New 50-plus musis TV channel

Vintage TV, a digital television channel aimed at viewers aged 50 and over will launch later this year with music pundit and broadcaster Paul Gambaccini its main presenter.

The Linkedin profile of the company’s CEO says that Vintage TV

is a first for British television —a multi-platform channel of exclusive video promos, original programming featuring iconic stars from the Forties to the Eighties, films, festivals and famous gigs, all carefully devised specifically for the over-50s.

The station, due to begin broadcasting on Sky and Freesat on 1 September, will also show new music videos for 500 songs recorded before the video age.

The sales spiel says

Unlike other channels”, he adds, “Vintage TV will offer a unique opportunity to advertisers to reach a vast, music-loving audience of mature, time-rich viewers who have hitherto tended to be either ignored or subsumed by the mainstream mass-market campaigns.

Here is what the BBC and Music Week had to say about the launch.

The countdown clock shows how long we have to wait for the channel to launch and also the ridiculous time in the morning I wrote this blog post. I wish them well. Dick Stroud

Post 50-work mean post 50-spending

Friday's FT has some interesting stats.

The National Childhood Development Study, which is tracking the lives of 10,000 people born in one week in 1958, found that almost nine out of 10 people in their early 50s are considering working on past state pension age to maintain a higher standard of living.

24% cent strongly agreed with the statement “when I reach state pension age I would do some paid work if it meant a better standard of living”. A further 47% agreed with that view

More than 90% of those finding it quite difficult to manage financially said they would consider continuing work as did those in lower paid jobs. But so did 86% cent of those who said they lived comfortably, or had higher professional and managerial jobs.

Women past 60 and men past 65 now comprise about 12% of the workforce – up by half on a decade ago.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that 71% those aged 55 and over planned to work past state pension age, against 40%.

All of these findings are similar to research in the US. The big "bottom line" to all of this is that older people, for reasons of compulsion or desire, are going to keep on working. It looks to me that 70 or 75 is the new 65.

Now the big question is where will the jobs come from for all of these older people? Dick Stroud

Second edition of Marketing and Innovation in the Aging Society

A couple of years back I contributed a chapter to a book about all things ageing and marketing that focused on Japan.

I have updated my chapter and it will be published in the second edition that will hit the streets in Q4.

If you are desparate to read the book now the old version is still for sale on Amazon. Dick Stroud

An innovative application of technology

There are currently 2.5 million people in the UK with diabetes, however, it's estimated that more than half a million people have the condition but are unaware of it. The rise in obesity means there are going to be lot more suffers. Lots of them will be 50-plus.

For family reasons I have been immersed in the world of the technology that measures blood glucose levels. All of the devices I have encountered are really awkward to operate if you have dexterity and sight problems – both conditions that are common with older people with diabetes.

I have just seen this product from Bayer ( CONTOUR USB) that looks like a step-change improvement in the technology. It is the first plug&play measuring device that opens diabetes management software on your computer, measures the levels and does a host of other things like remind the person when to test. It is a small step for here to enabling the GP to monitor the levels online and respond if they look like they are deteriorating.

I have just put away my credit card so hopefully I will be able to tell you if the reality lives up to the promise.

I thought this was an innovative way of selling the product to the youth sector.

Very impressive stuff. Dick Stroud

Baby Boomer UK does not equal BB US

This blog posting echoes something I have been saying for as long as I can remember – these days, as a result of cognitive decline, that is not long.

The concept of Baby Boomers may have meaning in the US but it doesn’t in the UK.

However, the writer of the blog believes that you define generations as a group of people who:

• Grew up during the same economic, educational and technological times
• Were shaped by the same social markers and events.
• Now share the same life stage
• Share a common worldview / set of values

Mmmm, not sure I can agree with that. I guess in broad brush terms it makes some sense but the devil is in the detail. In my book the final characteristic trumps the rest by an order of magnitude. The fact that two people aged 60, happened to be living on the planet at the same time, doesn’t mean they are going to have anything in common other than sharing the same aches and pains. Even that is untrue since that will depend greatly on their social background.

