Another one bites the dust!

This week has seen the demise of yet another high budget, high profile over 50s social networking/lifestyle site – this time in the USA. Its name is irrelevant since it is now history.

Here, at in my prime, we carry out global research on a daily basis covering all kinds of issues as they relate to the world’s ageing population and to older people (whatever that might mean exactly). Some while ago we wrote here about the nature of sites for the over 50s and the genuine need for subject specific social networking sites, for example ones which might bring together those seeking employment or those who have been out of work for some time. This time can be very lonely, frustrating and depressing in which knowledge, advice and mutual support would be of tremendous value. We are still waiting to see one but we know it will come.

Websites, currently, tend to fall into a number of categories. There are a few sites or blogs, rather like ours, which are run by professionals in the field and which provide useful information and commentary on what is happening in the over 50s arena. I will come back to those in a future blog.

For the rest they tend to fall into three main categories.

There are some very good sites emanating from charities and central or local government which provide a wealth of information and advice and which all “silver surfers” should refer to. They tend, on the whole, to be geared towards issues affecting the more elderly end of the age spectrum.

There are sites which are run as a hobby by old codgers for old codgers. These are cosy, friendly and non-threatening but, in the end, there is a limit to how many times one can laugh at a joke about going upstairs and not remembering why.

And there are those, the ones now falling by the wayside, which are what one might call “lifestyle” sites. These are based on the false premise that “older” is a condition that you wake up to one morning having been “younger” the day before and from now on all your friends only fit into the “older” category and anything you buy must be purchased from an age-specific site – insurance, washing machines, holidays – anything. Why?

The mature market (mature meerkat?) does not operate like that and does not want to operate like that.

Just who are we talking about?

As you may be very well aware Age Concern and Help the Aged have merged and, last Friday, we attended one of a series of presentations that they have been making around the country to bring on board their many members on the ground who do such valuable work. In addition, we also attended a workshop to consider what new name they should have and what image they should portray. It is here that they have a major dilemma.

Traditionally these charities have been associated with caring for the elderly and many of their workers and volunteers have this clearly in mind when considering their work and their investments of time and energy. However, it is also clear that management have in mind a broader remit, one which encompasses all people over 50 and, therefore opens up all kinds of other possibilities, in particular activities of a more commercial nature (but don’t mention Heyday whatever you do).

All we would say is tread very carefully. If it was ever true that being over 50 meant being elderly it is certainly not so now. As the charities themselves said there will, in future, be a sizeable minority of us who will live to be over 100. Nobody would ever dream of lumping together the first 50 years of our lives into one age category – and the same should apply to the second 50 years. Unless it is very careful the new charity runs the risk of not really fully understanding its own reason for being and in the process it will alienate supporters at all points in the age spectrum.

ASDA be a good thing

Okay, I liked it so much I stole the headline. “It” being a report in May’s Saga magazine that ASDA are taking the radical step of selling mobility aids alongside all the other essentials (and some non-essentials) of daily life we now expect to find in  major supermarkets. For once, this seems an act of genius and one which is likely to remove some of the demonization of age and age-related challenges. After all, why should commonplace articles that simply make life easier for huge numbers of people (some of whom may be young and disabled) have to be sourced from specialist suppliers often at premium prices with the implication that they are a distasteful minority requirement of no interest to the mainstream? 40 year old Dermot McLaughlin who is behind the move believes that the support of a familiar company such as ASDA will transform the public’s perception of daily living aids and break down the associated stigma. Let’s hope he’s right. In any case, he deserves a medal.

Pensioner? Moi?

It would be nice to think that this was irony, but somehow I think they just really don’t get it…

A recent article in the Daily Telegraph investigating older people’s views on business attitudes towards the older market (for article click here) was entitled “Half of pensioners think businesses are obsessed by youth”.

The first paragraph read: “Age Concern and Help the Aged, the newly merged charity, interviewed 1,000 people over the age of 50 and found that 57 per cent believed businesses ignored them in favour of appealing to the ‘youth market’, with 47 per cent saying they felt UK businesses were ‘youth-obsessed’. In response the charity is launching a scheme to brand certain products as ‘pensioner friendly’.”

