The story of Kentucky Fried Chicken is a fascinating one for certain.
Imagine you manage a brand that has "fried" in the name when an entire culture deems that word to be equal to an early death. The meaning of your name has changed, right under your feet. So what do you do?
Change your name to KFC. Okay, but the "fried" seems to stick around because, well, you do fry your chicken. Hard to avoid. Then, with what seems to be enough time (to someone) you start to refer to yourself as Kitchen Fresh Chicken. Okay, smart strategy but really needed about 100 years to execute (the approximate time for the "fried" generation to expire).
Speaking of expiration dates, let’s talk about AARP. American Association of Retired Persons is a powerful and respected brand with a large audience.
But, for those of us under 40 and perhaps some over 40 it has different meaning. And, when AARP starts to market to us, it might feel like facing the stages of grief (denial, anger, acceptance, etc.). Denial being the stage this author is immersed in presently.
But, what if AARP took a page out of the KFC brand strategy handbook?
American Association of Rewired Persons. Yes, Rewired. Because who’s really retiring after this financial meltdown, really? We’ll get to an age where we decide to do what we want to do for income not what we need to do for income. Rewire our career, not retire. Think about it AARP. We’ll still need you as our advocate and friend in this next stage of life, we’ll just see it different.