3 LION Magazine

LION Magazine

2009.09.11

LION Magazine staff:

You have done a good job of updating it.   You have brightened the layout, using some cool graphics and mix of text and photographs.  I do miss the jokes, but I can get those somewhere else.  This ongoing updating of the magazine can be better

On page 45 of the September 2009 issue, you published this astute observation:

‘…no club can be rebuilt without bringing in new, younger members.  And traditionalists have to accept that young adults have different expectations for their charitable activities.’ 

This quote got me to thinking about the apparent target readership: old people. 

1. The largest ads in the current issue address the concerns of old people. 
• A computer for you not your grandkids
• A hearing aid battery service
• Hearing aids
• Kid and grandpa-type Lion
2. You have promoted increased use of computer-assisted-tools for Lions activities and have neglected to provide online contact information for the folks listed in the masthead.   Old folks might be OK with using the phone or mail to communicate.  Will the folks you want to attract be OK with that?

I think that if you must run ads that target elderly readers, they could be more function-related and less age-oriented.  You look at that ad about the computer, and you tell me that younger prospective Lions who see it are going think of themselves as Lions.  On the other hand, the ad copy could promote features as being suitable for any new computer user.  Instead of talking about retirement homes, the copy could talk about how it is only available through its manufacturer.

Many folks see hearing aids and batteries as something that old folks need.   I have used hearing aids and batteries myself.  When I looked at the ads, I still found me thinking that they were aimed at elderly readers.

The kid and grandpa-type Lion ad concluded the series of promoting old Lions.  Without the preceding ads, the Lions ad would have been portraying just another part of Lion life. Three of the four ads leading up to the Lions ad were about old folks concerns.  Old folks are often concerned about grandkids.  A reader might conclude from the ads that Lions are old folks and their grandkids. 

I realise that the advertisers pay for the full-page ads.  You want to attract younger Lion prospects; you either work with your advertisers or get other ads. If you promote twenty-first century technology, how about you provide twenty-first century contact info?

We Lions need to live more in tune with new younger prospects and accept that they have different ways of seeing and living Lion life.  We need to act on that acceptance. 

Lion Doc Ellis

619578

Acton CA LIONS Club