Retirement, Rebranded for You and Me

At first I didn't want to do this interview because for I’ve got a strong impression of AARP - that it's for for VERY OLD PEOPLE, and associated closely with the same audience as those pictured in ads for the "I've fallen and I can't get up," alert device.  I understand that will probably be me at some point, but not now.  The Stubbornly Young are anything but that stereotyped image.  

So, yes, I was hesitant.  And more than hesitant, I’m CURIOUS – which IS a critical trait for being Stubbornly Young.  I wondered how AARP is managing its brand now that so many retired people are living another 30, even 40 years, with the first 20 or more still NOT the audience AARP branded to reach when it started.  I had tons of questions about that, and then, what we can LEARN and how we can benefit from the AARP (beyond discounts).  

Read my Blog called Rules For Being Stubbornly Young and let me know what you think!

Email your thoughts at dave@stubbornlyyoung.com

Check out where it’s all happening on the Stubbornly Young website

Thanks and looking forward to hearing how you’re remaining stubbornly young!

Transcript

And as I get older, moving forward in a way that's exciting and purposeful for me. Hey, I don't have the answers, but I am exploring and I'm talking to lots of people who have ideas that can help me get closer. I created Stubbornly Young to share these conversations with you.

And this is the 23rd of those conversations. And I'll be talking with Sarah Schureman, the director of AARP Colorado. Now, I wasn't sure about doing this interview and I was hesitant about doing it because forever I've had the impression that AARP is for very old people.

And I mean, very old people with all the negative stereotypes. That's not me. It's not Stubbornly Young.

Okay. But even more than hesitant to do this, I'm super curious. And that is a critical trait for being Stubbornly Young.

So I have tons of questions about the AARP brand. And then even more importantly, what we can learn from the experts of AARP. So Sarah, with that long intro, you still want to talk? I am thrilled to talk to you, Dave.

This is going to be great. Good. So what did you think of that intro? I understand it.

I understand why you have perceptions around AARP. And, you know, I would say that even for me, I had that before I started working for the organization. But now that I have been there about three years, I recognize all of the amazing work that AARP is doing.

And honestly, our target is the 50 plus, right? So it's not the very, very, very old, as you may have referenced earlier. It is everyone who's over 50. And there are so many relevant things for us.

I'm excited about it. Well, okay. So, and I know, because when I turned 50, I think I started getting bombarded with, you know, it's time to join AARP.

And I'm like, are you freaking kidding me? No, it is not. And I can see where, you know, AARP wants to do that. But it didn't make sense to me.

And so I did join, but I joined only for the discounts. And I'm going to come back to all the other things. But I do want to talk about sort of how AARP got this brand perception.

And honestly, I don't even think it's a perception. I think it was a real thing until maybe recently. So I want to talk about that, but let's be fair.

I mean, AARP was founded in 1958. And a couple of stats at that time, American men lived to 66.6. Women lived to 72.9. Now men are living about eight more years and women almost eight more years, more of seven more years. So that's like a huge change.

So how we think about old isn't even the same as it was when AARP started, right? Absolutely. Yeah, it's very different. And I would challenge if we're thinking about people who are old.

I'm 51. I'm part of our demographic. And I don't view myself as some of that negative connotation that you're sharing, right? Of course not, because you're 51.

Yeah. I mean, when you tell your friends and family that you work for AARP, they have the same impression that I did. Okay.

Dave, I'm going to tell you a story. So I have a 12-year-old son. Again, I'm 51.

He plays soccer way more than I can keep up with. But I showed up at the soccer field one day with my AARP jacket on. Good for you, sporting the brand.

I was sporting the brand. And I cannot tell you how many parents came up to me and said, oh, AARP, we love them. They're such a great organization.

And I was like, okay, I get it. People who are in their midlife probably have kids in the same age range as I do. And they think it's pretty cool.

Well, that's good to hear. And I'm sure that's reinforcing and wonderful for you to hear as well. So let's talk a little bit more about the brand, because I'm intrigued by that.

Because clearly, even from what you're saying, AARP wants to have a brand that's associated with people in their 50s, 60s, and so on. And maybe not the perception that even you had before you came to learn more about the organization, right? So I think it's fair to say that AARP is trying to shake the stereotype, right? So is that even important? Or could they just wait a little longer till their demographic hits what it used to be? You know, I think there are a lot of important issues that we need to think about as we're moving into our 50s and 60s that are important. Such as social security, right? Medicare.

Yes, I'm not going to need that till I'm 65 or older. But I better be thinking about it now, right? I want to start planning for my retirement because I'm going to thoroughly enjoy it. And AARP is an advocate for us on those specific issues.