Three of the four of these conditions are age related. If we have learnt anything over the past few years it is that age is a poor proxy for behaviour. Repeat after me…Age is a poor proxy….. Dick Stroud

Nearly half those aged beween 50 and the retirement age are unemployed

Of the disadvantaged groups in the UK the lowest employment rate is for disabled people at 46.7%. The next lowest is people aged 50 to state pension age at 52.1%. So nearly half the people aged between 50 and retirement are unemployed or retired. Wow. Read all of the stats in this report from the ONS. Dick Stroud

The big squeeze begins

Just in case you haven’t noticed, Europe is in the process of transferring shed loads of money our of the pockets of its consumers to pay of its astronomical public debts.

A lot of attention has been placed on the Garlic Countries (Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy) but Germany and now the UK have moved into a five year period of austerity.

What groups of consumers will be most affected – a question that was asked at the time of sub-prime initiated recession and a question we should all be asking ourselves again now.

According to figures released by Markit and YouGov, 44% of households in the UK expect their financial circumstances to get worse over the course of the next year with sentiment falling to a low not seen since the peak of the economic downturn. NB - this research was done prior to the budget.

This is the third successive month when respondents had become more concerned about the fiscal outlook as a direct result of declining in confidence in job security.

The UK’s Institute for Fiscal Studies said the country now faced “the longest and deepest sustained period of cuts to public service spending since the Second World War”.

One thing is certain. There is a group of people who not be affected by these changes - The Charmed Generation. There kids might be affected. Their grandchildren might be affected, and hence they are indirectly affected, but their spending power will remain pretty much untouched. An important group of consumers that marketers cannot afford to ignore. Dick Stroud

Horror of all horrors – Apple might be appealing to an older demographic

I just love this snippet, from Power Lunch, where finance commentators meet a tech commentator, from CNET. Not much mutual understanding. What is a hoot is the worry that Apple might be trouble because it is appealing to an older demographic. Well done Apple I say. Dick Stroud

Using social media to target Baby Boomers

Maybe it is just me but I cannot extract anything of meaning from this interview. It seems to say that you have to wait and see what happens – am I missing something?
Dick Stroud

Age profile of blogger

An outfit call sysomos has published this analysis showingthe age profile of bloggers based, it says, on 100 million posts.

I would love to know the level of confidence that are put on these figures. I would guess it must be plus/minus 10%.

If I were you I would treat these numbers with care. Dick Stroud

Changing “substance abuse patterns” among 50-plus Americans

I can think of no useful marketing use for this information but I thought it was worth passing on in case you can.

I hate the term “substance abuse” but cannot think of any better one to use.

The chart shows the primary cause of treatment for the 50-plus and how it has changed during the past 16 years.

In the UK we hear a lot of press comment about the problems of older people drinking too much. Either we Brits are very different from our American cousins or the reality is very different to the way it is reported, since it would seem that the biggest problem is now prescription drugs. This would not be the first time that there is a mismatch between the media/political rhetoric and reality. Dick Stroud

iPad demographics

This analysis is very selective in that it is indexes the users of iPads who access Yahoo. Even so, it comes up with an interesting observation that Yahoo consumers, ages 35-44, are overrepresented, by 36% on the iPad, while the under-30s are vastly underrepresented.

The 45- 54 age group is also over indexing.

None of this comes as any great shock. It will be great when we get some user demographics from a wider respondent base. Dick Stroud

Not such good news about senior housing in the US

If you are interested in the senior housing sector then this presentation from the US is tad worrying. Whilst the inventory of property is still rising the number of new starts is in rapid decline so is the demand. All of this leads to a fall in occupancy. Not good news. Dick Stroud

UK online demographics

Mediatel has published some new stats about how Brits use the Internet. I cannot find any trace of the information on the company’s web site – maybe you can?

Using a secondary source it would appear that the growth recorded by 15–24 year olds fell from 8.2% in Q1 2009 to 2.4% in Q1 2010, with 25–64 year olds increasing by 7.8% in the second of these two periods.

Web users, over 65 years old, generated the most substantial surge in this timeframe, up by 21.2%, or by 600,000 people, from 12 months previously.

The high income AB category saw growth of 4.2% and at the other end of the social economic scale the DEs increased by 13.4%.

