Educating adland - is the advertising industry finally discovering the older consumer?

Citation

Lavery, K. (1999), "Educating adland - is the advertising industry finally discovering the older consumer?", Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, Vol. 5 No. 6/7/8. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmpams.1999.15505fab.001

Educating adland - is the advertising industry finally discovering the older consumer?

Educating adland ­ is the advertising industry finally discovering the older consumer?

Kevin LaveryExecutive Creative Director, Millennium Direct, Millennium ADMP plc, UK

Keywords Advertising, Age discrimination, Older consumers, Marketing strategy

It is a startling fact that two-thirds of all the people who have ever lived to be over 65, in the entire history of the world, are alive today. It is also a fact that the 50+ market is the only section of the UK population that is actually growing. But more than this, they hold an estimated 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the country's wealth, account for 30 per cent of consumer spending and 60 per cent of total savings. In spite of this profitable profusion, they are all too often fenced off by marketers and their agencies as old tortoises with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana skin. What is more they do not like it!

86.5 per cent of people over the age of 50 thought that TV advertising failed to portray their age group well.

This was the clear finding of a recent research questionnaire sent out to 750,000 50+ people by the Millennium Research Bureau. What is more, the IPA's own research has found that "The over 50s share a strong sense of alienation from the world portrayed by advertising". According to a study by the Center for Mature Consumers in the USA, nearly one-third of people over 55 have actually boycotted products of companies they felt had improper use of stereotyping in their advertisements.

Research by the Advertising Association shows that those who like advertising most are aged 16-24 who, unlike those aged over 50, have the least disposable income of all adults surveyed. This suggests a rather strange marketing paradox: those who like advertising most have the least money to spend on it; those who like advertising less have the most money to respond to it. So what is going wrong?

The reasons for this distortion (or delusion) are easily explained. The majority of people who work in advertising are under 50 ­ and the majority of that majority are under 35. Population ageing is one of the few things we can predict accurately, yet despite the demographics, there is still an obsession with youth. Many can count, but can they understand what the numbers reveal? The fault-line runs right through the industry ­ marketing directors in their 30s brief client services people in their 30s, who brief creative people in their 20s, very often with disastrous results. This is not conducive to an empathy with the older generation, so here are some lessons advertisers and their agencies must learn:

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  There is no such thing as an old person ­ at least not to the individual concerned. An older person is simply a young person in an older body.

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  Older people have quite similar aspirations to the young. They like to show off to their friends, buy things to impress, enjoy romances. They too respond to fear, greed, sex, premiums and low prices just like younger folks. More important, they also have the money to do these things.

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  Remember, the greys are just like any cross-section of people. If they were shy and uncommunicative as kids, they will probably still be that way now; the same goes for loud and obnoxious. Age does not change these things.

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  The mature market is a selective one. People who have been around for a good number of years have learned to discriminate between a bargain and a pig in a poke.

How advertising fails the older market

So why does it seem so difficult for advertising agencies to get to grips with the minds and lives of the older consumer? It cannot just be down to the age of advertising folk. Could it be that there are immense mental barriers to be overcome? Is it because most agency people view everyone aged over 50 as being the same? After all, one of the most common mistakes is to assume the 50 plus market is one homogeneous group ­ not, as is the reality, a complex and diverse group with literally thousands of shades of grey.

The advertising and marketing world devotes an incredible amount of energy to drawing out the nuances between the sub-segments of the teenage and young adult markets. No-one who seriously markets to these age groups thinks of them as one homogeneous group. They can take 7 million 15 to 24-year-olds and segment them into literally dozens of groups, yet when it comes to 19 million over-50s, many people simply dismiss them en bloc as the "wrinklies" or just past it.

At Millennium Direct we believe you should not target simply on the basis of age alone, although you do have to start somewhere. To help start the process we have segmented and defined the market as follows:

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  Those aged 50-59, "thrivers".

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  Those aged 60-69, "seniors".

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  Those aged 70+, "elders".

With each group we believe it is important to examine their formative years and then attempt to relate this to the present, which gives a greater understanding of the mindset of the group we are addressing. We also need to separate the fiction from the facts.

Fiction	Fact
The "youth" market is the most free-spending and most influential consumer group.	On average, the over 50-65 consumer outspends their under 50 counterpart by around 20 per cent.
Mature people have limited leisure interests and tend to hold on to their money.	They take more holidays than any other age group and outspend the young on leisure.
Mature consumers are not interested in their appearance.	Greys are spending more and more on bodycare products.
Mature consumers are indifferent to new technology.	In the USA the over-50s are the fastest-growing group online
Everyone over 50 thinks in much the same way.	Difference in attitude between a 50- and 70-year-old can be as great as that between a 20- and 40-year-old.
The only thing you can sell the over-60s are trusses and incontinence pants	They are discriminating shoppers with defined but catholic tastes. Lifestyle is more important than chronological age.
Mature consumers are too unsophisticated to resent the way they are portrayed in advertising.	Research shows they resent atypical "glamorous" models as well as "wrinkly" ones.
Mature consumers have no impact on decision makers	They vote in greater numbers than younger people in the USA 20 per cent of 20-year-olds vote, 30 per cent of 30-year-olds vote, etc. ­ in future 50+ voters will be controlling elections - ignore them at your peril.
Mature consumers stick with products they are used to.	Some sectors report that up to 30 per cent switch brands annually.