And, you know, not to get political, but I will share that AARP has been really advocating for us to protect social security in the future. And as a 50-year-old, this is important, right? I want to make sure that it's around for me when I'm ready to retire. So I understand the perception and I get what you're saying, but I also think it's relevant for all of us.

Well, I'm okay. And I'm okay that you're pushing back. And I'm okay that you're a cheerleader for AARP, right? I mean, you should be.

That's cool. And we're going to talk some more about that. I want to explore the brand a little more because as I'm getting close to retiring and I've noticed that there's a shift in the word, the perception of the word retired.

And it seems like AARP, the R stands for, well, it's the American Association of Retired Persons, right? Or something? No. No? It's just AARP. We are no longer.

We're no longer. Yes. Yes, it started that.

But that was part of our transition with our brand, right? Yes. To move away from the American Association of Retired People to just AARP, because again, we'll see people working much longer in life and targeting those who are currently working still. Yeah.

Well, and I find that interesting because to me, the word retired actually has changed in perception. It's actually one that's more aspirational now than it used to be. I think it used to have a different sort of meaning to people.

Well, and maybe part of that perception, Dave, is coming from often, you know, maybe our grandparents' generation, they would retire and then they honestly would not live much longer past that, right? And now we're living much longer into retirement. I want to plan for retirement and living 20, 25 more years after that. So a quarter of my life in retirement, that's exciting, but it means something different to us now than maybe it did in the past.

I think, yeah, that's right. You're being quite an articulate spokesperson for this changed way of thinking, especially with AARP. So what do you still struggle with as the executive director and as people do have perceptions about the organization? What's your biggest struggle? Honestly, one of our biggest struggles is letting people know all the things we do besides discounts.

I know you brought that up in the beginning, but wow, we are doing so much. So people come to AARP for the discounts. They stay because of the impact that we're having on older adults or the 50 plus, right? And so I get frustrated in speaking to people who don't recognize all of the amazing work that we're doing.

Or I can even say frustrated is a tough word, but, you know, I am passionate about educating people on what we're working on. So what are some things that you're doing that are different from what people might expect that also are appealing to my audience, the stubbornly young that enhances their lives or not just enhances their lives, but speaks to the way they want to be spoken to? We want to be spoken to. Vibrant, curious, engaged.

Yeah. Well, I would start with saying we do all kinds of educational programs. And this is not just like Social Security 101, which is important, but things like learning about cryptocurrency, learning about artificial intelligence.

These are topics I'm interested in. And I would say staying relevant, staying vibrant, going to courses to learn about things like that or engaging with AARP in that space is maybe not something you would normally expect, but a great resource to find. That's cool.

You know, and the last question I'm going to have about what has puzzled me for years about AARP is that something that I'm just purely curious about, which is you almost have two audiences. You have, you know, the stubbornly young audience and you have the people who, you know, are past that, way past that. And where I'll be someday, and I'll probably look back at this conversation and think, what a jerk.

But it seems like you have these two audiences. How can you possibly speak to both in one, with one voice? Another good question. I think you have to think about, am I speaking to Gen Xs and Millennials? You talk to those two groups differently as well, right? Yeah, but not generally under one brand, do you? Well, are there brands that appeal to both Gen Xs and Millennials? I mean, I think you have to be thoughtful like any company is today of our marketing.

Are we marketing to the younger demographic of the 50 to 70 year olds? Are we marketing to those in their 80s and 90s? And what are the words we're using? What are the images we're using? Okay, I'm going to be super candid then. Yeah. This is going to be hard.

Okay. Okay. So in the same magazine where you're talking about cryptocurrency, there's an ad for a walk-in tubs.

Like, how do you do that? Yeah, well, I mean, I don't know. That's a good question. I would say everybody loves the magazine.

They think it's pretty awesome. I'm not looking at the magazine for the walk-in tubs, but I am looking for the cryptocurrency. Yet, there may be others that are looking for the walk-in tubs.

I don't know. All right. All right.

Well, I want to talk about what you're learning as an AARP executive director. What AARP is learning about people today in their 50s and 60s that has a different perception and is sort of shaping the way you do want to speak to this population? Wow. I think you hit the nail on the head earlier when you were talking about wanting to be vibrant, be engaged, be curious.

This is a lot of what I'm seeing in folks that are 50s, 60s, even into 70s. We have volunteers that are amazing, and they engage with us on legislation, for example, at the state house, and they can school me. They are so interested in learning more, understanding, and I think that does keep them vibrant.

What other lessons have you seen? I'm thinking specifically around research that's maybe being done at AARP, studying sort of the trends and the way people want to live their lives and the way people want to think differently than a generation or two generations ago. I would say that these 50, 60-year-olds, again, myself included, we are much more active. We want to be physically active, out doing things, enjoying life.

Again, we talked about being retiring and then not living very much longer, but that is not the case that we are seeing now, right? We're also seeing the 50-year-olds be caregivers for older adults, our parents, right? Because they're living longer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right.

