Revenge of disco dad

An amusing article in today’s Marketing about the search for authenticity meaning that parents, rather than celebrities, have become the heroes of Generation Y.

The “Damn right your Dad drank it” ad campaign for Canadian Club whisky is quoted as supporting this hypothesis.

I don’t know if I buy this argument about a new found affinity and respect between the generations. In support of the argument, the author quotes research from the World Values Survey that is said to show changes in personal values within generations with today’s parents being far more flexible in the way their value system changes.

I think a more convincing argument is that the values of youth (i.e. fun, creativity, individuality, etc) are shared with the wider adult culture.

There is a profound set of implications if these arguments are correct. It means that Gen Y is attracted to brands and products that have a strong sense of ‘realness’ or authenticity which means that old things, original things, or things that just have a very well defined sense of self.

In many ways authenticity has become the new cool and parents are proving to be about as authentic as it gets. Does this mean the generation gap has narrowed or indeed closed?
I don’t think so, however, it is food for thought. Dick Stroud

And so say all of us

The FT has an article about the blindingly obvious – lifestyle and lifestage trumps age.

Hopefully, when this statement of fact appears in the FT more people will take notice.

Commercially, businesses need to get much smarter about how demand within age groups will vary according to the life stages people have reached. Treating all 18-34-year-olds, or all over-50s, as the same makes little sense. The downturn has exposed this sort of lazy thinking.

There are big prizes to be won by companies that lose the fixation on date of birth and instead focus on what people want and need now.

If you have an FT subscription you can read it here. Dick Stroud

Don’t target age target need.

This is a good posting from the Age in Place Technology about ways to target older people without saying you are doing it. It is a variant of age-neutral marketing.

Whilst I agree with most of what is said, it is possible, when trying to strip out the age dimension, to make the marketing message obtuse and vague.

Worse still, when it is blindingly obvious what the product is and for who it is intended, the message can become preposterous. In the UK there was a series of ads for Stannah Stair lifts where the models where shown in a park watching their grandchildren play rugby but still needing assistance to get up the stairs.

It is all a matter of balance. Dick Stroud

Elderhostel makes a fascinating marketing case study

Elderhostel is a US travel and educational organisation for older adults – you might have guessed the travel part from the name.

The organisation is going through a massive upheaval, caused by falling numbers of customers. As the graphics shows, numbers of people signing up for courses have been falling and the average age of travellers has been rising, It is now 73 years old up from 68 a decade ago.

What has Elderhostel been doing wrong? I have no idea about the quality of its courses and holidays but these would not seem to be the problem since it appears to have a very loyal customer base, which ironically might be part of the problem.

My guess is that problem results from the company pursuing a strategy of age-cohort marketing. What I mean by this is that it retained the basic proposition that appealed to its initial customers and maintained that, pretty much unchanged, as the age cohort aged. Of course the world has changed and the new cohort of customers has very different values and emotional drivers.

The same problem exists in the UK with Saga that was totally appropriate for the 50-plus of two decades ago but finds itself grasping for relevance with today’s older consumer. I suspect it has done a better job than Elderhostel of adapting.

So what is Elderhostel doing?

Changing its name to Exploritas, a word created by brand consultants to combine "explore" and "veritas” - the Latin for truth. No many people know that!

Remove its age restriction. No longer do you have to be at least 60, now anyone 21 or older will be able to participate.

Adopting digital stuff. The group’s Web site will include social networking to help travellers better connect before and after trips.

Elderhostel ended its 2008 fiscal year with a loss of almost $9 million.

What lessons can we learn?

1. Companies always put off making the hard decisions. The longer they put them off the harder they become. I bet the guys at Elderhostel have been talking about this age-cohort issue for years, but never got around to doing anything about it.

2. Crisis forces change at the very worst time to create and adopt a new strategy.

3. Balancing the transition is going to be incredibly difficult. On one hand you have the unknown, of how the new market positioning will work, on the other; you have the known that a lot of your existing customers will be incredibly annoyed.

Will it work? It all comes down to timing. Will the new strategy produce benefits before the results of abandoning the old one takes them down?

My guess, knowing none of the details, is that the chances of success are very slim. Dick Stroud

Oxo expands from 50-plus to toddlers

For years, whenever journalists were writing about products that were designed for older people you get bet your boots that Oxo would be in the list – probably at the top.

It sounds is if the company is doing rather well and is expanding from its niche in housewares products and moving into office supplies and products for babies and toddlers.

I am sure the company would not say that it targeted the older market but that its products were created around universal design principles. Whatever, it seems to have worked. They even feature in Business Week. Dick Stroud

The Google Phone marketing campaign

Chuck Nyren has an excellent blog posting about the marketing campaign for the Google mobile phone. It is age neutral but there are a few buts. Dick Stroud

Mercedes thank for this wonderful ad

In one fell swoop, Mercedes has produced an ad that satisfies both of my rants about creative not recognising the recession and not appealing to an older consumer.

