Insights into the Asian Pacific market

Kim Walker is the leading specialist in over-50s marketing in the AsiaPac region.

Even if you don’t have an interest in this geographic region it is well worth reading his latest newsletter. Make sure you listen to his interview on the local radio station.

If I had the time I would have loved to have attended the 2 day conference that he is hosting about Marketing to Baby Boomers.

If you listen to Kim’s radio interview you will hear him describe a radically new auditing tool that enables companies to appraise their 50-plus friendliness. This is something that we have been working on for the past 6 months. I will soon be blogging (and probably bragging) about how it can be used and the benefits it delivers. Dick Stroud

Another new Boomer Initiative

I have only just discovered a Boomer site called the 46-64 Boomer Initiative that is an: “ecosystem of web destinations, social networking communities, and social tools to help Baby Boomers spark conversations, solve problems and discover new solutions.”

I think the most observable initiatives of this venture is the @BoomerAuthority. The site uses the do-it-yourself social networking toolkit (Ning) and I have to say seems to have a lot of activity and contains some good content. Definitely worth having a look. Good luck to the founders. Dick Stroud

Binge drinking oldies

This is the title of the article in the US publication Supermarket Guru: “Binge drinking it is time to take responsibility.”

Duke University has found that 22% of men and 9% of women, between ages 50 and 64, binge drink. That means they consumed five alcoholic drinks or more at a time.

In addition, 19% of the men and 13% of the women reported having two or more drinks a day - a level that puts their health at risk when viewed against American Geriatric Society guidelines.

Some 14% of men and 3% of women, over the age of 65, also binge drink.

Well I guess you could say this news is great for the drinks and pharmaceutical industries.

I have a problem with the word ‘binge’, along with the term ‘over weight’ – as defined as anybody with a BMI, greater than 25.

There is characteristic about the over-50s, maybe it applies to all ages or maybe it just applies to me that discounts or ignores advice that debases the accepted meaning of words. In the mind of most people, binge drinking is the sight you see when you pass through the city centre of most UK towns on a Saturday night. People milling or lying around in a state of extreme intoxication.

So, when you say that somebody who, over the course of an evening, once a month, has five glasses of wine is in the same category, the immediate reaction is to totally ignore the associated advice.

The same with the term "over-weight" that applies to both the manifestly bulging hulks that waddle around (many of whom work for the NHS) as to somebody with their belt let-out an extra notch.

Don’t get me wrong. I am sure there is good sense in the advice but it will be ignored because of the way it is expressed. This is a case where "less is more effective than more". Dick Stroud

Hell's granddads

Here is a factlet to drop into conversation - approximately 700,000 over-50s in the UK drive a motorbike and another million wish to do so. So says Saga and it should know about these things since provides a lot of the 50-plus transport insurance. Dick Stroud

Ahhh – not another photo of a couple strolling on a beach

This article in Marketing Week is about an oldies research study from Business Development Research Consultants (BDRC) that is be based on 5,500 interviews. The study appears to be mainly aimed at the Financial Services industry.

Some of the ‘headline’ comments:

1. The 50-plus group used to be far more homogenous; kids flying the nest and people being ‘empty nesters’ and then eventually retiring. It used to be very well delineated but this is changing

2. Delayed “empty nesters”, who have discovered their nests are no longer so empty now the kids are back again, may have to come out of retirement and then go back to work.

3. Grandparents are becoming childminders to their children’s kids and this greater family interaction is creating a generation of “blended families”.

4. Marketing by life stage is a more effective mechanism to engage with consumers than focusing on age.

5. The jargon used in financial services can be bewildering. Relating marketing to real-life situation is a far more effective way of engaging with the 50-plus market.

I have to say that none of these insights knocks my socks off. I am sure there must have been more interesting observations than these – surely? These points are all so 2005.

Here is one observation that was not reported about the Financial Services industry. Most of the 50-plus believe banks, insurance and all other types of ‘investment’ companies to be incompetent and self-serving. OK, I might exaggerate a tad but believe me if you see the research that passes over my desk the Financial Services industry is always on the bottom of the pile of ‘trusted’ organisations about the same level as UK politicians - that is low, low, low.

The Financial Services Industry has a massive confidence building job of work to do. If I were them I would start there. Normally, I would say to never consider the 50-plus as a single group, but their dislike of the Finance Industry is one thing that unites them.Dick Stroud

The finances of the over-50s under pressure

Yesterday’s media was full of bad news about the finances of the 50-plus.

The BBC covered the research from Scottish Widows that found that those retirees with outstanding non-mortgage debt owed an average of £7,344, up from £6,732 in the same poll a year ago.

Also, it is getting harder to ditch the financial burden of children with 7% of retirees stating they are still paying towards the upkeep of their adult children

The most concerning ‘fact’ was the finding that 15% of retired people were also still paying off a home loan, with an average debt of £50,100, up £8,000.

The same research is covered in the Daily Telegraph except this time the focus is on the way the Finance Industry is reducing the maximum age they will lend to, with many introducing a cap of 65 years old.

As a result, retired home owners with a mortgage are struggling to find new deals and face being evicted from their properties if they do not have the cash to pay off their remaining home loan with one lump sum. I suspect there is a bit of journalist licence in this statement.

Finally, The Daily Mail reports the way the recession means “millions of people” are having to delay their retirement plans.

