Grandparents.com Reaches Millions of Seniors, Finds Trouble Marketing Services

Grandparents.com, Inc. (OCTBB: GPCM) announced that it will utilize its insurance division to market to its growing membership-base. 

On September 9, 2012—Grandparent’s Day—the company launched its newly designed website, increasing its membership from approximately 350,000 members to nearly 2 million by year-end. 

In December of 2012, the company entered into a marketing agreement with Humana Inc. Under the agreement, Grandparents.com began advertising Humana insurance products such as Humana Medicare Advantage, Humana Prescription Drug Plans, Humana Medicare Supplement Insurance plans, and HumanaOne dental and vision plans. 

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The company’s growing popularity even earned them a #8 spot on the ranks of the Top 10 Most Shared Brands on Facebook, as well as adding spokespersons Larry King and Deepak Chopra. 

Despite these successes, Grandparents.com says it continues to face “substantial financial challenges,” specifically in its online advertising efforts. 

“Although our membership ranks have increased dramatically, our advertising revenue has significantly declined compared to the previous year,” the company stated.

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The decline, according to the company, is due in part to challenges in the digital advertising industry, such as pricing pressures for ad placement on the Internet. 

While the company says it has not been able to generate significant revenue from its online advertising endeavors to date, it does expect to see the results of its marketing efforts come to fruition in 2013 and beyond. 

Heading into 2013, Grandparents.com continues to seek capital to fund ongoing operations.

Since the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2012, the company raised $950,000 under a secured bridge loan and an additional $600,000 on an unsecured basis, primarily from its Board of Directors and an advisor the the company, Grandparents.com stated. 

Grandparents.com is currently the #2 website in the age 50+ segment of the population, and a social media marketing company reaching its demographic group of the 70 million grandparents in the U.S. 

Written by Jason Oliva

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