Age UK logo and marketing message

Yesterday I had a call from Marketing Magazine about the new Age UK ad campaign.

Before talking about that I thought I had better catch-up with the news and say something about the new logo.

This is a paraphrase of the press release.

'Life loop' is the branding choice of charity formed by the merger of Help the Aged and Age Concern and is appearing on the websites of Age Concern England and Help the Aged. UK.

It was designed by branding agency Corporate Edge . My last musing about the new name can be found here.

"It shows life in the round," said a spokeswoman. "Not a straight line that starts with young and ends with old, but a loop of vitality, a circle of life. It represents the continuous, seamless support that Age UK offers."

So there you are.

This brings me back to the new ad campaign that is reported in today’s Marketing with the image of the older lady.


Here is the press blurb:

The “Our power is our number” ad drive is the first campaign the charity has launched since unveiling its new identity, and is part of a wider effort to build awareness of the new brand and the services the organisation offers to older consumers. The campaign launches on 5 April and includes television and print advertising and a direct mail drive to 2.5 million people.

Age UK works with creative agencies Karmarama and Kittcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw, digital agency Agency.com and media agency Manning Gottlieb OMD. These are all heavy hitters.

My reaction to the campaign was this quote.

“The election is an obvious issue [for Age UK] to build a campaign around because of the propensity of older people to vote”, but he says the strapline veers towards a “threatening tone” without describing Age UK’s role.

Often when you make a quick remarket to a journalist you wish you had kept your mouth shut. In this case I stick with my comment.

It was clear that the journalist wasn’t too sure what Age UK did or was ‘for’. I know about the great work that Age Concern does at a local level but I am still very hazy about its main purpose in life. I would be the first to admit that this is my fault but I suspect I am not alone.

It is very easy to write a blog and criticise but I do think there is a fundamental issue of communicating the new organisation’s purpose. I am not sure if “Our Power is Our Number” is going to make things much better.

Here is the Age UK manifesto.


Dick Stroud

Not enough older faces

Anchor Trust has accused the BBC of not having enough older people in its programmes, compared to rival ITV. The company commissioned an "older faces audit" that claims only 20% of presenters and actors on BBC One are aged over 50.This compares to 27% on ITV1, based on figures collated during one week.

Needless to say the BBC said it did not believe that the study provided an accurate reflection of its output.

Why can I not excited by this ‘research’. Perhaps because it is blatantly a PR ‘research project’ – nothing wrong with that – but don’t let’s confuse it as being something done for the good of mankind rather than generating a few column inches.

Secondly, if we want to start counting faces we might come up with some other interesting observations. Too many/too few non-whites. Too many/too few women rather than men. How about counting people over the age of 75 – the age group that Anchor is involved with.

Savour this moment. There are few times when I write to defend the BBC but this is one of them. Dick Stroud

The great water conspiracy

On one hand I think the preoccupation of always associating Boomers with water is a trivial issue. On the other hand I think their must be a rationale other than annoying the hell out of me.

Maybe it is to do with the idea that human race emerged from the water and as the years creep by we return to it? Maybe the number of photos in the photo libraries of older people and water has reached a tipping point so that instead of creating new ones it is easy to produce another variant on the same theme. Weird.

This one is published by grandparents.com – worth a look as it contains some interesting data. Dick Stroud

Florida Boomer Conference

This looks to be a great conference.

Just about all of the “big guns” in the Boomer World will be strutting the stage – lots of them who are good chums. I wish I were there rather than in the cold wet UK.

Sorry guys, but you must allow me one jibe – OK I know it is Miami-on-sea but not another bunch of 50+/60+, wind in their hair splashing through the waves. I know it is a personal thing, but I cannot for the life of me understand why so many things to do with oldies are associated with photos of the water. Call me weird but there you go. Dick Stroud

Many Happy Returns 1940s

Sarah Reed deserves to succeed with her Many Happy Returns 1940s product that is a box containing images from the most formative adult years of people aged around 70 years and older – the 1940s.

The box contains 26 large size cards with photographs of everyday items and subjects from the decade, such as playing in the street, the journey to school, washday, and so on. Each card has a brief description and a few questions to provide background and help get a conversation going. The cards are designed for use in any order, to be shared one-to-one, or in a small group.

The word ‘passion’ is over-used but in Sarah’s case it means what it says. She really does care about helping people with dementia. I do hope things are going well. Dick Stroud

The BBC has gone Boomer crazy

“The richest, most powerful generation that ever lived is embarking on a comfortable retirement. But why does it feel like they've pulled up the ladder with them?”

Here we go again. The BBC churns out yet another poorly researched, poorly written pile of XXXX. I have a phrase in mind for XXXX but I will leave that to your imagination.

The author (above photo) has a book coming out in the next week or two called It’s all their fault. I doubt for one minute that the guy actually believes all this nonsense and that it is a great bit of publicity to sell the book. The trouble is that there are plenty of oiks who will gobble up all of this manufactured generational spite. Still it is nice to know that very few of them will have the wit or energy to get to a polling station at the general election. Dick Stroud

Two presentations on SlideShare that are worth viewing

This is the first time I have seen a presentation about the 50-plus in Germany. Lots of facts and lots of the stuff that applies to all European countries.

Definitely worth a look

The Truth About Generation 50plus In Germany

View more presentations from Ulrich Riediger.

