Lecture 11 - Over 50's Marketing

Benady, D (2010) states that:

"Growing older is getting cooler, according to the advertising industry. As those who (mis) spent their youths in the late Seventies hit the "big five-oh", marketers are wondering how brands can target this new wave of oldies".

To myself, this statement seems so untrue; who ever thinks they are cooler the older they get. NOT ME!! :) But there must be reasons for this. This advert is directly targeted at the over 50 generation.



The over 50 generation are an increasingly powerful group. Owning 80% of the UK's wealth. This adult generation's population are dramatically increasing and by 2020 they will make up more than half the adult population. Marketeers and advertisers adore this group as it makes advertising easy for them. It is said that the most brands are successful when they learn to grow up alongside their consumers. Thus keeping their brand loyalty.

However, they have only just started avoiding the pitfall of regarding all over 50's as the same. Nowadays; they are split into 5 main groups:

• Home is where the heart is (3.9 million)
• You cant take it with you (5.1 million)
• It's time to enjoy (3.2 million)
• Mind, body & soul (3.8 million)
• Secure and sophisticated (4 million)
  

Home is where the heart is

This group like the simple things, they like to have a nice family life and life a comfortable lifestyle. Here is a few facts and figures about this type of over 50: 64% are female, with an average age of 71, 51% are married, 33% are widowed, 79% are retired, and have a median household income of £11,500. This group think highly of their personal principles and rules - suggesting that they follow a very structured way of life. This is then closely followed by the environment and ethics and cultural outgoings. They have great amounts of respect for and trust in institutions, including brands.There summary profile can be shown below.

As like any other generation, home is where the heart is have their own leisure pursuits. This includes activities such as: bingo and watching television. As you can see these are activities that are generally done within the comfort of their home. They are less likely to eat out a restaurants and use the internet.

Here is a list of their favourite brands:

Secure and sophisticated

The secure and sophisticated group are the people who feel like they have fulfilled all they wanted to in life, and now have no money troubles with a much higher income then the 'home is where the heart is' group.

Here is a few facts and figures of the secure and sophisticated group: 75% male, have an average age of 63, 81% are married, 38% still working, 77% are in the ABC1 class, 22% are more likely to live in the middle east, and have a median household income of £25,000.

These people are still financially active, making higher income work for themselves. They like to take on financial burdens which are traditionally done by the welfare state. This group are highly interested in adopting new technology - especially through the use of the internet. As well as being keen in keeping fit and staying healthy.

Below is their Demographic Profile:




The secure and sophisticated tend to buy into brands such as: Bupa, Pc World, Marks and Spencer, Natwest, Visa, Google, Visa, Dell, Halfords and HSBC.

Traditional Attitudes of over 50's

Many people over the age of 50 tend to buy certain types of products, this may be due to different events that has happened within their lifestyle such as the world war 11. Their particular affinity includes:

FOOD: Ice cream, crackers, sweet biscuits, artificial sweeteners, soups, bread, cakes, frozen fish, and stock and gravy.


FINANCE: Life insurance, buildings and contents insurance, premium bonds, NSI bonds, stocks and shares, unit trusts, and ISAs/PEPs.


DRINKS: Any traditional alcohol, tea, fresh coffee, and milk.



Health & Pharmaceuticals: Vitamins and supplements, Rheumatism, and Arthritis remedies.


Leisure & Holidays: they tend to take more organised holidays, coach trips, castles/ stately homes, plays/classical concerts/ballet, trust membership and bingo


There top media are:

TV: BBC News, Antique Roadshow, Heatbeat, Miss Maple, Who wants to be a millionaire?, Baragin hunt, Natural World, and Gardeners World.


PRESS: Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Saga Magazine, Birds Magazine, Readers Digest etc...


RADIO: Folk/ country music, easy listening, music maily form the 50/60s, and classical.


As you can see the over 50 generation tend to stick to products they know, and are sure of. Most groups do not feel the need to change the brand they use. The table below shows the top brands the 50+ age bracket use.


Next I would like to inform you about their values, these have been influenced through events that have happened within their lifetime.

Time line of Events

Firstly in 1939 the World War 11 began, by 1945 World War 11 had ended. In this year Hitler also committed suicide, making the Germans surrender.

The war in Japan also ended due to the use of the Atomic Bomb.

In 1948 the Welfare state came into action meaning a national health service was set up so that people of all ages could be cared for. Benefits to help the poor and unemployed were introduced - this was all paid for by the new national insurance tax on workers.

In 1952 George V1 died, this king dies at the age of 56 and Queen Elizabeth was then set to rein for 50 years as queen.

In 1955 Commercial TV began, the BBC's competition as ITV was launched.

In 1966 England finally won the world cup of football.

Neil Armstrong became the first man in history to land on the moon during a trip by apollo11 in 1969.

Other main events such as: decimalisation in 1971, Britain joins to EU in 1973, First female prime-minister in 1979, the Falklands War in 1982, and finally peace in northern Ireland in 1998.

Online Behaviours

Facebook is by far the most widely used social media site and is pushing its reach into older age groups - especially the over 50's. However other social networking sites such as Twitter are closely following them.


These figures suggest that the older generation are becoming much more advanced with online and developing technology. In terms of sub groups, both the home is where the heart is and mind, body and soul have particular interests into different types of sites. These tend to be information sites other than entertainment.

As you can see most people are interested in travel. This may be because the 50+ groups tend to have more disposable income then others, and they are retired or they want to waste their money so they do not have to pass it down to other generations, such as the 'you cant take it group'.

If I was to create an advert for...

