Let’s worry about the trival

This is nothing to do with the 50-plus.

I just love this ad from bmi.com (UK airline). When I had a proper job and ran a marketing department I remember a board meeting at the height of a previous recession and spending time talking about axing the staff canteen subsidy. We didn’t get on to talk about buscuits but I remember we spent an age talking about reducing the cost of having the office windows cleaned (it was a very big office). Of course this was a total distraction from the real problem. A few weeks later we had to make the real decisions and axe half the marketing group.

I wonder how many pointless meetings have taken place about reducing spend and just put off the evil day when the real cost cutting measures have to be made. Dick Stroud

Accessibility can be a selling feature

A couple of weeks back I gave a presentation at an event that was hosted by Microsoft. During the Q&A period the subject moved to how well/bad consumer electronics companies, including software suppliers, cater for the problems of physiological ageing.

As is my wont I made an all encompassing statement that I thought they didn’t give a damn.

This didn’t go down too well with the people in the room from these companies. Needless to say the Microsoft host was having none of it and promised to send me details of the things that MS is doing. She was as good as her word and sent me the following links.

Developer Centre of accessibility

MS main page about accessibility

Aging Workforce and Accessible Technology—Introduction

The Assistive Technology Research Institute (ATRI) – a source of information about assistive technology and universal design.

I was also recommended to have a read of Abrahams Accessibility blog that is all about the accessibility and usability subject.

Clearly MS has given a lot of thought to this issue. I guess the problem is that not that many people know about them.

This was illustrated the previous week when spent some time at PC World, one the of the UK’s largest retail computer suppliers, with an 80 year old neighbour who wanted to buy a laptop. This lady is very smart and computer literate but has eyesight and dexterity issues.

As we roamed along the rows of laptops a couple of members of staff came to help and I asked if they could change the display settings and activate any other features to improve the accessibility. I didn’t think the store would like fiddling around with the settings otherwise I would have done it myself.

Not one of the staff knew what to do. I like the staff in the store, they are helpful and considerate but clearly have had no training on what to do to if confronted by and older person. Looking around the store I reckon that a quarter of the customers were 65+. Dick Stroud

Ageing in place

Every so often you see a business idea and think it is wonderful.

Do you want to understand, I mean really understand the cutting edge technologies and design that that support ageing in place.

Well rather than attend a lecture, or reading a book, you can live in a home equipped and designed to the very best standards. Just have a look at the beautiful design of this home. Dick Stroud

Brands old and new

To celebrate the Marketing Societies 50th Anniversary it has selected the most memorable brands in each of the last 50 years. How you might wonder did they make the selection?

Our shortlist was assembled using a variety of different criteria. Which brands were launched, relaunched or revamped? Who was winning awards? Who were the top spenders and the top sellers? And which brands encapsulated the zeitgeist of the year?

However the choice was made, the 50 Gold Brands web site is excellent and gives a chance to read about the brands and watch their ads - all the way back to 1959.

On the subject of brands – brandchannel has just published its Brandjunkie Survey results.

This takes an unconventional look at brand popularity – for instance - What brand would you most like to sit next to at a dinner party? Answer – Apple, Virgin, Coca Cola, Google and Nike. Dick Stroud

Insights into the concerns of the over-50s

Beyond Westminster, is a BBC radio programme that as the name implies is about issues of UK politics. This Saturday it was all about the attitudes and values held by of older voters and the implications for the policies of the main political parties – and for the other age groups in the population.

I really recommend you download this podcast and have a listen. Whilst the theme of the programme is about the political issues the research and the dialogue has a lot of consequences for marketers.

Joining the programme's host (Andrew Rawnsley) are three ‘thinking’ politicians – a minority in the UK – who talk a lot of sense.

If you want to another insight into the mind of the over-50s you have 18 days left to look at the Channel 4 Despatches programme “Too Old to Work”. If you are outside the UK you might have problems accessing this (you will need IE – it doesn’t work with Firefox). Select the 9th Feb programme. I warn you it is horribly depressing. Dick Stroud

Age neutral ad from Confused.com

OK, it is a bit basic and employs the obvious approach of featuring the three target age groups but it is one of the first ads in the UK, for an online service, that very clearly targets the older Web user. Well done Confused.com. Dick Stroud

Employment issues of the 50-plus

I have always seen the employment issues affecting the 50-plus being the mirror image of those of marketing. For a while I toyed with the idea of writing a book on the subject but couldn’t find the extra few hours in the days that were required.

