FOX Meadows Assisted Living

Fox Meadows Assisted Living

This ad did not target the baby boomer generation. The grandmother in the ad was around 75 years old, yet the oldest baby boomer is 67 today. Boomers who are in assisted living would have major health issues; mostly they are putting their parents into assisted living because their parents are in their 80s and 90s. Rocking chairs and knitting do not appeal to boomers, either, as far as symbols of lifestyle. The caption "your time has come" sounds like "time's up" than anything positive. Basically, there was nothing in this ad that spoke directly to the baby boomer generation or to its needs.

There are a lot of other methods of marketing that would be better. Of the four Ps, it starts with the product. Rocking chairs and fireplaces are not really what boomers want -- the fireplace can stay but only with a nice wine or scotch. Boomers are big on quality of life, and probably are not even old enough to seriously think about assisted living yet for themselves. So the image that the ad portrays about the product is certainly not appealing to baby boomers.

The next element of the four Ps is the promotion. In this case, the ad ran in the local free newspaper. I'm not sure if that is the best way to reach baby boomers. The ad needs to run in media that baby boomers consume. While this might not be High Times Magazine anymore, boomers are still quite engaged with the world. The local community paper is a poor way to get their attention -- the regular newspaper is probably better. Billboards and online have reach with that audience as well -- remember that many baby boomers are on Facebook, if for no other reason than to keep in contact with their children (Coombes, 2013).

The other elements of the four Ps are more difficult to address. The facility cannot change its geography, which may or may not be favorable for pursuit of the baby boomer market. Price is not normally discussed in promotions for assisted-living facilities so leaving that part out was standard procedure. However, it is clear that the content of the ad did not have any appeal and the placement of the ad might not have had sufficient reach for the ads to be effective.

3.

Assisted living facilities need to consider who makes the purchase decision when it comes to who to sell to. That is not typically the occupant of the facility, but the children of the occupant. This is different from "independent living" facilities, where the occupant is often fully competent and capable of making the decision -- and paying for it. Assisted living is usually for elderly people who have little ability to care for themselves. Adult children are usually paying for the assisted living out of their own assets or the assets of their parents, so they control the decision. For example, during the recession the assisted living business struggled because the children needed to preserve more of those assets and kept their parents living with them longer, only putting them into assisted living when the children could not care for their parents any longer (Adami, 2011).