Of course these numbers don’t mean much unless you know the absolute size of the groups and other factors affecting the groups, like Web savvy older people entering the 65-plus age category. Dick Stroud

Retirement a dying concept?

The graph shows the proportion of the adult population leaving the labour market in Q2 2009 –Source: ONS. It is taken from a discussion paper published by the ILC-UK called “The Future of Retirement.”

Certainly worth a quick read, if for no other purpose to illustrate how complex and multi-dimensional the term ‘retirement’ has become. It will be interesting to see what this graph looks like in 2015. I would think that it will have shifted dramatically to the right. Dick Stroud

Some useful tips about using Web video

Having set up a specialist agency InTwoFocus that produces Web video, that is works well with older audiences, I need no persuading about the power of the technique.

It is always nice to see that other people agree with you. This blog post provides some sensible suggestions for how video can best be used with the 50-plus. Dick Stroud

Who watches online video?

Pew Internet has just published a report about the demographics of Web video in the US - The State of Online Video

No great shocks. Bottom line. Web video is mighty important. The more wealthy you are, the better educated you are the more likely you are to watch. No surprise there then. I am surprised at how fast the in propensity to use video (by age) changed in two years.

My usual gripe about Pew is the organisation's  insistence on lumping all of the oldies into the 50+ category. Dick Stroud

Specsavers keep bashing away at the 60-plus

Another day another ad selling specs to the over-60s.

Like the TV ad this is simple, to the point and leaves no doubt about its purpose. Dick Stroud

Will the French mature as well as their wines?

"Older, smarter, poorer: The French consumer transformation" is the title of an article appearing in this edition of the McKinsey Quarterly. Much of what it says can be applied to the UK and US.

This quote gives a flavour for the article's content

We found three long-term trends reaching a tipping point that will fundamentally transform the country: an aging population, societal shifts altering what households look like, and economic factors slowing the expansion of wealth. As these trends sweep across France and, to varying degrees, the rest of Europe, they will impose pressure on consumption growth and dramatically change the consumer landscape.

I thought this graphic is a great way of showing what product types are 'exposed' to the ageing population. Look at the top of the list (Recreation). It would appear that all of the growth will come from the 55-plus. Thanks for Kim Walker for telling me about the article. Dick Stroud

Targeting the 50-plus

Yesterday I was in a branch of NatWest and spied this brochure. There is nothing like a “you get a special rate because of your age” type offer to get my attention.

What I thought was interesting was the inside cover that made the proposition that “Now you are over 50, your family has probably grown up and, hopefully, you no longer have a mortgage or any other major financial commitments." You will need to click on the image to read the text.

This strikes me as a very stereotypical view of the 50-plus. I wonder how true this is.

The same day I read the astonishing fact that of all the people who bought an annuity last year (I guess that means 2009) 88% had less than £50,000.

That would buy you a pension of around £3,000/year. If this is the total value of the private pension, for nearly 90% of those retiring in the UK then they have something more important to worry about than their life insurance. Dick Stroud

The 65+ get the spending habit

The most recent research from Gallup showed an amazing surge in spending by older Americans.

I can only guess that they had gone into spending shut down, because of the recession, and now think it’s over, and have unbuttoned their wallets.

Methinks that may be a bit too premature. Dick Stroud

Health news travels fast but not by Facebook

Meredith’s Better Homes and Gardens reader panel were researched to understand their attitudes towards all things to do with ‘health’. The research sample was 1,354 women, 18 and older, with an average age of 53.

WOM comes in many forms but from this analysis it would seem that social networking is not one used by this group to talk about health issues. If you cannot see the diagram then download the full document. Dick Stroud

Social networking demographics

I have just come upon this data. It is a bit old (Feb 2010) and I am not that convinced about the methodology used (Google AdPlanner demographics). Anyway for what it is worth, here it is. Dick Stroud

World Cup demographics in the US

Nielsen has been measuring the demographics of Americans watching the World Cup for the past few years.Thanks to Boomer and Better Marketing News for featuring this story.

