At last, there has been a noticeable change in mainstream advertiser’s interest in marketing to older audiences. About time.
Ten years ago I commented that the ratio of media spend to older audiences was disproportionate to their share wallet. Also that most advertising aimed at older audiences, skewed to aged-based products and services rather than age-neutral products. Huge opportunities wasted.
Our belief is that the interest in older audiences was been driven by the Boomers reaching traditional age milestones, such as retirement and saying – “forget the stereotypes, my age does not define me”. Being ageless is driving the mindset. That makes Boomer in particular appealing to advertisers, as they are ‘still with it’ and ‘still want it.’
Corresponding to the consumer’s appetite for spending we have seen a surge of aged based media offerings, especially digital and more creative agencies interested in the space.
Great news and we’d like to share some observations.
As people journey through life their characteristics and value sets tend not to change dramatically based on a birthday. If you have an old-fashioned boring viewpoint in your 20’s you will be just as dull in your 80’s.
For older audiences the most powerful communication strategies are built on a deeper understanding the impact of life experiences and common stages of life such as work, retirement, children, grandchildren, financial and health issues. After living for over 50 years certain needs become more important than in your 20s .
Demographics alone are poor predictors of behaviour and marketeers need to reference from a perspective of psychological maturity – and look at behavioural changes in terms of human development.
As we reach ‘SHOLtime’ (second half-of-life) thoughts and interests tend to be more about self-approval not social approval and marketeers can reap rewards if they study these subtleties. The perfect laboratory for observational research is social media, as sharing strategies and confidence of engagement with social media varies for generations.
In the 2015 Sensis Report the number one reason for using social media for people aged 50+ use social media was to catch up with friends/family and sharing photographs/videos. We have noticed firsthand trends that show people 50+ have doubled their social media activity between 2011 to 2015.
As we develop content we note they are engaging in different ways and styles – take for example travel review sites older audience revel in the ability to share their thoughts (both good and bad) and more likely than younger audiences to do so.
For older audience’s website is their library in the lounge. Directory, review and content rich sites are engaging older audiences for longer periods a prime example searching for holiday destinations.
As older audiences are less likely to trust digital brands and divulge their personal and financial details to brands so companies need to be patient and flexible – older audience will give up with frustration if forced to complete form after form with no hint of a real person prepared to take their call.
Our observation is online customer service is becoming more accepted, but again not the robotic pre-populated answers. Older people tell us they like real chat as they can keep researching without be harassed by sales people with a script to follow for simple question. Perhaps that is not an age-based preference.
From a media perspective there is a growing number of aged-influenced media options, many of these digital offerings are commanding large and highly engaged audiences. Sites like Starts at 60, Over Sixty and WYZA are changing the market dynamics and currency and worth considering on integrated media plan. We think digital essential for most brands but always recommend an integrated approach to cover all campaign touch-points.
Lastly, digital formats drive great ideas.
There is a creative challenge, that as we age there is more products we need rather than want.
Take funeral insurance, incontinence pads and impotence tablets. Digital platforms have improved creative techniques for selling high involvement, informational products and services to the mature market.
Formats force sacrifice and encourage the core emotional need to be captured succinctly in a few words with a supporting image. Then with just one click, the full breath of understanding and justification is delivered on their terms as they refer to the website or view comments in social media.