Older learners – a new source of revenue for UK universities?

If it is to be believed that where the US goes, the UK will follow, academic governors ought to be paying heed to a recent article published in the US.

It suggests that many retirees are settling in towns that boast major universities. One survey of people 55 to 75 years of age found that more than half had a favourable view of retiring to a university town, and that in response a large number of campus communities have put out the welcome mat.

Retirees are attracted by the chance to take courses, find volunteer work at the universities, and enjoy the cultural activities that are part of the academic scene.

In the UK increasing numbers of older people are participating in the Open University and the University of the Third Age as well as enrolling in degree courses at mainstream universities. The question of the extent to which specific “third age” programmes should be designed for older people is open to debate but certainly a more positive drive to openly recruit more mature+ students could be a profitable move.

To see the full story:

http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/middletown-news/senior-citizens-attracted-to-campus-settings-1259893.html

What older women look like

Worth taking a look at Bel Mooney’s piece in today’s Daily Mail defending Carole Middleton’s (soon to be mother-in-law of future King) choice of clothes. Carole is 56 and apparently has been criticised for dressing “inappropriately” for her age.

How long will it take journalists to accept that today this is what women in their fifties, sixties and seventies look like? If you’ve always been interested in fashion and looking good, why would you stop and put yourself into purdah when you reach a certain age?

As the article quite rightly points out, the younger Middletons got their sense of style from their mother – and no doubt will continue to be guided (if only in their own minds) by that inherited sense of what looks appropriate and good – whatever their age.

Let’s hope that Carole, in her newly prominent position, turns out to be another much-needed standard bearer for older women.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1374699/Hooray-Carole-Middleton-frump-free-style.html

“It’s great to be here, it’s great to be anywhere”

As I trawl through my inbox each day, it never ceases to amaze me what public relations firms and advertisers send me and how convoluted and tenuous are their arguments that the material to hand is just right for our over 50 audience. In fact, the range of items and activities is getting wider almost daily.

Which got me to thinking – maybe these items are, indeed, very suitable and the increase in variety is just a reflection of the societal changes taking place and how older people are viewing  themselves and are being viewed by others. And, on the whole, much is very positive.

Take this one for instance “Festival essentials – a packing checklist”.

Now, no one can deny that the over 50s have been going to festivals for decades and that there is still much fun to be had whether keeping fresh and up to date or whether wheeling out some of the greats from the past. But, in youth, optimism and taking things as they come were the order of the day – not meticulous preparation.

But therein lies the message. The over 50s have “been there, done that” and the wisdom that comes with experience means that we can have the good bits without the pitfalls and errors.

If only more of society could see that!

Why do adverts irritate me so much?

Ever wondered why so much advertising is aimed at the young? And that what advertising there is which might be construed as directed towards a wider or an older market contains outdated, outmoded and very patronising stereotypes of older consumers and older people in general?

Well, one clue might come from looking at the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) 2010 Census of those working in media, advertising and marketing communications agencies. Leaving aside disturbing issues of race and gender, and looking just at age, we see that of the 18843 employees included in the census; just 5.3% were aged over 50 and 13.5% were 41-49, while 35.7% were 31-40 and a whopping 45.5% were aged 30 or below.

Granted, for all kinds of areas of activity, you don’t have to fall into a particular category to have some kind of empathy with the particular condition – but it does make you wonder. In such a self-reinforcing and self-congratulatory environment which areas and approaches do you think are going to be seen as the most attractive and most “sexy”, and also where can we get a few cheap laughs without stretching our brains too much?

The best generals, of course, recognise their own limitations and bring in relevant expertise when necessary. Let’s hope these young lions are doing this when it comes to really understanding a massive, growing and very important part of the economy.

How to alienate your customers – young or old

One of Age UK’s ongoing activities is to pursue the cause of the older consumer through its Age OK product accreditation mark (see www.engagenetwork.co.uk ). Quoting from the site:

“The Age OK accreditation mark will be awarded to specific products and services that an expert panel has judged to be sufficiently ‘age-friendly’. In order to win the accreditation, the product or service will go through a rigorous selection process that seeks to ensure that it has been designed inclusively, factoring in the needs that might pertain to an older person.”

I think that this is an excellent idea and I hope that many more organisations put themselves forward for this accreditation.

In the meantime though, in a much less formal and less rigorous fashion, I think it would be very worthwhile if the world were alerted to some aspects of product or service provision that seemed to be particularly age friendly or, indeed, age unfriendly.

To start with, mainly because it is the season of goodwill to everyone and this is something I have written to the company about in the past, we will focus on an age unfriendly feature. To be honest, this is not something that is restricted to older consumers but now being an older consumer myself I feel particularly victimised, especially as I did not suffer from this in my earlier years.

