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I’m so excited and proud- tonight is the press event for the The Alzheimer’s Project documentary! This will include an advanced screening of “Momentum in Science” (the third part of the four-part series) followed by a panel discussion with a few of the doctors featured in the film.

The Alzheimer’s Project will begin airing on HBO on Sunday, May 10th at 9PM.  Free online streaming of the entire program will also be made available to reach as many people as possible.

The Memory Loss Tapes, the first documentary in the four-part Alzheimer’s Project, will air in May. The series will tackle questions such as:

• How do we form a memory? How do we retrieve a memory? How is this process impaired if you have Alzheimer’s Disease?
• How do you distinguish between Alzheimer’s Disease and normal aging?
• Why is early diagnosis important?
• What can a person do to reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s Disease?
• How close are we to a viable treatment?

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Trigger: The Remembering: Alzheimer’s on HBO

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, affecting as many as five million Americans. But most of what we know about the disease has only been discovered in the last 15 years.

HBO is currently shooting a documentary series to fill the information gap. The four episodes will cover caregiving, Alzheimer’s through the eyes of patients, progress in research, and a children’s program based on executive producer Maria Shriver’s book, What’s Happening to Grandpa?

The Science of Alzheimer’s. I met filmmaker Susan Froemke at the Sun Health Research Institute in Sun City, Arizona. Interviews were scheduled at Sun Health (as well as other top research facilities in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Boston, and San Francisco) with both neurologists and the patients participating in clinical trials.

“Although this series will be considered an HBO documentary, it is more like a public health campaign to educate the audience about Alzheimer’s. We will be exploring the approaches that researchers are taking to find something that maybe could prevent it, and what the latest drug developments are as well.”

Hope for the future. Although there is presently no cure for Alzheimer’s, drug trials may prove invaluable for those already diagnosed. Researchers at Sun Health are testing a vaccine that could slow the growth of the beta-amyloid plaques that destroy the parts of the brain responsible for retaining memories, thinking, and learning. This study is personally very important to me. The vaccine has the potential to help my family and so many others if it becomes a treatment option.

HBO’s series on Alzheimer’s will air in March 2009.

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Trigger: HBO Documentaries

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Trigger: Uninsu(red) by Wendy Dembo
Site: Cool Hunting
Quote: “Last year when the Gap came out with their (red) campaign, the first word that popped into my head, was insu(red)/uninsu(red). They did a few kind of ironic shirts like bo(red) and ti(red), but I wondered why they didn’t make an uninsu(red) shirt.

With insurance looking like it’s going to be the touch point for the 2008 Presidential election, I thought that making these shirts could hopefully get some uninsured kids to think about their need for health insurance, perhaps even the need for universal health care.”

Got a product and you want to know how to most effectively market it? Contact a brand strategy expert.

The UK-based Future Laboratory is at the forefront of spotting market trends. Gone are the days of Baby Boomers and Generation X-ers. The Future Lab has come up with a new way to classify emerging consumer groups.

They call them Culturepreneurs (culture + entrepreneurs), a group of influentials who are actively defining the Culture. These folks represent 5% of the population, but account for 50% of the spending. They can be further categorized as:

• Prime Authentics, who are age 45+ and highly affluent. They navigate towards established brands, and are wary in the age of information overload. Quality comes first.
  

• Young Contrarians are age 18-44, college educated and driven to succeed. They like to debate and learn, gravitate towards new ideas, and feel brands should be experiences.

• Chief Information Architect’s are top-level executives who look beyond the mainstream for sources of inspiration.

No matter which group you belong to, marketing and advertising professionals are paying close attention to your consuming habits. Silly labels aside, it’s clear that the power lies with consumers. Now more than ever before, you have the sway and spending dollars to make or break a brand.

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A recent issue of New York Magazine threw out another hip sounding label for a different kind of phenomenon. Young Invincibles is now being used to describe young Americans who do not have health insurance.
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Trigger: ‘The Young Invincibles’ by David Amsden
Quote: “‘Young invicibles’ [are] those who, betting they can get through their twenties relatively unscathed ‘choose’ to go without insurance. They are the fastest-growing segment of America’s uninsured population.”