Seniors Offer Marketing Opportunities and Challenges 09/08/04
By George Anderson
Americans, as a whole, are getting older and so, it turns out, are our counterparts in Europe.
And as here, European marketers are beginning to test various types of advertising messages and images to determine how to best reach these consumers who have both time and money to spend.
Mike Hayward, direct marketing manager of UK insurance company Cornhill Direct interviewed for a piece on BrandChannel.com said, "The image of the character sitting by the fire with a blanket on his or her knees is completely gone. These people have a reasonable amount of money, they are out all the time, having maybe two to four holidays a year. You have to try to use imagery that shows maturity but also an active lifestyle. In a lot of adverts you'll see a happy older couple on a cruise ship for example. But many are actually single, either through death or divorce these days. It's not easy to get the right balance."
Right now, however, few if any companies are even making the attempt to reach this market. A report in the Economist said 95 percent of advertising budgets are targeted to European consumers under the age of 50.
Frédéric Serrière, head of Senior Strategic consultancy said, "There is a growing awareness that this market is important, but people don't think they have to look into it now. It's going to take some time."
Over the next 15 years, reports BrandChannel.com, consumers in Europe aged 55 and over will grow by 60 percent, while the under-50 group will remain stable.
The problem many brands face, according to Mr. Serrière, is how to market to seniors without having your products identified as being created for or used by old people.
Moderator's Comment: How do marketers reach the growing senior market without turning off younger consumers to their brand messages? Is targeted marketing
even needed if the product is not developed specifically for seniors? -
George Anderson - Moderator
Comments
The answer is not "senior marketing"...any more than it is "youth marketing." The answer is aspirational marketing...to everyone. And don't make the mistake of thinking that seniors aspire to be young again. They are too smart for that. (Though young people should logically aspire to be seniors...yes?) Make your products and services aspirational for all targets. Use cues such as age of actor sparingly unless there is a particular reason your product is ONLY suited for a certain age group. A great example? Levitra repositioning ED medications from "remedy" for seniors to "quality of the experience" for all.
Ben Ball, Senior Vice President, Dechert-Hampe - Braintrust Panelist
A huge opportunity is being missed by marketers and retailers to cater to what has been called "the new old" -- people who have been active and involved all their lives and will continue to be that way in their later years. There has been some effort by manufacturers to capture the senior market. But this has primarily been for incontinence products, laxatives and the like. No matter how good the marketing campaign, it still caters to people's infirmities rather than to their active, healthy lifestyles. By and large, manufacturers have avoided focusing on this segment. However, with baby boomers aging and the earliest group moving toward retirement age, ignoring this demographic group will be a big, costly mistake. Not surprisingly, few retailers have approached the issue with the exception of Adeg's 50+ Markt in Austria. I don't know how that concept is doing but it addresses a significant need in a country with a rapidly aging population. To be fair, I believe some retailers in the U.S. have come close by focusing on whole health departments; in store nutritionists. But is it enough?
Len Lewis, President, Lewis Communications, Inc. - Braintrust Panelist
I think Ben is on the right track. In packaging, there is an up and coming trend called Universal Design, which means you design "it" so that anyone can open it/close it/read it etc. By doing that, you make everyone happy and offend no one! By the way, where are all the 50 plus products? I have not seen many. Maybe you should keep a few "old marketing types" in companies and let them develop a plan. After all, what does a young marketer know about aging?
'PTISMike'
The value of retention of senior customers is a great opportunity. It does have its drawbacks, and can detract from gaining younger shoppers if not carefully and respectfully done. If one were looking to identify products and services, however, the few products that are senior specific are far outweighed by the products that appeal to not only seniors but all sectors of the market. Seniors are intensely loyal, not only to products but to retailers that have served them well. In fact, I don't think you could find a sector that you could want to be loyal to you as a retailer more than seniors. On the drawback side, if you market specific days or promotions, you can effectively drive away younger shoppers. If you are not prepared to add extra service levels, it can also backfire. Seniors buy less each trip, but tend to shop more often. Smaller orders take time and reduce productivity. Be prepared for it. Seniors are intensely brand loyal. They are also less and less penny pinching as the aging population becomes more affluent. Be careful not to be stereotypical in your offerings. They appreciate smaller sizes or single packs. But then again, so do younger singles. So, there is a much broader appeal than we might think. There are fewer differences that we tend to accentuate. As always, I come back to the basic things that appeal to all age groups. Customer service doesn't appeal to one group more than the other. Neither does a clean store, brightly lit, being well stocked and ready for business. Always remembering that the customer that has actually entered your doors is the most important one will go a long ways towards success. Make them comfortable, welcome them, and, most importantly, serve them. That is, after all, why they came.
'Scanner'
One opportunity to market more towards seniors is in electronics. Even more so than we baby boomers, seniors are often confused by their cell phones, cameras, computers, VCR's, etc. A streamlined line of these types of products could be developed for the older consumer who doesn't want a zillion features, but just wants 4 or 5 key features that are easier to program and use. Why couldn't major manufacturers of these products develop a streamlined line specifically targeted towards seniors? Another area is in publications and books. Yes, there are large type versions of some books and publications, but the marketing and display of these products leaves a lot to be desired.