This is a beautiful presentation about social media around the world. I have no idea how I would use the information it contains but it is a really well constructed and visually appealing.

Social Media around the World

View more presentations from InSites Consulting.

Dick Stroud dick@20plus30.com

Real life has got in the way of blogging

Those of you who follow this blog will have noticed the regularity of my posting has taken a dive. This has nothing to do with a failing interest in the subject or a lack of news but rather the limitation of there only being 24 hours in a day.

I have been really busy (which is good) but also cast into sorting out the life of an older relative (which is bad).

My posting about “Ageing in Place” have taken on a new meaning as I have been trying to make it a reality.

The only good thing that comes out of this situation is I now have a real understanding of incredible ineptitude that masquerades as the UK’s health and social support services. There have been many good deeds by kind individuals but the bottom line is that the way the NHS and Social Services manages the sick older person is not fit for purpose.

I will need to wait for the personal annoyance to subside before I start to unpick this situation in logical fashion. The big positive is that there are immense opportunities for private business to provide the services that the UK’s state is unable to provide.

I hope to be blogging more frequently. Lots to talk about. Dick Stroud

Large charities, be worried, be very worried

Like most things in life, economic problems take longer to develop than you think. The horrible economic conditions that are about to engulf large UK charities have been brewing for a couple of years and may still have another 12 months before they really start crashes over their heads


The head of the Charity Commission reckons that the trustees of large charities that are heavily reliant on public sector funding must take measures to avoid finding themselves on a "financial cliff edge" when the current spending round ends.

This is also a warning for all of the agency, support and consultancy organisations that depend on business coming from the charity, government and quango area. Times are going to get tough.

If large dollops of public spending aren't t going to pay the bills then who will? The corporate sector – I think not.

The consumer – maybe, if you have a compelling proposition that is formulated in simple language rather than the bureaucratic gobbledygook that most of these guys speak.

What part of the consumer audience? Methinks most likely the older consumer.

The smart charities will take this onboard and start to reorientate their strategy now rather than when the bailiffs start knocking on the door. Dick Stroud

Online video is as age neutral as it gets

This data from comScore is a bit out of date but I doubt if the profile has changed much in the past 15 months. If you want evidence to show the age neutrality of online video, this is it.

You can listen and view the presentation on the comScore site. Dick Stroud

Fantastic source of Facebook demographic and geographic data

Yesterday I was searching for some data about the geographic and demographic differences in Facebook users. I found the perfect source. The O’Reilly Radar Slideshare document titled: “Demographics: Trends April 2009”.

Everything you ever wanted to know. If anybody knows of a more recent source of data then please post a comment. Looks to me like Europe is lagging well behind the US in the uptake of Facebook by the older demographic. Dick Stroud

The Business of Ageing Conference in Dublin

I have already written about this conference and how well run and attended it was.

Most of the presentations are now available for download. You can also see in graphic detail photos of the speakers, including a group shot with the Irish Taoiseach.

The great news for the organisers is that the press coverage keeps coming. This is an article published last week in the Irish Independent.

I couldn’t resist adding this photo of yours truly strutting the stage in the magnificent surroundings of the conference centre. Dick Stroud

Royal Mail workshop

This week I spent a day in Leeds doing a workshop for Royal Mail.

The event was held at the conference rooms at a Royal Mail sorting centre. I had images of a small little office somewhere in downtown Leeds. How wrong could I be?

The location was about the size of four football pitches. It was vast.

I had a good time. I hope the attendees did as well.

If you want to down load the presentations you can via the MMC web site. You will need to register but it is worthwhile since the site publishes a lot of really interesting stuff.

You can also view a Webcast I produced of my session. Dick Stroud

Digital Inclusion at the sharp end

This is a great video showing how older people can get online, with a bit of help.

In this case the video shows a group of people in Hackney, East London, who are clearly enjoying themselves and getting the skills to use the Internet. Well done Age Concern Hackney.

This clip was taken from an ITV programme about digital exclusion in the UK - all 10,000,000 people who do not use the Internet. Dick Stroud

More Boomer bashing nonsense

Newsnight is (was) a respected BBC news insight programme. A couple of days ago it had a Boomer bashing fest. Matched in verbal combat were representatives of the angry young and the smuggish old. Neither did themselves in credit.

I have written about this stupid argument a number of times, most recently in the context of a silly article in a UK Sunday paper.

David Willetts, who does have a lot to contribute to this subject, had to condense the complex subject of intergenerational equity into half a dozen short sentences.

The spokesman for Yoof was a particularly annoying plonker (pictured) who wants to position himself as Mr Young and Angry. His only contribution was a couple of dumb soundbites that he endlessly repeated about the unfairness of having to pay for a university education unlike them (the boomers) who had it all free of charge.

Have a listen to this short sound clip from the programme to get a feel of the tone. If you have nothing better to do you can listen to the whole thing (22 mins).

A plea to the BBC. This is an important subject that should not be treated in this daft manner. The guy from Citywire seems to agree with this view. Dick Stroud

Presentation in Dublin

Today I spoke at a conference in Dublin about global opportunities of the ageing population. A really bright and attentive audience. Fantastic location. You can hear and see the presentation (22 mins run time).

I always like coming back to Ireland. This time is no exception. Dick Stroud