That behemoth of consulting, McKinsey & Co. recently issued a guide to healthy aging and happy living based around a few surveys, including a brand new one, based on 21,000 older adults, in 21 countries.
Within the more obvious headline pronouncements and findings like ‘age is just a number’ and that older people are not the tech laggards of popular youth culture myth, it seems having purpose, enjoying meaningful connections with others, preserving independence and managing stress are importance to the over 55’s of the world, wherever they are. This survey, when dug into, is full of very interesting pieces of comparative data. No doubt. And as part of their overall guide on aging, McKinsey also included another study from 2022, identifying the 6 shifts needed for healthy aging. Itself supporting a simple but key McKinsey’s contention in all this being that society should focus on capacity, not age.
Here, here.
Here at Humbug, living the dream of representing and advocating the millions of interesting, affable and affluent folk of an entire generation, age is just a number attached to many other large, lucrative numbers that should make any self-respecting marketer weep at the temple of missed opportunity and the follies of youthful obsession.
Millions of people holding billions of pounds all waiting for someone with some insight and imagination to talk and behave toward them in a way they’ve grown up accustomed too. Comfortably off baby boomers are experienced in life, with high standards, imaginative outlook and a clear expectation of bespoked wherever possible. They want companies to make an effort and be crystal clear on their pitch. They grew up with the best advertising that 3 decades could muster.
We know all this. Because whilst we believe that surveys undoubtedly get you close, personal experience of life gets you much, much closer when you’re aiming to connect and communicate with this baby boomer generation.
Unashamedly, lived experience for yourself gives you an insider perspective and insight, whilst shared experience equips you with a deeper empathy that’s hard to replicate if you’re half the age of the people you’re hoping to appeal too. So often those in youthful hot seats of marketing and comms agency power either ignore the older generation altogether, dismissing them as insignificant and past caring about, or try out tired stereotypes in place of real insight and empathy. They are not them.
McKinsey’s periodic over 55's surveys are a boon for getting more understanding into boomers, but it's only when paired with the minds of those sharing lived experiences and passionate about the people they represent, that things really start to get interesting and a whole generation stand a chance to receive the marketing and communications they so richly, literally, deserve.
That’s where we come in. And we don’t need a survey to tell us that.
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