So the first recipient of my Negative Age Friendly Features (NAFF) award is Sainsbury.

I have been shopping at Sainsbury since I was about seven years old when I was sent by my mum to queue up at different counters to purchase things like ham, butter and cheese all separately. Believe me, loyalty is not an issue.

And, presumably Sainsbury wished to reward my loyalty a few weeks ago by sending me vouchers to reduce my groceries bill. To receive my reward of £7 off my bill each week I had to spend a minimum of £70 each week. This is great for families and used to be for me some years back but, with the best will in the world, as a person living on their own you really have to go some to spend that kind of money each and every week. I now have enough pickled onions and chutney not just for this Christmas but for next Christmas as well.  Please think a bit harder Mr. Sainsbury about your customers and what messages you are sending them.

Older consumers, older workers – it’s time the imagery changed

Last week saw the formal release of an excellent new research report “The Golden Economy – The Consumer Marketplace in an Ageing Society”. David Sinclair of ILC-UK undertook the research and the report was published by Age UK.

I went to the previous week’s ILC-UK seminar where David presented the headline findings but it was not until I had read the report in full that I saw just how much thought provoking material there is in there. Almost every section contains issues that could be dissected and debated on for some considerable time. In future blogs I hope to comment upon some of these.

As is made clear in the report there is much to be done to educate and raise awareness in the world at large, particularly the commercial world, about the needs, wants and preferences of the older sections of our society.

This blog just takes one particular aspect of the topic and flags a couple of quite serious implications.

No one, whether dealing with older consumers, older workers or older anything is quite clear where “older” starts and, indeed, the report has to rely on data from different interpretations of the start of older. However, in much everyday parlance it seems to start at about 50 years of age – hence the notion of the “over 50s”. But 50 until we “pop our clogs” is beginning to be a very long time, potentially as much as 50 years, or half our lives.

Nobody would ever dream of putting the first fifty years into one amorphous lump, so why should it be done for the second fifty? As the report identifies, there are myriad requirements associated with declining physical and mental health and isolation which markets do not yet address. But also identified is the failure to consider the requirements of the younger part of the older population which is looking much more for products and services that reflect a more active, dynamic and stylish way of  life.

Until this is changed the young marketing executives will not only miss out on all kinds of profit opportunities but stereotypes of older, confused, infirm individuals will be reinforced and perpetuated in the media and elsewhere. Not every older person eats their cheese sandwiches on a day out in a seaside fairground and wish they had gone to a different optician.

And here is the real danger. Intentional or not, that same imagery will pervade the employment arena and provide a totally distorted picture of the attributes, the energy and the value of the older worker.

 

(For more and to download the report click below:

http://www.ilcuk.org.uk/record.jsp?type=publication&ID=80 )

The mutton and lamb debate

Last week Debenhams announced that it was to “break a fashion industry taboo and became the first retailer to launch a campaign featuring models in their 40s, 50s and 60s to target ‘forgotten women’.”
 
A laudable aim, although a questionable claim as Woman and Home, M&S and Saga Magazine in particular regularly feature older models.  However, their underlying point is a valid one: high fashion and high street imagery is dominated by models under 25 with the result that older women are neglected in terms of fashion advice and styling tips – and clothes that we might actually want to buy.
 
The campaign, which the retailer is calling ‘The Style List’, sees Debenhams joining forces with fashion commentator and diversity campaigner Caryn Franklin. The Style List will give ongoing solutions, advice and guidance on how women 40+ can achieve any desired look, whether it be evening, day or weekend wear. This will be delivered in stores, online and through photography used by Debenhams.
 
There are three looks highlighted in the launch campaign; Power Dress, All Woman and Casual Cool.  The photographs of each do not, however, fill one with confidence.  The “oldest” person (presumably the one representing the 60s age group) is differentiated by her silver hair. The clothes the models have been given would be difficult to wear at any age unless one is exceptionally thin and has fantastic legs.

The campaign seems to miss the point that there is a gap in the market for wearable, aspirational clothes for real women, aged 50+, living real lives.  Not plus sizes, not glamour, not overly youthful trends, but clothes that hide your ageing bits and make the rest of you look as good as possible 24/7.  Helen Mirren, a great fashion icon for the over 50s, bemoans in this month’s Woman and Home magazine that there is a lack of dresses with sleeves for older women, commenting, quite rightly, that “As you get older, there’s more you want to cover up”.

Still, it’s good news that at least there is an increasingly acknowledgement (no doubt driven by the value of this largely untapped market) that older women don’t want elastic waisted pants, fussy prints, ugly shoes and pastel cardis. We’ve just yet to see a truly inspiring representation of what we might actually want.

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…