Dear ‘Life Plan Community’ Naming Committee,
LeadingAge encourages us to start saying ‘life plan community’ instead of CCRC as the generic label or descriptor.
We have concerns:
The new descriptor is a long noun string that is not distinctive, with words commonly used by others unrelated to the subject of senior living. Due to length, are people just going to go to the short but discouraged acronym LPC? This would repeat one of the marketing sins of the continuing care retirement community (CCRC) label. (NameStorm Task Force says we shouldn’t us the LPC acronym. Doesn’t mean people won’t.)
A Life Plan Community is a replacement name for the category currently called Continuing Care Retirement Community.
At a minimum, a Life Plan Community should:
• Offer more than one level of care on a single campus
• Have a focus on an active lifestyle
• Be integrated into the community with an emphasis on giving back and being socially responsible
The goal of the NameStorm Task Force was to develop a name and compelling messaging to engage those older adults who will be seeking services during the next decade and to encourage prospects to enter CCRCs at a younger age. The name change from CCRC to Life Plan Community switches the emphasis from passive care to active living and planning—a shift that appeals to younger, healthier senior adults.
Source: Lifeplancommunity.org
We doubt if big brands will dilute their own messaging and positioning by emphasizing the new descriptor. We really want to see some prominent early adopters and evidence of success. Our fear is that the big guys will just do their own thing based on better market intelligence than what single site or smaller operators can muster. If that happens, it argues against the success of the new label.
We may have doubts about the new name change to Life Plan Community, but we’re interested to see if it flies.
What do you think? Is Life Plan Community a good name? Is it better than CCRC? Could we do better?