The copy, the imagery, the concept and the music – in my book – are terrific.

The ad starts by establishing the pressure and hassle of today’s world and then gives three beautiful word sketches from Danny Glover, Philip Glenister and Christian Slater of a time past when life was just right.

As an old friend, who has a real insight into the power of words said: “real class.” Dick Stroud

Age old stereotypes

I was not that complimentary about one of the Standard Life’s earlier ads about: “People don’t grow old like they used to.” A more recent one is better - but I wonder how many people know who the guy is? I do, do you?

Anyway this is not to do with the creative but the ongoing research from Standard Life into oldies. The most recent document is called “Age Old Stereotypes”. This is what it says about itself

This report, the latest in the ‘Death of Retirement’ series, adds to the body of evidence that the baby boomers will abolish the current understanding of the concept of retirement.

Those born between 1946 and 1964 are more ambitious for the future than any other generation before at this age. This transformation provides a clarion call to the financial services industry. We have to change how we discuss ageing and long term planning, using language that harnesses consumers’ excitement, rather than dwelling on their fears.

If we can help consumers make the connection between their aspirations and long term savings solutions, then we will enable people to have the future they hope for. It really is that simple.

Well I certainly agree with the sentiment.

It is a strange report. Not the lush glossy approach of HSBC’s equivalent document. It is a bit edgy – a compliment not a criticism. I don’t think you will learn anything new but is definitely worth a quick look. Dick Stroud

Age Neutral Web sites

Very rarely do you read an article about Age Neutral web sites. The company involved in the design of the site for Georgetown University’s Alumni Club had to come up with a Web presence that would satisfy a broad range of ages.

The article about how it was achieved is a bit ‘wordy’ but worth a scan. Dick Stroud

An impressive age neutral ad

Thanks to Dick Lumsden, the MD of Senioragency UK, for telling me about this ad for Fuller’s Beer.

It is a good example of age neutral creative. High production values, appeal and is relevant across a wide range of ages with a simple, easy to understand, message. Isn't it strange that really good advertising looks so simple. Dick Stroud

Are you the oldest worker on the team?

Thanks to Kim Walker for sending me this article that is written from the perspective of employment, rather than marketing. There are some interesting lessons to be learnt about the different mindset of the young and old.

What is it like to be oldest person on the team – reporting to a younger person? How do you avoid the pitfalls that lead to you getting branded a miserable old codger?

Many marketers are in the opposite position. Their ‘team’ (i.e. their market) is older. So how do they (their company) not get branded as a brash young upstart? Dick Stroud

Some companies just “get it”

When not glued to a computer I have been known to venture to the local gym in an attempt to fight back the onslaught of physiological ageing. I am not succeeding.

One of the gym's many torture devices is a Concept2 rowing machine. To be accurate a long row of things.

The poor lady instructor, with the impossible task of trying to get me into some sort of shape, just happens to be in the UK’s top five fastest rowers and recommended I have a look at the company’s web site. I suspect she thought it might give me some inspiration. She was right.

Concept2 has understood two fundamental things. One, the health business is age neutral. Second, if you are going to use social networking, ensure you have an audience that shares (some passionately) a common interest.

The image shows the age bands of people who take part in the company’s competitions. None of this daft “55+ stuff”. See this post for my moan about idiot age bands.

Have a look at the forums on the site. They buzz, so does the chat room.

The site is stuffed with information that highly focused on its target audience.

I don’t know who is responsible for Concept2’s marketing but should be congratulated. Dick Stroud

Marks & Spencer sticks with age neutral advertising

David Jason is to star in a Marks & Spencer's food TV ad, the first in a series that will involve a number of different celebrities providing the voiceovers.

M&S said: "the well-loved actor was chosen for his universal appeal with the British public.”

I think what the meant was that his voice is known and has a positive resonance with a wide age range of British TV viewers. Call it what you will, it is age neutral advertising. Dick Stroud

Is this age neutral advertising?

Nigel Hollis, a bigwig with Millward Brown, has written an interesting blog item about the decision of the UK department store Harvey Nichols to work with the creators of Wallace & Gromit, the stars of "The Wrong Trousers" and "A Close Shave".

Nigel rightly concludes that this is a strange decision. They are not natural bedfellows.

Why would the sophisticated upmarket Harvey Nicks want to be associated with a world that is all about tradition and old-England? See how the duo look dressed in clothes by Dolce and Gabbana, Paul Smith and Alexander McQueen. You see what I mean?