The 50-plus audience was at high in 1994 (28%) and has then bounced around 23% for the next three years. I tell you, unless they start filtering out that dreadful background noise it will fall a lot further in 2010. Dick Stroud

Stable profits in the Care Home Industry but at a cost

Occupancy rates are declining in UK care homes. This amongst a stack of other stats is a conclusion in the latest Colliers CRE report about the Care Industry.

Whilst the fees being charged have gone up a tad the only way that profitability has been maintained is by squeezing costs. There is a limit to how long you can do this for before standards start to deteriorate.

Add to all of this the dire outlook for spending by local authorities and you come to the inevitable conclusion that the Care Industry is in for a tough time.

If you work in the Care Industry then this is a must-have report.  Dick Stroud

The importance of grandparents

One of my basic rules is that unless you have evidence to the contrary, you shouldn’t target an older people by age, unless they have very obvious shared interests.

One such “thing in common” is a high likelihood of being a grandparent and before anybody tells me I know they can range in age from early 30s to 80s.

That being said they are important group because of their size and the mega thing they have in common: “they spend money on their grandchildren.”

Here is some more research about the US market that shows:

• Number in the United States: 70 million
• Annual consumption of goods and services: $2 trillion
• Those younger than 65: 54%
• Grandparent homeowners who have paid off their mortgages: 55%
• U.S. households headed by grandparents: 37%

It is interesting to look at the way the UK and the US target this group via the web. A big difference, don’t you think. Dick Stroud

Social media and the 50-plus report from AARP

Lots research findings about the digital literacy of older Americans. Nothing that we don’t already know but worth a look.

Laurie Orlov, the founder of The Ageing in Place Technology Watch blog is not so sure. Her comments are very interesting.

Remember that she was for nine years a leading industry analyst at Forrester Research. There is nobody like an experienced technology researcher to spot the holes in a research study, and she does. Dick Stroud

The Hospitality Industry and the 50-plus

Way back in June 2008 I was invited to Dublin to speak at an event called The Pudding Club. I had a great time.

Alex Gibson, the person behind this event and who broadcasts a Web radio programme about marketing issues, has just written an article about older people and the Hospitality Industry. Definitely worth a read.

Alex, thanks for the mentions in the article. Dick Stroud

It's not all fun being a Boomer

It is not all fun being a Boomer

The WSJ has an amusing article entitled: “Middle Age Crazy? It'll Cost to Do Your Thing.”

This is a lovely quote from the article.

These days, you can barely swing a cat without hitting a boomer in the throes of a midlife crisis. But in the middle of a tough economy, midlife U-turns involve a host of new risks—and costs—that boomers previously didn't have to worry about as much.

The article goes on to explain why Boomers are having problems and what they are trying to do about it.According to the American Psychological Association's annual stress test, nearly a third of 45- to 60-year-olds think they are "extremely stressed." That's one hell of a lot of people.

The writer proposes the state of paranoia of boomers as a reason why boomers are going on more exotic adventure holidays. According to the Adventure Travel Trade Association, people in their 40s and 50s now make up nearly half of those who book trips in the $52 billion adventure-tourism industry. Wow. If you are looking for a good stat about the importance of the older age groups to the Travel Industry then that is one for your file.

Afraid the article is subscribers only. Dick Stroud

The word ‘retirement’ should be retired

The FT highlights some research from a heavy duty MR project (National Childhood Development Study). Apparently, almost nine out of 10 people in their early 50s are considering working on past state pension age in order to have a higher standard of living.

The finding, which is tracking the lives of 10,000 people born in one week in 1958. As you can see, this is not a cheap bit of PR research but research with legs.

The headline finding from the research (in my view) was that financial necessity was not the only reason people considered working on.

More than 90% of those finding it quite difficult to manage financially said they would consider continued work as did those in lower paid jobs. But so did 86% of those who said they lived comfortably, or had higher professional and managerial jobs.

So much for lifestage marketing and the importance of the statutory retirement age as being a major life change trigger. Dick Stroud

Aviva’s myhealthcounts web site can change your life

All the copies of the ‘heavy’ Sunday Newspapers have a full page ad telling the world about Nigel who

got my cholesterol my insurance and my handicap down, all thanks to Aviva

Other heart warming stories about how Aviva’s few lines of code can change the life of a nicely balanced age mix of people can also be found on the web site.

