Is the advertising industry ignoring older people?

Campaign - the main advertising industry magazine - recently published two articles about advertising and older people. In essence, these said that the advertising industry did not communicate well with the 'over-50s' - the verdict being: 'could do better'.

Our letter in response to these articles is below:

The two articles in Campaign regarding advertising and older people by Paul Kitcatt (02 July) and John Tylee (09 July) make a number of interesting and important points. Yes, advertising (and marketing) has yet to align itself fully with the ageing population. Yes, it is the case that, overall, people aged over 50 have a disproportionate amount of wealth (and more importantly, of expenditure). And as Hamish Pringle, the Director General of the IPA has said, ‘adland is way out of line in terms of age’.

However, much as I enjoyed the articles, they also highlight the lack of clarity that surrounds this subject. First, what market are we talking about, exactly? The articles use a variety of terms, including: ‘baby boomers’, ‘the grey market’, ‘mature consumers’, ‘the mature market’’, ‘old people’, ‘older consumers’, and the ‘over -50s’. Confused? Well, at least ‘the over-50s’ makes an arbitrary line in the sand. This imprecision aside, is it helpful to perpetuate the idea that this vast number of people should be regarded as a single segment or market, a massive ghetto defined by age?

And perhaps it is misleading to suggest that advertisers are missing out on a group which - Paul seems to suggest - is not only older, but also richer, smarter and wiser than younger people. Some older people are indeed fabulously wealthy, others (over 2 million, according to Age UK) live in poverty. Many others (more than 50%, according to some studies) have inadequate pension provision, while more than 30% of people between 50 and retirement age are unemployed (not all of them advertising executives).

For most people, cognitive (and physical) decline are still inevitable facts of ageing (despite the book Paul refers to), so any intellectual superiority is unfortunately not necessarily sustainable long-term. The fastest-growing population segment is now the over-65s, as the ‘baby boom’ cohort ages. Many of this age group will not be richer, smarter or wiser – but will still be large enough in volume and value terms to be of interest to advertisers. This suggests that we need to move on from generalised (and unrealistic) views of a wealthy baby-boom generation to a more realistic understanding of the UK’s ageing population.

Our business – rhc advantage – is a new marketing communications agency for clients interested in adult and older audiences. We have produced, with the aid of two University Professors, a comprehensive review of the many different issues related to marketing and older people. This is available at no charge via our website (www.rhcadvantage.co.uk). Hurry, before we join the graveyard of such agencies referred to in John’s article!

Thank you for raising the subject, John and Paul. I am willing to take part in forming an industry group to move forward some of these issues, if you or anyone reading this is interested.

Mark Beasley
Director
rhc advantage
www.rhcadvantage.co.uk