I still keep an interest in the subject since marketing and employment issues are integrally linked.

I have mentioned items of research done by PRIME a few times in this blog but thought it worth a posting of its own.

PRIME provides free information, events and training to help older people get back into work by starting their own business.

It is a charity with a top-drawn pedigree – it was founded by The Prince of Wales (the Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise) and has recently gained a slug of money from Bank of America to help with its activities.

I reckon it is the best source of information about what is going on with employment of the UK’s over-50s. Just have a look at these couple of bits of research and commentary.

The other thing it is worth looking at is the web site’s use of an audio responder. I am amazed how well it works. Dick Stroud

Merging age charities appoint new head of marketing

As I have discussed a number of times, the UK’s two age charities are merging. A lot of people would say:“about time.

Would the new head of marketing be an outsider – somebody from Age Concern or from Help the Aged? Now we know. Amanda Ball, currently Help the Aged director of fund-raising and marketing, has been appointed to the position of group marketing director for the new charity.

As you would expect she will report to the new ceo.

She must have a very long “to do list”. We know that it includes:
1. The development of the new brand for the new organisation
2. Devising and implementing an income generation strategy
3. Developing a new offline and online marketing strategy

Phew...

One thing is for sure. There hasn’t been a time, in the history of either of the charities, when their work will be in more demand than now. I really do wish her the very best of luck. Dick Stroud

Redesigning the STOP sign

Nothing whatsoever to do with the 50-plus but 4 minutes of amusement and a little squirming about clients who will not leave the task of creative to the creatives. It also says a lot about our instinctive desire to overcomplicate things. Thanks Paddy for sending me the link. Dick Stroud

Life after 40

This collection of photos is a perfect example of articles I call: “There is life in the old dog yet”.

There is a hint of surprise and wonderment having discovered that life doesn’t stop at the age of 40, let alone 50. Not much text and 12 photos for your collection.

These stylish seniors and bangin’ boomers prove that fierce fashion sense doesn’t disappear after your 40s. From runway shows that feature senior citizens to sizzling print campaigns that place boomers in the spots traditionally occupied by top models, it’s clear that the fashion world hasn’t totally forgotten about the sons and daughters of the Greatest Generation.

Just love that jacket. Dick Stroud

Birth of another Boomer social networking site

I am glad that I am not the only person that takes a dim view of anything to do with Boomer portals and their ilk. This posting in The Savvy Boomer blog expresses my views – better than I could.

This is a part of the post.

Thankfully, I haven't seen too many new boomer portal sites lately (not blogs, but sites that try to establish a boomer online community, conceivably to make money.) All I can say to Boomer Yearbook is good luck, you're going to need that and a whole lot more. In case you don't understand my cynicism, you might want to check out a few of these sites that regard themselves as boomer social networking sites:

* Eons
* Boomj
* Boomertowne
* Boomerator
* Boomer411
* Wanobe
* Sagazone

I was amused to see that the META NAME="title" tag used by the site was: “Elderly Problems – Social Network Site for Baby Boomers and Baby Boomer Generation.” I wonder if this was the “working name” of the site that the developers used? Dick Stroud

Sandwich generation + Credit crunch = Babygloomers

The Daily Telegraph has researched a sample of 1,800 people and discovered that 8% were giving their parents cash. From this it has deduced that: “More than three million people have to help their parents financially as the savings crisis engulfs a generation of Britons”.

Then the argument makes a bit leap of logic to conclude that the reduction of interest rates has meant that a lot of older people are having financial problems that their adult children have to solve. In addition, the same parents have to fund their children.

Bottom line the Sandwich Generation have always had a rough time of it but the financial chaos has made it a lot worse.

I doubt if the Telegraph’s research holds up to much scrutiny but the conclusion is probably right.

What the newspaper didn’t go on to say, as it should, is that this situation creates a horrible multiplier affect if the person in the middle of the sandwich looses their job. It doesn’t just impact them but their kids and parents. What a sorry state.

