Would you like to play with us?
Pick up a bundle of papers next weekend from your friendly newsagent and stagger home with a bag of croissants and some decent coffee. Flick through the magazines, supplements, inserts and bulging black and white sections and answer the following question…
‘Am I impressed, irritated or ignored by the efforts of our newspaper advertisers?’
At Humbug, we play the Generation Game every week, scanning the weekend papers for advertising that very rarely recognises or appeals to ‘people like us’, the baby boomer generation.
Why we do it? Because we’re worth it.
And, well, 47% of the adult population are over 50.
69% of the UK’s household wealth is held by people over 50. Just north of £500 billion. Yes.
And 50% of newspaper subscriptions in the UK are from people over the age of 55.
Yet as self-interested advocates for millions of Britain's baby boomer generation, we reckon they routinely feel ignored, frequently get irritated and only occasionally deem themselves impressed by the efforts of advertisers on our behalf in the nation’s press.
WARNING and DISCLAIMER
When you start to think about what you’re seeing and not seeing as baby boomers, you may find your blood pressure rising. Of course, you must have a BP issue because you’re over 55…? So, stop drinking the coffee, grab a Calms, forget that business lunch and continue with your feet elevated well above the height of your head.
The first thing we noticed in our reviews of the last few weekends, was the conspicuous absence of advertising aiming to engage the baby boomer generation. Even the IPA acknowledge they like and are reading papers, so why aren’t there more ads targeting and appealing to them? All those eyeballs attached to wallets but very few advertisers taking the time and trouble to relieve them of their cash, it's upsetting in the extreme. No-one likes being ignored. Yet most weekends, there’s a generation invisible to newsprint.
Second observation, beyond being ignored, is the more deeply irritating trend of coming across various advertisers’ efforts that stereotype being over 50.
Is an old radio really what it takes to get boomers to tune in to Jupiter investments?
Will the negative, loss-based language of stair lifts continue to cut it for a new older generation? And thank goodness its a free call, as they only have £500 billion under their belts.
Another irritation is in seeing advertising that has seemingly forgotten the ‘old-fashioned’, we’d rather say 'eternal', principles of good communication; having something to say based on an insight into people, saying interesting things simply, clearly and in an engaging way, leaving room for the ‘reader’, stimulating the imagination and aiming always to entertain. In the process of all that trying to differentiate vaguely similar products or services from everyone else’s.
Here at Humbug we fondly remember and still adhere to the timeless proposition and justification approach.
Why is it for example that advertising for expensive leisure experiences which likely only appeal to a boomer with money and a little extra time, fails to go beyond a commodity presentation rooted in dull itinerary plus price incentive?
Where is a generation’s yearning for freedom and independence in the communication of cruises and trains?
And can anyone provide the rationale for this hilarious Swiss assertion?
Answers on a postcard please.
We are occasionally impressed by a few adverts and advertisers, who are consciously and creatively appeal to baby boomers and their sensibilities without being patronising.
Tui targets ‘young hearts’ with spontaneity and freedom.
Waitrose, who know that their bread is buttered by the over 55’s, just let the food do the talking, with a tone of voice reflective of the quality-seeking, standard-setting desires of their boomer-biased customer base.
Tu seamlessly integrate someone not just 17 to project a dress fit for a King’s Coronation.
And The Dorset Camp Festival produce a baby boomer friendly experience and ad that ticks all the retro boxes. Grace is 75!
All this of course begs another fundamental question:
Why aren’t advertisers focusing more on people
the ‘wrong’ side of 50?
Is there simply an inherent fear and loathing amongst many in our overwhelmingly more youthful industry towards proactively recognising and responding to an older generation and in encouraging their clients to do so too.
After all, 77% of agency folk are currently under 40!
I bet Graff don’t see that many customers of the age and limited life experience of these ladies. Yet here they are, all fresh faced and fabulous, apparently providing sufficient aspiration to the older people with the money to actually buy a ton of emeralds. Really?
On the other hand, Chopard use a timeless beauty to more accurately portray the age and experience of wrists that will actually carry their watches.
The stereotypes of aging are so culturally engrained to the vitality and perfection of youth, that many ads are steeped from inception to execution in a 'negative' view of what it is to age.
Or worse still, those older are not recognised at all, and millions of people disappear from the radar and the pages of our newspapers, where they should be better-represented for their sheer volume in numbers and undisputed economic value.
Baby boomers shaped the world we’re living in now (for better and for worse) and they’re the people running countless companies and countries and holding a lot of the cash that advertisers are after (or should be).
But such advertisers and their advertising are out of touch and miss the point. Our generation know who they are and what they want, and expect others to try to understand, respond and live up to that.
It’s only fair they should find themselves more positively and insightfully reflected more often in the pages of our newspapers of a weekend.
Otherwise, much like us here at Humbug, they will feel ignored, irritated and too infrequently impressed by the efforts of advertisers and their agencies.
And so we conclude with a lovely free gift. A handy over 55’s framework when flicking through the papers and assessing the ads you see. So simple, even Quentin can use it.
Ignored:
despite our obvious relevance to an advertisers’ product/services or sectors, 55+ are seemingly not recognised or addressed because we're absent
from the advertising effort
(WTF!)
Irritated:
adverts that clearly have 55+ in their sights but they’re propagating the outdated, stereotypical and conventional view of baby boomers
(FFS!)
Impressed:
baby boomers are clearly in the thoughts of the brand being communicated, with insight and imagination.
(Fme!)
Feel free to post your observations and scores on any ads you see, on our LinkedIn page or in this blog.
If one really catches our eye, we'll shout “cuddly toy” and you may even get one from our very own conveyor belt.
If you're a bravely confident Marketing Director with baby boomer customers, you might even send in your own current advertising for us to put to the test?
For now, practice makes perfect, use our tool to tell us what you think about these 2 beauties below...
Ad 1
Daily Mail - May 2023
Feel impressed, irritated or ignored? Choose one and insert below.
Impressed
Irritated
Ignored
Ad 2 FT Weekend - May 2023
Feel impressed, irritated or ignored? Choose one and insert below.
Impressed
Irritated
Ignored
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