A Holiday: I would aim it at the secure and sophisticated section of people who are over the age of 50. This is because as I have already established this group are much more prone to booking holidays and flights, therefore they would be a much easier target. Also as I already know this group are the people with the money, so a higher class feel to the advert would need to be shown.This group of people would like to go on cruises with many activities. The advert would take the same shape as the one below:

Music: Beach boys - I get around, this is because this type song was from the 60's and is a feel good tune which all people in this generation will know. Or the Who - talking about my generation.

A ready meal: this would obviously be aimed at the 'where the heart is' group. This is because they enjoy the comfort of their own home, and enjoy family time. This is captured really well in an advert by Oakhouse foods.

Similarly; my advert would be very similar when targeting this age group.

Summary

In summary the over 50 generation are rapidly growing and are now a more dynamic group then ever. As a consequence of this the baby boomers will have to grow further, and those entering at the younger end will have expectations of continuing their existing lifestyles. As this blog has already established there is NOT just one group of over 50's, and it is important when marketing to this generation that they understand this, as each group works in different ways. Each of these groups have their own way of living, and are set in their ways when it comes to shopping for a brand.

Lecture 10 - Generation Marketing

The method of marketing to a specific generation is affecting the way that we promote and sell products and services. "We are all a product of our generation" states Lake, l. 2009. Each generation have their own characteristics, because of this as a marketing target we can usually categorize by generations by the way that we act and speak as well as our belief systems. There are four main marketing generations:

Generation Y - Born After 1980
These are also known as: Millenials, or generation 2001'ers. To the right is a diagram showing the standard behaviours and characteristics attributed to generation Y - these are the findings through research by Ashridge (2009). To see more of their research LOOK here. Generation Y are known to be: optimistic, upbeat and filled with a sense of empowerment. They are a complex phenomenon and full of contradictions: technologically savvy but creative, environmentally conscious yet mobile. They expect instant rewards but also demand long term development. Finally; they think like entrepreneurs but value relationships over money. A Times Article informs other generations how to connect with generation Y. Personally; I felt this article portrayed some very interesting facts. One being that generation Y are known to be much smarter then other generations because of their level of education, thus there been more demand for them in UK firms. Being a generation Y myself, I completely agree with how they have been described.

Generation X - Born between 1965 and 1980
These are also known as baby busters. This age group grew up during the later years of the Vietnam war. This generation are known to be the most ignored, misunderstood and disheartened generation our country has ever seen. This may be due to their political experiences and cultural perspectives shaped by events such as the: cold war, the fall of the Berlin wall and the early signs of the recession in the 80's. This generation are turned off by hype advertising. This documentary shows how events that generation X'ers saw shape them as people:


Baby Boomer's - Born between 1946 and 1964

Baby boomer's are the generation named after the post war 11 baby boom. This was when people finally settled down, got jobs and settle down into families. In 2003 there were 74,000,000 baby boomer's compared with 38,000,000 in the 1960's. This graph below from 2006 shows that our population is ageing. It also found out that within the UK resident population of 60,587,000, of which 50,763,000 lived in England, 1 in 5 of them were under 16 and 1 in 6 were over 65 with an average age of 34. There are two sub categories of baby boomers. These are younger baby boomer's and older boomer's. This shows how big this generation group is! The younger generation of baby boomer's are very savvy and know allot about the product already, thus making decisions based on previous information. The Boomer's have built a resistance to advertising over the years, as they have experienced many campaigns. While marketers acknowledge the buying power of Baby Boomers, the continue to define them as a demographic niche from the 1960's. A baby boomer woman's favourite brands are: Levis, Harley Davison, Pepsi, the Beatles, and Volkswagen.

Mature Citizens - Born between 1909 and 1945

These are also known as the grey generation. The UK is becoming a 'greyer' nation. The amount of people aged 85+ will increase by a third by 2020, there will be as many 60+ as there is 20/30 year old and people will progressively live longer. The BBC news state that "there is still a generation left that is very grateful and humble, but those coming through do not always accept the first thing they are told or offered" - suggesting that they are increasingly becoming much more active and independent. As this again is such a big generation it can also be spilt up into more sub categories.

• The over 55's: either at the end of their careers or coming to the end. All commitments like mortgages etc.. will be paid off soon leaving more disposable income.


• Young Old's: Usually under 70, both partners are still alive meaning quite a large sum of disposable income. Difficult to reach though.



• Old Old's: Now over 70 and often on there own, mainly elderly women. Old Olds do not have allot of money to spend.


• Silver Surfers: Reaching maximum or exceeding life expectancy. More than likely alone and even less money. Silver Surfers say net is vital!


• Skiers: For the lucky people who make it to the last category in the Generation Grey age they will most certainly have the successful winnings of their children.

Lecture 9 - Nostelgia

Nostalgia is a "sentimental longing for earlier days when summers were hotter, days were longer, food was tastier and people were friendlier, lends itself to some traditional, long-lasting brands that many consumers remember from childhood" (Wright, R. 2000).

The Hovis Bread advert from 2008 is a brilliant example as it shows a boy literally running through time, showing the significant moments of different eras.

For marketers, the key is finding the right music and images, which do not even need to directly relate to their products, as long as warm feelings are stirred up. It is the emotion generated from that good feeling that influences people's evaluation of the advertised offer.

Different types of people have different products or memories that make them individually feel nostalgic. Personally; the things that make me feel nostalgic are...

Memories:
The seaside, family life, and dogs.

Products:
Furby, coke cola, and fairy costumes.

Bands:
Spice Girls, The Pogues, and festivals such as Global Gathering.


These are all things that I have grown up with, and instantly make my emotions happier when reminiscing about them.

Below is a collage of this that make me Nostalgic :)

Marketers have been using nostalgia as a way of pitching their products for as long as people have been talking about “the good old days.” Look at how things like fashion and music keep coming around in cycles, fueled by generations buying the things they loved for their own children.