The paper says:

Nearly two million people have been forced to put off retirement after seeing their pension funds plummet.

More than a third of those in jobs and over 55 plan to keep working until the stock market recovers, pulling their retirement income back up with it.

Almost a quarter of this age group now expect to work beyond the state pension age of 65, while 32% admitted they were not prepared at all for retirement.

All in all, yesterday was a good day to miss reading the papers. A couple of caveats. Yes, yes there is truth in all of these reports but be beware of PR research since you be sure it will be presented to favour the company involved.

Secondly, don’t generalise from the specific. The UK has a lots of young people who are not in employment or training but a lot more who are.

Still, none of this is good news. Dick Stroud

Pressures on the Sandwich Generation

I just received an e-mail promoting a new book about the issues facing the Sandwich Generation, when needing to provide or access care for their parents (Sustenance and Hope for Caregivers of Elderly Parents).

This is becoming a major concern for large numbers of people in their 50s and 60s so I would expect this will not be the last book published on the subject.

Just before reading the e-mail I was looking at a report on the BBC web site about a small up-turn in house sales in the UK. The theme of the report was that “Bank Mum and Dad” is responsible for funding a large number of the first time buyer sales.

This is what the estate agent (Realator) said

It's quite amazing, the number of buyers we get coming in with mum and dad in tow.

The majority of the people we are registering on our books are coming with the big deposits from their parents.

Many have been putting down large sums of money to finance the 20% or 25% deposits their children

Finally, when looking for a suitable cartoon to add to this blog I found the above that was published in The Hindu – one of India’s largest circulation newspapers. So it looks like this issue is of global proportions.

Marketers should understand that the pressures can only increase on the 50s and 60s age group who have to provide time, money and emotional energy for both their kids and parents. Remember the adage: “wherever there is a problem there is a marketing opportunity.” Dick Stroud

McKinsey on Marketing

You may be wondering what the above has got to do with 50-plus marketing. Answer, absolutely nothing.

The above content was generated, directly from the McKinsey site using one of their new widgets. A lot of clients talk about the concept of achieving "thought leadership" as means of competitive advantage. McKinsey is a live case study on how this is done. Dick Stroud

Constructing tweets that people read

When Jakob Nielsen puts his mind to understanding how to gain the most effectiveness from a Tweet it is worth reading his conclusions, one of which is that Twitter time passes 10 times faster than email time (i.e. you have a tenth of the time to grab attention)

It looks to me that most of the rules of writing attention and search engine grabbing e-mail subjects also apply to Twitter.

Unlike Nielsen, I cannot promise to use his rules when writing own Tweets. Dick Stroud

Rock stars and advertising – good, bad or irrelevant?

In the matter of a couple of months the UK has had three oldie rock starts turning up on TV, advertising Country Life butter (Johnny Rotten), Swiftcover insurance (Iggy Pop) and now Alice Cooper (Sony TVs).

So do the ads work? If so, why? If not, why? How would you rank them? Questions, questions, questions? Dick Stroud

Digidads from Sony

Sony has teamed up with some high profile dads who are avid bloggers and is launching a three-month DigiDad project. Each participant will be loaned Sony products and given different assignments that capture their family experiences using the products. Yawn.

That’s about all Sony is saying of the venture at this stage. This video shows one of the Digidads strutting his stuff.

This got me thinking. How about digigrandparents. Come on Sony, Panasonic… forget this Gen X bunch who are in state of recession angst – goto the guys with the loot – the grandparents. Dick Stroud

The Active Aging Community Center

Thanks to Claudine Aherne, a specialist in active ageing, for sending me details of AACC, an online community for researchers and practitioners working in the active aging field. If you are interested in this area of business then it is definitely worth a visit. Dick Stroud

A rare glimse into China

You don’t often get an insight into what is happening in China vis a vis the older market so it is particularly interesting to read about an organisation called Pinetree that says its mission is to be:

China's trusted brand for senior healthy living - whether it is their children seeking to provide their parents with quality home care solutions that help their parents enjoy independent living, or mature citizens themselves that are seeking trusted products and services (home care, wellness, insurance, travel), Pinetree aims to be their first destination.

A big focus of the company’s offering is its digital literacy services that: “helps seniors to access and enjoy the internet through tailored, quality and fun training courses that is integrated with Pinetree's online platform and training portal.” This all sounds very similar to the UK’s Digital Unite.

Pinetree certainly has a big and fast growing market. As China rises through the league table and towards the top, as the fastest ageing country, I bet there will be a few more Pintrees being established. Dick Stroud

Tech advice for living to 100 and enjoying life when you get there

A good item in the Aging in Place Technology Watch blog. This posting references the Evercare 100@100 Survey that takes an anecdotal look at today’s centenarians and provides a snapshot of the lives and lifestyles of those who achieve and surpass the100-year-old milestone.

I must register the domain 50plus50. Dick Stroud

Don't Rely on Age-Based Categories to Market to Women

This short “Today’s Tip” in BusinessWeek is spot on. Using my language the writer is saying that marketers should consider lifestage and lifestyle as the primary factors that define behaviour rather than age. I call it age neutral marketing. Dick Stroud

The World Ageing & Generations Congress

The 5th World Ageing & Generations Congress is taking place between 3 - 5 September at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). The reason I know this is that I will be there.