During these troubled times it is too easy to end a blog post on a negative note. Some companies keep on prospering - especially those that rely on the one thing that never changes - physiological ageing. The division of Smith & Nephew, with the marvellous name of ‘Wound Care’ that makes artificial hips, and stuff like that, is performing well. Dick Stroud

Watch out Estee Lauder

An e-mail newsletter from egenerations (a Web site I must look around one of these days) popped into my inbox containing a long column of banner ads. One of these was for Ageless skin care. The packaging looked a bit like a Dove product (that is my excuse) so I clicked to the landing site and found a little masterpiece in “off the web” selling.

First thing is the model/actress of indeterminate age selling the qualities of the product - then there is the countdown number of bottles left in the right-hand corner to create urgency - then there is the “Rush me free my trial” handle – of course it is only free if you don’t cancel your credit card payment - then there is the “green hook” that the product “Contains extracts from 12 of the world’s richest fruit and vegetables” - then there is the credibility by association with logos of abcNews, Vogue and the New York Times – none of these organisations mention the product but have quotes about ageing - then there is the award “Best skin product of 2008” from an unknown award giver and then finally there is the statement “clinically tested at major universities” – no names.

In a macabre way I really admire the site – it uses all of the basic tools of direct TV selling in an unashamed in your face way.

Heavens knows if the product is any good – who knows if any of these products work. The one thing I can guarantee is that you will no find a site that uses more of the basic tools of selling in one place. Dick Stroud

Grandparents want more than minding the kids

Grand Breaks, the holiday specialist for grandparents and their grandchildren, has completed a research study in association with the University of Brighton about how today’s grandparents like to spend leisure time with their grandchildren. Here are some of the findings:

66% of grandparents want to try new activities, share experiences and discover new things together with their grandchildren, rather than be observers or bystanders.

Age was no longer seen as a constraining variable to travel, or to have any significant influence on the pursuit of outdoor activities. Perhaps not surprising the top activities that grandparents wanted to pursue with their grandchildren were going to the seaside (2nd) and eating out (1st). Less expected was outdoor activity like cycling, walking, sailing and swimming being the third most popular. What surprised me was how low down the list came “Participating in sports”.

Grandparents, who live close to their grandchildren and get involved regularly in the day-to-day tasks (i.e. the school run, preparing evening meals supervising homework) want a break from routine and the chance to spend some ‘quality time’ and just have fun with their grandchildren.

Charles Grimaldi, the founder of Grand Breaks said: “The research shows a more fun seeking, adventurous and younger at heart style of grandparents that has sparked images of today’s grandparents as the ‘Peter Pan generation’ of grandparents!”

This is the first research I have seen done on this subject. Well done Grand Breaks. Dick Stroud

Quantitative easing explained

Central banks have lowered interest rates in the forlorn hope that it will get Jo Public breaking out their credit cards and the banks resuming doshing out buckets of credit. It hasn't worked.

Yesterday the governor of the Bank of England gave a press conference to tell us what we already know – the recession is bad and getting worse.

There was also something else he sort of said but couldn’t exactly get the words out – the UK is about to follow the US and start “the printing presses rolling”. In economics speak it is called “quantitative easing”.

What has this got to do with 50-plus marketing?

Well, the success or failure of this approach could lead to a fundamental realignment in the wealth profile of the generations. If the process goes wrong it will unleash inflation that will devalue the wealth of the older person. It will devalue your wealth as well, but if you are young you are less likely to have as much cash as your parents.

The US has gone down this path, the UK is about to start and my guess is that other countries will follow. What amazes me is how few people have the faintest idea what it will mean and how it will work.

Why not spend 3 minutes of your life looking at this animated explanation in the FT. Even if you have to take a free registration it is worth the effort.

If you want a more personal reason for understanding QE then think about the admiration from your fellow marketers when you drop it into the conversation at your next marketing meeting. Dick Stroud

Using Facebook and knickers to combat extremists

This has nothing – absolutely nothing – to do with the 50-plus. I read about this use of Facebook and thought YES what a marvellous thing.

The Facebook group was founded in protest after the Sri Ram Sena attacked several women in a pub in Mangalore last month. Apparently this group object to young ladies drinking and I am sure a pile of other things as well.

