La scandinavie se bat pour une meilleure reconnaissance des seniors en tant que marché. Ma conférence à Helsinki du 15 mai a donné lieu à une forte médiatisation. (extrait)
Stop ignoring 50+ consumers!
“Advertisers are still ignoring consumers over 50 years of age even though they shouldn’t be doing so. This was the main message of Mr Jean-Paul Tréguer as he spoke in the EuroSenior seminar last month.
Mr Tréguer stated that 50+ consumers present roughly 1/3 of the population in many countries. Their precise number is constantly rising as so called Baby Boomers, people born between the years 1946 and 1964, grow older.
Despite that, consumers over 50 are considered a niche and nobody seems to be interested in them. As a result, 95 percent of advertising expenditures in Europe are dedicated to consumers under 50. That leaves only five percent dedicated to consumers over 50.
To explain why the 50+ are ignored by advertisers Mr Tréguer quoted the Bible:
- ’None are so blind as those who will not see.’
That’s exactly the situation with the marketing and advertising people. They don’t like the 50+. They think they just need their money to finance the young consumers, Tréguer, born in 1955, said.
Mr Tréguer is known as one of the international experts of Generational Marketing and the founder and former CEO of Senioragency, the first advertising organisation totally dedicated to 50+ consumers. He is also the President of Senioragency Paris.
Scaring away 50+ consumers is easy
Mr Tréguer thinks there are four principles that advertisers should follow if they want to get rid of their older customers.
First of all, make sure your message is not readable. It can be done, for example, by using the smallest font type or size possible so seniors can’t read the advertisement.
Secondly, create a message without substance. Show something that makes no sense and is impossible to understand. Don’t even let them know what the product is you are advertising or your brand.
The third principle is: humiliate the 50+. Make them look as ridiculous as you can and treat them badly. Mr Tréguer showed in the seminar some commercials that followed this principle precisely.
And last but not least: don’t let them forget that the end is near.
They will die one day and you should remind them of that. Mr Tréguer referred to a Fila shoes advertisement as an example of this principle. The advertisement says:”Any last requests before dying? Oh yes, I would love to have these fantastic shoes from Fila!”
Mr Tréguer proved that many advertising companies are following these principles. Intentionally or not, they are most certainly scaring away a lot of potential customers from older age groups. Some of them even do it in a very brutal way. But how come everyone allows this to happen?
- Seniors are the ideal punching ball of the advertising industry: you can insult seniors, show them how bad and stupid they are: they never react. Just imagine doing that with gays or ethnic minorities. You would have enormous problems immediately. But you can insult seniors, who cares about them! Mr Tréguer explained.
The do’s of advertising to 50+ consumers
Making a good advertisement for the consumers over 50 isn’t extremely difficult. Mr Jean-Paul Tréguer thinks that there are four major rules that advertisers should obey if they want to please 50+ consumers.
First of all, advertisements should tell 50+ consumers what they want to hear. So tell them for example that life is fabulous. Show them you have a sense of humour. Mr Tréguer refers to a slogan from an American organisation for people over fifty, AARP, that says “Life before fifty is nothing but a warm up” as a fantastic example of good communication.
Here is the second rule: they are the centre of the world. 50+ customers like to be portrayed like that. Show them with their grandchildren and prove that the 50+ have experience and wisdom.
Thirdly, make your product the useful hero of the advertisement. Show that your product will make consumers’ everyday life easier and let them know why they should buy your product.
The last rule is to use well-known and respected elderly stars to advertise your product. Use the ones who are about the same age as your target group. It has many advantages such as greater impact and credibility.
Mr Tréguer also gave advertisers one piece of advice that summed up his whole presentation:
- The key word is respect. If you respect this target group, you can do fantastic and creative ads that are not insulting but show them that they are the most important group for the brand and for the company. ”
This article is based on Mr Jean-Paul Tréguer’s speech and visit in the EuroSenior seminar the 15th of May 2007.
retrouver cet article sur le site http://www.healthcarebusiness.fi/portal/en/news/article_of_the_month/
Merci à son auteur: Meri Liukkonen