I will be on of the speakers talking about: “Mature marketing around the globe.” My fellow speakers are Kevin Lavery (Millennium, UK), Florian Kohlbacher (German Institute for Japanese Studies, Japan), Frank Leyhausen (MedCom International, Germany) and David Weigelt (Immersion Active, US).

I am really looking forward to what should be a fantastic event. During my stay I will be blogging about the event. Dick Stroud

A women worth listening to

I first heard about Carol Orsborn at the launch of her book “Boom: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer” when I was attending a conference in New York. It was (is) a great book about marketing to older women.

Carol has been facing a situation that is common in the US and the UK. As the recession continues to strip away at service sector jobs it is having a horrible outcome for so many older workers.

For Carol this was not a theoretical subject but intensely personal as she was “let go” by one of the few large advertising agencies that had a specialist group focusing on the older consumer. Remember, one in four for people age 50 – 65 in the UK is economically inactive. I cannot believe the US is that much different.

So what do you do, aged 50, when trying to get reemployed in a youth-centric and contracting world of advertising agencies? Buy the book and find out - The Year I Saved My (downsized) Soul. Unfortunately, the book is still only available in the US but should be released in the UK "any time now" (so says Amazon).

I really enjoyed reading the book. Truly, I am not just saying that, I really did enjoy reading it.

Obviously, the book is from a women's perspective but I suspect that many of the emotions described are shared by older men. I know I have had a few of them!

In light of the current debate (if you can call it that) going about changes to the US health care industry and the UK's NHS it was also interesting to read how many times the link between employment and health insurance was mentioned. You need some radical thinking when you are approaching the Big 50, with no job and no health insurance.

I am so glad the story has a happy ending. You now read what Carol is saying at vibrantnation.com. I fear that her problem, fortunately past problem, is not going away anytime soon. Her solution, of kicking the corporate world and taking control of her own destiny will (hopefully) be the route that many older people take. Dick Stroud

What women want

No this is nothing to do with the film with Mel Gibson and the gorgeous Helen Hunt. It is about a new research study (and book) from The Boston Consulting Group titled: “women want more.”

BCG’s research and insights are normally worth listening to. It will be interesting to see what they make of the age dynamic. A book worth reading when it hits the shelves in September. Dick Stroud

Woodstock and all of that

For ages, no presentation about the 50-plus/boomers was complete without a photo of Woodstock and the implication that by understanding this zeitgeist and the associated emotions and behaviours enabled you to successfully market to these people, 40 years on.

I always thought that was a lot of nonsense.

It has been interesting reading the press coverage of the 40th anniversary and the readers comment this has generated. As you would expect there is no single view about Woodstock and its significance, other than the boomer generation has grown misty eyes reminiscing about an event they are unlikely to have attended and only know about via the filter of an equally misty eyed media.

I liked this article, from the Australian press. Have a look at the reader’s comments.

Woodstock, been there done that – let’s move on. Dick Stroud

Millward Brown's database of ads

During Reg Starkey’s Webinar he mentioned Millward Brown’s database of over 55,000 ads covering 90 countries. You can read about here. Dick Stroud

RIP Readers Digest?

The US business of Readers Digest is going into Chapter 11. It is the same old story – sheds load of debt, $1.6 billion to be precise and not enough profits. Only two-and-half years ago a private equity firm purchased the company for $2.6 billion. Unfortunately the razor sharp MBAs, who devised the deal, got it horribly wrong.

The demise of this trusty old publication, which is associated with the 50-plus reader, is widely covered in the media. The best analysis is in the WSJ, but this is likely to be subscription only. The BBC has a summary of the situation.

I thought this was an interesting commentary.

Time, Reader Digest, Newsweek, and US News, all magazines that are decades old now tend to have readers over 50, and, in some cases over 60 years old. They also tend to be middle class. They are not nearly as active in their presence online as the generations of people who spend time on Facebook or Twitter.

These print media have been left behind. The most recent measure of the Reader’s Digest’s online audience shows the magazine with only 1.6 million unique visitors in July. Even if the figure is too low by half, the audience is not nearly large enough to bring in the ad revenue to offset the falling print sales at the magazine.

The Digest is dying slowly by dropping its circulation to 5.5 million and consequently decreasing what it can charge advertisers. The company has no choice, since too few people are interested in the magazine any more. The firm would need to race to cut costs to keep pace with falling revenue, and that is not possible any longer.

The Digest won’t make it much longer because its audience is too old. The content that it digests or runs is too easily available elsewhere on the internet—“the dos and don’ts of corporate culture”, “six healthy fish recipes”, and “8 medical myths”. The Digest was always quaint. It never had much of an edge. That was comforting to millions of people. It is not comforting enough for them to pay for the Digest in great numbers. Due to their age, they are also dying off.

Where I think this analysis is wrong is in the first sentence. I bet the majority of the publication's readers are 60+, with a large number being 70+. Also, a large chunk of their customers are spending time online.

Like Woolworths, some companies just don’t develop and become set in aspic. A great shame but that’s life. Dick Stroud

Are you too young to remember ‘normal’?

I am getting a bit of a reputation for being a doomster. I am not. I hope I am just being realistic about what is happening with the economy – for that read the US and UK. These countries may have very different health systems, if you believe the babble in the media, but unfortunately they share many of the same economic problems.

