Ads geared toward older consumers tend to be condescending at best, offensive at worst. Here\u2019s why marketers get seniors wrong. Plus, a look at the brands that are getting it right, from Mercedes to Covergirl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Honest question: When was the last time you saw anyone over 55 in a decent ad? The world of oldsvertising is a hellscape full of reverse mortgages, erectile dysfunction pills, and bathtubs that won\u2019t kill you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you took your entire view of the human race from primetime advertising alone, you\u2019d see a society without old people. They don\u2019t work, they don\u2019t drink beer, they don\u2019t drive cars. They don\u2019t exist. According to Havas Group, only about 5% of U.S. advertising is even aimed at people over 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yet by 2020, the world will have more 55-year-olds than 5-year-olds, and older people are expected to generate half of all urban consumption growth between 2015 and 2030<\/a>. The U.S. Census Bureau has pegged 2035 as the year older adults will outnumber chil\u00addren for the first time in U.S. history. By 2060 in China, one in three people\u2013or 487 million\u2013will be over 60. As far as brands are concerned, that\u2019s a lot of potential sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But forget about balancing between Instagram and \u201cI\u2019ve fallen but I can\u2019t get up<\/a>.\u201d These statistics, along with more recent studies around how consumers want to see different generations depicted and reflected in culture, are starting to shift how some marketers try to lure different age groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Major brand marketers over the years have demonstrated a distinct obsession with age. People are segmented off into age ranges like 18 to 34, 35 to 50, and over-55, as if our buying patterns, motivation, and lifestyles are homogenous and based primarily on how many years we\u2019ve been alive. Life stage and age have been decoupling over the past generation, with milestones like education, marriage, kids, career, and retirement becoming unmoored from traditional age constraints. A 2018 study conducted by McCann and The Paley Center for Media asked people of all ages when you\u2019re too old to do things like go back to school, start your own business, or date romantically, and an overwhelming majority of respondents said you\u2019re never too old for any of it, putting into question the focus on age as a reliable indicator of consumer habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, most advertisers still see the next generation as always the most exciting. Are you sick of gen Z headlines yet? They\u2019re new, they\u2019re different, their disposable income habits are not yet fully formed! When asked about AB InBev\u2019s Super Bowl strategy in 2015, the brewer\u2019s VP of global marketing strategy Jorn Socquet said, \u201cIt\u2019s moving towards a different tone of voice. It will be more young, it will be a little more fun-based. So you will definitely see an evolution.\u201d And last year, Tiffany\u2019s chief artistic officer Reed Krakoff told me the brand has been experimenting and pushing itself to find the right balance between leveraging the enormous brand value in its heritage, \u201cwhile at the same time not letting it become an albatross around its neck, preventing it from attracting newer, younger people into its doors.\u201d The brand\u2019s 2018 \u201cBelieve in Dreams\u201d campaign featured both Elle Fanning (then 20) and A$AP Ferg (then 30).<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is some logic behind the strategy of targeting younger consumers. According to Forrester research, 55% and 54% of those less than 31 and 31-39, respectively, say they \u201cenjoy trying new brands or products.\u201d That number drops to 39% for those aged 54-63 and 31% for the 64-74 set. Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee says it\u2019s possible that marketers see no quick win here among less promiscuous consumers who are unwilling to switch for quick inducements. \u201cThis may also reflect a mind-set among many brands where marketers are rewarded for acquisition after which the customer gets passed on to some other part of the organization,\u201d says Chatterjee. And so the most creative, high-production campaigns tend to focus on the youngest consumers, while marketing aimed at older groups follows mindless formulas and plays into time-worn stereotypes about older people as needy and helpless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But stats like those cited by Forrester can be misleading. On the flipside, Havas Group\u2019s chief insights officer and SVP brand marketing at Vivendi Maria Garrido says talking directly to older people is a huge missed opportunity, not just because of their disposable income, but it\u2019s also a group that is generally more sincere with brands. \u201cThey want brands to provide content that\u2019s educational, informative, and more than just entertainment,\u201d says Garrido. \u201cThey\u2019re more sincere in that when they have a good experience with a brand, 68% say they share it with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Havas\u2019s 2018 Meaningful Brands study found massive growth in the online presence of over-55 consumers, with 68% of them also buying something online every month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aside from healthcare, luxury is the product segment where Havas has seen more brands actively engaging with older consumers. And for good reason, since Euromonitor reported that 70% of all available U.S. income is owned by those over 55, and, globally, people over 60 will account for $15 trillion in spending power by 2020. \u201cA lot of luxury brands are doing things with older models, showcasing an older target group,\u201d says Garrido. \u201cPart of that is affordability. I was having lunch with someone the other day from Chanel who told me that 80% of their fashion is sold to people over the age of 50. Most people don\u2019t have the accumulated wealth to pay $2,000 for a jacket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are brands that are finding ways of reflecting the reality that we live in a\u2013shocker!