2020: Successful Trends for Marketing to the Over 50s

Innovation and old-fashioned hard work will succeed

2020: Success Trends for Marketing to the Over 50s2

Main trends:• BetterSegmentationoftheOver50s

demographicandthebirthoftheso-called‘NewGenRetiree”.

• Agencieswillcomeunderpressuretocomeuptospeedwithmarketingtotheolderdemographic.

• Investmentinbrandingcampaignswillincreaseforthisdemographicastheytendtobasebuyinghabitsmoreontrustthanpricesensitivity.

• Print,digitalandvideoallmadeadvanceslastyear.2020willseeinnovationinmakingthesethreemediatypesworktogethermoreseamlessly.

• Podcastandwebsites,mayormaynotbeimportantformarketingtothisdemographic,dependingupontherelevanceandqualityofcontenthatmarketersdevelop.

• Storytellingwillremainasthepreferredwayforwardforcopywriters,buttheirskillswillhavetoimprovesignificantlytomeettheexpectationsoftheOver50s,ActiveRetireesandSeniors,allofwhomgrewupwithstoriesthatcarrieddepth,emotionandthoughtfulmoments.

LastyearwepredictedthattheOver50smarketwouldfinallygainrecognitioninthemindsofmarketingprofessionalsandagencies-anditcertainlyhas.Lookingatthelandscapetoday,itwouldbeaprettyuninformedmarketerwhostillthinksthattheOver50smarketisnotimportant.Sowherewillthispositivedevelopmentprogresstoin2020?

Building on the achievements so far ...

2020: Success Trends for Marketing to the Over 50s 3

Better segmentation – Birth of the “New Gen Retiree”

Aswestarttheyear,wecanalreadyseethatmarketershavemovedbeyondjustrealisingthattheOver50smarketisimportanttoactuallyfocusingtime,resourcesandcampaignstothissector.

Oneofthemostimportantsignsofthisisthatsignificantresearchisbeingdoneintermsofsegmentation.Theso-called‘babyboomer’

terminologyisbecomingredundantinmarketingbecauseitisnotgranularenough.Thisagegroupisnothomogenous–whatthe57-year-oldwantsisverydifferentfromsomebodyjustthreeyearsolderasa60-year-oldandworldsapartfroma75-year-old’srequirements.Itisnotjustagethatisimportant.Lifestyles,genderexpectationsandsocio

economicvariablesarejustassignificantforsegmentingoldermarketsastheyareforyoungerones.

Theterms,“ActiveRetiree”and“NewGenRetiree”areemergingtodescribethepopulationbetween65to75whodonotthink,act,liveorspendliketheircounterpartsofpastgenerations.

Agencies in a hard place – but there is opportunity in 2020

Thehardworkonsegmentationresearchandchangingmindsetsaboutageing,camemostlyfromtheaffectedcompaniesthemselvesandnotfromtheagencieswhoservethem.Tothatextent,itwasamissedopportunitybyagencieswhoarealreadysufferingfromthelessthanhappyresultsofpastcampaignsinthissectorandthecontinuingdisintermediationintheadvertisingindustry.

Thereisanopportunityin2020,however,foragencies

togetbackintothedrivingseattosomeextent,bydemonstratingincreasedspecialisationandbyhelpingclientstodevelopstrategiesthatdirectlytargetparticularsegmentsoftheolderdemographic.

Fromagenciestherefore,in2020wecanexpectsomeseriousinvestmentineducationandtrainingfortheirteamstobetterunderstandtheOver50s,ActiveRetireesandSeniors,sothattheagencycandelivermoregranularand

sophisticatedmarketingstrategies.Awordofcautionthough–2020isprobablythelastandfinalopportunityforagenciestoprovetheirunderstandingandskillsetstoservetheirclientswhoarealreadyfullyinvestedinservingtheolderdemographicfarbetterthaninthepast.Clientsareincreasinglybecomingimpatientwithagenciesthatarenotdeliveringbetterresultsthanthosethatcanbeachievedin-house.

2020: Success Trends for Marketing to the Over 50s4

Branding Revival

TheOver50s,ActiveRetireeandSeniorssegmentsdoappeartohaveanimportantattributeincommon-theyareslowertochangebrandsthanyoungerconsumers.However,thereasoningforthisisoftenmisunderstoodbymarketerswhobelievethatolderconsumersarenaturallymore“BrandLoyal”.Unfortunately,thisisabitofself-delusion.Itismorelikelythatolderconsumersarelesspricesensitiveandthereforedonotswitchandchangeinaworlddominated

bypricecompetitioninconsumergoods.Inotherwords,olderconsumersarenotgoingtochangealifetimehabitforameasly5%or10%discount,butifacompanyoffersagenuinelydifferentbrandpropositionintermsofreputation,trustandalignmentofvalues,thenbrandswitchingwillhappen.

Sowhatdoesthismeanfor2020?Therewillbeaback-to-basicstrendintermsofunderstandingthevariousolderconsumersegmentsand

creatingvaluepropositionsthattrulyalignwiththeexpectationsandvaluesofthoseconsumersegments.

In2020,wewillseesignificantinvestmentinbrandingandperhapsevenproductdevelopment,inordertodemonstrateacompany’salignmentwitholderconsumers.Campaignswhollyfocusedontryingtogenerateimmediatesalesandotherurgentcallstoaction,arelikelytodeclineforthisagegroup.

Print, Video and Digital will work better together to build trust

Innovativecross-mediamessagingandpartnershipswilldominatemarketingcampaignsaimedattheolderdemographicin2020.Inparticular,youcanexpecttoseemoreprintandvideointegration.Thisisbecauseitisnowwellestablishedthattheoldergenerationfromaround60onwards,findsprinttobethemostcredibleandtrustedmedium.Theyalsolikethetouchandfeel

ofprintandthefactthatyoudonotneedadevice,apassword,awi-ficonnectionorabatterylifetoaccessinformation.

