Beginning in 2003, my business blog for Creative Services, Copywriting, Consulting, and Speaking. You'll find all sorts of information about the current trends in advertising and marketing to this unwieldy, diverse demographic.
Martijn de Haas and Michel van den Bosch own the marketing firm Active Development:
Active Development is a consultancy/participating company in the marketing and communication to the 50+ market. We advise and/or participate in efforts of companies in entering the market and effectively reaching the 50+ consumers. This could be in thinking up new marketing strategies, new communication, online activities, and product development. We have a growing database of 50+ consumers who are providing us information in all these activities and who are actively taking part in our panels.
We have developed a small local fair called "the fair for people who enjoy life", or short in Dutch "de Levensgenietersbeurs": www.levensgenietersbeurs.nl
This a fair that is held in relatively big cities in Holland and holds about 30 exhibits. The textual marketing is ageless but the target is attracting the 50+ consumer who has money to spend on luxury articles. From our experience and backed-up by psychological research we found that as people get older they tend to value local socials networks more and more. They want to build close relationships with local entrepreneurs who give them optimal service and a feeling of being a 'friend' rather than a customer.
I guess you don't need a play-by-play. It was a success, Carol Orsborn and Brent Green were a notch above top-notch, our hosts treated us like Royalty everywhere we went, and my more-significant-than-I-am other had the time of her life as tourist and part-time nanny for the three prima donnas.
I'll skip the travelogue, and only mention business stuff. The two most impressive things for me in Europe:
1) These incredibly dedicated, talented, hard-working, creative people I met, socialized, and worked with from all the companies, all the PLUS Magazines (along with Vi Over 60 and Notre Temps). I'm still reeling from being around such energy and artistry.
2) The 50+ Fair in Utrecht, Netherlands. Impossible to describe. Attendance over five days was just shy of 100,000. Almost 600 exhibits/booths. Seriously - I can't describe it. It was like everything I've been talking about for the last five years physically washing over and overwhelming me. The web site also doesn't do it justice. It can't. You had to be there.
A few bloggers have commented (but you may have a tough time reading their posts) - and the feedback from the attendees has been positive and enlightening. I still haven't answered all of them - and they keep piling into my inbox.
Health & healthcare concerns are shaping Boomers purchase decisions about more than just healthcare; it's financial services, retirement, nutrition, housing and travel and leisure and much more...
Instead I’m leaving Friday, September 14th for a European Business Speaking Tour sponsored by Plus Magazine, Bayard Press, and Roularta Media. Ten days, seven cities:
Stockholm: Monday, September 17 Oslo: Tuesday, September 18 Brussels: Wednesday, September 19 Utrecht (Netherlands): September 20 Munich: September 21 A free weekend in Paris, then … Paris: September 24 Madrid: September 25
I believe some, most, or all of the engagements are open to the public. Here’sinfo on the Brussels Conference to give you an idea of what they’re about. Brent Green will be in Chicago, missing Stockholm and Oslo - then meet us in Brussels, continuing on to the other cities. More on all of this later. And afterwards, a side trip to London for 2½ days. If anybody over there wants to take me and my more-significant-than-I-am other to lunch or dinner or for a warm beer — or let us stay with them and sleep on their couch because hotels are about $800 a night (I'll toss sixpence on the table when we leave) — email me. Better still, if you’re a business and would like me to speak for an hour or two on Wednesday or Thursday …
Hong Kong, Chicago, Bend. They’ll have to wait until next year.
I received an email from Martijn de Haas of Active Development in The Netherlands:
… I thought you might be interested in a Dutch 2005 example of how they tried selling broadband to 50+ consumers. The theme is: "it's hard to keep up with technology”:
They even won the Dutch advertising prize for it. Although I think it’s funny I seriously doubt they got many of the target group to buy it.
You can look at it in 2 ways:
- the target group laughed because they didn't identify but got the message that was told at the end
- the target group was insulted and laughed it off
I think the latter but would love to hear your opinion …
I agree with Martijn. I’ve written about these types of campaigns in my book and blogged about them a number of times. Here’s just one:
The spot from the Netherlands is kind of cute, very well produced, acted, directed. Not particularly original. The first scenario is a direct lift from the 1st edition cover of my book (I’m sure it wasn’t intentional) - a clever tongue-in-cheek visual metaphor birthed by Anne Kilgore – graphic artist/book designer extraordinaire. Click here to take a look at it.