\u2013multigenerational society. L\u2019Oreal Paris and British Vogue<\/em> recently partnered to launch \u201cThe Non-Issue,\u201d created with McCann London and Paris, a print insert in the May edition of British Vogue<\/em>. Featuring older women like Jane Fonda and Helen Mirren, the aim was to celebrate women over 50, who feel ignored by the fashion and beauty industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not all brands have completely ignored older consumers. While the bulk of advertising seems to follow an unspoken \u201cNo Olds\u201d rule, some brands have managed to create multigenerational ads (either in whom they depict or who the target audience is) that stand out. In 2011, Toyota used a Venza ad to subvert expectations of a less-than thrilling, almost-empty nester lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nike\u2019s 2016 \u201cUnlimited\u201d campaign put a fun spotlight on then 86-year-old Ironman athlete Sister Madonna Buder, the \u201cIron Nun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Mercedes\u2019s 2017 \u201cGrow Up\u201d campaign had a distinctly multigenerational bent, with short films ranging from \u201cGet a Job<\/a>\u201d featuring A$AP Rocky to \u201cBe a Good Parent,\u201d about an aging boomer who manages to appreciate his grown son\u2019s artistic pursuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fashion brand Celine created a media frenzy when\u00a0it made Joan Didion its poster girl in 2015<\/a>. And Covergirl\u2019s 2017 \u201cI Am What I Make Up<\/a>\u201d may have starred Issa Rae, but it also featured 69-year-old model Maye Musk, who continues to be part of the brand\u2019s advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a majority audience and seems to be a point of disruption, but very few brands are doing it,\u201d says Sarah Rabia, global director of cultural strategy for TBWA\\Chiat\\Day L.A. \u201cI could see two strategies: Either you go more inclusive, don\u2019t define by age, but look at values and similarities between your audience, because there are plenty of things a boomer and a millennial have in common. Or you get laser-focused on this audience, but with a tone that\u2019s upbeat, modern, and progressive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps focusing on age groups is the wrong approach altogether. The 2018 McCann study \u201cTruth About Age\u201d found that aging is actually something everyone thinks about. Its data showed that people in their 20s fear death the most, those in their 30s think about aging the most, while people in their 70s actually worry about aging the least. The report suggested marketers should shift from age to attitudinal segmentation. So instead of age ranges, it outlined five different attitudes: Ageless Adventurers, Communal Caretakers, Actualizing Adults, Youth Chasers, and Future Fearers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nadia Tuma, senior vice president and director of McCann Truth Central (the agency\u2019s research unit), says that even if you just look at one small segment like empty nesters, you\u2019ll get a kaleidoscope of different attitudes toward growing older, from excitement to fear, optimistic to apocalyptic. Similarly, if you filter it through culture, looking at how China compares to France, say, you start to get a very different picture of how different people think about aging. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like the demographics that we\u2019ve created are a barrier to us understanding people at a deeper level,\u201d says Tuma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most surprising finding Tuma and her team discovered was when they asked people to envision an aging utopia\u2013and an aging dystopia. In every single country surveyed, the utopia had generations living together in harmony, learning from each other, and helping one another other. The dystopia, conversely, strictly segregated young and old. Which one do we see most in advertising today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe vast majority of people said aging well means spending time with people who are both younger and older than you,\u201d says Tuma. \u201cIt\u2019s about intergenerational connections, something much more powerful than just finding a good moisturizer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This article gives some significant facts and statistics about the importance and potential of elders as a rising market. Current marketing and ad campaigns almost entirely exclude elders from their communications, even though the elder population makes up a very large portion of the population. Creating a campaign that displays a more realistic version of elders is important in making sure they feel included and seen in society. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ads geared toward older consumers tend to be condescending at best, offensive at worst. Here\u2019s why marketers get seniors wrong. Plus, a look at the brands that are getting it right, from Mercedes to Covergirl. Honest question: When was the last time you saw anyone over 55 in a decent ad? The world of oldsvertising […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":4980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5469,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4979\/revisions\/5469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}SO WHY IS MARKETING TO OLDER PEOPLE SO BAD?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
THE REAL OPPORTUNITY OF MARKETING TO OLDER PEOPLE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
THE RISE OF MULTIGENERATIONAL ADVERTISING<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
FOCUS ON ATTITUDES, NOT AGES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
THE ONE UNIVERSAL TRUTH ABOUT AGING<\/h2>\n\n\n\n