Ad land ageism: ‘Why do we target millennials with no money and ignore older consumers with wealth?’
The advertising industry has been accused of turning its back on older generations both by packing its workforce with young staff and failing to sell them products they want.
Dave McCaughan: why do we market to millennials who have no money and ignore those with wealth?
Far from being “doddery” consumers who scan ads for retirement villages, walking frames and glasses they are technologically savvy, adventurous – and wealthy, a session at Mumbrella 360 Asia heard.
Dave McCaughan, chief strategy officer at Bangkok-based Ai.Agency, said the industry is neglecting what is the fastest growing demographic in the region.
“Why as an industry don’t we focus on where growth is?” he told delegates. “Why are we focused on a group of people that don’t have money – millennials – and not on the generations that have money?”
Speaking during a debate on Ageing in Advertising: Overcoming the Myths, McCaughan said employing older people would help agencies and brands learn how to target the 60+ market in way a thirty-something staff could not hope to do.
“There are lots of myths about marketing to older consumers in that ‘they don’t this stuff’. But if you look at the statistics you’ll find people in their 60s and 70s are more likely to experiment with new stuff than their children in their 20s,” he told delegates.
“It is said they don’t try new brands, products and services yet work shows that it’s millennials who don’t like trying new brands and services. Especially in Asia, they have spent 40 years having to experiment because their society were changing so fast. They had to learn and adapt and they are still good at it.
He continued: “That generation is all about trying new things. The challenge for us as an industry is how can we absorb some of these people into the workforce to help us understand how to market better to people just like them.”
Too often, people in the ad industry “picture their grandmother” when talking about older consumers, he said.
“But just because your grandmother doesn’t play a lot of mobile games doesn’t mean there’s not millions of grand mothers who do,” McCaughan said. “We think they are doddery, a bit blind and deaf…..but the reality is they are the most highly technical generation we have ever seen. No generation has seen as much technological transformation as that generation.”
Kim Walker: Selling to over 65-year-olds is regarded as “just not cool”
Kim Walker, chief executive of Silver Group, said the belief that seniors are all about hearing aids, spectacles and retirement “is absolute bullshit”.
“But if the opportunity is so big why aren’t there more agencies or groups that are focused on it?” he asked. “It’s the million dollar question. The reason is it’s just not cool. it’s not shiny.
“If you look at the average age of marketing and advertising people in the UK and Australia it’s 33, and it’s very hard to get 33-year-olds excited about selling to 65-year-olds.”
He added: “Old people don’t want to buy products designed for old people. They want to use products that make them feel engaged with life.
“How much do you think the industry is engaging with that consumer and how effectively? The answer is pretty poorly.”
Steve Jones is regular contributor to Mumbrella in Australia and Asia having held the title of chief reporter for several years. He is a journalist with more than 30 years experience and has worked for a number of consumer and trade titles in the UK and Australia
The arrogance of youth in the planning & creative departments meets the insecurity of middle age agency bosses and clients in an echo chamber of mirrors guarded by bouncers who screen out logic, reality and common sense where they swap online videos and TED talks soundbites in a mutual pseudo-intellectual jerk-off.
ReplyIt’s happening everyday in open plan agencies populated by caffeine addicted millennials who are hired not because they are somehow smarter but a great deal cheaper.
For those who don’t know better, hamburger can pass off as steak.
TPJ Condominium 207/5
ReplySukhumvit Soi 49
Thanks MUMBRELLA ASIA for being BRAVE enough to put this on the stage at 360 Asia … pity the timing was not better and the audience was not greater. As Kim Walker, Wendy Hogan and Jean-Michel Wu and I predicted the audience was small, enthusiastic and yes closer to the over 50s and 60 we were talking about than the mean of the over conference attendees. How about helping to champion the cause … hire an over 60 intern to focus on the issue ? let’s see an annual award for the 50 over 50s new to the advertising.marketing business at all levels who make a difference, how about more stories of marketers who are targeting asia’s fastest growing market ( the 60-80 year olds ) .. Ageing is both the short term and long term future. We will all grow in to it.
ReplyTry getting a job in an agency in your sixties. With swags if awards and a great book, the doors keep getting slammed in my face.
ReplyWhat is the point of advertising at all? Most people HATE when ads interrupt what they are watching. I don’t know ANYONE who wants to watch ads. Not to mention that 63% of the US population cannot afford a $500 emergency. The point is, if people are not being paid a living wage, businesses and economies will suffer. Rich people have all they need and don’t need to buy much, but if you put money in the pockets of poorer people, they WILL spend it on needed items.
There’s so much I would spend money on if I had any, especially on alternative medicine that isn’t covered by Medicare. There’s no point in advertising to a population with massive inequality. The reason everything is going down the crapper in the US is b/c of inequality. We need to bring back the New Deal banking laws that the Republicans have undone over the decades.
We must tie productivity to pay. A few are getting obscenely rich off the backs of poor people. It’s a scam and people are getting angry and upset that they cannot take part in society b/c you all are making everything too expensive for people who live check to check.
Make Walmart pay their employees enough to live so taxpayers don’t have to pay for their other needs. We are ALL being ripped off by people like [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] etc. Without us, they would not be mega rich. We can no longer allow for a few to be so wealthy. Clearly something is way off when a handful of people have more money than HALF the world population.
I’m on the verge of not being able to afford internet access and that means the few things I DO buy online will be inaccessible for me now. The nickle and dime-ing of US citizens needs to end.
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