This month, the world celebrates ‘Grandparents Day’ - a day which is traditionally supposed to remove generation gaps via communication. This ‘grandparent’ generation however, is often left out when it comes to marketing and advertising campaigns – selling to ‘oldies’ has not traditionally been an exciting or profitable proposition for most big corporates - but they could be missing out.

In Europe, consumers aged 55 and over will grow by 60 percent in the next 15 years, whereas the under 50 age group will remain stable. Improved health and hygiene mean that retirees can expect to live a much longer and fuller life than ever before once they stop working. This is a market that has a reasonable amount of money, an active lifestyle, is out all the time and typically takes two to four holidays a year. A perfect target consumer group.

From a business perspective how do you effectively market to the older generation? These guys are experienced consumers and have been bombarded with marketing messages since the ‘wooden’ TV advertisements of the 1950s! They are wiser, prudent and less influenced by fashion or trends.

The advent of the internet has also seen a dramatic increase in the so called ‘rise of the silver surfers’ – people aged 50+ who have adopted new technologies such as the internet and mobile phones. Seniors can be choosy customers as they have more time on their hands to research products and services. Give them as much information as possible in your marketing materials and on your website but avoid flowery language. It’s important to keep the message direct when targeting the over 50s. They are looking for brands they can trust, top quality products and simple customer service.

Once you have them on board the grey generation are typically loyal and generous customers! Go get your business ready for the baby boomers…
 

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