from Mediapost:
1. Increased individualism
Older customers are less subject to peer influence than younger customers are. Keeping up with the Joneses is not as important as it once was; thus advertising that invokes social status benefits does not play as well in older markets as in younger ones. Largely freed from worrying about reactions of others, older customers tend toward greater practicality in buying decisions than younger customers.
2. Increased demand for facts
Adult customers tend to be less responsive to sweeping claims in marketing messages as they age. Hyperbole turns them off. If older customers are interested in considering a purchase, they want unadorned facts, and more of them, than they usually wanted earlier in life. Years of buying equip older people with knowledge of what to look for in intelligent purchases.
3. Increased response to emotional stimuli
Older customers tend to be quicker than younger customers to emotionally reflect lack of interest in or negative reaction to an offered product. On the other hand, a positive first impression can become embedded especially deep in the emotions of the older person -- so much so that the older customer is often more disposed to be a faithful customer than the younger customer is.
4. Less self-oriented, more altruistic
Older customers tend to show increased response to marketing appeals reflecting altruistic values. This tracks with common middle-age shift toward stronger spiritual values in which concern for others increases. As altruistic motivations become stronger, narcissistic and materialistic values wane in influence.
5. Increased time spent in making purchase decisions
As most people grow older, they experience changes in their perceptions of time, but also in its meaning and role in their lives. For example, older people often ignore time-urgency strategies in marketing -- such as "Offer good until ---," "Only three left in stock---etc..." Generally, "time is not of the essence" is a common attitude among older people, especially those who have retired.
6. See fewer differences between competing products
Because older people tend to be more highly individuated, and less influenced by external influences, perceptions of products are more internally shaped. They typically conclude that there is little difference between products than marketers claim. This contrasts with the tendency of younger customers to assert robustly the differences between a product they prefer and its competitors -- even when clear differences do not exist.
7. See more differences between competing companies
Older customers tend to be more responsive to "companies with a conscience" than younger customers are. From a self-interest perspective, they are also more attentive to warranty issues and a company's reputation for honoring its warranties than younger customers.
8. With respect to making discretionary-purchase decisions, older customers tend to:
Have a decreased sensitivity to price;
Increased sensitivity to affordability; and
Sharply increased sensitivity to value.Older customers have more complex ways of determining value than younger customers. Value determination by older customers tends to be an existentialist exercise whereby soul (spiritual) values as well as mind (intellect) and body (tangible) values are combined into the value determination process.
9. Increased price-sensitivity in nondiscretionary spending
As they age, many customers develop higher economic "literacy" and skillfully apply it to get the best price. In purchasing "need" items, older customers tend to be more bargain-minded, whereas in purchasing "desire" items, they tend to be more value-minded in a holistic sense.
10. Often project what seems to be contradictory behavior
Older people are sometimes characterized as selfish and selfless, penurious and profligate, spontaneous and deliberate, and so on. These conflicting attributes lead some to characterize older people as contradictory. For example, an older shopper may be penurious in using cents-off coupons in a grocery store, after which she drives off in a Mercedes. This is not evidence of contradictory behavior, but an example of the rules of thriftiness applied to basics, and the rules of whole value applied to discretionary expenditures.
Conclusion:
The differences in customer motivations and decision processes between customers in the first and second half of life sometimes frustrate many marketers who have yet to figure out how to market to older customers. Until recently, this was not a matter of serious concern because the young dominated the marketplace. The young are easier to sell to and analyze. Now, with adults over the age of 40 in the majority, marketers are being compelled to figure out the values and behavior of older customers.
 | Jim Gilmartin is president of Chicago-based Coming of Age, Inc. (www.comingofage.com), a marketing/ad agency, PR and training firm specializing in helping clients increase market share and profit in baby boomer and senior customer markets. He has co-authored "Market Smart: The Best in Age & Lifestyle Specific Design." Reach him here. |
by Karlene Lukovitz 
by Tanya Irwin 
by Karl Greenberg 
by Tanya Irwin 
by Karl Greenberg 
Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo created a TV and 
Also keeping in shape is Mr. Peanut, who's participating in a "Tree-athlon," a swimming, biking and running event he wins every year. His secret? Great shoes and eating Planters NUTrition for fuel. "Your shell is your temple," says Mr. Peanut, while he's hoisting his first-place trophy. 
This campaign is provocative but it can save lives. What's more important? Self chec, a nonprofit organization dedicated to early detection of cancer, launched "Felt by Millions" Dec. 20. This great campaign encourages people to save lives by checking themselves for breast or testicular cancers. Four print ads feature males and females performing self-examinations. Women are shown with their shirts opened, checking for lumps. Men are shown with their hands in their pants, checking for masses. Copy reads, "Love yourself first. Save lives. Start with yourself." See the ads 
Huggies launched "Soirée," an adorable TV ad promoting its Little Movers diapers. Babies will move, and move quickly. Be prepared for a chase. Time stands still in the ad, once a little one has his diaper changed. Spaghetti spills, a fish tank loses water, cake flies and drinks fall, until Dad, exhausted and covered in frosting, catches his active baby. The kid's happy as a clam. 
LEGO launched "The Brick Thief," a short film that inspires creativity. One brick, two bricks, three bricks, four...What can you do with these few on the floor? Promoting LEGO CL!CK, the film begins with a man short on LEGOs. He dips his hand into a group of doors at his fingertips. Each leads to a set of LEGOs to "borrow" from. One door leads to a backyard, where a small dog growls at the invasive hand; another door leads to a turkey cooking in an oven, resulting in a hot hand and no LEGOs. His creations morph into a boombox, causing the man to dance around and high-five the protruding hands looking for their missing bricks. The spot ends with a LEGO version of the brick thief created by a young boy. "It only takes a few bricks to make something CL!CK" closes the video, 
NHL star Alex Ovechkin is the IT man for 
Not surprisingly, Ovechkin has a cameo in a TV ad promoting VERSUS' coverage of the NHL all-star weekend, including the NHL draft and all-star game. In "Heroes," Ovechkin skates past a tractor-trailer on an icy road, Sidney Crosby is outfitted with high-tech hockey gear and Jonathan Toews skates down a skyscraper, putting a new definition on extreme sports. 
Random iPad App pf the week: Dofl Ball is a game for iPad that's similar to air hockey, with players flinging a ball back and forth, trying to get it past their opponent. But what if your friends aren't around, but Rocky the dog is nearby? You're in luck; Dofl Ball has pet mode. Play on, player. Firstborn created the app, available for free in the 
by Karlene Lukovitz 
by Karl Greenberg 
by Tanya Irwin 
by Karl Greenberg 
by Aaron Baar 
by Tanya Irwin 
Posts
