50-Plus Marketing

Online video is as age neutral as it gets

2010-03-15T08:23:00.000Z

This data from comScore is a bit out of date but I doubt if the profile has changed much in the past 15 months.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

2010-03-15T07:27:00.001Z

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

2010-03-14T08:22:00.000Z

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

2010-03-14T07:54:00.000Z

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

2010-03-11T10:31:00.000Z

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

2010-03-06T06:29:00.001Z

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

2010-03-03T12:56:00.000Z

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

What’s a fair wealth distribution?

2010-02-17T08:15:00.000Z

I have written on a couple of occasions about the issue of intergenerational fairness. The last time was in response to a particularly daft article in The Observer.

Once I can get some time I want to read David Willett’s book, The Pinch, that is all about this subject. Yesterday, the author was speaking the LSE about the plight of younger people and their inability to mirror the wealth of their parents and grandparents.

The graphic is taken from this session.

A question that I wish somebody would answer is if the wealth distribution is unfair – what would be a ‘fair’ distribution?

Of course I don’t expect anybody to answer this question, so let me ask a harder one. If there is zero inflation then you probably could hazard a guess at the answer, unfortunately inflation varies and nobody living to day has a clue what it will be in five years time.

So, let’s say we have period of very high inflation (yesterday UK inflation hit 3.5%). When I was 26 the UK inflation rate hit 25%. An older person, who has not source of income and is dependant on their wealth to fund the rest of their life, was seeing it evaporate in front of their eyes.

So I ask the question again, considering that nobody has the foggiest idea what inflation will be in the future – what is a fair distribution of the wealth today. Dick Stroud

Words of guidance about the design of mobile apps

2010-02-11T07:03:00.000Z

Some more words of wisdom from Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, this time about the design of mobile apps. As with most of Nielsen’s comments they are most definitely worth the read. Here is what he has to say.

Most mobile applications are used only intermittently, so they must be especially easy during initial use. In particular, upfront registration shouldn't be required before users experience an app's benefits.

His "master guideline" remains the same as in 1986: don't port a UI from an old interface paradigm to a new one. In the past, this meant not slapping a GUI on top of something that was inherently a clunky mainframe flow. Now, it means not adding touch-screen access to a desktop-oriented direct manipulation design — users can't touch as precisely as they can click, so the number of manipulable graphical objects should be much smaller (so that each one can be much bigger). This is particularly valid for older users.

Nielsen’s main conclusion from watching iPhone app users is that they suffered much less misery than users in our mobile website tests. In fact, testing people using iPhone apps produced happier outcomes than testing people attempting to use websites on the same phone.

On mobile devices, applications are easier to use than websites. Browser-based sites would be easier to use if designers started following more mobile usability guidelines.

Why are apps better than sites for mobile? Because the more impoverished the device, the more the design must be optimized for the platform's exact abilities, instead of bowing to a cross-platform common denominator. Wise words. Dick Stroud

A "little something" for when I die

2010-02-11T06:38:00.000Z

Many of my parent’s generation had insurance policies so that when they died their children wouldn’t have to pay for their funeral. It was just the way it was.

Being concerned about the "final day in the ground" comes way down my list of financial priorities, but as I know so well, you cannot extrapolate the desires of the market from your own opinions.

Clearly, there are a lot of people, like my mum and dad, otherwise LV= (the worst corporate name in history) the finance group wouldn't be launching this TV advertising campaign to promote its '50 Plus plan'.

As I watch the ad I wonder who it is aimed at. Is it the children, to try and get them to encourage their parents to take out a policy or the parents themselves? A bit of both I guess.

The Creative Director of the advertising agency said: "It's a new approach that takes the tried and tested formula we know customers like and uses it in a dynamic and emotive way". A splash of guilt and a dash of the promise of fond memories all packaged in a suitable multi-cultural ad.

Apparently the advertisement was previewed on Facebook and YouTube in December 2009 before being launched on terrestrial, satellite and cable channels in January 2010. Interesting. Dick Stroud

Well done to the Bookbite team

2010-02-08T14:32:00.000Z

A while back I spent some time working with the people behind a campaign to encourage older people to join book clubs and to write their own books. I have never really understood why by the name of the project is Bookbite.

Considering the very short time and limited budget they had to get the project airborne I think they have done a good job. The BBC certainly thought they had. Dick Stroud

Business of Ageing conference in Dublin

2010-02-08T14:26:00.000Z

On March 3, I will be speaking at a conference in Dublin called Business of Ageing.

