Monday, October 06, 2003

Politicians and Business are getting the message

Do you know I think the importance of the 50+ is at long last dawning on the world of politics and business. The catalyst for the politicians is ‘the pension’s problem’. The political classes are slowly realising that the retired, those close to it and even the 40 something’s are worried about the financial circumstances of 30 years of post-work life. The UK’s Conservative Party sees this as a big political issue and is proposing to restore the link between pensions and average salaries (at the moment they are matched with inflation).

The left leaning media is certainly picking up on the political and social consequences of the increasing numbers of 50+. This week’s Observer had a long article by Will Hutton on the issue and the Guardian and even the FT are giving it a lot of coverage. Maybe it is because the proportion of the population who are 50+ and likely to vote is growing so fast. Remember the young have given up the habit of voting.

As to Business. Sir Martin Sorrell (Chairman of WPP) is addressing a conference in New York on the subject of ‘Adults 40 & older - the new customer majority’. A snip at £1000. When a marketing topic starts to attract that calibre of speaker then you know it is becoming important.

As an aside, I think this brochure is one of the worst I have seen for a very long time. I was astonished to see that it is produced by JWT.

It seems I get a notification of a 50+ conference every couple of weeks taking place somewhere in the US. I think the conference industry are one of the best barometers of judging what is a ‘hot’ issue and it would seem they believe that 50+ marketing is one.

If you cannot go to any other conference make sure you don’t miss Marketing Week's Conference which will be brilliant. The fact I am speaking at it has nothing to do with my enthusiasm!

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