My mom is your target demographic so let me know if you want to add a sassy, energetic 73 (going on 37) year old to your beta test group once you are also live on the Android platform.
In answer to your question, here are a couple ideas:
(1) Contact active senior living communities. They are springing up everywhere and the seniors opting for these communities are going to tend to be energetic, into new things and more financially well off. Most, if not all, of these communities have e-mail lists and calendars of events and activities that they send out to the residents every week or month because one of their selling points is that they offer fun and unique things to keep the residents active and having fun. See if you can get them to feature your games in their e-mails or newsletters. These are all over the country. Just google "active senior living communities" and similar key phrases. (Note: These are different from "nursing homes" so emphasis on "active.")
(2) This is probably tougher if you're not really into marketing and "selling yourself," but, do PR. From the local to national level there are great opportunities. Thousands of local newspapers still print everyday or every week and might find a feature about your game apps cool. But you'd have to craft it into a story that is enticing and verifiable (e.g. "A growing trend you wouldn't expect: Senior gamers"). On this page you can find local newspapers by state and start contacting them – or hire a PR rep – to pitch your story: http://www.usnpl.com. Even at the national level there are great opportunities. For example, Hoda Kotb and Kathy Lee Gifford do the last hour of the Today show on NBC and they are always featuring apps that make like easier or more fun. Plus, Kathy Lee is your target demographic (she just turned 60 and they celebrated on the show) so see if you can pitch the producers. Try CNN too – especially on weekends their demographic skews to 50+. And, of course, pitch AARP. ;-)
Chris, love that you are putting energy and effort into promoting your philosophy. I am not an engineer, nor do I live in the bay area, so I am not a good fit for your offer. Sending good vibes and supportive energy your way, though!
The US government spying on citizens is not new at all. It has happened for as long as our nation has been one.
It may be more insidious now because the technology to aggregate spying on "we the people" is available. Welcome to the truly post-privacy era.
Furthermore, the average person is not outraged by this. Cue the shock and awe for one to ten minutes after the biggest breaking stories about it and after that, for the common (wo)man, its all yawns.
Plus, it is quite a dilemma. How does the government protect against terrorism while trying to protect the citizens' privacy when a citizen, or anyone moving among us citizens, could be a terrorist or sympathizer?
The intent is not bad but what could come of this kind of stealthy access is bad if it falls into the wrong hands or becomes guided by ill-intent.
>The US government spying on citizens is not new at all. It has happened for as long as our nation has been one.
The mission and organisational capability of the government as changed dramatically. Nations in the late 18th Century (1776+) didn't have intelligence agencies per se. Some had military intelligence that was focused outward and they had various figures and organisations that would informally engage in domestic espionage usually in an extremely targeted fashion. Remember that formal police departments didn't exist until the 20th Century. Most of what we think of as the Government didn't exist in your Great-Grandfathers time. None the following existed in the US in my Great-Grandfathers time:
1. Intelligence agencies CIA/NSA/CSS/NRO,
2. Dept. of Defense,
3. Welfare,
4. Police Local, State, FBI, DHS,
5. FDA (Drugs were unregulated),
6. Income Tax/IRS,
7. EPA and consumer protection agencies,
8. Public Education in its present form,
9. Federal Reserve Bank
The US Federal Government was the Postal Service to most citizens. It is really important to understand that we are living at the height of Federal power in the history of the US.
The closest thing that Europe pre-18th Century had to the NSA was the Inquisition and it was more focused on "investigation".
Knowing in advance that the intent is to read my mail feels icky and invasive. Google did not start out reading our mail; their approach was a classic case of the slow-boiled toad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog).
Perhaps you should gain users confidence and trust first by NOT reading their mail and giving them an opportunity to become reliant on the service. At less than 0.50 per piece, postal mail is not so expensive that it weights a risk/benefit analysis in your favor with this model. Most people would probably opt to just continue paying for their mail versus having it read. (Also, not sure people want to create bad friend karma -- ha! -- by having their friends spammed with "junk" mail.)
Moving from critiquing to finding a more viable option: I think you can still make money with this upfront by "skinning" the mail with fully printed ad envelopes (obviously with windows for the addresses to show) paid for by general consumer advertisers who don't have as much of a need for making sure they are hitting a niche group.
Once, and if, you gain a critical mass of users then you could introduce the "read" option with some kind of incentive to get people to opt-in. At least they will trust you more by that time, theoretically. And you could then sign up more advertisers including niche marketers.
The current model is not palatable -- unless it were used by a small business/entrepreneur that is sending marketing mail and therefore does not care if it is read (but that then poses a problem of them potentially having a competitor's materials inserted with their materials). If the model remains as is I would have to say #schnailmailfail.
In answer to your question, here are a couple ideas:
(1) Contact active senior living communities. They are springing up everywhere and the seniors opting for these communities are going to tend to be energetic, into new things and more financially well off. Most, if not all, of these communities have e-mail lists and calendars of events and activities that they send out to the residents every week or month because one of their selling points is that they offer fun and unique things to keep the residents active and having fun. See if you can get them to feature your games in their e-mails or newsletters. These are all over the country. Just google "active senior living communities" and similar key phrases. (Note: These are different from "nursing homes" so emphasis on "active.")
(2) This is probably tougher if you're not really into marketing and "selling yourself," but, do PR. From the local to national level there are great opportunities. Thousands of local newspapers still print everyday or every week and might find a feature about your game apps cool. But you'd have to craft it into a story that is enticing and verifiable (e.g. "A growing trend you wouldn't expect: Senior gamers"). On this page you can find local newspapers by state and start contacting them – or hire a PR rep – to pitch your story: http://www.usnpl.com. Even at the national level there are great opportunities. For example, Hoda Kotb and Kathy Lee Gifford do the last hour of the Today show on NBC and they are always featuring apps that make like easier or more fun. Plus, Kathy Lee is your target demographic (she just turned 60 and they celebrated on the show) so see if you can pitch the producers. Try CNN too – especially on weekends their demographic skews to 50+. And, of course, pitch AARP. ;-)
-Felicia Joy