The gentleman of Mangalore hadn’t reckoned on the reaction of the journalist Nisha Susan who said: "Most of us are just regular people. We decided to give the Sri Ram Sena attention, but not the kind they want."

Rather than a petition or some other useless venture, Nisha asked her supporters to send in pink knickers, which it will post to the Sri Ram Sena on Friday. The group is up to 20,000 the last time I looked so it could result in a large bag of knickers.

I am sure it will not make a jot of difference to the religious bigots but it is one hell of a good idea. Go and have a look at the The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women. Dick Stroud

Michelle says turning 50 means she is getting more interesting film roles

At the world premiere of her film "Cheri" at the Berlin Film festival the lovely Ms Pfeiffer said that mature actresses pairing up with younger men is a healthy development for the film industry. She went on to say that putting older women with young men is better than Hollywood putting them out to pasture.

"It seems my leading men keep getting younger the older I get," Pfeiffer said. "It seems people have an aversion about casting me with men my age. Lucky for me; I don't really mind."

This is an interesting take on things. Instead of those dreadful advertising photos of the ageing couple gazing out to sea, or skipping along the beach, perhaps we should have older lady gazing into the eyes of sexy young man.

Whatever the rationale - the more films with Michelle Pfeiffer the better as far as I am concerned. Dick Stroud

Well done Millennium for winning the Amplifon business

Millennium has been appointed by Amplifon – that bills itself as the world’s leading hearing aid supplier - to broaden the company's product awareness and encourage hearing loss prevention amongst mature consumers. Perhaps I should try and get some discount!

I had no idea that the company has 147 UK branches.

Well done the guys in Shipley. Dick Stroud

Self help Web site for Boomers

I came upon Boomerater that describes itself as: “not a social network where the focus is on making friends - rather it's an online community to learn from others who have already dealt with similar situations." That seems very reasonable.

This press release tells you more about the site.

I only had a quick look around but seems to be an easy to use site that is handling a reasonable amount of traffic. I am never sure how you make money out of this sort of venture but I suspect it stands more chance than the zillions of Boomer social networking sites. Dick Stroud

Heyday R.I.P.

Heyday is no more – it has ceased to be - it has expired and gone to meet its maker – it is bereft of life!

The final nail in Age Concern’s venture was thumped home by the Charities Commission. The press release announcing its demise doesn’t make happy reading.

The full report is now available on the Charities
Commission site - not for the faint hearted.

The commission accuses the charity’s trustees of falling short of expected standards and said its 34-strong board (that is thirty-four) was too large. No kidding.

"The trustees are unable to demonstrate that they exercised a sufficient oversight and critical challenge in making relevant decisions against a clear and robust risk framework."

The commission questioned whether there was enough evidence of a need to justify setting up Heyday and also raised doubts as to whether the Heyday activities were clearly charitable. Well one thing that is certain is they behaved as a not-for profit.

Finally, the Commission said the trustee’s decisions should have been made in a transparent and "informed manner". Clearly they weren’t.

What the Charities Commission doesn’t appear to have done is highlight the catalogue of basic marketing errors that Heyday’s management made from day-one.

Should you want to read the sad catalogue of errors you can follow them on my blog. Here is a selection of the comments.

The venture is born on the 16th December 2005.

1st Feb 2006 the first problems become apparent

30th May 2006 – Heyday sort of launches. My comment at the time: "Having blown its launch budget the best they could come up with was a message on the Web site saying that the real site is coming “in June”. It wasn’t until the end of June that it finally launched."

The mistakes kept on coming until on 7th Feb 2007 the organisation was folded into Age Concern.

Gordon Lishman, the director general of ACE, who retires next month, said: "I accept my full share of responsibility for the failure of Heyday to meet its objectives." He goes on to make that statement we hear after every child’s death in local authority care: “staff and trustees were committed to learning the lessons from its failure.” As you would expect there have been no resignations at the charity.

What really, really infuriates me about the Heyday mess is that there are thousands of poor souls working at the sharp end of this worthy charity, trying to do the best they can on limited funds and watching £22 million of costs for only £0.7 of membership fees. They must be livid and deservedly so.