Since when did everyone over 50 become a pensioner? Since when did “age friendly” (the actual name of the Age Concern/Help the Aged scheme) mean the same as “pensioner friendly”?

On the basis of this the Telegraph could proudly head the queue of those businesses that are obsessed by youth…

Maturity: a mystery for marketers

Our website www.inmyprime.info is now well-established and continues to be well-visited (go on, have a look if you haven’t already). As a result we are, on a daily basis, emailed and called by numerous marketing and PR people promoting products, services and stories relating to those of mature years in the hope that we will use their material.

We’re not complaining about this. Some of the stuff is very interesting and pertinent. Some of it provides us with knowledge, insight and substance we can use on the website or elsewhere. But unfortunately rather a lot of it has nothing at all to do with the market we operate in.

The array of material we get forcefully underlines just how little marketing and PR people in general understand age. The age group we focus on, as is clearly stated on our website, is 50 to 70. As such it is a totally different generation from the truly elderly which in itself is a group fragmented by health, wealth, and cognitive and other abilities. As our focus is on the mature market our only interest in products and services to do with the rather insensitively named geriatric market is in respect of things we might need or need to know about for our elderly parents or others of that age.

If this was acknowledged by hopeful young PRs we might be somewhat more receptive towards their material. As it is (without naming and shaming) we receive a load of old dross about comfy slippers, fluffy kittens, incontinence products, personal alarms… and far too many pictures of  white haired people in their seventies or eighties accompanying press releases containing the words “over 50s”.

Any PR or marketing people who would like to really make a mark on the mature market are advised to get in touch…

People don’t grow older like they used to

Well done to Standard Life for their current press campaign featuring – Hallelujah! – older people who don’t look truly elderly, simple or downtrodden. Badged with the slogan “people don’t grow older like they used to” the campaign uses black and white photos of both celebs (e.g. Mariella Frostrup, Marco Pierre White) and ordinary people (or perhaps I just don’t recognize them!) to reinforce what “older” looks like these days. And frankly, judging by these pictures, it ain’t bad.

Let’s have more of this positive approach from marketers – and soon.

Bring on Boomer Barbie

Shock, horror! Barbie, Mattel’s leading toy-girl is going to be 50 this year!

But, despite various role incarnations and subtle physical changes, there’s no doubt that the good ol’ gal is still being modelled on a teen-physique representing the ideal plasticised non-ageing female body. Isn’t it time she was given a break and allowed to slow down and soften a little?

Not quite robe and slippers Barbie but an elegant, softened, less brittle Barbie.

Okay, she might lose her pre-teen following but in light of the alleged spending power of the Boomer generation an older Barbie might be the brightest anti-recessional marketing ploy imaginable. Just think: “Does my bum look big in this Barbie”, “Hair dye Barbie”, “Flat shoes Barbie”… the possibilities are endless.

Now what about Ken…?

Not such a heyday

News of a long-predicted collapse that for once has nothing to do with the credit crunch. Heyday, launched as a rival to Saga in 2006 with £22m funding from Age Concern, is finally being wound up following a damning Charity Commission report on its governance. The report marked the final nail in the coffin for a venture which from the start was based on an “entirely flawed proposition” according to industry experts such as Kevin Lavery from specialist over-50s marketing agency Millennium. Quite rightly he commented that “you should never sell services to older people on the basis of age”.

Our own view from the outset was that not only is Heyday an appallingly twee name, but few individuals are likely to want to pay for something that is either already freely available through other sources (e.g. social networking and other websites) or already done far better by existing providers (e.g. Saga  and other commercial specialist interest magazines).

The most worrying aspect of the whole sorry debacle is the extent to which Age Concern who should, if anyone, possess a detailed understanding of the nature of the mature market, seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the over 50s do not – and never will – represent a single unified cohort . What appeals to one 50 year old will not necessarily appeal to another; what appeals to a 50 year old will not appeal to a 75 year old. People do not define themselves or their interests primarily on the basis of age.

The fact that Age Concern (newly amalgamated with Help the Aged) is in a hugely influential position in terms of providing policy and advice to government and other key bodies and yet can have such a blinkered and unrealistic view of its own customer base is deeply disturbing. What other misguided and fatally flawed initiatives are going to result?