Maybe, this is a sophisticated use of age-neutral advertising. I am sure that Wallace & Gromit have a wide age appeal and maybe Harvey Nichols is trying to associate with this? Still seems like a strange choice to me. Thanks to Chuck Nyren for pointing out this item. Dick Stroud

iPods and Government

Reform does some interesting research. This is the organisation that coined the term iPod - the generation between 18 and 34 years old who are Insecure, Pressurised, Over-taxed and Debt-ridden. In the US they are called Generation Broke.

Reform believes the balance of taxation and public spending has tilted against young people, so that they now face an unfair burden, without being able to expect many of the benefits; and this at a time when their economic profile is already difficult.

They are also faced with increasing levels of debt from higher education, much stronger labour market competition, lower growth in earnings and acute difficulties in getting onto the property ladder. I agree wholeheartedly.

There is a new Reform report about how the iPods react to Government. Since the number of younger people who vote is about half of that of the 65+ it would seem with a large slab of disinterest.

It is not a bad report but it would have made it much better if there was some quantitative comparison of their views against those of an older age group. I found myself agreeing with most of the points that the younger people were making. I don’t think I am alone, which makes me think that the report was more about the mood of the Brits than about a specific age group. Dick Stroud

Wiggly Wigglers - more than a great name

This is the cover of some promotional material that dropped out of a marketing magazine. Did it get my attention - you bet, that’s before I saw it was from Google. Yep, Google promoting AdWords using paper. It was not some big corporate it was using as a case study, it was Wiggly Wigglers.

You know when you encounter a company that makes you sit up and take notice; well Wiggly Wigglers has done that for me. The Stroud household receives Wiggle News, Wiggly Wigglers catalogue and a storm of Wiggle e-newsletters.

For somebody who is far from your natural eco-warrior it takes something pretty special to sell the idea of maintaining a garden full of recycling containers over-flowing with worms (I am exaggerating).

I reckon this company has got its marketing comms spot on. It uses a full gamut of online and offline channels (including the UK’s most popular gardening podcast) and has found just the right tone of voice in its marketing comms between humour and seriousness.

Have a look at the web site and this blog about the company.

This doesn’t have a great deal to do with the 50-plus but my hunch is they will make up a good proportion of WW’s customers. Dick Stroud

There is no 'over 50's' market

Of course there isn’t but it is always nice to know that somebody else has discovered the obvious. It is rather like saying: “Wow this sunrise thing seems to happen every day – maybe there is a pattern.”

I often get asked that how comes there isn’t such an entity called the “50-plus market” that you spend so much time writing about it.

A few reasons:

1. There are still a lot (the majority) of people who think that it does exist. It is the best ‘catch-all’ descriptor I have found for describing the marketing issues that have a disproportional impact on older people.

2. I cannot think of a better title. I have tried “pompous old farts” but it didn’t seem to get much traction.

3. When it comes to physiological ageing there is a real distinction between young and old – you need some mechanism for referring to the marketing issues this creates - 50-plus is good as anything.

4. We need some form of short-hand for talking about large groups of people. We still talk about the youth, female, gay market but few of us are dim enough to believe you can group together large numbers of people and expect them to have homogeneous behaviours.

The truth, which the writer of the article might be coming to terms with, is that the world of marketing is young. Fact. It thinks young. Fact.

The first positive step to countering the resulting ageist outcomes this creates is to understand and practice age-neutral marketing. You could do a lot worse than buying my book that will tell you how this is done. Dick Stroud

Age has lots of meanings

Clothes brands have had a profitable niche catering for “older women”. What these brands have not realised is that today’s “older women” is not like yesterday’s “older women”. It is all about not understanding the difference between requirements based on chronological age and age cohort.

This is article explains the problems that such a brand (Alexon) is having coming to terms with the demands of the older women of 2008.

The merchandise director at one of the UK's leading independent department stores says: "The problem for the Alexon brands is that the customers they had 10 years ago are now shopping a look that is up to 20 years younger than where they would have shopped a decade ago.”
The former womenswear director at House of Fraser says: "All of the classic womenswear brands like to say they are targeting the 35-plus market, but it doesn't take a genius to realise that their core customer is now at least 50-plus. When you stand in a department store and look at who is shopping a brand such as Alexon, the majority are aged over 60.

All basic marketing stuff but the mistakes keep being made. Dick Stroud

Covert or overt targeting

I wonder what is different about digital photography for the over and under-50s?

Once I receive a copy of the book I will tell you. I assume that the author perceives the difference will be in the level of technical knowledge and experience of the older person.

The marketing of a book like this raises a fundamental question. Do I take a covert or overt way of declaring that this is an oldies book? My advice would be to take the covert approach – something like digital photography for the digital novice. Dick Stroud

An ad that seems to work across the generations

See what you think. This was one of the most popular ads in the UK during 2007. From anecdotal evidence it seemed to be particulary high on its age-neutrality rating.



