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The aging population in the United States makes skill in marketing to the mature consumer increasingly important. The biophysical and psychosocial aging process creates a need for specific strategies to address the changes brought on by age. Attempts to ascertain the degree to which the financial services industry recognizes some of the needs of the elderly market and the degree to which marketing programs are addressing these needs. The results show that financial services marketers have been slow in implementing strategies which might help them better attract and serve the mature consumer, when compared with other industries. While this industry has done an excellent job in developing products which appeal to older consumers, they appear to be lacking in special assistance to mature consumers and training to support such assistance. Provides managerial implications stressing specific areas for improvement.

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Case analyses have been widely used in many different settings as a pedagogical tool that provides realistic analogs for encouraging students to develop managerially relevant skills. This article extends the traditional use of published cases and describes the development of Web-based cases for use in marketing courses. Web-based cases require the student to develop a current case by determining relevant company and industry material from Internet sources, identifying a problem, and providing analysis. Through this method, the student becomes more active in the learning process by being, in effect, both case writer and analyzer. This new type of case is compared with traditional cases, and feedback from the instructor and from students is provided. As an adjunct to traditional published cases, Web-based cases offer up-to-date, diverse case material that presents students with challenging, real-word experiences.