Sunday, March 30, 2014

Lots more older consumers - so what? How should companies respond?

Ken Dychtwald has been talking about the implications of demographic change for longer than any of us in the age industry.

He is a great presenter with a really creative mind.

Forbes recently had an article about him. Well worth a read.

However, it has to be said that there are only so many times and ways you can explain the issues of population ageing. At the end of the day companies have to do something about it rather than listen to presentations. And there is the problem.

OK, OK, OK we all get it. Lots more older consumers. So what do we do now about it. How does a massive company with multiple brands, operating in numerous geographies embed the implications of population ageing into the heart of their operations? That is the challenge and why Kim Walker and I tried to move the discussion on from "there are lots of opportunities with all of these oldies" to providing a toolset that enables companies to measure and make changes to all of the touchpoints in their operations.

Ken, keep on telling the story and keep on convincing senior management to take ageing seriously. What we in the ageing industry need to do is to provide the solutions to help companies take the next step and the one after that. Dick Stroud

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