Drop the ideal of anti-ageing and replace with becoming ageless

 Could it soon be cool to be old? This was one of the lines in an article in Raconteur with the headline AGELESS.

Naturally it got my attention.

If you are interested in marketing and ageing, which I guess you are if you have read so far, and particularly if you work in the beauty business, then this is a must read.

Here is a summary of the two main points

By 2017 we will be spending £1.2 billion in the UK on anti-ageing – so says Mintel.The over-50 women is reckoned to have spent £2 billion in 2012 on cosmetics and toiletries, accounting for 41% of total spending. Mmmm , not sure how that number tallies with the previous forecast.
 Maybe we have reached the end of the ‘anti ageing’ trend and entering a new period where the objective is to  look a healthy, natural, youthful whatever age you are. Allergan’s research found that 41% of British women would prefer their faces to look “fresher and radiant” as opposed to “younger”.

  

I think all of this can be summed up by saying that trend is from ageing to ageless. But there is a bigger issue. The article suggests that the consumer's focus will be on the skin’s health rather that the appearance (that becomes a second order effect).

If this trend is true, and I think it is, then it has a massive impact on marketers. The proposition has to change from making you look and feel a different age (younger) to promising that you feel as good as you can for your age. This has the same second order effect.

Definitely something to ponder. Dick Stroud