It is not the sort of ad that would get me frantically bashing away, keying in my blood pressure, BMI and other assorted personal data, but it is an interesting approach to selling financial services. It is also a well implemented campaign that spans print and the web. I have not idea how successful it will be but it is an innovative approach. Dick Stroud

What is the best term: Age Agnostic – Age Neutral – Ageless

Marketing week (this week) has a lot of stuff about marketing to children. This is a link to the tables.

There is an interesting comment in the mags leader

Brands such as Apple, Wii, Sony and Nintendo that are age agnostic (“Dad wants it as much as children”) are seen as having a positive influence as families adopt brands that help them spend time together again.

“Age agnostic” - I don't think this is right phrase. My dictionary comes up with this as a definition of agnostic as: “sceptic, person who is doubting or suspicious about something.” Mmm

I don’t much like the word ‘Ageless’ – not really sure why - it sounds like something out of a cheesy cosmetic ad.

So I come back to my term “Age Neutral” as a better way of expressing what I think the leader writer was trying to say.

I found it fascinating that some of the age-neutral brands seem to be at the top of the list for being seen as ‘cool’ by children. So much for the argument that appealing to the old alienates the young. Dick Stroud

Everything you could want to know about the UK’s 50-plus

The “Regional trends in ageing in the UK” report from the ONS (free) is an absolute ‘must have’ report that dices and slices the stats about the UK’s over-50s by the regions in the UK where they live. You can also download the accompanying spreadsheet so you can conduct your own analysis. A big thanks to the Office of National Statistics. Dick Stroud

Who spends what on clothes?

Research from Verdict was featured in the last edition of Marketing Week.

Looks to me like there is very little difference in the amount of money spent by women between the ages of 25-64 and that guys rapidly lose the buzz of buying clothes after the age of 24 and it keeps on sliding as they age. Not much more to say. Dick Stroud

The Boomerangers are back

Well done Luminosity Marketing for attempting to research and put some structure about households containing multiple adult generations. In particular the Boomerang kids.

Luminosity defines Boomerangers as young adults who, after living away from home, have returned to their parent’s home and, thus, have remained somewhat dependent on their parents.

They estimate that 13% of parents with grown children say that at least one child has moved back home in the past year as a result of the economic ills that are griping Europe and the US.

The company has even broken Boomerangers into a couple of different segment.

The thing I found most interesting was the chart that shows the involvement of Boomerangers and their parents in decision making. I have not idea if the data in this chart is accurate, but it beautifully illustrates the changing way that households will make decisions after the kids have come back. This impacts both our ideas about the older and younger consumer groups. For sure they are not going to spend the same way after a period of living back together. Dick Stroud

The 50-plus needs marketing advice

This has nothing to do with 50-plus marketing. Just a Dick Stroud personal gripe.

In case you haven’t noticed we have entered an era of austerity. Six months ago it was all about the Governments flushing borrowed money through their parched economies. Now it is all about getting it back, to pay-off the ginormous bills they have racked-up.

Yesterday, the UK Government started it softening-up exercise to get the British public ready for the expenditure cuts and tax rises to be announced in June. At the same time there has been a cacophony of bleats from special interest groups, claiming why they are different and shouldn’t have their budgets cut or their taxes increased.

All of this provides a good opportunity for the media to parade their particular gripes about groups they think should be given a good tax kicking.

Philip Stevens is a particularly obnoxious journalist that writes for the FT. He is of the breed of journalist that continually makes the wrong call on economic issues, never apologises for his mistakes and seamlessly changes his opinions to align with his perception of what he thinks the liberal left want to hear. You kind of get the feeling that he is not on my Xmas card list?

Today he has an article entitled: “Bus pass test for Cameron’s mettle.” He bemoans

Why, more specifically, are wealthy pensioners to be guaranteed free bus passes and winter fuel allowances?

Enough of my griping about Mr Stevens. I should offer him a word of thanks for crystallising my thinking about the need for the older people to adopt some hard headed marketing techniques.

