ABSTRACT
So reported Maddie Kent Dychwald of Age Wave LLC1 during a two-hourlong Presidential “closed door industry leadership” meeting at the 1998 International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association’s (IHRSA)2 Annual Conference held in Phoenix Arizona. Designed as a forum to discuss the impact of emerging market forces on industry opportunities and possibilities, the “closed door” seminar is one of the key annual business services that IHRSA, as a trade association, provides to its leading North American and International corporate members. During the meeting Dychwald meticulously pointed out that America is in the midst of a massive demographic shift of immense political, economic, and cultural consequence. She noted that between the years 1995 to 2005 the 0 to 17 age category of the American population would increase by 13 percent. In contrast, the 18 to 34 age group, the market so coveted by current advertisers, would decrease by 8 percent. Alternatively, the 35 to 54 age group would increase by 29 percent while the 55 age group would increase by 13 percent.