This comment from Wal-Mart’s CEO (Mike Duke) makes for scary reading.

"Overall, our customers are more disciplined in their spending -there's a “new normal” now where people are saving more, consuming less, and being more frugal and thoughtful in their purchases."

Some economic indicators are definitely looking on the up (Japan, France and Germany are showing signs of life) but consumers are facing weak wages, default, unemployment and eroding asset values.

With private consumption accounting for roughly 70% of U.S. economic activity, a recovery without the consumer doesn't promise to be much of a recovery at all. Remember the US economy has lost over 6.6 million jobs since the recession began, which is way above the job losses that we are used to seeing to reach a peak of 12% by the second quarter of 2010.

I reckon the past dozen or so years have been anything but normal. Once the economic oscillations have subsided, the resting place we reach will be a far more austere than we have known for a long time. That doesn’t mean there will not be loads of marketing opportunities, but marketers basing their strategies on the good times (i.e. the old normal) returning are in for a long wait. Dick Stroud

Don’t take statistics at face value – especially when they are about employment

Last week I wrote about the unemployment data in the UK and gave the impression that whilst all was not hunky dory with the over-50s it was youth unemployment that was creating the major problems. I was, I am ashamed to say, following the media trend of focusing on Yoof. Laurie South, who runs PRIME, contacted me to put the situation straight.

This is a summary of what he said.

Though both groups have a hard time in a recession, oldsters who drop off the employment ladder are having a harder time even than the youngsters taking their first steps onto it. It is this story - about the difficulty that older have finding work, that is rarely told.

Too many commentators appear to have rushed in and grabbed the first figure they could find (I hang my head in shame), so anxious were they to “expose” a huge rise in youth unemployment. They all made the elementary error of assuming that those who were economically inactive were all unemployed and completely forgot that nearly one million people aged 18 - 24 are in full-time education.

When the data is adjusted for full-time education amongst the 16/17 year olds and the 18 - 24 year olds, it is quite apparent that these cohorts are faring betting than others.

That is not to say that everything is rosy - one person in ten aged 18 - 24 economically inactive is not good news. But compare it with worklessness in the 50 to State Pension Age cohort. One in four is economically inactive in this age group according to these data.

So there you are. Thanks Laurie for your note and the detailed analysis of the data. Dick Stroud

Stories about ageing around the world

This is not really a blog posting about marketing but it does provide an insight into the mind of older people around the globe. The BBC’s World Service had an excellent series of interviews about different aspects of ageing; some sad, some liberating.

I didn’t know there is a Danish organisation called DaneAge that has approximately 542,000 members (27% of all Danes aged 50+). That is incredible.

I had never heard of the Gray Panthers and the Granny Peace Brigade. From a quick look at their web sites and listening to their spokesperson, they sound very worthy groups with their origins, I suspect, back in the early days of the 1960s and that went with that.

The saddest and most surprising item is about Japan. It appears that some older people have been left feeling isolated, unwanted and impoverished and as a result crime rates among the older generation is increasing. Last year more than 31,000 elderly people were convicted of theft. There has been a five fold increase in over-65s crime even though the older population has only doubled.

40% of older people live alone and 53% say they have no friends. Taking goods from their local supermarket is thought to give them an opportunity to talk to somebody, even the security guard. In most instances they given a warning and not prosecuted.

The next time somebody tells you that the East is nothing like the West, because of the way it reveres the old you can tell them about this story. Dick Stroud

Hotter.com sells shoes for the 'active over-50s' market

This is the title of an article in Retail Week.

I do love the term “active over-50s”. We are talking about people with 15, probably 20 years more working life, so they had better be ‘active’.

Anyway, it looks like this company has found a niche (maybe a very big niche) since the article claims Hotter.com sells 1.3 million pairs of shoes a year, and its customers are ‘vocal’ about their love of its products on the site. The company’s Marketing director says customer reviews are providing “a powerhouse of support for our brand”.

I reckon this pretty good when you consider the company’s name that means you get bizzare quotes like: “hotter feet are happier feet."

Anyway, it looks like Hotter is doing well - good luck to them. Dick Stroud

Fixation with appealing to Yoof

The artistic director of the UK’s National Theatre (Nicholas Hytner) believes we are underestimating the size of what he called the "literature festival" audience because of the concentration on the young.

He has been saying the same thing for some while. Back in 2003 he said, "According to received wisdom, there's evidently a thing called the young audience and everybody accepts that it's a good thing. And there's also a white, middle class, middle-aged audience and it's a very, very bad thing indeed." He continued, "There is a real danger in relentless and exclusive focus on the nature of our audience....There's nothing inherently good about any particular audience. We mustn't judge the success of an artistic enterprise by its ability to pull in an Officially Approved Crowd (i.e. the young). "

A not dissimilar line of attack was launched by the director of the Edinburgh International Festival who said that many Britons were missing out on “incredible experiences” because of an entrenched suspicion of anything serious, highbrow or experimental. Coherent ideas and intellectual rigour had lost their value for much of society, he argued, to be replaced with a consumer emphasis on simplification and entertainment for its own sake, whether it be through football, pop music, the media or comfortingly familiar classical works.

For time immemorial each generation has had a good moan about the state of intellectual decay of their children’s generation. Also I guess, each generation has attempted to modify its culture to what it thinks will be interesting and engaging for their kids, normally with hopeless results.

