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| Engaging the O50 Generation |
By 2035 more than 40 per cent of the UK will be aged 50 or over. The 50 plus or O50 generation is steadily immerging as an enormous, vibrant, diverse group of consumers with plenty of spending power.
The baby boomers who created youth culture, transformed the family group, became working mothers and powerful professionals are now entering the next stage of their lives, and marketers need to catch up.
While most mass market brands are frantically chasing teens, twentysomethings, thirtysomethings and young families, the over-50s feel at best patronised and at worst invisible. Yet these older, wiser and richer generations are underrepresented in the media, and notably absent from marketing strategies.
They are often lumped together, as if someone who is 52 has exactly the same lifestyle, needs and outlook as someone 85, and shoe horned into a series of tired stereotypes in much the same way as young people were until relatively recently.
 | Marketing to the O50s is not about "silver surfer" clichés, walk-in baths, coach tour holidays, and funeral savings plans. |  |
Marketing to the O50s is not about "silver surfer" clichés, walk-in baths, coach tour holidays, and funeral savings plans. Those aged 50-60 today, in particular, are the first teenagers grown up, with no sense of impending old age.
This new breed of O50s are forcing a dramatic change in current attitudes to age and ageing. Rock stars, models, actresses, powerful business men, style leaders are all turning 50 and refusing to fade into the background. Governments are changing policy as they realise the massive influence of this audience, journalists are realising the value of loyal 50+ readership and marketers need to follow suit.
This won't be achieved if brands continue to bombard consumers of all ages with messages firmly aimed at youth, but equally it's not about creating a new "grey" product or deliberately treating over-50s as a separate audience. Rather, brands need to extend into these new consumer groups without alienating existing audiences.
The most notable difference in the new generation of O50s is their changing mindsets in comparison to previous generations. At Weber Shandwick and sister branding agency FutureBrand our new joint venture, O50: A fresh perspective, has identified these mindsets to enable us to cater for the range of consumers within the O50 sector.
Reviewing this broad range of attitudes, it's clear there are serious gaps that existing brands and services are failing to fill. This is underpinned with fear that by attracting the over-50 audience, brands will alienate younger consumers and loose industry kudos.
However, in the same way that "youth" definitions and products extend well beyond the 16-24 year old segment, we believe that we are on the cusp of a paradigm shift, where being mature and wise will become aspirational. It's not about alienating existing audiences, but finding an attitude that embodies the spirit of the nation.
| Instead of buying a car on the basis of a dramatic television advertisement, your O50 customer will be watching "Top Gear" and buying Autotrader. | |
The luxury car market is an excellent example of this marketing strategy. These cars are usually well outside the price range of younger consumers, but they still aspire to own the entire package of design, image and ability. The over-50s are able to finally make that purchase and feel a sense of achievement and superiority over their younger counterparts, as they finally enter the prestigious club of owning a premium car. Young and older groups desire the same product and neither is alienated by the other's interest. So who is influencing this purchase?
The O50s are one of the most marketing savvy consumer groups, who are completely turned off by blatant advertising and switch channels during ad breaks. Research shows that the most influential route to reach these consumers is through endorsement. Instead of buying a car on the basis of a dramatic television advertisement, your O50 customer will be watching "Top Gear" and buying Autotrader. To them these are trusted sources of information, rather than cynical and blatant attempts to extract them from their cash.
Years of experience in working with the media to target this age group has allowed us to track changing attitudes within the media environment. Previously, securing editorial coverage on products and services for O50s has been an uphill struggle, but today, many national papers either have correspondents dedicated to issues among the over-50s or social affairs correspondents who cover an O50 remit.
With the media waking up to the power and importance of this age group, particularly those aged between 50 and 60, brands should be taking advantage of more open editorial doors and carefully constructing their approach using the right tone of voice. It's about creating a highly targeted approach to drive coverage.
Think issues-based. Think tongue-in-cheek. Think what would be right for the brand. If you're serious, think about driving the media agenda as opposed to riding it now and again.
Communicating through specific channels enables campaigns to separate their messages without diluting impact. The Mercedes SLK can appear in both FHM and the Telegraph and attract both readerships. This creates enormous potential for a whole range of products. For example, how about tinted moisturisers used to disguise teenage acne being recommended to menopausal women to disguise hot flushes? The O50s were the earliest adopters of technology, so why aren't hardware brands convincing them to not just buy a laptop for their child or grandchild at university, but also one for themselves, with wireless technology making it perfect for use in the garden?
When it comes to marketing to the new generations of over-50s, brand managers and their agencies would do well to remember the words of Abraham Lincoln: "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years". The O50s aren't anywhere close to their sell-by date yet.
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| Sally Ward, vice chairman, Weber Shandwick, Europe
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