World populations are ageing at an unprecedented rate, yet most companies continue to ignore the need to adapt to this shift.
The authors demolish the myths underpinning ‘the cult of youth’ in companies and question why marketers look at behaviour, rather than the physio logical effects of ageing – a far more stable basis for segmentation. They describe these physical and mental effects in detail, summarising the science and showing how they affect every touchpoint with which older consumers come in contact, from product design and packaging through to the retail experience and every type of communication.
What is wanted, Stroud and Walker argue, is not to make different products for older people, but to make sure the existing offerings are ‘age-friendly’. What the old can cope with easily will not alienate the young, but the converse is not true. To achieve ‘age-friendliness’, auditing metrics are needed to show where companies are now and evaluate their improvement – and existing metrics are inadequate. The authors describe their own method, the AF Audit, which can score hundreds of touchpoints with an iPad and cloud-based analytic technology.
Age-friendly strategies often involve culture change and require backing across the board. Very often, no significant costs are involved, yet the future benefits may be immense. These principles extend to the need for employers and government departments to become more ‘age-friendly’.
The book is written in simple language, with an impressive selection of statistics, fully referenced, and each chapter concludes with a summary section of its main arguments. Everyone in business, not merely marketers, would benefit from its wisdom.
Marketing to the ageing consumer: the secrets to building an age-friendly business by Dick Stroud and Kim Walker is published by Palgrave Macmillan.
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