Fortunately the one lesson that Age Concern has learnt is to get a new Chairman and MD who have the task of repairing the mess left behind by their predecessors, whilst guiding the organisation through the current economic ills. I wish them the very best of luck.

For non-UK readers of the blog you might be wondering why there is a dead parrot
attached to the Heyday logo. Don’t worry it is a long story. Dick Stroud

How is the recession for you?

You have to give to the guys at McKinsey, they really do some fascinating research. I think they are in a league of their own.

This posting is nothing specifically to do with the 50-plus their behaviour will do much to determine how things turn out when the history books of this recession are written.

The table shows how the profitbility of US companies changed during the four previous recessions. Not surprisingly the IT industry had a bad 2001 recession (the dot.com bubble) but then finance did OK. Let you into a secret, Finance will be the IT of the 2008/?? recession. So where do you put your money – Healthcare – Consumer staples? Dick Stroud

Ruppies are not the same as Rupees or Boomers

I have to say I have never heard of the term Ruppies, maybe I should, but I haven’t. Apparently it describes: “retired urban people who are active mature adults and predominantly affluent empty nesters.”

This paper makes out an interesting case for how your Ruppie differs from a bog standard Boomer. A lot of the argument is around their preference for urban rather than rural living and their desire to keep working and working. Methinks that the last 18 months have probably changed a lot of the thinking of Ruppies and Boomers alike. Dick Stroud

Segmentation fit for the recession

It was the best of days it was the worst of days for it to be National Stress Down Day. The day when the Samaritans try to raise money to continue its excellent work.

Yesterday the UK froze. There was traffic chaos and what started the week as beautiful landscapes and a cheap way of practising your skiing techniques ended in being a pain in the rump.

National Stress Down Day also marked the news of a massive jump in the insolvency rate of UK companies and new forecasts of record falls in economic growth.

How the hell is Jo Public reacting to the wrath of the financial and meteorological gods?

One of the good things about yesterday was an article in the FT by John Quelch and Katherine Jocz (Keeping a keen eye on consumer behaviour) about the importance of understanding how customers are reacting to the new reality and how their attitudes and behaviours are changing.

It is the first bit of thinking I have seen about the permanent effects of the recession on the consumer psyche. I am sure it will not be the last.

This is a statement worth remembering.

What is certain is that the market segmentation scheme you were using to plan your marketing budget and programmes this time last year is obsolete. You need to listen to your customers and possibly develop a new segmentation approach.

The writers propose six recession segments that are definitely worth considering. Of course they are stereotypes but they are a starting point for you to think about your own customers.

Naysayers are frightened consumers who have stopped buying any discretionary purchases and are trimming their daily purchases.

Short termers are younger, urban consumers with few savings who have, therefore, lost little in the financial meltdown

Long termers are consumers who see the reduction in their retirement accounts as an unfortunate bump in the road. They are worried but not panicked.

Simplifiers are baby boomers who have lost a significant percentage of their savings, and, as a result, have become more risk averse and are reassessing their values. Some will conclude that they must postpone retirement to recover their net worth. Others will decide that they can make do with less, reduce their consumption and simplify their lives.

Sympathisers are savvy consumers who switched into cash ahead of the crash but who know others who did not. They could afford to buy a new car but they do not want to appear ostentatious. They are continuing to spend at near-normal levels but more discreetly.

Permabulls are relentlessly optimistic. Their “here today, gone tomorrow” attitude has them looking for opportunities to make up for lost ground and find the next million dollar idea or stock pick

Which one of these are you? How do you reckon you customers map onto these groupings? If you are marketing to the 50-plus you will find lots of them in the Long termers and Simplifiers categories. Dick Stroud

The need for quick answers

Yesterday I received Mary Furlong’s Newsletter. It is something that I always read. No, let’s be more accurate, I always scan read it, looking for triggers that will make me dive in further. One such trigger was about a new book being published online.

Theodore Roszak, a gentleman with an impressive looking academic record, is publishing a book (The making of an Elder Culture) “in which the past countercultural values of this ‘audacious generation’ can be made relevant to an elder-dominated society.

I loved the quote at the beginning of his web site.

