Seniors Get Hooked By MSN TV Workshops

THOSE 55 AND YOUNGER need not apply.

MSN TV has launched a grassroots campaign to tout its television-enabled Web and e-mail service to seniors, delivering the product and a workshop directly to older Americans on their own home turf: hundreds of senior centers and a large retirement community.

The company is putting $500,000 into the three-month push — which began in February and runs through April — and plans to drop more dollars into the marketing bucket if it proves successful.

The first stop: The Villages, a self-contained retirement community in Florida with more than 32,000 residents. MSN TV will advertise in the village-owned newspaper as well as on its TV and radio stations. Some 10,000 door-knob hangers will be left on residents' doors with a brochure, an eight-minute video of customer testimonials and a $25 rebate coupon. Multiple one-hour workshops will be conducted by Wunderman, San Francisoc, MSN TV's creative agency, with a focus on the product as well as education. Seniors will hear tutorials on how to use e-mail to stay in touch with family and friends and how to use the Internet for its whole host of benefits, including finding lost friends and researching genealogy. Attendees will have a chance to try the equipment, which sells for $99 at retail. The service is a combination of a set-top box and a $21.95 monthly fee, which enables users to use their TVs to send and receive e-mail and access the Web.

“You can say how easy and affordable it is to use, but until they can see it for themselves and touch the product they aren't convinced,” says Scott Crissman, marketing manager for MSN TV.

The second effort targets 800 community centers throughout the country through a partnership with Golden Age Entertainment, which provides audio programming specifically designed for active seniors. The programming plays through a reproduction of a 1944 floor model wood-encased radio and will include advertisements for MSN TV. Workshops, conducted by Golden Age, will be held at the centers.

Posters, take-one stands with rebate coupons and pamphlets are used around The Villages and senior centers. The creative message focuses on reconnecting with friends and family through the Internet and e-mail.

The campaign expands an effort begun two years ago to reach seniors via TV, radio and print advertisements.