It is all a matter of degree. A marketing hotshot in the theatre of TV world looks at their audience figures and sees that it dominated by older people and concludes one of two things. This is great and we had better ensure we respond to this audience, or, this is dreadful and we had better change our content to appeal to the theoretical needs of Yoof. I think we have had far too much of the latter attitude. Dick Stroud

Salutory tale for retirement village builders

This is a sad story.

In 2007 a Victorian, former workhouse and hospital in, Essex UK, was converted into a retirement village. Then came the credit crunch; purchasers vanished, except for one poor soul who paid has money and moved in.

Two years latter the 86 year-old remains the sole inhabitant. After spending £6 million on the development the owners went belly-up.

The chief executive of the English Community Care Association, said that it was expecting to see many more retirement and care homes suffer the same trouble. “It is only now that people are starting to see the impact the credit crunch is having on their income,” he said. “People are in a much more precarious financial position than they were in before. Their property is not as valuable and those whose income is based on share incomes have seen an enormous drop. “People are reluctant to make any financial decisions at the moment — and that includes making decisions about care.”

A lot of developers believed that retirement properties were a no risk investment. For a decade, property investments had been a one way bet. What could go wrong? Ask the poor guy in Essex.

However, it is not all doom and gloom. It all comes down to supply and demand. Near to where I live there is only one decent retirement property complex and its properties have not suffered any price erosion. Dick Stroud

Some things about food and age groups

The Center for Culinary Development and Packaged Facts has done a survey of the generational differences in the comfort food we eat. Overall, we all seem to stuff our face with the same sort of stuff but there are a few subtle differences, things like:

Boomers prefer "classic" comfort foods such as braised meats, casseroles and ice cream, but many also enjoy gourmet choices such as high-quality dark chocolate and fancy cheeses and crave foods from their childhoods such as peanut butter, popcorn, foods made with canned tuna fish, chicken noodle soup and hot oatmeal.

Gen Xers are more accustomed to commercial fare, and crave fast food (especially hamburgers) and burritos. They cite branded foods more often than the other generations, including favourite packaged cookies, ice creams, candies and snacks.

Gen Yers, in contrast to other cohorts, also include healthier foods, including sushi and fruits, among their favourite comfort foods. They are less inclined than Gen X to associate specific brands with comfort foods.

It will cost you lots of dollars if you want the details of the study but I guess if comfort food is your busienss it is worth the money. However, I reckon there are significant differences between the US and Europe. Dick Stroud

The impact of ageing on food preferences

A recent study from Information Resources (IRI), Baby Boomers II: Preparing for the Upcoming Wave of Aging Shopper Growth provides some interesting insights into how the food category and channel preferences change by age. You can download a comprehensive overview of the study, but if you want the whole thing, you will need your credit card.

An example of a drink preference, which alters with physiological ageing is carbonated beverages, that IRI claim older people develop an aversion to as they age (i.e. They drink less beer and more wine/liquor into their 60s and 70s). Same goes for less soft drinks and more coffee. As for store choice: Boomers in their 60s shop more often and spend a higher proportion of their dollars in smaller formats such as drug and dollar stores.

The chart shows the variation on indexing of beverage categories by the age of the head of the household.

What was not clear to me, from the limited information available about this study, was the real impact of ageing and age cohort (i.e. will the under indexing of the 35-44 year old group for wine continue as they age). I also wonder the extent to which these age category differences are swamped by lifestyle. Dick Stroud

The generation gap is not what it was

A new report from Pew that looks at issues surrounding the “generation gap”. I will not attempt to summarise the reports findings – it contains lots of charts, tables and stuff.

One table in particular made me think because it illustrates how age is only one of the factors affecting how people respond. I was struck by the:

• Similarities of views in the age range 30-64
• Big difference that race makes to people’s views
• How a person’s education trump all of the other factors

I have already mentioned it before but you should also make sure you have a look at Pew’s researched titled: “Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality.”

I am not sure how as a marketer you can apply the results but it makes fascinating reading. Dick Stroud

UK unemployment continues to increase - for some

The latest employment date makes grim reading, especially for the young.

In the latest set of unemployment data the percentage of 16-17 year olds in employment in the three months to 2009 June was 28.6%, down 5.4% from a year earlier, while the rate for 18-24 year olds fell 4.3% to 59.8%.

The only age group that showed an increase in employment was the 65+. Also, those in the 50 – retirement age band showed less of a decline than the younger age groups. The rate of employment by people who were not born here showed a slight increase as it has done for the last six quarters.

These differences in employment rates between the young and old and indigenous and non-indenous people will continue to fester as a source of conflict. As will the higher increase in pay between the public and private sector. Not good news, except for older people. Dick Stroud

Segment, segment and then segment some more

As if we needed any more information to support the need for companies to thoroughly segment the older market is the research from Barings showing the impact of the fall in house prices on their pension prospects.

Let's restate my usual caveat that research showing people need to save more money, coming from a company that provides saving services, has to be viewed with caution. Barings reckons that £29bn has been wiped from pension pots this year of those approaching retirement. This broke down by age:

25% of older people are aged between 55 and 64, and a 7% are aged 65-plus.

11% of those in the East Midlands are more like to rely on homes to fund retirement while Londoners are the least likely (5%).