In addition to the conference web site you can get some good background information about what is happening in Ireland, with regard to the 50-plus, from this excellent article that was published in The Sunday Post.

Naturally, I am going to say it was an excellent article since it has lot of quotes from me! Dick Stroud

Mobile apps for Boomers

2010-02-08T09:14:00.000Z

A month or so ago I launched a test blog that was dedicated to all things to do with mobile apps and older consumers.

I have made a few tweaks, and still have a few more to make, but this is near to the finished format. So as the domain says apps4boomers. Dick Stroud

50-plus web site for sale – one careful owner

2010-02-05T06:47:00.001Z

I was vaguely aware of The Silver Surfers Guide web site. It was one of the many sites that appeared like a fresh crop of mushrooms during the period when people thought that all you had to do was put '50-plus' or 'Boomer' on a site and zillions of people would come clicking.

Well the site is up for sale. Here is what the blurb says. The website provides good returns from online advertising and other revenue streams, such as its incorporated over 50's dating site.

The dating site alone currently generates in the region of £5000 per annum, with sufficient refinement of marketing this figure could be much greater. There is genuinely no limit to the potential scope for this business, particularly for someone keen to move towards the increasingly more popular social networking arena. The business started trading in November 2008.

Trading was temporarily suspended between January 2009-August 2009 due to site redevelopment and recommenced in August 2009.

Turnover during the 9 months of active trading is £27,388.34 ex VAT. The site averages 12,000 unique visits every week and approximately 30,000 page impressions.

By my calculation this means the site is making £0.045/unique visitor. Mmmm

Full marks for the guy/girl for trying to sell it at this price. My bet is that they would be open to offers. Remember the old saying: "Buyer Beware". Dick Stroud

AXA launches motor insurance brand with 'pavement rage' ad

2010-02-04T18:48:00.000Z

AXA is launching a £10m marketing campaign to support the launch of its new direct motor insurance product targeting older drivers. This is AXA’s first foray into the direct insurance. Previously it had focused on the broker market.

I am quoting from Brand Republic that: “AXA Car Insurance will target older drivers who feel they are not catered for by other brands, by offering them a 90% no claims bonus.”

The TV ad shows pedestrians bashing into one another on a busy city-centre
pavement. A voiceover then states, ‘You wouldn't behave this way on foot, so why would you when you are driving?'

The tagline for the campaign is: ‘AXA drivers get up to 90% discount on their car insurance. Disrespectful drivers don't.'

In parallel TV celebrity Charley Boorman (who you might ask is he) will front a PR push, including a website inviting consumers to air their views on the state of behaviour on the road today. How weird.

As you will see from the ad, the big punch line for Axa is - Redefining Standards. I mean, that is going to really get grampa out of his seat and punching the air.

Some obvious observations. This is a covert campaign that selects the older age group on the basis of their long driving record without a claim. I can see the strength in that argument. So unlike RIAS there is no mention of 50+ or anything to do with age.

But, my hunch is that by making the creative so confrontational – literally – the message about 90% discount is going to get lost. I am still thinking about attractive oriental looking lady, the short guy and the lunatic looking women.

And, one thing that older people (who I wonder do they mean as older) tend not to like is confrontation and aggression (yep, I know a bit generalisation). I think a lot of people will have switched off their engagement with the ad before it gets the thing that really matters – money off their insurance.

I guess the smug looking George Clooney lookalike is the visual anchor to the 'older' person.

Sorry guys. I reckon it’s a lemon. What do you think? Dick Stroud

Are you a digital adult or digital novice – Wells Fargo has the answer

2010-02-01T10:40:00.000Z

Wells Fargo has been doing some research about digital literacy. Apparently we all fall into one of three groups.

Digital Adults - people who use advanced online tools for daily tasks, interaction and entertainment

Digital Novices - people with a general understanding of online tools who use them to manage basic tasks, but don’t interact with others online or manage complex tasks on the web

Digital Teens - who fall in between novices and adults?

In the UK we have 10,000,000 people who are not connected to the Internet. I guess they are Digital Babies?

The “Adult Group,” digitally speaking, is not twenty-somethings but thirty-somethings. While twenty-somethings led in the use of advanced online tools for entertainment, with such activities as watching television online and social networking, thirty-somethings are more likely to use advanced online photo and video technologies, career networking services, and financial management services.

A similar pattern emerges with banking and managing finances online.

The survey apparently shows that Youth is loosely correlated with digital adulthood and that digital sophistication generally declined with age.

This is all interesting stuff but it totally ignores the main thing that determines the type of Internet use – education. This applies to all ages.

