The IMMN Board is pleased to announce the addition of Michelle Bauer, President & Chief Strategist of Common Language, a St. Petersburg, FL-based public relations and strategic communications firm.

Crew Media, the media services company owned and operated by Continuum Crew announced April 28 that it had acquired the baby boomer-focused online social networking site Eons.com and baby boomer online advertising network Eons BOOM Media.

Founded in 2006 by Jeff Taylor, the creator of Monster.com, Eons is an online social networking site serving the baby boomer generation. Eons has more than 800,000 registered users, and is the anchor site in the Eons BOOM Media network of 26 websites, whose combined monthly visits are more than four million.

"Members of the large Eons community are loyal, actively participate in groups and engage one another—presenting a great opportunity to collect insights and deliver those to advertisers," said Lori Bitter, President and CEO, Continuum Crew and Crew Media. "Maintaining the Eons forum and enabling it to further thrive is vital to that discourse and to serving mature consumers. The addition of Eons and Eons BOOM Media to the Continuum Crew portfolio is a next step that demonstrates our commitment to helping businesses build lasting and profitable relationships with mature consumers, by bringing those opportunities to Continuum Crew clients and stakeholders to motivate their boomer and senior customers to engage with their brands."

"Continuum Crew with its 40-plus client focus is the perfect market match for our vibrant community and focus on the boomer consumer," said Jeff Taylor, founder of Eons.com. "I can't wait to watch the next chapter unfold as the Eons audience meets an exciting new leader in the boomer and senior marketplace."

In the coming weeks, additional news will be announced by Crew Media pertaining to a strategic media sales partnership for Eons.com and the Eons BOOM Media network.

Read the open letter from Lori Bitter to the members of the Eons community.

For potential advertisers interested in learning more about custom social marketing and advertising opportunities on Eons.com and in the Eons BOOM Media network, contact salesinfo@eons.com. To learn more about Crew Media contact Kate at 415-295-4575 ext. 7.

Generation Reinvention is a weekly one-hour radio program on the WeEarth Radio Network (WGRN) with host and IMMN board member Brent Green. Listen at wgrnradio.com .

This weekly one-hour radio program gives listeners astute glimpses into the future that Boomers are busily reinventing, from astonishing advancements in healthy aging to cohousing communities focused on maintaining independence and relevance. In this engaging search for business opportunities and solutions to myriad challenges related to societal aging, listeners can expect lively, thought-provoking, occasionally humorous debates. Leading experts in fields as diverse as neuroscience, product branding and encore careers bring their unique perspectives into lively conversations as host Brent Green searches with them for obvious and hidden signposts of significant change.

Listeners can also expect to find out how they can improve marketing communications, product and service development, nonprofit value, and public policies, while discovering emerging opportunities for personal reinvention and business creation. The next few chapters of western society will include Baby Boomers as leading protagonists as Generation Reinvention continues to change the meaning of business, marketing, aging, and consumerism.

IMMN advisor Hiroyuki (Hiro) Murata, who is President of Murata Associates, Inc., Professor at Tohoku University and CEO of Center for Studies on Ageing Societies, was appointed as an Advisor for KARP (Korean Association of Retired Persons) on May 5. KARP said he is their first Japanese appointed Advisor.

Hiro was also recently interviewed by AARP Prime Time Radio. It is available for listening at aarp.org

The first Asia Pacific eCare & TeleCare Congress was held June 17 to 18 in Hong Kong, and Hiro presented as a keynote speaker. He is available for speaking engagements to share the lessons learned on the business of ageing in Japan. He can be reached at hiro@hiroyukimurata.jp

Kisco's social network was launched summer of 2010 starting with just two pilot communities on Facebook. Initially created to expand Kisco's web presence, Facebook was used to showcase and share community events, resident stories, and noteworthy news to family members of residents. For Mother's Day, sons and daughters of residents submitted pictures and stories of why their mother was "More than a Mom" on Kisco's Facebook page.

Now all Kisco communities are on Facebook, with each page featuring community photos, a calendar of activities, and upcoming events. The network also features a YouTube channel with community tour video as well as a Twitter account and blog with updates on the senior living industry.

To get interactive with Kisco Senior Living's Social Media Network, go to:

facebook.com/kiscoseniorliving
twitter.com/kiscoseniors
youtube.com/kiscocommunities
kiscoseniorliving.blogspot.com

2011 may be the tipping point of the business opportunities in aging, with approximately 78 million baby boomers in the US hitting their peak of earning and spending. From the health care debate to the adoption of the iPad, to network executives recognizing the gold in the mature consumer target, there has been a great shift in focus on the aging of our country's citizens, and the rest of the developed world. The volume is increasing on conversations nationwide about the implications of an aging population; such as the concept of aging in place and livable design, the challenges for caregivers and innovation in technologies serving elders.