Forget the absolute numbers. What the research shows is that the UK's fragmention, into a country of the wealthy and poor old people, will accelerate. Just make sure your company is targeting the winners. Dick Stroud

More lessons from Japan

The FT (subscription) continues its great series of article about Japan’s ageing population and the lessons that we might learn. Of course there may be no lessons since Japanese society is so radically different from the UK and US that trying to extrapolate is a worthless exercise. Here are a few points:

A lot of talk about Leon, a magazine targeting the older male. Actually it appears to be aiming at guys in their late 30s to late 40s. It is doing well enough to have just launched in China.

A local ‘me’ (i.e. somebody who pontificates on the older market) says: “As people get older, their tastes and needs become more similar.” Is this true in the West? What evidence is there that it is true in Japan?

The cosmetic industry seems to one of the few industries that have been successful at benefiting from Japan’s ageing population – so far. Kanebo (a Japanese cosmetics company) generates more than Y10bn a year in sales of its Evita line for 50-plus women and is now moving on to the 60-plus.

The real estate boom that was expect as retired people exited big cities to move to the country has not happened. The local ‘me’ says: “It’s usually the wife who objects. The husband might want to spend his retirement working in a field back home, but the wife usually likes the convenience of the city.” The result has been for a higher premium on urban condominiums within an easy walk of train stations, and ever falling prices for rural retreats.

And so on …. If you get a chance it is worth reading. Dick Stroud

Campaigning for oldies US style

This week, AARP will launch the next phase of its Health Action Now campaign with new advertising that attempts to bust the myths that:"some are spreading to frighten Americans, including false assertions that fixing the health care system will lead to rationed health care, a government takeover or even euthanasia.”

To be honest the reason for the campaign is not important, unless you are an American, but it is the style of ads and approach that interests me.

Compare this with the way the Age Concern/Help the Aged or whatever it is going to be called goes about doing things.

You might say: “that it is all very American.” I think it shows a very different and contemporary mindset and one I much prefer. Dick Stroud

Lessons for the UK banks from Japan

Maybe Japan offers some clues how the UK banks could go around repairing their ‘tarnished’ image with the over-50s. Today’s FT has a good article in its ageing in Japan series (sorry it is subscription only).

The most wealth older customers of Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ were recently invited to an exclusive outing in a traditional Japanese garden where they were able to enjoy a cherished summer ritual – firefly-viewing.

The club, which is targeted at senior depositors with Y10m or more in the bank, is part of the bank’s efforts to attract more business from Japan’s older citizens, who own the bulk of the country’s financial assets.

BTMU is not alone in targeting the seniors. Sumitomo Mitsui Bank manages its own club for people aged 50 and older, called SMBC Club 50s. In this case the club’s members are treated to free seminars.

The UK banks would need to do a lot of customisation for the local market but the intention would be the same – to send a signal that they value their older and wealthy customers. What a novel idea that would be for the banks who have spent the past year decimating their clients’ savings by slashing the interest rates. Dick Stroud

The Ups and Downs of social networking

I have already blogged about the Ofcom report on the state of the UK’s communications market.

This is another factlet that has emerged from their research that shows the winners and losers in the UK social networking world.

I reckon these figures have a simple explanation:

Second Life – always a mystery why it did as well as it did. Clunky and only of interest to the mega-geeks.

Linkedin – fear of, or the result of, job loss has hordes of employees rushing to 'network'

Bebo – a direct migration to mums netmums.

Facebook – the only show in town but vulnerable to the invasion of oldies

Twitter - heavens knows why it is so popular. What’s the betting that next year’s research shows a double digit decline? Dick Stroud

Don't generalise about the behaviour of Millennials - or any other age group

David Wolfe has an excellent blog about an article in Fast Company about Gen Y, Millennials, or whatever you want to call them.

The writer of article is a tad put out by the way his generation is summed up by a few simple behaviours. You know the sort thing; they have a three-second attention span, were weaned on emails, texts, and instant messages etc etc.

David makes a couple of good points. I will quote his blog:

For sure there are stylistic differences between boomers in their earlier years and today's Millennial. However; to a remarkable degree the substantive elements of Millennial’ attitudes and behaviour mirror the attitudes and behaviour of boomers in their youthful years.

Eschewing sweeping generalizations made about the attitudes and behaviour of Millennial in his Fast Company article the author has put marketers on notice that they invite disappointing results in their campaigns if they take much of what self-styled experts say on Millennials at face value.

It is good to see that it is not only the older age groups that get fed up having their behaviours distilled down to a handful of motherhood statements. Dick Stroud

Business opportunities in the Care Industry

A UK care charity, providing care homes for the elderly, is the first British charity to attempt the takeover over a listed company.

Housing 21 (the charity) is preparing a share offer to buy Claimar Care, the heavily indebted care services provider. Like a lot of care companies, Claimar was suckered during the crazy period, prior to the credit crunch, when it appeared that credit lines were infinite. It now finds itself wallowing in over £21 million of debt. There are a lot of Claimars around.

So here we have a boring old charity taking over a listed company.

The Care Industry is ripe for more of these acquisitions as the pressure on public spending screws the amounts of funding local authorities can pay for elder care.

