Talkback: Over-40s may be older but they sure ain't dead

Maybe Logan's Run had it right: we do have a personal use-by-date and it should simply be bought forward to spare those without bags under their eyes the distasteful experience of being exposed to the over-40s without the aid of a soft-focus lens (look up Michael Anderson's 1976 movie on the interweb, kids).

The magic age in advertising is 20-24. Marketers want this audience to front their brands as they reflect youthful energy, freedom, the peak of physical beauty and are aspirational for the rest of us. They also argue that "get them when they are young and you'll have them for life". Hardly.

They are a brand-promiscuous audience, are hard to reach, have limited disposable income and mounting debt.

They also only represent 7 per cent of the population.

We have become a society obsessed with youth. Plastic surgeons, Botox clinics, spas and gyms are groaning with the over-40s desperately trying to turn back the clock.

Yet mentally, most over 40s feel 10 years younger than their age, even if the carcass is saying something else.

A friend recently told me of a story of a quite beautiful friend of hers who, while she was in her 20s and even into her early 40s, was regarded with an element of disdain by her friends, as she always received special attention from the service industry.

She's now in her early 50s and has just started to notice that when she is in a fashion store or restaurant bar, she has become invisible. She is aghast that at the one time in her life that she has a healthy disposable income she is relegated to the marketing black hole.

The television industry, in particular, continues to be disproportionately represented by youth-oriented shows, despite the reality that their youth audience is dwindling by the ad break.

I like the idea from columnist Dale McFeatters who is tired of being pushed around by the taste of kids. He suggests that older audiences strike back by watching teen-oriented shows in droves - thus pushing their demographics up and causing them to be cancelled. Just leave that People Meter locked, gramps. With the average age of brand managers and mid-senior ad executives and creatives in their early 30s, they gravitate to what they know - and are expected to show.

They reflect the tastes of themselves and their friends, and place ads in media they utilise.

But does the constant focus on the youth market make good business sense?

In a recent survey, AC Nielsen projected that about 50 per cent of all New Zealand's disposable income lies in the hands of the over-50s.

They are more likely to be debt free, focus on quality and are responsible for a third of all brand growth.

Yet to many marketers and advertisers, they don't exist. As one 45-year-old said: "We still buy toothpaste - but in toothpaste land, all the users are 24, with strained smiles."

But some advertisers are listening. Dove has led the way by featuring "real" women in their ads - shock horror - in their 40s, and are receiving market share and brand preference gains from it.

They found that models weigh an average of 23 per cent less than the "average woman", so decided to celebrate the average woman - rather than continue down the beauty industry's normal aspirational but unachievable route.

Estee Lauder has taken note - cleverly using Karen Graham, one of its star models of the 70s, in its ads to promote its cream, Resilience Lift.

And Chrysler has brought back its octogenarian former chairman, Lee Iacocca, to front its ads. Boomers buy half of all new cars; they remember and trust him.

So, before you start casting for that next ad campaign, maybe it's time to consider integrating some of the 85 per cent of your consumers that are not aged between 20 and 24.

It will pay off.

* Simon Healy is a director of Spawn Advertising and 50+ Advertising.

* Talk Back explores the issues that matter to the media, and the world of advertising, marketing, public relations and communications. Contact marketing writer Karen Chan with ideas or contributions.