New agencies, consultants, publishers and products emerge daily - all working to reach this important demographic. With this increased focus comes a burgeoning need for research, insight and thought leadership to inform strategy and practices. With this program Lori Bitter turns a spotlight on areas of business in the aging opportunity, from caregiving and product design to housing trends and social entrepreneurship and legacy. Through her interviews with experts in these areas—contributors to the program are the smartest analysts, entrepreneurs and businesspeople focusing on aging consumers and their needs—she illuminates the current research, best resources and practices created to fill the needs of the mature market, and translates the trends and data into actionable strategies for listeners.

Find out each week how the aging majority is shaping the zeitgeist of the country and creating a seismic shift in our worldview and ramifications for business, creating opportunities for all types of goods and services.

Continuum Crew, an integrated communication firm focused on mature consumers which is led by IMMN President Lori Bitter, moved its office from San Francisco to an expansive space at 2200 Powell Street in Emeryville, California on May 31.

"Emeryville is an ideal location for our crew—it accommodates our greater number of staff and our offices look out over the San Francisco Bay," said Lori Bitter, President and CEO, Continuum Crew. "It is astounding to me when I think that less than two years ago we opened Continuum Crew and didn't think we would outgrow our San Francisco space for quite some time, and today we are more than double our original staff size. We are proud to have attracted over this short time such talented people through our agency work and environment."

Currently Continuum Crew has a staff size of 14, with a newly added office in Minneapolis, MN.

Speaker David Cravit, EVP of Zoomer Media Ltd., discusses rebranding aging in Canada and rapid growth of the Zoomer integrated multimedia platform. Canada is looking at aging Boomers with an eye toward opportunity. One of that nation's media leaders has adopted a coined work called Zoomers. That means Boomers with Zip. This fundamental branding idea has become the rallying cry and reason for existence for a multimedia organization called ZoomerMedia, Ltd.

In Canada, adults 40+ are 14.5 million strong, representing 54 percent of all Canadians 12 years and older. Zoomers earn 51 percent of household income and control 60 to 80 percent of all consumers spending. Rather than seeing an aging country as a problem, executives at ZoomerMedia perceive the opportunities of aging as they've worked to create a media empire. Combined these media properties form one of the largest integrated media platforms targeting adults 45+ in the world. David Cravit will explain what Canadians have accomplished and how they've done it.

Get more information and register for the webinar here.

The huge American baby boom generation is entering retirement just as the economy has pivoted in a direction most didn't anticipate. The housing crash, high jobless rate, faltering entitlement programs and volatile stock markets have created new challenges for a generation that had been somewhat blasé in its approach to retirement planning in the pre-crash days. Now, Boomers are struggling to adjust to what is shaping up as a prolonged period of economic challenge. Join us as retirement journalist and author Mark Miller discusses his book, The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work and Living. He'll outline the key trends affecting Boomers' personal finances, career and lifestyle trends.

More information to come via email to members, including registration link.

Mark Miller is a journalist and author who writes about trends in retirement and aging. He has a special focus on how the baby boomer generation is revising its approach to careers, money and lifestyle after age 50. Mark writes Retire Smart, a syndicated weekly newspaper column and also is a retirement columnist for Reuters.com, Morningstar.com and Registered Rep magazine. Mark is the author of The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work and Living. He also is the author of a chapter on aging audiences and the U.S. newspaper industry that appears in the The Silver Market Phenomenon: Business Opportunities in an Era of Demographic Change. Mark edits and publishes RetirementRevised.com, featured as one of the best retirement planning sites on the web in the May 2010 issue of Money Magazine. He also writes regularly for The Huffington Post and CBS Moneywatch. He is the former editor of Crain's Chicago Business and Sunday editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, and wrote op-ed columns for both publications on business and economic affairs. He was the founding editor of Satisfaction, a Chicago-area Boomer lifestyle magazine owned by Tribune Co. Mark is principal of 50+Digital LLC, a multimedia publishing company dedicated to serving the information needs of the Baby Boom generation. The company develops, launches and operates advertising-supported media properties for interactive and print media. 50+Digital also provides consulting services to other media organizations focused on the Boomer market. The company works with a broad range of non-profit groups on interactive strategy.