Look at this story that shows how local authorities are itching to cut expenditure on care services. This is going to put severe pressure on the business models of the care companies. Dick Stroud

Teens Don't Tweet... Or Do They?

danah boyd is a very smart lady. This is her excellent blog about the dodgy statistics that are used to support the statement that “Teens don’t Tweet”.

It is worth reading because it illustrates what happens when somebody with a highly logical and bright mind dissects the statistics that are churned out by the research agencies.

What really amused me was one of the faults she found in the use of age ranges that don’t relate to the target group. In this case, conclusions are made about the uptake of Twitter in the age range 0-24. As she points out, this age range doesn’t equate to ‘teens’. It is exactly the same as when companies draw some conclusion about Internet use by people in the age range 55-70. A totally meaningless age range that just happens to be convenient for their research process.

A really well written blog. Dick Stroud

The 50-plus, sex and genes - recipe for making money

ITV lost £150 million on its acquisition of Friends Reunited business when it sold it to a company called DC Thomson.

It was clear from start that ITV didn’t have the faintest idea what to do with the company, but I guess its seemed like a good idea at the time to buy what was then highly a successful site, enabling people to search for their school and college friends.

Having been on the site either and either made yourself feel smug about the boring life of classmates or depressed when see how well they are doing, there wasn't much more to do.

Lately, the company alighted upon the two aspects of human nature that maintain a long lasting interest – the "where did I come from" question and sex. By then it was too late and Friends Reunited was pigeon holed as a good idea at the time that never reached escape velocity to become self sustaining. Think of any of today’s social networking sites that might be going the same way?

Anyway DC Thomson, a company I had never heard of purchased the outfit for £25 million.

Why?

The headline in the Guardian answers the question: “New Friends Reunited owner plans over-50s dating website.”

Looks to me like a smart move. Thomson buys a genealogy business (it already has about 50% of the UK market in this field) that it can merge with its own and then provides dating services to the community of people that are desperate to know where their great, great grand mum was born. Brilliant.

The lessons for marketers. One, don’t acquire a company that you don’t understand and have only the most vague ideas how to grow. Two, sex and the need to know “where we came from” are fundamental drivers that can produce a commercial return. Dick Stroud

Challenges for the pharmaceutical industry

How about being a marketer in this industry and working in Japan.

You would think that all would be rosy because of the country's fastest, although healthiest, ageing population, but no.

Government policy requires drug prices to be cut once every two years, as part of drive to combat escalating medical costs. In 2006 and 2008, average price cuts were 6.7% and 5.2% respectively. In addition, the health ministry has a target to increase the use of generic drugs – copycat versions of patented drugs – to 30% by 2012, up from today’s 16%.

I reckon there are a lot of governments watching how things work out in Japan since all of the developed world has the same problems.

The financial pressures of the ageing population added to the residual effects of the credit crunch will change the rules of engagement between industry and Government. Certainly in the drug's industry. Dick Stroud

Care Industry conundrums

Four Seasons Healthcare has been teetering on the brink of oblivion since the beginning of the recession.

Yesterday it announced that it was writing of half its £1.5 bn of debt, in exchange The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and funds it manages, becomes the largest single shareholder, with about a 40% stake. To all intents purposes it controls the company, although it forcibly denies this is the case.

We now have a weird situation.

The RBS controls Four Seasons (plus a pile of other care homes) – the Government controls RBS. In parallel to these shenanigans the dire state of public spending is putting the screws on the Care Industry to reduce the cost of care and hence profit margins.

You don’t have to be a Wittgenstein to work out that this means the Government is in fact financially screwing itself.

As a marketer I have not idea what you can do with this information but it gives you cause to think.

If the Care Industry is of interest to you then you should read this article by the guy who runs BUPA Care Homes. Dick Stroud

Retirement community ads

I have done a lot of work in the retirement community sector and so it is fascinating to see how other countries approach advertising to this sector. Thanks to the guys at guys at Erickson for sending me these links. Ad 2 – Ad 3.

Are their any ads in your region that I should publish? Dick Stroud

A comprehensive report about the UK communications market

The 2009 Ofcom Communications Market Report is published, all 332 pages of it.

Want to know anything about the TV, Radio and telecommunications markets in the UK then look no further. And it’s is free. Well it is not free, the UK taxpayer pays Ofcom a fortune for producing the thing but it gives the impression of being free.

The report contains lots about how the use of communications services varies by gender, socio-economic group and age. It is a goldmine of factlets, like the one above.

Beware of these stark ‘averages’ since they might lead you to the wrong conclusion. Only 18% of the 75+ have home broadband, but this small number will be the most affluent and Web literate. 83% of the 35-54 year olds have broadband at home but that will include the fall spectrum of consumer wealth.

As much as begrudge the cost of Ofcom I have to say they do product extremely competent reports. Dick Stroud

Death of the final salary pension scheme

Understandably, the young think pensions are a complex and boring subject. Not so when your age begins with a 5 or a 6.

One of the top four, maybe the most important, factor affecting the ability of older people to keep spending is the size of the private pension. The state pension, in the UK just about buys the absolute essentials of life; the private pension enables people to live.

The pension that pays the most and has the least risk for the individual is the final salary pension. No worry with this type of pension about the chaos in the stock market, the payments just keep coming, irrespective of what is happening in the world.

There are now only three companies left in the FTSE 100 that provide this type of scheme for new employees - Cadbury, Diageo and Tesco. You don’t need to be a genius to calculate the 97% don’t.

