AARP is trying to shave a couple of decades off its traditional target market with today's launch of a personal finance website for folks in their 20s and 30s.
The organization, which mainly offers resources for those 50 and older, wants to expand its brand to younger consumers (and potential future members) as well as give advice to children and grandchildren who rely on their AARP-member relatives for financial assistance. Nearly 70% of AARP members provided some level of financial support to their adult children, according to an AARP survey from April 2007.
LifeTuner.org offers up tips from financial experts as well as calculators to help people budget and determine ways to trim debt. It also has social-networking functions on which they can share their financial struggles and successes.
The service is free, and AARP won't accept advertising, but it could eventually create revenue by providing for-pay premium content, as well as possibly licensing the service to others, says Diane Ty, AARP senior vice president and leader of the LifeTuner project.
The site took more than a year to produce, Ty says.
One issue AARP faced: how to play up its credibility with retirement issues yet not have it look like advice coming from "old people."
The solution: put the AARP logo at the bottom of the site, as well as the line "helping people of all ages to make smarter choices today for a better life tomorrow."
Brent Bouchez, co-founder of the marketing agency Five0, which focuses on consumers 50 and older, says AARP could face a small backlash among some of AARP's 40 million members who pay $16 in annual dues.
Members could ask, "Why are you spending the money that I'm giving you on 20- and 30-year-olds? How is this going to help me?" he says.
Ty says that most members feel that managing personal finances is "a huge inter-generational issue" so they will be able to see the benefit of the new site.
AARP, the nation's largest advocacy organization, does have a financially focused site dedicated to helping existing members at aarp.org/money. It has expert advice and financial calculators but doesn't have a focus on social networking as LifeTuner does.
LifeTuner comes as AARP has been trying to modernize its image.
A decade ago, it ditched the formal American Association of Retired Persons moniker and rebranded itself as AARP. About three years ago, it embarked on a "brand revitalization effort" to position itself as being more than just an organization for retired folks, as about 50% of AARP's members are still working.
As part of that initiative, to promote the social aspects of its membership, it relaunched AARP.org with a cleaner design and ran ads that featured young children talking about the fun that "grown ups" have.
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