The marketing approach for senior products requires subtlety and caution because they are experienced and demanding senior consumers. Nowadays, the trend is towards “generational marketing”, which consists of putting oneself “in the skin” and “in the mind” of the consumers to whom one is addressing.
“Generational marketing”, an approach that is not always easy:
Generating support from seniors for a brand is not always easy, all the more so when we know that, on the marketing side (advertisers and advertising agencies), managers are, on average, rather young (between 28 and 35 years old). So what do the younger generations know of the older ones?
Can they project themselves into the daily lives of consumers two or three times older than them? It is so much easier to communicate to one’s generation, whose reactions and expectations can be better anticipated and understood.
How to generate support from seniors if we do not show them that we have understood them well and that we have a fair view of their desires, their doubts, their values, or their dreams? To make seniors adhere to its brand, it is necessary above all to be in empathy, credibility, and sincerity.
Take into account the evolution of the senses:
It is first of all necessary to take into account the evolution of the three main senses with age.
View:
The older people get, the more the problems tend to intensify (difficulty perceiving certain colours, acclimating to sudden changes, loss of close vision, etc.).
To overcome this, it is necessary to contrast the visual elements of advertising intended for the elderly; on advertising films, remember to contrast the foregrounds and the backgrounds; on the packaging, avoid shiny and reflective surfaces.
Favour long formats while banishing abrupt changes, like 15 shots in 5 seconds. The key to success: readability (higher typography, easy to decipher, etc.).
The hearing:
To compensate for hearing problems, which occur regularly with advancing age, consider creating longer spots, choosing voices whose timbre compensates for the loss of high frequencies, texts that are sparse, simple shots. Sounds should be well separated from each other to avoid confusion between voices, music, and sound effects.
Touch:
Osteoarthritis is particularly severe with age, resulting in significant difficulty for older people to use their fingers. Products and services must therefore be “senior-friendly” (readability, easy opening, etc.) and above all think of the user, what is called “Design Thinking”.
And why not a star?
Using a personality known to seniors can “boost” the reputation of your brand with the target. Indeed, each generation generates its own heroes and emblematic personalities.
One of the recipes for success in senior products is therefore to use well-known characters of the generation in advertising. The other trick is to choose “generational” music or an identifiable voice for your TV or radio spot: this stimulates the attention of seniors in a positive way and affects their emotions.
Beware of misconceptions:
Today’s seniors are connected, sometimes more than you think. Innovation is not the prerogative of youth and marketing managers often think (wrongly) that older people are resistant to novelty. This received idea is based on an indisputable truth: seniors are loyal to a product that satisfies them. Despite this, they appreciate innovation, if it makes sense and brings them some added value.
Advertising adapted to senior consumers on the Internet:
With the rise of the Internet and the growing interest of “Silver Surfers” for the web, brands must offer more relevant advertising( pay per call marketing ), trying to collect as much information as possible on the behaviour of senior customers. and on their interactions according to the topics covered on the sites: this is called “behavioural targeting”.
Indeed, if you are looking for protection for adults, there is little chance that a mobile phone will interest you. If the advertisements are not relevant, the clicks are missed, advertisers, therefore, rely more and more on targeting, which makes it possible to address a core target directly.
Targeted advertisements help reduce the risk of dispersion and increase the chances of a successful senior products advertising campaign. Many players have understood this well and specialize in web-marketing for seniors, like Digital Baby Boomer, focused on the over 50s, which brings the range of digital solutions to boost a brand in this segment.
WHAT SENIORS ARE REALLY LOOKING FOR ON THE INTERNET:
If seniors are connected, the use of the Internet remains consultative for them. 75% of respondents carry out research (also via social networks) related to food but are generally passive in terms of content posts.
They are also 40% of the whole to be inspired by recipes (48% of women) and the majority to lend themselves to it in Europe. In Japan, on the other hand, the trend is to consume away from home or to buy via online platforms (32% look for restaurants, 28% do their shopping online), which makes it possible to strongly develop e-commerce in the country.
French are the most rigorous of those questioned when it comes to the question of the composition of the products (28% against 24% in Germany and 18% in Japan). Nevertheless, the Germans are cooking-lovers, attached to the origins of the products and a quarter of them are still informed on this subject.
Succeed in a senior products advertisement:
Based on this observation, we can formulate several recommendations for brands and advertising professionals. First of all, they must not forget that seniors are people who are very exposed to advertising.
This, via the mechanism of advertising persuasion, exerts an influence on them both on the marketing level and on the psychological level in the context of ageing.
A better understanding of seniors’ perceptions of advertisements and what can improve them would allow advertising to not only meet its business objectives (because the negative perception of an advertisement will run counter to the objectives of the brand).
But also to play a positive societal role by helping to combat the prejudices associated with the elderly and by meeting some of their psychological needs in the context of ageing. To do this, we recommend first of all to use older models more often in advertisements, in order to respond to the claim of seniors to occupy their rightful place in society.
Then, we must diversify the roles given to them to more fully reflect all the roles they play in society and which are not limited to that of grandparents. They are also volunteers in associations, experts in different fields, support for their very elderly parents.