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Brain Wave
By: Tama Swan, Associate Editor
Issue: 2009jun
Increasing popularity makes specialty brain gyms a prime new market for promotional products.
Ongoing interest in the fight against the effects of aging has baby boomers and other aging members of the population visiting brain gyms—businesses with names such as Sparks of Genius and Vibrant Brains where members can “workout” using computer programs designed to assess mental fitness and improve cognition.
Consumer spending on brain training was an estimated $80 million in 2007, according to www.sharpbrains.com, a firm that monitors the brain-fitness market. And healthcare and insurance provider sales reached an estimated $65 million the same year, according to the firm.
The popularity is due in large part to a 2006 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association on neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to continuously rewire itself in response to mental activity. The study focused on older adults, but Sharpbrains.com sees demand for cognitive training in schools, athletics and the military on the horizon. In fact some of the approximately 400 brain gyms already in existence work with children as well as adults.
Opportunities for promotional products abound at brain gyms, which often have retail areas, computer labs and lounges stocked with memory-boosting snacks.
Source: www.online.wsj.com
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