We need to start thinking about the different age groups as brands and government expenditure as the market. At the moment Brand OLD is in danger of being swamped by the brand YOOF, that has done a great job in pleading for special attention. Brand CHILD is rumoured to be launching a new campaign. A relatively new entrant to the market, Brand OVERSEAS AID. reckons it has an unassailable market position. Looks to me like it could be a market wipe-out.


Come on guys, playing the nice guy is not going to get you very far.

Of course I jest, or do I? Dick Stroud

Impressions of Older Richer Wiser 2010

Janet Kiddle, the founder of Steel Magnolia, attended the this year’s Older Richer Wiser Conference. This is what she had to say about the event.

After last year’s disastrous conference, where two speakers pulled out at the last minute, this year’s conference was back to the expected standard with a host of speakers giving us insights into their brands and how they engage with the 50-plus market.

What was new, different and better about the 9th Older Richer Wiser conference

For me the best sessions were:

The interactive sessions up front where we as delegates shared our objectives for the day (there was much consensus)

• How to go about segmenting the audience as 50+ - OLD
• Do they use social media – who has been using digital or online communications successfully or otherwise - NEW
• Debunking some myths about 50+ - OLD

The interactive session about social media and how relevant or not this was for campaigns targeting the older audience. We learned snippets from people who would not have shared the information had they been on the platform.

From this session and other sessions on media my key take outs were;
o social media, if it had been used, was very difficult to measure and for those who had experimented with it this lack of evidence over performance was a barrier to further use. (e.g. NPower were spending 16% of their media expenditure on social media)

• RIAS talked of how they were successfully using banner advertising so 50 + are responsive to these types of ads. They were also cutting back of their reliance of traditional DM
• On line there is no control over what happens – if someone like Stephen Fry happens to comment on what you are doing it can travel very far and very fast – scarily so!
• Response to advertising or DM is moving from post to on line and phone
• Increase in importance of cross generational marketing
• Comparison web sites playing an important part in switching in some markets (energy and insurance)
• Trip advisor influencing travel planning and hotels linking with Visit London advertising used this to their advantage

So some interesting experimentation going on in media terms and evidence that you can target the 50-plus using non traditional media but social media was still in its infancy.

Overall it was a good day. Most delegates would go home with some useful tips. However a couple of delegates on my table involved with fmcg brands felt that there was too much emphasis on service/retail and no one representing the market they were operating in – maybe next year?

As a leading, if not the leading, researcher about the older consumer, Janet’s views are extremely valuable. Many thanks. Dick Stroud

Steve Ballmer - the iPad is really a PC – I am not sure about that

How fascinating to hear both Jobs and Ballmer talk about the future of “personal computing”.

If you strip away they sarcasm and ‘friendly’ rivalry, what is the thing that separates their vision of the future?

From these two short videos there is one thing above all that shouts out at me.

In the Ballmer world there are personal portable devices and PCs. Both of these will come in increasingly different configurations, but there are only two types of devices. In the world of Mr Jobs there will be devices we use when working with computers, for tasks that require a high level of interface (currently we are talking about keyboard and mouse); devices we use in our pocket and devices we use for other parts of our life – like sitting on the sofa reading a book, sharing photos with friends etc – like sitting on the sofa, absorbing what we currently call TV. All of these devices stuck together by wireless glue. Maybe I am reading a bit too much into his comments but I think that is what he means.

Ballmer sees the world through the functionality of the devices. Jobs sees the world through the mindset we are in when we use the devices. It will be interesting to see who is right. I bet you can guess where my money is bet. Dick Stroud

Older people are better at controlling their emotions than their children

A research study has found that regulating emotions – such as reducing negative emotions or inhibiting unwanted thoughts – is a resource-demanding process that disrupts the ability of young adults to simultaneously or subsequently perform tasks.

The study is among the first to demonstrate that the costs of emotion regulation vary across age groups.

Here are a couple of quotes from the press release

"Negative emotions can be toxic and disrupt one's balance in life, so the ability of older adults to regulate negative emotions serves to enhance their quality of life. Older adults are so efficient at dealing with their emotions that it doesn't cost them any decrease in performance, which is a really positive thing."

"The amount of resources necessary for older adults to maintain or regain emotional well-being, while performing well at other tasks might be less because they have a wealth of past experience in regulating their emotions – they've been doing it for a long time. On the other hand, younger adults don't tend to regulate their emotions, so it takes effort, which draws away resources so that they don't perform as well on tasks."