The driving into the bushes gag is old (at least since the invention of car navigation systems – so five or six years old). I’ve seen it before. The gag about the mouse held up to the monitor is even older (a variation is a piece of blank paper pressed against a monitor so it will ‘print’).
And, of course, it’s always older people who are the foils for these tepid attempts at humor.
Why would you want to viciously ridicule your target market? They might laugh – but will they buy your product? I think not.
On NPR recently there was a report about students who were given laptops instead of textbooks. While these kids certainly knew how to download music, hang out at Facebook, and play video games – they had real problems opening up and using a word processing program. Many had no idea how to save a document. And when they did save it, they couldn’t find it again to open and work on it – or figure out how to print it.
As an exercise, let’s pretend that a company wants to sell computers to teenagers. I come up with a brilliantly funny spot. It’s full of the greatest of gags. In fact, they’re hysterical. For example - a drooling, pimply-faced, frenzied kid is working on a homework assignment - and is trying to type with a joystick! What a moron! Ha-ha! In another scenario, a kid is unscrewing and taking apart a computer to look inside it – trying to find the document he saved! Ha-ha-ha!!!
I tell ya, everybody'll be falling out of their chairs watching this one. It’ll get lots of advertising awards, too.
And most teenagers will probably laugh – but you won’t see them rushing to buy these computers. They have been made fools of.
And they know it.
"I no longer enter my agency's layouts in the contests ... for fear that one of them might be disgraced by an award." - David Ogilvy
More later on a whirlwind European tour I'm booked for in September. Ten days in six countries: Sweden, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Spain.
Most of the seminars are not open to the public - but this one is:
Senior citizens: a growing market Over 50s, baby boomers, the charmed generation ... Just some of the many names for consumers with high purchasing power and often lavish spending patterns. What are the trends in this market? How can marketers better promote their products and services to this consumer category? Is it one category or many different categories? These and other questions will be answered by a panel of expert speakers.
Back from The Big Apple for a private consulting/speaking assignment. Bayard Presse and Roularta Media flew in 40+ advertisers of their 40+ magazine PLUS - a major player in The Netherlands.
Of course, I was a bit concerned that I'd have to tone down my presentation, speak slowly, that any humor might not translate. Was I ever wrong. These wonderful folk followed me from start to finish - laughing, leaning in, asking questions. In The Netherlands English is not a tossed-off second language, but a requirement in schools.
And the Dutch are friendly, involved, jovial, and (no surprise) keenly intelligent.
I presented first - and for the next few days had lots of rousing huddles and chats with almost all the organizers and attendees.
Actually, I was one of the unofficial organizers, recommending three of the seven speakers: Laurel Kennedy of Age Lessons, John McMenniman (former Nestle/Disney exec and former president of The Advertising Hall of Fame), and John Migliaccio. And I had a few special friends of mine drop by for lunches, dinners, and meetings: Susan Silver, Mary Duffy, and Peter Himler. Peter had some other meetings that came up unexpectedly, so he wasn't around for too long - but Susan and Mary spent lots of time floating around and were appreciated by all.
A very special treat for me: I finally met Dick Stroud - and as a bonus, his beautiful wife Stella. Too bad she's not on this huge billboard in Times Square. She should be.
Among other things, Arjan in't Veld heads up InTheField Marketing en communicatie and runs the Mokka Marketing Blog. One of his clients is PLUS Magazine. Arjan has been helping with the redesign and implementation of their web site - adding interactive sections like this one.Active Development is a consultancy/participating company in the marketing and communication to the 50+ market. We advise and/or participate in efforts of companies in entering the market and effectively reaching the 50+ consumers. This could be in thinking up new marketing strategies, new communication, online activities, and product development. We have a growing database of 50+ consumers who are providing us information in all these activities and who are actively taking part in our panels.
This a fair that is held in relatively big cities in Holland and holds about 30 exhibits. The textual marketing is ageless but the target is attracting the 50+ consumer who has money to spend on luxury articles. From our experience and backed-up by psychological research we found that as people get older they tend to value local socials networks more and more. They want to build close relationships with local entrepreneurs who give them optimal service and a feeling of being a 'friend' rather than a customer.