Videoswillgetanadditionalboostbecausetheylendthemselvessoeasilytothetrendtowards‘storytelling,’aspartofmarketingstrategiestoday.

2020: Success Trends for Marketing to the Over 50s 5

Back to school on storytelling

Whateverthemediumofcommunicationoradvertisingthatisused,itisnowbroadlyacceptedthatconsumerspreferstoriestoslickcopyorsmarttaglines.Thisisespeciallytrueoftheolderdemographicofconsumers.Ifthesmarttaglineiswithinthestorythat’sfine,butstandalone‘clever’copyisgenerallydislikedandcouldscuttleanotherwisewell-

plannedmarketingcampaign.Unfortunately,althoughtheimportanceofstorytellingiswellacceptedinprinciple,theimplementationhasbeenleftto“copywriters”whoareschooledinproducing“copy”and“content”,whilsttheconsumerislookingforthetraditionalstorythatbringsempathy,emotion,hopeandtheoccasionalsurpriseinarealisticsetting.That’sabig

ask.Whilewecanexpectimprovementsinstorytellingskillsandqualityin2020,itisnotgoingtobeovernightandmanycontentproducerswillstrugglewithit.Consequently,2020couldevenseeasmallresurgenceindemandfortraditionalwritersandauthorsofscriptsandprosewhoarenotsodrivenbyseo-friendlycontentandkeywords.

What about podcasts?

Weareundecidedaboutthisandonlytimewilltell.Eventhoughpodcastsseemedtobeemergingastheflavourofthemonthtowardstheendoflastyear,themainsupportwascomingfromyoungerlisteners.Thismaybebecauserecentpodcastcontenthasbeendominatedbytopicsaboutself-improvement,businesschallengesorcareerskills.Podcastsmay

makemoreofanimpactwiththe60+consumersiftherearemoretopicsaroundtraveladventures,healthandwellbeingorsimpleentertainment.Fornow,itisveryhardtobeatthevisualandaudiodualityofvideosforthe60+crowdandthisiswhereweexpecttherewillbemoreinnovationandactionin2020.

2020: Success Trends for Marketing to the Over 50s6

Websites and EDMs? Well …it depends…

SowherewilltraditionaldigitalsuchaswebsitesandEDM’scomein?Likeotheragegroups,alargeproportionofolderconsumersarequitehappytogoon-linetogetreallydetailedandcompetitivepricinginformationaboutaproducttheyareconsideringbuying.Theeaseofdigitaltransactionsisalsogettingmoretractionwiththeolderdemographicparticularlyinthe50to70-year-oldsegment.

However,anothermajorsecuritybreachin2020couldeasilyescalatethedistrustindigitalshoppingandpaymentsystems.AccordingtoDeloitte’s8thAnnualMediaConsumerSurvey78%ofAustralianssurveyeddidnotthinkthatcompaniesadequatelyprotecttheirpersonaldata.That’saveryshallowbucketoftrustandifdigitalmarketingatapersonalisedlevelistomakerealstepsforward,this

challengewillhavetobeaddressedfirstandsotheTravelexsecuritybreachattheendoflastDecemberdoesnotbodewell.Perhapsby2021wemightseesomerealheadwayinthisdirection.

Attribution will have to make more sense in 2020!

Thelastdecadewasdominatedbythemantraof,“Don’tinvestincampaignsunlessyoucanmeasureresultstothenthdegree.”However,2019sawsomehardquestionsbeingaskedaboutthequalityofdigitalattributionmethodsandthedesirabilityofbasingmarketinginvestmentdecisionspurelyonmeasurabilityratherthansalesresults.

Oneattributionmethodwhichhasnotstoodthetestoflogicandisunlikelytosurvive2020,istheso-called“LastTouchAttribution”protocolofattributingaleadoraninquirytothemostrecentsourceofaconsumerclick.Thisjustdoesnotmakesense,especiallywiththeolderdemographicwhoweknowfirstliketolearnandreadaboutproductsandservicesinprintintheirowntime,butmaythengoon-linetodofurtherresearch,

getanaddress,makeanappointment,requestacallorbuy.2020willbringmorescrutinyonmarketingdecisionsthatarebasedonactivitymeasurementsratherthanresultbasedevidence.Thiscouldwellbepartofthelearningandeducationthatagencieshavetoinvestinfortheirteamswhohavebeenbroughtupwiththeflawed,butstillcommonwisdom,ofmeasuringclicksratherthansales.

2020: Marketing Finally Catching Up

Contact us:

1800531888info@australianoverfifties.com.auwww.australianoverfifties.com.au

Specialists in Communications with the Over 50s, Active Retirees and Seniors

Overall,2020willbuildonthetrendsof2019inaverypositivewayintermsofmarketingtotheover50s.Thedaysofpoorlyslappedtogethercampaignsbasedonstereotypesareover.In2020,marketingwilldevelopinnuance,sophisticationandsuccesswiththeOver50s,ActiveRetireesandSeniors.Butnoneofthiswillcomeeasily.Thechallengeswillbeincontinuingeducation;integratingvideo,digitalandprintchannels;reviving

storytellingskillsintheindustryandreinventingbrandstodemonstraterealconnectionsandunderstandingoftheOver50s,ActiveRetireesandSeniors.

It’sgoingtobeayearofhardwork,dedicationandinnovationforthosewhowantsuccessinmarketingtotheolderdemographic.

Navin PasrichaChief Editor

Australian Over 50s Living & Lifestyle Guide