In her new book, Disrupt Aging: Living Your Best Life at Every Age, AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins examines the ongoing existence of negative perceptions around aging and identifies paths forward – especially related to health, wealth and self – that enable people to live their best life at every age. Jenkins' goal is to change what it means to age – to disrupt aging by changing the stories we tell ourselves.
In the wake of the book's release, AARP partnered with the digital engagement strategists at HelloWorld to spread the word on the emerging Disrupt Aging movement and get a dialogue going.
On May 1, 2016, AARP and HelloWorld launched the Own Your Age Sweepstakes, inviting people to join the conversation and choose how they want to live and age. The campaign offered a chance to win one of three trips of a lifetime – a voyage on the Orient Express across Europe, a Viking River dream cruise, or a Broadway getaway to NYC as part of a grand prize drawing, as well as dozens of prizes that could be won instantly, such as Amazon gift cards.
So, did we start a conversation? Did we ever! This promotion was a successful way to measure engagement with the mission and the Disrupt Aging message. With 265,156 people registering for the campaign, we saw this group logging in 762,110 times to re-engage.
Bonus chances to win the grand prize could be earned for taking a poll, making a Disrupt Aging pledge, and playing games – to the tune of an aggregate 2,850,810 sweepstakes entries earned! Over 142,000 registrants submitted their own ideas and advice on how to disrupt aging in a user-generated content tactic called "Note to Self" – reminders on how to change the stories we tell ourselves.
Twitter activity was up 52% for the broader #DisruptAgaing hashtag during the dates this campaign was live, and AARP received 140,000 new subscriptions to their Disrupt Aging newsletter!
