I wish to point out (carefully) to young marketers, you could do yourselves a huge favor by engaging with us more mature folks. Not just in a marketing sense, as consumers, but in an expert capacity as brandsmiths.Consider older individuals as customers. Individuals over the age of 55 in the US consist of the world’s third biggest economy, larger than Germany’s. This is a market that is expanding even as millennials diminish. And more people are living longer than ever.Boomers are amortals. We understand we aren’t going to live forever however
right now, we have a lot more living delegated do. And talking of cash, the over-60s control 75%of the wealth of both the UK and the United States. They purchase 80% of all high-end cars. 80 %of Chanel womenswear is purchased by females over 50. Not that you ‘d understand this from the ads.That’s because just 5%of ads are targeted at my generation.L’Oreal is an honorable exception. They prepared Helen Mirren to be among their brand name ambassadors
. Smart relocation, given 50%of all makeup items in the US are purchased by women over 55. Too numerous financial services business are getting it wrong. The cliché is an ad envisioning a 65-year-old in an open top sports car.Advertising is obsessed with millennials to the level of foisting the yearnings of 30-somethings onto people who have long passed wishing to burn rubber.
The fascination with Gens Y and Z is mystifying. Brand name loyalty is a myth, my friend. I have another 20 years in me, at least and, unlike the majority of millennials, I have moolah.This is both a genuine issue and a real chance in digital marketing.It’s a problem if you’re a young marketing director because you are blind to a huge number of prospective brand-new customers
. It’s an opportunity due to the fact that digital advertising has the wherewithal to help you
identify those boomers and customize your ads to them. And, because it is so unusual, they will appreciate it. Think me. That leads me on to a 2nd issue: When advertising is directed at individuals like me, it has most likely been produced by someone aged 33, the typical age of the firm worker. This person has no idea about my generation
. My genuine beef, though, is that most of the youths who now occupy ad agencies (and marketing departments)don’t know how brands are developed. It takes a specific sort of advertising.Orlando Wood describes it in his brilliant book, Lemon, as” right-brained marketing, “which is (normally) lovely, sweet-natured and populist. Ads that feature characters. A meerkat. Advertisements that settle in the memory.
And have a long-lasting impact.
Rather than the majority of ads in digital– which are shouty, unsubtle and frequently crass. Much of us sexagenarians were experienced at developing brand names in the past before we got too expensive. And we can still crack it out, when provided an opportunity. I won a Cannes Gold when I was 61 and think I have one or two more within me. My Cannes Lions, business I have actually assisted
develop, the brand names I have actually grown, the departments I have actually run and the people I have begun might be of worth. Strange, but true.
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