I’ve written before, I’m fascinated by the communications challenges of outreach to gays and lesbians regarding complex social issues relating to the “second fifty years” of our lives. The challenges of “aging in place” and finding appropriate, respectful care for elderly gays and lesbians are many and it’s long past time that we address these issues from a communications standpoint. The New York Times story Patricia referred to in her post yesterday is a good start, and I hope we’ll see much more in-depth coverage not just of the challenges, but the ways in which our community is addressing them.
"For the rest of today's blog, continue at The Boomer Blog"
But the issue is about much more than so-called “elderly” gays and lesbians. The “gayby boomer” audience includes literally millions of gay men and lesbians over 50 (or approaching 50) who are now thinking about retirement and the next stages of their lives.
This is a powerful, and yes, often untapped, audience that represents a wonderful marketing opportunity for companies that can speak to the unique issues and challenges of “gayby boomers.” This opportunity includes not just community developers and home care providers, but financial planners, vacation providers and other travel industry representatives, health and fitness companies and so on.
As these industries begin targeting our community, the challenge will be to do so in a way that speaks to both to our unique needs and to our commonalities with other people our age. While those may seem to be competing interests, I think they speak to the realities of our community. We are distinct and different, to be sure, but we are also part of the larger world around us and have many of the same hopes and dreams as our straight counterparts, particularly as we age. The marketers that figure this out will be the ones to earn, and keep, the trust and patronage of the “gayby boomer” community.
What do you think? Give us examples of companies you think are doing this well, companies that still need to learn a few things and companies that aren’t yet involved in this marketplace but should be. We look forward to hearing from you.
Ben Finzel
Ben Finzel is a Washington D.C.-based public relations professional. A former Congressional staffer and Clinton Administration appointee, his career has focused on public affairs, public education campaigns and media relations. He is a Senior Vice President at Fleishman-Hillard and the founding co-chair of FH Out Front, the firm’s global gay and lesbian communications practice.