Engaging an Aging Consumer

The problem with advertising targeting the senior market is that most people creating the ads don’t understand the senior consumer.

Why?

The advertising industry is dominated by young ad creators. A 2023 Career and Salary Survey conducted by Marketing Week Magazine of more than 3,000 marketers found that 84.3% are under 46 years old, while less than 1% are 65 years or older.[1]

So, it should come as no surprise that most advertising directed at older consumers is created from the perspective of a younger caregiver, rather than the senior the advertising is intended to target. And it is likely from a caregiver’s perspective that older consumers are considered “needy.” As a result, most ads tend to focus on how a featured product or service aids the seniors’ daily living – that is, how it helps them to live out their lives more comfortably – rather than how it enhances their lives.

The end result is advertising that does not make an emotional connection with the senior the ad is attempting to target. It does not tug at the senior’s heartstrings.

Feeling Good About Themselves

According to Simmons/MRI Research, typical 75-year-old Americans are generally satisfied with life. Most enjoy a decent standard of living and are in pretty good health.

This perspective about life leads older adults to favor positive information over negative information, and this leads them prioritize positive things and deprioritize negative things.[2]

In short, seniors think rather highly of themselves. As a cohort, they consider themselves wiser, freer, and more financially secure than younger demographic groups.[3]

Engaging Aging Consumers

These self-perceptions carry over to how seniors want to see themselves in advertising. They want to be portrayed as:

• Active and energetic
• Intelligent and experienced
• Healthy and fit
• Fun and enjoying life

Because this is how they see themselves![4]

That’s not to say that advertising should ignore aging. Older adults are realists, and they recognize they are aging. They just want ads to show authentic aging – presenting seniors as active and thriving.

As far as where to engage them, traditional media – television, print, direct mail, etc. – are still important. But advertisers can also find seniors via many of the same media vehicles used to target their younger counterparts. A 2021 Mintel study found that 90% of Boomers shopped online. In fact, according to A.C. Nielsen, Boomers spend more time consuming online content than any other cohort.[5] However, Boomer online behavior does not necessarily extend to social media. Outside of Facebook and YouTube, Boomer activity on the other major social media vehicles is pretty modest. If you want to reach seniors via social media, stick with Facebook and YouTube.

A Caretaker’s Perspective

Of course, there are products and services whose primary purposes are to help aging consumers better navigate daily living. And these products and services also require advertising to generate awareness and communicate their value to older adults.

The important point is this: older adults do not want to be defined solely by their age. Tossing seniors as a group into an “old person bucket” is a sure way to alienate them.

To Sum It Up…

Advertisers need to eschew the temptation to address seniors as needy. Don’t talk to them like they are old. Characterize them as they see themselves: healthy, active, and enjoying life. Just because they are older, don’t assume you can’t reach them via new media. They are spending as much time online as younger consumers.

Engaging an aging consumer is not difficult. But it needs to be done with respect.

[1] “2023 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey;” Marketing Week Magazine; March 2023

[2] Science Daily; University of Southern California; August 12, 2019

[3] AGEIST propriety research; 2019

[4] Ibid.

[5] A.C. Nielsen, Q3, 2016