Al McClain, CEO, Founder, RetailWire - Braintrust Panelist
The key to reaching the older market is what David Wolfe calls "Ageless Marketing." Instead of focusing only on the "senior" market, which would be 65 years old and up, we need to market to people 40 and up. That group is quickly outnumbering younger consumers. And tastes, life goals, motivations, philosophies start to change in middle age. A good example of "ageless" marketing is the Home Depot's commercial showing a father getting his backyard ready for his daughter's wedding. Aimed squarely at the aging baby boomer, this ad is really ageless. It tells a story, for one thing (everyone loves a story); is customer-centric (Home Depot plays a supporting role); it taps into the intergenerational aspect of aging (think grandchildren, children off to college and marriage); and it features a non-age-specific product/service. It is a great commercial and sets an example for "ageless" marketing that all of us should study carefully.
Joanne Fritz, Owner, Second50Years.com
Here are two examples of marketing, one general but poor, the other targeted and good. The first was from a name familiar to everyone visiting this site - IKEA. Today, their catalogue came thumping through my door. "Wonderful," said my innocent husband, "goody goody, I can have access to their world of wonders and bargains." Having visited a store once, we both swore never to step foot in one again so this seemed the answer to his fantasy - bargains galore, without having to leave home. "Hold up," says I, "IKEA doesn't do mail order or online ordering. You will have to visit them if you want to shop there." Their nearest store to us? 50+ miles. This may be nothing to Americans but it is a great distance to people living in the UK and certainly far more than even I would go to shop somewhere. These catalogues were delivered to every home in our village and goodness knows where else. Does this strike anyone at all as good marketing spend? Second instance, a company called Saga which targets over 50s for anything and everything from holidays to insurance to matchmaking services. We have insured our car with them for several (hm hm hmph) years, particularly because we got a good price which included covering our son, when he was under 25, for driving our convertible which most other insurance companies refused to do pointblank. On the one occasion when we had an accident (someone else insured with them backed into our car), the claim went through smoothly and because they insured the other driver, we didn't even have to pay the deductible. We also had a courtesy car while our car was being repaired. Three weeks ago our car developed a fault and, I have to admit, we have spent the interim fighting with Saga but now that all is (hopefully) resolved, they couldn't be more apologetic for their bad behaviour and we are now about to negotiate what I hope will be a reasonable amount of compensation for the aggro they have caused. Now then, what was my point? Good marketing can be age appropriate but bad marketing surpasses the generations. It's the offer and the product that count; age shouldn't really be an issue.
Bernice Hurst, Managing Director, Fine Food Network - Braintrust Panelist
Maybe it's because I'm now in the 40+ crowd, but I find images of older (older than me anyway) people looking vital and hip to be very compelling. I think Ben Ball is right --aspirational marketing is very effective for older consumers. Here in Silicon Valley, it is a common occurrence to be out cycling and have someone at least 20 years older than you blow right by you. Show me an ad for some athletic gear with a guy in his late 50's looking very fit and healthy and that's going to tap into my own aspirations for how I want to see myself getting older. I see many specialty women's clothing catalogs doing a good job of this. They usually have a good mix of ages among the models, but the one thing they all have in common is an appearance of vitality. The woman with long gray hair looks every bit as engaged in life as the younger models. Older people are younger than they used to be!
Jeff Weitzman, Chief Marketing Officer, Permuto, Inc.
Our research on seniors shows a group who is predisposed to changing their behavior in ways only found equaled by the younger, under 30 crowd. These changes in behavior translate to an interest and desire to use new products, especially those that make life easier or healthier. When you probe to find the specific products these seniors are trying, interestingly the ad message isn't directed at 'seniors' but rather addresses a need they relate to. So my advise is to look for the consumer need, use 'universal design' in the packaging and 'aspirational marketing' in communicating it and it should be a win win for everybody.
'MSRaymond'
It doesn't take a "rocket scientist" to know that all of a sudden, older consumers have become fashionable. As the New York Times wrote in a front-page story earlier this year, "In the mid-1990s, just as the first Baby Boomers were reaching 50, designers and retailers - especially the department stores - abandoned them to chase a younger and trendier customer." As many have reported, including David Wolfe, in Ageless Marketing, it was, and still is, shortsighted: Middle age women, in particular, spend an estimated $23 billion a year on clothes, compared with $11 billion by teens. But it isn't just the clothes industry that ignores middle-age and older consumers - it's almost every other marketing niche in this country: cars, movies, tires, music, eyeglasses, vacation destinations, high-tech gadgets, fitness centers. Are these consumers worth marketing to? Ignore them at your peril: while it's true, yesterday's oldest consumers came from a generation that revered frugality, today, the tables are turning. For example, today with Boomers, said the Wall Street Journal last spring in a column subtitled, "Gray Means Green," we have a different world. "After obsessing over people in their 20s," the Journal reported, "some of the world's best-known companies are setting their sights on older consumers." Driving the shift are big numbers: the 78 million Americans who were 50 or older as of 2001 controlled 67 percent of the country's wealth, or $28 trillion! according to data collected by the US Census and Federal Reserve Banks. Households headed by someone between 55-64 had a median net worth of $112,048 in 2000 - 15 times what the under - 35 age group reported. More important: within 5 years, about a third of the population is going to be at least 50 years old!
Paul Vogelzang, KDCP Productions, Producer - Braintrust Panelist
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