The viral effect of the ad was fascinating since it spurned a pile of re-mixes on YouTube. This is my favourite.



Anybody want to give their favourite age-neutral ads of 2007 (hopefully with a link so it can be viewed). Dick Stroud

Ditch your age segmentation – target Generation V

According to Gartner, in 10 years the largest influence on all purchases will be the virtual experience associated with them. By 2015, more money will be spent marketing and selling to multiple anonymous online personas than marketing and selling offline.

Gartner believes that general behaviour, attitudes and interests start to blend together in an online environment, which is a bit of a pain if you segment your market on the basis of age. As Gartner says

However, as more baby boomers (who are living longer) and the younger generations go online and participate/communicate in a flat virtual environment, the generational distinctions break down. Customers will hop across segments at various times of life for various reasons and are likely to act like several generations at any given time.

That’s the main thrust of the argument. This is an interesting commentary about the implications of Gen V.

Cut out all of the hype and what Gartner is saying is that marketing is becoming age-neutral and is being driven by the interests and behaviours of people. It has taken this esteemed consultancy along time to come to this conclusion - perhaps they bought a copy of my book? Dick Stroud

Seth Godin on Boomers

Back in April 2007 Mr Godin posted an item about marketing to Boomers. I have only just read his thoughts on the subject, having noticed that he is speaking at a conference in New York in November. Could be an opportunity for some Xmas shopping methinks.

Cutting a not so long story short.

Psychographics (open vs. closed) are way more important than demographics.

Got it? Truths normally come in short sentences. Dick Stroud

What is it about this music?

The new Dove film ‘Onslaught’ uses the same music as the Peugeot ad for the 1007. Why is this interesting? Well the 1007 was aimed at the older person (older women to be exact) and the Dove ad is another good example of creative that is at the high end of the age-neutral spectrum.

See if you can spot the clip of the L’Oreal ad, the antithesis of Dove. Isn't it odd that media buyers often position L'Oreal and Dove in the same publication, when clearly they are targetted at very different types of people.

In case you are wondering about the music. It is by Simian – La Breeze. Dick Stroud

Maybe Generation Y is not that different

I have a Google alert that picks up content related to Generation Y and X. It is surprising how little is published about either group.

An article appeared in MediaPost’s Marketing Daily about the way banks are failing to meet the expectations of Gen Y.

If you do a global search and replace on the article and swap Gen Y for Boomers I bet you would still read the article and nod in agreement.

This is says one of two things. Perhaps my thoughts about age neutrality have broader application or maybe it is because marketing journals publish such nebulous rubbish that can apply to anybody. Now I know what happens to marketing journalists when they retire – they write horoscopes. Dick Stroud

Chuck Nyren told me about this new ad campaign from Jeep as a good example of age neutral advertising. Absolutely right.

You can read a good analysis of the advertising campaign in Brent Terrazas advertising blog. The supporting Web site has an interesting way of showing the level of interest in supporting media.Dick Stroud

Nicole Kidman – an interesting and expensive choice by Nintendo

About 4 years ago I was a speaker at one of the UK's 50-plus conferences and surprised to meet a marketing guy from Nintendo.

Things have moved on since then and the company appears to be doing very well in creating a new market for its products amongst an older audience.

With the black cloud of dementia lurking over the horizon, a generation of people who spent time and money attempting to keep their bodies in shape are now doing the same with their brains.

Nintendo has chosen Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman as the face of its latest advertising campaign. The press release explains all.

The TV ad doesn’t knock me of my feet. It is not one of her best acting performances. But, the message conveyed by Nintendo’s choice of Ms Kidman is that the company is adopting age neutral advertising. She is 40 years old but has an appeal that is 25 years older and younger.

It is interesting to see that the ad was put on YouTube on the 25th June and has already generated nearly half a million views.

The other marketing message that comes from Nintendo’s choice of such an attractive and high profile personality is that the free viral marketing can be significant.

Thanks to Arjan in't Veld for telling me about the ad and well done Nintendo. Dick Stroud

Ageless = Age Neutral

Great to see that Vogue has caught on to the concept of Age Neutral. I suppose that the phrase - “Ageless shoes” - has something more about it than “Age Neutral Shoes”. The bottom line is that they mean the same. Dick Stroud

M&S does it again – great ad

Look at the ad. Who is the primary audience? Give you a clue.

If you were around in the mid-60s the TV was full of the Monkees. This ad is a straight copy of a sequence they did on the beach.

In my view this is aimed full square at grandparents. But, like all of the current campaign of M&S ads it a perfectly scripted bit of age-neutral creative. Brilliant. Dick Stroud