Don’t Hate Old People

The Facts
We are undergoing the largest demographic change in human history and it is being completely ignored by the absurd large marketing and advertising agencies and brands.

Marketers obsessed with millennials and “Gen Z” are paying no attention at all to the startling demographic changes that are happening in society today. It is projected by the Census Bureau that by 2035, people over 65 years old will outnumber children. Most marketers think that old people use walkers and wheelchairs to get around with a nurse standing nearby. Things have changed. Bruce Springsteen is over 65. Samuel L. Jackson is over 65. Sting is over 65. Jane Seymour is over 65. See where I’m going with this?

Spiker Insights
It’s not just the depiction of mature people that’s so ludicrous, it’s the way marketers ignore them. People over 50 are responsible for over 50% of consumer spending in the U.S. If Americans over 50 were their own country, they’d be the third largest economy in the world. Bigger than German or Japan. But they are the preferred target of less than 10% of all marketing. It’s time to forget the volatility of youth, and bank on the stability of age.