I am not sure what the practical applications of this knowledge are, but I am sure there are some. Dick Stroud

Generation E=Everyone

When I wanted to call my book “Age Neutral Marketing” the publisher said – 'what!' They then said – 'are you joking!' They then appreciated that I was deadly serious and thought they had better humour me and said – 'well it is an original name – let us think about it for a while.'

After an appropriate period of time, to let my ego recover, they then applied the line of logic that said – 'look, we know about the publishing industry and we have to give the book a name that people will understand within 10 seconds.' I was convinced and the title agreed – The 50-Plus Market. As a sop to make me feel a bit better we agreed the tag line – 'Why the future is Age Neutral when it comes to marketing and branding strategies.'

Well it has taken a long time for the - “I told you so moment” – but I reckon it has arrived. The next big thing that companies will have to wrap their brains about is how to cope in a world where the rusty old definitions of age segments are becoming worthless and where supposed generational differences are disappearing.

Of course at the very young and very old there are big differences. But that huge bit in the middle is beginning to merge into an amorphous blob of differing lifestyles and niche sectors, where age as a proxy for behaviour no longer works. Of course the compass of age has some uses for finding your way in the market but if you rely on it as your primary source of direction you are going to be toast.

Kim Walker’s blog highlighted an excellent article in Adage about age-neutral marketing. You are going to see more and more.

Marketers have got to get their heads around the fact that there is going to be less and less advantage to be gained by trying to squeeze differentiation using age as a mechanism to refine the emotional glue of their brand. But, and this is a HUGE but, there will be increasing advantage in understanding the importance of physiological ageing to refine their interface with the consumer across all of the touchpoints.

Attitudes might be becoming age neutral but unfortunately, he says from bitter experience, bodies and minds are not. This is the next challenge for marketers to overcome. It is one where Kim and I beleive we can assist. Dick Stroud

Feeling grumpy “is good for you” – well not exactly

I do wish the BBC didn’t feel impelled to always take scientific research, simplify the findings until they lose any meaning and then try and find an amusing way to spin the story.

This is exactly what they did wit the research by an Australian psychologist who claimed that feeling grumpy ‘is good for you’.

What the guy actually says is a little more nuanced. This posting gives a much more detailed analysis of his claims that there are some advantages to negative moods, just as there are to positive moods.
For instance, negative moods foster these sorts of effects:

• attentiveness
• careful thinking
• paying greater attention to the external world

Positive moods are valuable to promote:

• creativity
• flexibility
• co-operation

However, from a zero base of research I reckon that moaning is a very beneficial, for the 50-plus, for reasons not considered by the learned academic. One of these fine days I will commit my thoughts to a book and explain all. Dick Stroud

More blame it on the Boomer rubbish

What shall I write about today? What will consume zero intellect and I can get done before breakfast? I know let’s hash together all of the “blame it on the boomers” articles and try and pass it off as informed thinking.

Anatole Kaletsky’s article “This is the age of war between the generations” is the worst I have seen of the genre of cooking together a few random stats spicing them up with a dose of venom and passing it as a plate worth eating.

If you are really interested in the issue of intergenerational wealth and want to read an informed analysis of the question then read this article.Dick Stroud

Megatrends – tailwinds for growth in a low-growth environment

The Boston Consulting Group report about ‘megatrends’ is first rate.

The consultancy has been conducting an ongoing study of 78 of these trends since 2005 and it found that far from being undermined, 62 continued to grow and 23 of these actually strengthened during the recession.

I recommend you read the press release and if you are interested in sort of stuff contact BCG who I am sure will happily send you a copy of the report.

Not surprisingly this statement rang lots of bells with me.

“Some companies are slow to incorporate demographic trends into their growth strategies because they seem like old news. Such a summary dismissal leaves a lot of money on the table. For example, the 'Silver Market' (goods and services for consumers over 60), now worth more than $700 billion globally, is fast becoming a valuable source of growth for companies in sectors as diverse as cosmetics and financial services."