One foot in the grave ­ if in doubt the old stereotype will do

But where do inappropriate stereotypes come from? A trawl through some popular and classic British comedy sitcoms (One Foot in the Grave, Dad's Army, Last of the Summer Wine, etc.) show older people as typical stereotypes. It is a world where everyone is incompetent, accident prone or, as in Victor Meldrew's case, has one foot in the grave. These comedies make us laugh of course, but are they also playing their part in reinforcing the view that many people have about older people. We know the stereotypes are not true and that in real life young people do not imagine everyone over 50 to be like the people portrayed in these sitcoms. But, when it comes to advertising, we see creative work from mainstream ad agencies resorting to stereotypical silver-haired models from central casting or featuring a peculiar breed of dotty grandmothers.

How many times have you seen older people used in advertising just to get a laugh ­ or to be the object of fun?

What is missing from many of these advertisements is respect. It is impossible to communicate effectively with people (whatever their age) if you do not pay them the respect they deserve.You also need to listen, then you can engage in a meaningful dialogue. While advertisers should not make the mistake of assuming everyone over the age of 50 has become part of a race apart, it is important that they recognise their changing needs and circumstances. In some recent incentive research for one of our agency clients who targets the 70+ consumer, we tested the suitability of £10-worth of Marks & Spencer vouchers against £10-worth of Boots vouchers. The Boots vouchers won hands down. Why? Because as most panel members said:

There's a Boots on most high streets whilst M&S is often out of town.

Remember, a large proportion of people aged over 70 (elders) do not drive cars, particularly single females.

Marketers and designers must also take into account the physical aspects of ageing and the marketing implications. It is a fact that eyesight deteriorates rapidly over the age of 40, with the retina yellowing and absorbing more light. Put simply, this means that designers should avoid blue, green and purple combinations and use high contrast colours. Press advertisements and printed material should be clear, clean and simple, with a minimum 12 point type size in letters, and coupons that are easy to read and complete. Being aware of these (and many other) basic rules does not mean design cannot be original and innovative. On the contrary, great design always takes into account fundamental guidelines.

The ones who get it right

There is a fabulous commercial for British Meat which shows an older couple (elders) doing everyday things to the soundtrack of Sonny and Cher's "I got you babe". This commercial shows that older people really are just like everyone else. In this advertisement the powerful music, light touches of humour and sympathetic imagery appeal to a very wide audience indeed. I can add to this the Tesco commercials featuring Prunella Scales which bridge a generation gap wonderfully, and what about the Allied Dunbar advertisement aimed at the younger 50 something (thriver)! It shows a father finding a pregnancy testing kit in the bathroom and of course assumes it is his daughter's, only to find it is for his wife! It also acknowledges the fact that sex is not restricted to the young. In fact it reminds me of some recent research carried out in the USA. People were asked "What do you want more of from your 50+ spouse?". Women answered: "More help with the housework". Men answered: "More interesting meals" and "More frequent sex"!

Dispelling the myths

The most popular marketing mythology is that "Youth is the future of my brand", but this is simply not true. The demographics are there for all to see. No matter how successful a company's marketing strategy is, if it is only targeting youth it is targeting a contracting market. Another myth ­ "Older people are set in their ways and therefore are not worth advertising to". Again, not true. All the evidence suggests that older people are as likely or even more likely to switch brands than younger people ­ albeit based on different purchasing criteria.

Some sectors report that up to 30 per cent of their mature customers switch brands annually. This is particularly true of insurance products at renewal time. The product, service and marketing must be age aware and "inclusive". Creating a senior or grey widget is not the answer.

The old axiom was "You cannot sell a young person an older person's product". The new axiom is "You cannot even sell an older person's product to an older person". Any product that patronises the mature consumer will be unceremoniously ditched. Conversely, when something is absolutely right for the market the rewards can be enormous. Meanwhile, do not forget the effect the baby boomers are going to have on the entire market. Forget the stereotypes. Throw away the rocking chairs. Lose the condescending image of the kindly, white-haired grandmother baking scones for the grandchildren. The baby boomers are heading into their 50s hellbent on changing every perception there is about the "grey" market.

So do advertisers get it right? In some cases yes but overall the old stereotype of the dotty grandmother seems to be the easy way out. Adland may have discovered the older consumer but it has some way to go before it understands them.

This article is part of a special issue of papers entitled Marketing and Older Consumers, edited by Marylyn Carrigan and Isabelle Szmigin