Nancy Shonka Padberg

I was in Phoenix recently for meetings with advertising agencies and had lunch with my father and his friends. The conversation turned to travel - from adventure, to cruises to golf. Now is a good time to mention the majority of people at lunch were in their 60's and 70's - one dynamic couple had gone sky diving on multiple occasions! Many had enjoyed cruising to the Mediterranean, Panama Canal, Greece and Italy.

As marketers, we know that consumers ages 45 + have the desire and resources to travel. Boomer consumers purchase 80% of the luxury travel and over 60% have their passports. There is a pent up demand for travel from years of our recession. Confidence is growing and travel planning is beginning to rise.

Here are several categories of travel that are hot among baby boomers:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-shonka-padberg/consumers-ages-45-love-to-travel_b_1609870.html#slide=1116565

Are you a superannuitant?  According to Age Concern and Grey Power we need at least another $30+ a week to get by...

The Keep Our Assets campaign is gaining momentum – it already has nearly 160,000 signatures which by any standard for petitions, is big. The campaign’s website is http://keepourassets.org.nz/ and they want more signatures. What’s notable about the campaign copy here is that it is reasoned as opposed to being doctrinaire. It’s commonsense as opposed to ideology which in turn is business driven.  Here’s a sample on the economic aspects of the move:

‘The National Government’s plan to sell 49% of the publicly-owned energy companies – Genesis, Meridian, Mighty River, and Solid Energy – and a third of the public’s shares Air NZ is bad for the economy. Here’s why...

• Condoms at the Olympics
• Media savvy David Shearer
• France floored

Paul Smith

Watching the Olympics in Australia was like witnessing a drama in which hubris was the lead player. The Aussies are tough on sports people, especially their own. They are, despite niggling from Kiwis, fantastic sportsmen and women. Back home from Oz a local chemist told me he had been a rugby ref over there and had once spent a week at the Australian Institute of Sport where elite athletes are trained.  

“What was it like?” I asked.

 “A bit like boot camp” he said with a smile. “Really tough”. What he admired most about all the sports players was that they never gave up. 

But that do-or-die attitude comes at a cost...

Susan McKessar

Last month I was in London where I expected to see the locals following that grand British tradition - burying their heads in newspapers or books while in transit. These days though, expectations along with everything else, have to keep pace with technological change.  

I saw  Londoners immersed in their glowing tablets while on the Tube. I'd even been handed an e-reader to examine by a friendly Brit who'd noted my interest. I looked at it doubtfully. Had the wheel really been re-invented? Could this cold little gadget replace a love affair with paper and ink?

• Remote interest
• Newsdesk ho-hum
• Twits that tweet
• The perfect paper clip
• Soused with love