Aging changes consciousness more surely than any narcotic; it does so gradually and organically. It digests the experience of a lifetime and makes us different people — sometimes so different that we are amazed, embarrassed,or even ashamed at the person we once were.

I downloaded three of the chapters and again found myself scanning the text looking for triggers.
It suddenly struck me what a pity it is that both Mary Furlong and Theodore Roszak have clearly spent a long time crafting their documents and all I can do is skim read them.

I guess the take from this is that I am probably exhibiting the same behaviour as many younger people (anway it is nice to think that) and looking for immediate answers. Too little time and too much stuff to read.

We can either wistfully look back to an era when people did have the time and inclination to read hand crafted text, or give in to the need to cater for the short attention span – “give me the facts” – needs of many of today’s readers. I guess the answer is learn to read faster. Dick Stroud

Age friendly supermarkets

Many thanks to Martijn de Haas for telling me about this video of a senior’s supermarket in Germany. It might be a couple of years old but the issues it covers haven’t changed – they have got a couple of years older.

Hopefully somebody from Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose or Asda is reading this blog. Dick Stroud

Welcome back Maple and Leek

Maple and Leek, the UK social networking site for over 50s has launched a mature dating section. I first encountered this company back in May 2007.

Like a lot of 50-plus social networking companies it appeared to be having difficulties in attracting users.

To be honest, I thought it had died. But no, here it is, with an updated web site and a focus on oldies in search of love, or something.

Talking about social networking, I had another look at Sagazone. The number of profiles has increased to 60,000, although Saga’s chief executive only claims to have 50,000 of which 6,000 are active in any one month. Odd when a ceo understates the success of something!

I first visited Sagazone back in August 2007 when it had 11,700 profiles. So in 18 months it has added 40,000 profiles. That doesn’t seem a lot to me. Of those I would guess half, at least, are dormant. Dick Stroud

The relationship between age and broadband useage

Pew Internet has a new report (free) about Internet use in the US. Always worth downloading and adding it to your library. This graphic is interesting (you will need to click on it to read the detail).

As you would expect it shows broadband use at home is related to age, although not as much as you might think – up until 70+. Look at the chart that shows the percentage of Internet users by age that have broadband. That shows far less of an age relationship. (i.e. if you are an Internet user then the same proportion of people is likely to have broadband irrespective of age). It is exactly the same relationship with the use of online banking. Dick Stroud

How to market to Grandparents

MarketingSherpa has an article with tips and Q&A about how to market to grandparents.

A couple of facts to get your attention. In the US, the average age that a parent becomes a grandparent is 48. Grandparents purchase one out of every four toys, four out of every 10 children’s books, and one out of every five video games.

Grandparents are interested in financial products to help fund their grandchildren’s education. Grandparents are interested in having holidays/short breaks with their grandchildren.

All in all, grandparents should be taken seriously. As the article makes clear, becoming a grandparents is nothing to do with age but is all about the bundle of emotions and needs that descends on somebody when their child phones to say: “I have got some good news for you”.

A few sites worth looking at – the Grandparent Marketing Group - Grandparents.com and the UK's own Grand Breaks. Dick Stroud

Financial ads for recessionary times

These two ads are doing the rounds in the UK print media. Both are from financial services companies and both exhibit, I think, a change in tone that reflects the sombre economic times. Also, both will be trying to appeal to the older market (or should be).














Not exactly a laugh a minute but much more in tune than most of the pre-recession creative that looks horribly out of date and out of place. Dick Stroud

Market researchers should stop” feeding the metric monsters”

The market research VP for Procter & Gamble told an Advertising Research Foundation forum that: "We're so focused on initiative qualification scores, on the check box that comes with the survey and feeding the metrics monster within our companies."

I know exactly what she means. If it can’t be quantified then the knowledge is devalued.

This issue is not limited to the 50-plus, but is very applicable to this group. If you get the chance it is worth reading the article. First, you might need to register on the site. Dick Stroud

Nice age friendly web site

Benecol, the stuff that supposedly reduces your cholesterol, has a nice clean and attractive web site. I would cut out the animated image in the middle and make sure the arrow heads and home page icon in the menu are active, but overall I reckon it is a pretty good, age-friendly, web site.

Actually the Yogurt drinks taste pretty good as well. Dick Stroud