So, again, speaking for myself, I have my 12-year-old son that I was telling you about, and I was caring for my mother who was 76. And our research is showing that at the average age of a caregiver is 50, and often they're caring for their parent. So that's something different than I think we saw our previous generation or generations before us.

What role, one of the key principles I've always been exploring with Stubbornly Young is the idea that I believe in order to stay stubbornly young, you have to stay engaged in technology. Not everyone shares that view, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. What's your take? Are you familiar with our Senior Planet? No.

Okay. So AARP has a program, and we're so fortunate to have a physical location here in Lowry called Senior Planet. It's a computer lab, and it's free to anyone, but we're targeting the 50-plus to come in and you can learn everything from how to set up an email account, if that's something you need to learn, or the latest technology back to AI and how we're integrating and utilizing AI in our day-to-day life.

And so AARP has invested heavily in supporting older adults, again, the 50-plus in staying current with technology. Okay, that was kind of a zinger to me because people who are 50 don't need to learn how to set up. Right.

So again, I'm going back like this kind of zings of like that old thinking of AARP when you say you want to help, like people set up an email account, it makes me cringe. Well, again, I agree. I don't need to learn how to set up an email account.

You don't need to learn how to set up an email account, but I may have questions about AI. Well, of course. What is safe? What is not safe? How do I, you know, what are pitfalls I need to watch out for? Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

I mean, that is an area that I would say, again, 51-year-old that I'm not an expert in and I need to learn. And so if that's something that I can gather from SeniorPlanet and AARP, then all the better. That's cool.

And we are a trusted brand, right? Because I would question where are you going to learn about AI? Who's teaching you? Is it a trusted brand that you're learning it from? Are there online resources through AARP where I could learn those kinds of things? Absolutely, yes. Talk about that. So our website is so robust, you could probably get lost in it, to tell you the truth.

But if you go to the website and you search for artificial intelligence, really pick your topic, but artificial intelligence, there are articles. We have a huge research arm of our organization. So you can learn about specific topics or you can learn about demographics and all kinds of different areas.

So what else can I learn from AARP that I might not think about? Let's see. We have driver safety classes. You can learn about frauds and scams that are out there.

I think that's one of the most interesting. I was in Grand Junction last week and we were doing a presentation around current frauds and scams. And, you know, I bet you have gotten the same text that I have, that I have parking tolls that I have not paid.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yep. Okay.

We're teaching people that this is a scam and you should not click on this. We also were talking about gift card scams. Have you heard of these? No, I haven't heard of that.

This could be any of us in the holiday season. You want to go get a gift card for your loved one, but somebody has actually already taken down the code off the back of the gift card. And when you go and activate the card, they are pulling all the money off of it.

So I am going to buy gift cards for my loved ones for the holidays, but I want to make sure that, you know, I'm protected in that area. That's all right. So when you think specifically about the stubbornly young audience, they want to stay engaged in the world and relevant to the younger people in their lives.

Where's the best intersection you could think of with AARP? You know, I think AARP is definitely trying to stay on top of what is happening in the world, stay current, right? Like we are doing pickleball classes. I also know that pickleball is growing across demographics, right? And so if I can go and play pickleball with some folks in the younger generation, because AARP provided a free class and don't look like an idiot when I get out there, then all the better, right? That's cool. And actually, that's a great example because pickleball, and I had some guys from a pickleball company, and they were talking about how pickleball is an amazing sport because it does bridge everything from little kids to their grandparents.

And they've got like grandparent, grandchild tournaments and all this stuff. Exactly. So that's a great example.

Yeah. All right. I want to shift gears too, because I do find that marketers struggle reaching the stubbornly young.

In fact, I wrote a blog post called Advertisers Don't Know Us. And I was so frustrated because there was this pretty high-end travel company and they were promoting what they call big adventures. And they had a photo of people on a hanging bridge, which is cool, but they look totally geeky.

They look like they just came from like Disneyland or something. So it's like clear, the photo that they were representing was not me. And it was frustrating.

And are you finding the same thing as you? I mean, AARP sells ads, but you're trying to reach this audience? Yeah. It's funny you asked earlier what one of my frustrations was. That could be another one, right? Seeing marketing is either the 30-somethings or the much older, old demographic and not thinking about us in our 50s and 60s and what we look like, or realistically thinking about us in our 50s and 60s, right? I have friends that have college students as children.

And then I am not alone as a mother with a 12-year-old, right? And so 50s and 60s can look a lot different, but we don't see ourselves in marketing. We don't see ourselves in advertisements. We don't see ourselves in films portrayed the way we actually are.

Yeah. I'm expecting that will change. I don't know.