Bang on the money. Dick Stroud

"Age is nothing; Attitude is everything"

I missed this Del Webb survey that was published in April this year. Definitely worth a quick look, especially if you are in the US.Lots of charts and numbers.
There are three samples:

Younger Boomers turning 50 in 2010
Older Boomers turning 64 in 2010
Boomers who turned 50 in 1996 (who are now turning 64)
Current residents of Del Webb communities

I thought these two charts were of interest. I am not somebody who reads a great deal into the difference between perceived and actual age, however, it is interesting to see the consistency of these numbers.

I thought the extremes of behaviour about exercise were very illuminating. It has been my experience that one group of older people “get it” about exercise and another cannot be bothered. There is not much in between. Looks like the UK and the US are similar in that respect. Dick Stroud

Steve Jobs talking about the origins of the iPad

The fact that the thinking for the iPad came before the iPhone is interesting. What is much, much, much more interesting is what Mr Jobs says towards the end of this interview about the where goeth the PC. “PCs will be like trucks”. I think he is right. What do you think?

Why am I talking about this subject in this blog? Because I think the category of products, heralded by the iPad, could make a massive difference to the online audiences of older people who find the PC all too much of a hassle. Dick Stroud

Apple's great age-neutral ad for the iPhone

Thanks to the Boomer Project for talking about the article by Anne Mai Bertelsen who wrote a first rate blog about the new Apple ad.

To the best of my knowledge this ad has not hit the UK TV networks.

I think the ad is a great example of age-neutral advertising. So natural, so benefit orientated – just so good – just like the product. As the writer says...

There is an absence of “senior" copy: The scripts never allude to age; there are no direct references to "now that we're of a certain age," common in so many advertisements targeting Boomers. Instead, Apple focuses on communicating the rational benefits of owning and using its products -- albeit highlighting Boomers' desire for technology that helps simplify and mange their lives. For example, a Mac is virus-free and easy to use, right out of the box. An iPhone lets you connect easily with what's important in your life -- your family.

I don’t know if these stats are correct but Ms Bertelsen says that Boomers represent a third of iPhone users, half of Mac users and the leading group that pays $99/year for one-on-one training in Apple's 284 store locations.

Seems to me that the 50-plus are a pretty important group of consumers for the guys at Apple. Dick Stroud

What do we know about the 65+ and their use of technology?

Not much is the answer.

The ageing in place technology blog has an excellent posting that makes this point “The '65+' survey conundrum”.

To be honest, all I know about them is that:

• On average there they use the PCs less than the proceeding age group
• Their use of PC is closely aligned to level of education
• The use of PCs is closely aligned to the profession of the older person – if they used a PC during their working life then they will most likely continue during their non-work life
• Each year the use of PCs by the 65+ increases, but it I don’t know the extent that this is because of younger older people, who are IT literate, becoming ‘65+’ or a genuine increase in the numbers of 65+ people becoming digitally literate

I haven’t seen any decent segmentation of the 65+ other than the very basic. This is a BIG hole in our knowledge. Dick Stroud

Some quick lessons in building better e-mail newsletters

Jakob Nielsen has written an e-mail newsletter giving his analysis of the election newsletters of the UK’s three political parties.

Conservatives come first – Labour come last. The point is not who won but the lessons that can be learnt for improving our own use of this communications tool. In my case a lot. Dick Stroud

AARP is in a challenging place

This article from Media Week talks about the way that AARP is changing in its effort to match the wants and needs of the new generation of older Americans. I think the issue that AARP is juggling with goes to the very heart of marketing to older people.

I thought the two images from the new AARP Web site demonstrates visually the two communications objectives that the organisation is attempting resolve.

Objective 1 – this is a contemporary place talking about attractive contemporary people/issues.

Objective 2 – this is a place where we talk about issues that are of specific interest to older people. 

Whatever AARP creates has to be as attractive and useful as anything in the age-neutral market but in addition it has to address age specific issues in an incredibly sensitive way. This is really difficult.

It is clear to me that the organisation understands this challenge and I reckon it is doing a pretty good job of trying to find a solution. It will be interesting to see the iPhone and iPad app that it is launching in June. Brandchannel has also published an article about the Web site. Dick Stroud