I suspect this PR research is more to do with getting people to the Wells Fargo site, to find out their digital age, than to extending our understanding about the segmentation of Web use. Dick Stroud

Blame it all on your dad

2010-02-01T08:35:00.004Z

This amusing article appeared in in the Sunday papers about a hapless Yoof who blames his workless plight on “the boomers”. A bit like wasps, every year we get a swarm of these articles, all whining about the same argument.

This sentence gives you a feel for what is to follow: “a university-¬educated man shouldn't experience this (unemployment). I amassed student debt in the belief that graduation would be followed by a huge bubble bath filled with sexy young jobs and beautiful, cigar-smoking status symbols.Not joblessness.”

Words like naïve, fool, dimwit and cretin start forming in my mind. Words like certifiable half-wit start forming when you then learn that our “university educated man” has a journalism qualification from Darlington College. That is not Darlington College Oxford or Cambridge it is Darlington College Darlington.

The article then moves on to the blame game.

"People are feeling incredibly angry," Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, told me. "They have debts in excess of £20,000 after being told they would get a job at the end of their degree and earn more money. Instead they're just heavily indebted."

The anger is due to intergenerational unfairness. Baby boomers had free education, affordable houses, fat pensions, early retirement and second homes (150,000 at the last census).

This emotional waffle is not worth the time rebutting. During one of the previous bouts of Booomer bashing I had a letter published in the FT that provides some of obvious responses. This might be on subscription only.

In February, David Willetts (a senior and very bright Conservative MP) has a book being published called "The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children's Future - And Why They Should Give it Back”. One thing is for certain; his arguments will be worth the time understanding. I suspect I may not agree with him but you can be certain they will be marshalled with precision.

Do we have a problem with youth unemployment – absolutely? So somebody must be to blame, mustn’t they? The reasons we are where we are results from a much more complicated set of interactions than our chum with his 2:2 in journalism is likely to understand. That fact alone is part of the problem.

Let me give you an example. Every month the Office for National Statistics publishes a detailed analysis about the employment scene in the UK. Every month there is one section of the analysis that always seems to be ignored by the media. I quote from the January bulletin: “The number of UK born people in employment was 25.31 million in the three months to September 2009, down 457,000 on a year earlier. The number of non-UK born people in employment was 3.68 million, down 45,000 from a year earlier.

Look at the way the recession seems to have had a disproportional impact on the UK’s indigenous population compared to those not born in our shores.

Maybe, just maybe, part of the explanation for our journalistic chum’s plight is the 3,680,000 people who now work in the UK who were not around when his dad was looking for a job. Secondly, maybe, just maybe, this group have a better work ethic than a lot of my fellow Brits.

Belive it or not, I do feel sorry for this guy and those of his generation, but trying to apportion blame, in this crude idiotic way will not help him one jot.

If you have stuck with this stream of consciousness then there is one 50-plus marketing message to take away. Is it better to spend your marketing bucks targeting our Darlington College graduate or his parent’s generation. Dick Stroud

Apple iPad for boomers and seniors? Could be!

2010-01-30T10:57:00.000Z

Having read the press report about the iPad the thought that went through my mind is the title of Laurie Orlov’s latest blog posting

We are not alone – this guy in Australia had similar thoughts

Let’s not forget that Steve Jobs is 55 so maybe his design priorities are now inclining towards the older end of the age spectrum. He is not exactly at the "pipe and slippers" stage but not that far away.

I can think of lots of reasons why the iPad will not work but I would love the job of positioning it to the older market.

Somehow I doubt if older people were high up on the list of targeted sectors but Apple might be in for a shock. Cannot wait to see a demographic breakdown of the sales figures at the end of the first year. Dick Stroud

The increasing attractiveness (commercial) of Boomer women

2010-01-23T11:36:00.000Z

As if you don’t already know, wealthy Boomer women are underserved by retailers and suppliers. This short article from Brand Channel, reiterates this point, plus adding a couple of new insights. The basic tenet of "think old, think female" is always worth reiterating. Worth a quick scan. Dick Stroud

Dell advertisements in Saga

2010-01-23T11:21:00.000Z

Unlike most people, when I receive a magazine, I am more interested in the ads than the editorial. This applies even more so to Saga. This is not a reflection on the quality of Saga's writing but it more interesting, for me at least, to see who is advertising what and in what way.