If you add up the total deficit of all of UK FTSE 100 pension schemes you come to an astonishing figure of £96 billion - more than double the amount time last year. The deficit in all of the company schemes is now above £200billion with 88% of the country's 7,400 defined-benefit pension schemes facing a shortfall.

It is not surprising that PricewaterhouseCoopers found that only a quarter of employers offering final-salary pensions intend to keep the schemes open to existing members

A decade ago it was the general view that the UK had one of the best occupational pensions schemes in Europe. We Brits carped on about the fact that we had more money saved in pension schemes than all the rest of Europe put together. What a difference a decade makes.

What went wrong? Back in 1997 the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer was a certain Gordon Brown who stopped companies getting tax relief on their pension fund’s investment income. This meant that it became increasingly costly to provide high grade pensions. Result. Companies started closing the schemes. Compound this decision with the decline in the value of the stock market, which is showing a negative real return over the last decade, and you can see why corporate pensions are in such an unholy mess.

If things weren’t bad enough, Gordo, now the Prime Minister, changed the tax treatment of pension plans again, by reducing tax relief for top-rate taxpayers.

Why am I telling you this, other than a tad of personal annoyance? Each age cohort reaching retirement will be materially less well-off than the previous one. Worse than that, to provide even a basic level of pensions, consumers will be forced, via taxation, to increase their contributions. Remember, money paid to pension funds doesn’t buy flat screen TVs.

I nearly forgot. None of this applies to Government workers, who continue to receive the Rolls Royce of pension schemes, paid for by the poor saps in companies.
Dick Stroud

What’s happened in the Boomer World in the past 6 months?

Sit back, follow this link, and Chuck Nyren will explain.

This is a really worthwhile piece of work. Good presentation and a veritable goldmine of URLs. Great job. Dick Stroud

So who does visit social networking web sites?

From the research done by TNS and The Conference Board the answer seems to be: “Lots of people.”

In the last year the highest growth (in the US) has been in the 55+ which is consistent with all of the other research that I have published. Dick Stroud

Where goeth Japan - the UK is likely to follow

Japan has a “respect for the aged” day (not something you are likely to find in the UK). To mark this occasion the government gives each citizen, who turned 100 in the previous year, a silver sake cup – that’s about 200,000 people.

This year things have changed and instead of the sake cup having 94g of silver it has been reduced to 63g. Japan is experiencing hard times and the old are not immune.

I guess the equivalent in the UK is sending the centenarian a postcard from Gordon Brown when they were expecting a letter from the queen.

The article goes on to detail the issues facing Japan as its population ages, combined with the country’s enormous budget deficit. A situation that is exactly the same as the UK faces in the coming years.

I am not sure if you can still access the article (the FT is a subscription service) but it is well written and gives you a real feel of life will be like in the UK in the coming decade.

This is the first of a series of FT insights into Japan’s ageing population and how the country is reacting. Dick Stroud

Deprivation makes a big difference

This is a great example of the fallacy of talking about ‘averages’.

In the UK the disability-free life expectancy, for a man aged 65, in the least deprived living conditions, is just under twice that of his peer living in the most deprived conditions. The difference for women is slightly smaller.

The healthy life expectancy for a man in the most deprived conditions is 35% less than for one in most affluent. Significant differences.

This data is for 2001. From what I can see the gap has not narrowed, if anything it is wider.

If this sort of stuff interests you then go to the ONS web site and download this document
Dick Stroud

Do Yoof know something we don’t?

I have probably already covered this story – if so – I am sorry. Put it down to cognitive decline.

Nielsen, like Morgan Stanley, reckons that teenagers don't like Twitter.

According to Nielsen, only 16% of Twitter users were under the age of 25, yet they represent a quarter of all internet users.

Twitter has grown massively in the past six months - it is now used by about 10% of all active internet users, even though it is shunned by children, teens and young adults.

I think this must be one of the first instances of a radically new Web service being driven by the older age groups. Is this a preview of the future? Can’t kids think about anything to write in 140 characters?

Maybe, they are right and Twitter is a complete waste of time. Dick Stroud

All you ever wanted to know (and more) about population ageing

This is a monster of a report (200 pages plus – 12 Mb) called An Aging World: 2008 from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Definitely a reference guide you should download to your online library.

The above chart shows how Japan is leading the way as the world’s oldest country. Dick Stroud

China’s ageing population will big business

Any numbers about the Chinese market are staggeringly big.

For instance, senior citizens in China will spend £122bn in 2010. Some 143 million adults in China were over 60 years of age in 2005. By 2050 this will increase to 438 million.

This article is a rare insight into the marketing challenges of this vast market. Dick Stroud

Life Insurance companies focus too much on the 50-plus

I think this is the first time I have ever written that an industry is focusing too much on the 50-plus. In the US, this is the conclusion reached by Mintel, the research company.

In the 12 months ending June 2009, a study found that Gen Xers received 15% fewer health insurance marketing direct mail pieces than Boomers. Gen Y had even fewer offers falling on their post mat - 25% less than their parents’ generation.

I would have thought this is one of the bonuses of being young, but no. Mintel believe the young are a bit miffed at being left out and would welcome the attentions of the Insurance marketers. I wonder. Dick Stroud