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AARP is going after the
Hispanic senior market with a mid-seven-figure initiative.
In 2003, 4 million of AARP's 130 million
direct mail solicitations will be sent to Hispanic seniors, using a
bilingual control package that beat the organization's national control
effort by 20%.
AARP has plenty of room to expand within
this market. When the company did an initial database audit, it found that
only 16% of U.S. Hispanics over age 50 were members.
Another program, aimed at signing up
older African Americans, is being expanded from 1.8 million pieces in 2002
to 2.5 million pieces in 2003. This effort will more on prospect targeting
and less on a total overhaul of its creative.
The new Hispanic control package
followed several failed creative tests, including a "glitzy and
hip" mailer.
"We're a non-profit
organization," said Nancy Franklin, director of membership
development at AARP, speaking at the National Center for Database
Marketing conference. "The public doesn't respond to efforts like
that from us."
Spanish-only solicitations also pulled a
poor response because Hispanic seniors will occasionally rely on children
and grandchildren, who have a better grounding in English, to read their
mail and conduct transactions.
The need for clear information was
especially germane to this effort. Some Hispanic segments had to be
introduced to the organization, and required more information within the
letter than the national control.
The community's priorities are also
different, and Hispanic-oriented communications tend to focus on financial
security and health and insurance services. |
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