How can a conference in the heart of the Silicon Valley proceed without wireless Internet access? I don’t know, but that was the only disappointing aspect of yesterday’s Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit. The technology gap kept me from blogging the event, but I took good notes. It will take me a few days to plow through it all, but I’ll be posting highlights over the next few days.

Mary Furlong & Associates put on a high-energy event. The highlight is the awarding of $10,000 checks for best business plans targeting Boomers–one in a general category and one healthcare-specific plan. Ten outstanding finalists pitched their plans to a panel of judges. In in the general category, a key theme seemed to be ideas that deliver  simplicity, save time or reduce the time in accessing technology. In healthcare, there were exciting entries from top univerisites including Stanford,  UC Berkeley and John Hopkins. The startups wanted to solve problems ranging from disability from stroke to presbyopia (the need for reading glasses).

The winners:

• Healthcare: SeroNostics, a UC Berkeley-based venture, is developing a hand-held diagnostic device that allows physicians to quickly analyze bodily fluids and diagnose diseases such as influenza.
• General: World Hearing Organization, a San Jose, CA-based venture, is developing mobile centers that come to hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare venues to test patients’ hearing and sell hearing aids at discounted prices.

Keynote speaker at the summit was Piper Jaffray Senior Internet Analyst Safa Rashtchy. Theme: the Internet has arrived as the dominant medium of our time. He discussed the explosive combination of communications and entertainment (“communitainment” sites such as MySpace and YouTube) and the dramatic fragmentation and decline of traditional media brands. One interesting stat: Piper forecasts that search-based advertising will grow from the current $15.8 billion to a $44.5 billion market over the next five years. Total global online advertising will hit $81 billion by 2011. Daily use of the Internet in American homes now is second only to television, and 40% of consumers told Piper they’d choose the Web over television if forced to choose one or the other.Where will Boomers fit into this overall picture? Rashtchy noted they’re already the largest single user group on the Internet, accounting for about 38 percent of total users.

As an online audience, he said, Boomers are:

• A sophisticated audience. They’re more in control of their consumption of information than the norm.
• Purposeful in their use of the Internet. Boomers expect to get something done, “gain a value.”
• Resistant to push ads, and intolerant of bad or busy interfaces (who isn’t?)
• More willing to give a single media channel time and attention. There’s less fragmentation than among younger people. If you have a clear message that is concise and not overcrowded, Boomers will pay attention.
• Putting a value on their time and willing to spend.

Here are Rashtchy’s rules for winning Boomers online:

• Focus on your value proposition and simplicity—solve everyday problems for users.
• Create strong brand by gaining Boomers’ trust.
• Include all Boomer demographic segments in online media and marketing. We’ll all need online information and services, not only the affluent.
• Remember that users are in control, so respect their knowledge.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 6:25 pm and is filed under Advertising, Boomer Venture Summit, Marketing, Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.