To the best of my knowledge I spied the mag's first Dell ad, and from what I can see, it is pretty much age-neutral. Maybe they have increased the font size a bit but it looks the same as those in any other mag. If I find any major differences I will blog again about the subject. Dick Stroud

Data on household expenditure tells a lot of stories

2010-01-23T11:01:00.000Z

I am never to sure about the accuracy of these stats, but they are the best (in terms of quality and breadth) that you are going to get in the UK. You will find it tucked away amongst a sea of other stats in this report from the Office of National Statistics.

What grabs your attention?

Why do the 30-49s spend 5 times more on ‘other’ than the 75+?

The spend of the 30-49 and 50-64 year old is not that much different (other than ‘other’)

The high percentage spend of the 65-74 year olds on recreation and culture

The almost constant percentage spend on restaurants and hotels for all of the ages up until 65+

The 50-64 year olds having the highest absolute spend per person.

All good factlets for a presentation and to justify the importance of the older market. Dick Stroud

A very sad tale

2010-01-23T10:50:00.000Z

This has absolutely nothing to do with 50-plus marketing. It is not a gripe. To be honest I don’t know what it is.

A while back I wrote about the way that politicians lose their way and quoted a couple of examples of people where I had connections from the past.

Yesterday, an old school friend of mine became the first MP to be punished by being stripped of his £65,000 ‘pay-off’ when he leaves the House of Commons at the end of this parliament. Harry Cohen and I were always a million miles apart politically but we were good mates at school.

He went his way and via the route of working in local government then as a councillor and then to become the local constituency MP. We haven’t spoken for years, although I have followed his escapades as an increasingly left-wing Labour MP.

And now it has come to this. The abiding memory of Harry will be the speech, of apology; he is being forced to give to House of Commons, the loss of the £65,000 and the everlasting digital content describing him as the worst example of greed that has pervaded the UK political class.

In so many ways I have a sense of self satisfaction, as somebody who has grown tired of hearing the self satisfied clap trap of the liberal classes who espouse high moral ideals whilst practising the same, or lot worse, venal habits as the rest of the population.

I am sure there are numerous lessons to be drawn from the morality tale of Harry Cohen, but right now I feel very sorry for the guy. Don't get me wrong, he has got what he deserves. Believe me, the young Harry of 1960 would have demanded a far worse punishment.

If there is a 50-plus message amongst these ramblings it is that this generation is at a time in life when their chances of changing how they are perceived is fast receding. Other than the public humiliation aspects, Harry is in the same position as anybody else. A sobering thought. Dick Stroud

The cost of long term care something we would prefer to forget

2010-01-22T08:16:00.000Z

You cannot blame Jo and Jolene public for putting their head in the sand and ignoring how the hell they will pay for their long term care. The Government has been doing it for the past few decades so why should its citizens be any different?

This item is from an online Independent Financial Adviser publication and spells the problems and the opportunities to the Finance Industry.

The marketing issues that have to be overcome are considerable. Most people reckon they have paid enough tax over their lifetime and hence the state should pay for their care. Most people don’t want to plan, 5 years into the future, let alone 50 years. Forgoing life’s pleasures today, for a better standard of care home, is not something to excite your average consumer.

Other than these factors it is a pretty straightforward marketing challenge. Dick Stroud

Kim Walker’s SilverTips newsletter is always worth reading

2010-01-19T07:15:00.000Z

If you are not a regular reader of Kim’s blog about all things 50-plus in the Asia Pacific region then you can catch with his thoughts in the monthly newsletter.

Here are a few of the topics covered:

Movies and Music Learn To Profit from the Boomer Market
Thailand Identifies Senior Tourism Opportunity
Microsoft Forecasts the Needs of Baby Boomers; Report
Australia's Telstra Reaches Silver Online Users in New Campaign
P&G Rethinks Strategy to Reach Older Consumers
Asia's Silver Elites Show Their Spending Power

That should be enought to wet your appetite. Dick Stroud

Growth in ‘ethnic minorities’ an effect of ageing

2010-01-18T06:34:00.000Z

An article in Adage - A Primer on the New America for CMOs – contains a fascinating factlet.

80% of people age 65-plus is white non-Hispanics. But just 54% of children under age 18 will be white non-Hispanics. It looks almost certain that White non-Hispanics will account for fewer than half of births by 2015. In 2010, Hispanics are the US’s fastest-growing and largest minority (50 million people).

Only two in three babies born in England and Wales are white British.

If you add geodemographics to the mix you find that England, and I am sure the US, is a patchwork of high density ethnic minority/younger and white/older geographic areas.

The bottom line of this is that when marketers think about the differences in their approach to marketing to older and younger people they should also include the ethnicity factor. It means that older age group is more homogenous then the young. Now that is a sentence I never thought I would be writing. Dick Stroud