| The 20 million people aged over 50 in the UK cannot be treated as a single audience.
The Biblical three score years and ten is becoming a thing of the past, as the UK’s population grows older while staying active, and actively consuming, for longer. Yet most marketers seem not to have caught up with the realities of the UK’s aging population yet, still lumping everyone over the age of 50 into the same boat.
Do that though, and you are in danger of using the same approach to see products to the Queen, born in 1926 and 83 this year, and the Queen of Pop, Madonna, born in 1958 and 51 this year.
Libby Christie, head of operations at incentive and motivation specialist Unmissable, agrees: “People are generally getting younger – 50 is the new 40. A large proportion of them will still be in the workforce; they have more time and a larger disposable income than ever; and they have the knowledge and ability now to do the things they would have loved to do when they were younger but just never had the opportunity to.”
This audience will also react badly to being patronised, she adds. “Promotions need to capture the imagination, interest and create excitement in their target audience. There is little use in giving a prize trip on a cruise away if your audience is going to view it as something ‘older people’ do and in actually fact their idea of a trip at sea would be an active sailing week in Greece.”
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