Cognitive dissonance lives - OK

MediaPost’s Marketing Daily has an article based on Focalyst’s recent press release that identifies the double speak of Boomers who on one had say people should age naturally yet spend buckets loads of money on anti-ageing potions.

Come on guys. Why should this age group be any different to any other when it comes to sending out misleading marketing messages?

To be serious for a moment – I have a couple of problems with this sort of conclusion. Firstly, the age-range of the sample (42-87). Secondly, the results are not broken down into lifestyle segments.

I am sure (hope) Focalyst have all of this information but wish they would make a bit more of it available in their press release. It is rather like making a marketing statement about people aged 12-57 years old. It wouldn’t have much marketing credibility would it – well would it? Dick Stroud

A knee to behold

A few of us with an interest in 50-plus marketing received an e-mail asking: “How does the aging of celebrities affect the psyches of the 'normal' aging population? Does seeing something like this make them feel better? Or worse? Curious on your thoughts”.

The celebrity in question is Melanie Griffith and the part of her anatomy, where there are signs of gravity winning the day, is her knee. In all honesty it looks like poor old Melanie has, in the words of my dear old mum: “not worn too well”.

Typical of the style of journalism of the publication (the Daily Mail) the article then goes on to speculate that Ms Griffith has been hitting the Botox and collagen, big time.

There is the unspoken sub-text in the article that runs something like – big celebrity – pots of money – too much SDRR – no amount of money can stop you looking old – Ha Ha.

So as a ‘normal’ aging person, with a set of damn good knees, how do I react? Looking at the question from a marketer’s viewpoint I reckon the following.

Of course there is not a single response – if you asked the other 20 million 50-plus in the UK you would get all sorts of answers ranging from a senses of unadulterated schadenfreude through to sympathy that her obvious physical ageing is paraded in the tabloids.

I would also guess that that because of celebrities’ remoteness from the lives of ‘normal’ people, few ‘normals’ see the parallels between their own ageing and that of person they only know through the TV and cinema.

Finally, I would think there is a huge difference in the response between older men and women. I think there is the L’Oreal group of women who spend time and energy trying to delay/halt/reverse physiological ageing. Then there are the Dove pro.age group who say: “there is nothing I can do to stop ageing but I will look the best I can for my age”.

From a marketer’s perspective this is a fascinating topic since it gets to the heart of how people view the ageing process and what (and how much money) they are willing commit to doing something about it. Thanks Laura for sending the link. Dick Stroud

Profitable wrinkles

A couple of articles about anti-ageing / pro-ageing products (Dove and L’Oreal).

You can see why there is so much focus on this market.

The peak age for beauty product consumption in 1996 occurred between 40 and 60. In 2005 this figure had shifted to between 40 and 70. Around 40 per cent of 65 to 69 year olds suggest they used an anti-aging cream in 2005, compared to just 20 per cent in 1996.

With women (and men) purchasing these products earlier and continuing to use them for longer then it is a no-brainer why these two companies (plus a host of others) pour so many bucks into advertising. Dick Stroud