But I also once wrote in a blog post that I feel like I might be ageist against myself. Like, yeah. I mean, the idea that maybe I'm just... This notion of stubbornly young is like a defense mechanism.

It's my personal fight against becoming old-minded. And it's more of a mindset as opposed to a physical thing. I feel things once in a while in my body.

But are people my age, do you think, A, sort of age... Like, do they think that way? Am I an outlier in your experience? You know, we have this program. I should have mentioned this earlier. We have this program here in Colorado called the 50 Plus It's a Mindset, where we talk about, as you're in your 50s and 60s, like, how do you think about yourself? And do you think about yourself as young, vibrant, active? Or do you feel like you think about yourself as getting older? Because if you choose the former, you know, you are going to be able to relate more, be more engaged, I think, live a longer, healthier life.

Yeah. So in your opinion, do you think we should be rebranding aging? Oh, for sure. What would that look like? To me, I am excited to be aging, right? What's the alternative? Yes.

So I think getting older is fantastic. And I think we should be celebrating that and celebrating all the different stages of life. Again, I work with volunteers who are 85 that are so sharp, can school me on the things that they are, you know, that they know, and the areas that they're learning.

And I just had a conversation with a member who was in his mid-70s, and he taught me so much about artificial intelligence, right? And so I think we need to think about how we are all branding aging. And it's cool. Yeah.

It's good to get older. Well, and along those lines about being cool, I've noticed in the magazine that you're featuring people in their 60s and 70s on the cover, like Jamie Lee Curtis, who's 66. And I love, I'm a huge fan of Sylvester Stallone.

He's 79. He was on the cover. He looked great.

Awesome. Yeah. And I thought to myself, those casual clothes, they're probably expensive.

But anyway, so, but talk about the idea of bringing those people to the front of your magazine and featuring them. And I'll give you another example. This past weekend, my husband's son and I watched F1.

Have you seen that? Yes. Brad Pitt is 61 years old, and he was pretty awesome in that movie, right? Like that doesn't give you back to your original conversation, part of the conversation we were talking about getting old. He is not getting old.

He looks awesome. Sylvester Stallone is doing great things. Jamie Lee Curtis.

We should be celebrating that. And hopefully that will help us change our perception of what aging is too. You know, I think that's a really, maybe the strongest thing that, in my perception, AARP is doing to rebrand is to put these dynamic people in their 60s and 70s that we, I mean, they're, let's face it, they're aspirational kinds of people.

Right. And you're putting them on the cover. How do they, how does that happen? Do somebody just call up Sylvester Stallone and say, Hey, we want you to cover of AARP? Like, how does that work? Well, first of all, again, it's the most read magazine in the world.

Yes. For real. I'm not kidding.

AARP's magazine is the most widely read magazine in the world. So if I were Sylvester Stallone, I sure as heck would say yes. Yes, of course.

We have a team, our brand team that reaches out and manages all of those relationships and identifies where there's opportunity to highlight celebrities who are aging well, but who wouldn't want to be on the most read magazine in the world? I had no idea. Yes, sir. That it was the most read magazine in the world.

Wow. All right. From your vantage point, what else should we be thinking about as sort of the intersection between AARP and Stubbornly Young? I mean, because look, I already admitted at the very beginning of this conversation that like, I don't even know why I'm doing this.

So what did I, what did we miss? What haven't we talked about about the intersection yet? Well, I guess I would just reiterate that AARP is for everyone, right? And that we are putting out opportunities to engage in things that are relevant to 50 and 60 year olds. So don't think about it just for the discounts. That's great.

If you can get a discount on your eyeglasses or, you know, your insurance, that's fantastic. But AARP is doing a lot of things to help advocate for or work with making our communities walkable or being able to ride your bike if you're a bike enthusiast, right? We are advocating at the local level, state level to create age friendly communities. And by that, I don't mean just, you know, age is an 80 year old, but from eight to 80, how does that look? How can we ensure that if you're an eight year old and you want to ride your bike, that's great.

And if I'm a 75 year old and I want to ride my bike, there are opportunities and places to do that. So AARP is not just, you know, putting out education, but we're helping you stay relevant and up to date on the great things that are happening in the world, learning opportunities, as well as creating an environment that's supportive of us all. Cool.

Well, I think that's a nice note to wrap on. Let's do that. That's it for episode 23 of the Stubbornly Young podcast for people in their 50s, 60s and beyond who want to remain engaged in the world and relevant to the younger people in their lives.

Sarah Schoonman of AARP Colorado, glad to be part of Stubbornly Young. And you are yourself stubbornly young. Hang in there with us.

Good. I'm Dave Tabor. If you've got friends and family who are stubbornly young, please recommend that they give it a And if you've got ideas for episodes and content, let me know.

I'm at Dave at StubbornlyYoung.com. Glad you joined me on the journey.