The media continues to dangerously generalise people over 60, believes Rebecca Wilson, CEO and publisher of over 60s site, Starts at 60.
Despite increasing chatter on the importance of personalisation, Wilson said many media organisations still clump together the older demographic.“The generalisation around an older person has been than an older person at 60 is the same as an older person at 80,” she told B&T.
“When I go on The Today Show they put pictures of 85 year olds over the top of me and I run an over 60s site, not an over 80s site.
“The generalisation of an older person is frightful, it’s appalling!”
The stock imagery used in many marketing communications doesn’t help either.
“It’s very, very poor,” said Wilson. “The quantum of media stock imagery that’s used in advertising…of an older person and how they’re selling to them is all out of the same cookie box.”
Last week, Wilson explained how much of the retirement advertising uses couples walking along a beach in white. And that’s not always the case.
“Unfortunately what we’re not doing for the whole world, because we can’t afford it at the moment, is this demographic isn’t being bought in a targeted way by media yet, because they’re still bucketing them into the ‘if I buy some TV, I’m still doing my job’.
“It’s not being targeted in a data oriented way.”
Wilson said she’s been told by every major operator that a 65 year-old woman isn’t online, something she slams given her site just surpassed two million page views.
Due to this belief older people don’t go online has Wilson suggesting media buyers don’t see this demographic targetable in anything other than TV.
“They haven’t looked at who their buyer is, they just buy media,” she said. “The media industry, bless it, is run by young people, and they’re not looking at it through this generation’s eyes so they find it really hard to see the difference between 55 and 65. And there’s a huge difference.”
Talking specifically about marketing retirement, when will marketers actually get it right?
“As the digital market changes this market, and the consumption or uptake of the digital market, they will have to get it to look different,” she said.
