Demographic marketers can no longer afford to ignore

Two weeks ago, Nine and Kantar published “Blindspot,” timely research that identified Australians aged 55 to 64 as a new power group of high-value “super consumers”. He revealed that this power group is not only the fastest growing age cohort over the past two decades, they also have the largest share of household wealth across all age groups. and are responsible for up to $ 2.3 billion in weekly household spending.

While the research was informative, it left out a key point; Not only are they a highly desirable target audience, but they are also, thanks to COVID blocks, cheaper and easier to reach than they have ever been before. Marketers have no more excuses for putting this audience first.

We’ve known for a long time that our population is aging, but until recently it was assumed that older consumers were an unattractive cohort for marketers. They’ve been branded as low-income tormentors who can’t afford high-end brands and wouldn’t buy them if they could. Yet this research reveals that 80% are willing to spend on Chanel and 64% on new cars. This, in the face of a pandemic that has threatened not only the health of our nation, but also our economy, and even theirs.

There’s a prevailing assumption that trends don’t matter when you’re over 55, and you can’t teach an old dog new tricks (or sell an old dog new kicks. dog). This is clearly wrong, and it’s time we started to think differently about older audiences, especially when it comes to high-end and luxury brands, including automotive, fashion and travel.

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In fact, it’s time we stopped thinking of them as “old”. Their growing numbers and high discretionary spending suggest they may soon become the “mainstream” of marketers.

Cashed in and looking for the good stuff

If you know someone in their late 50s or early 60s, it might not surprise you to notice that they feel more like J-Lo than Blanche Devereaux. They care about fashion, movies, entertainment, music, technology, and travel, and now they can afford to do it however they want.

They are also increasingly active in social media, leaders in the labor market and very influential in their communities, providing advice and expertise to their adult children and millennial colleagues.

Over the past two years, we’ve all had to adapt to containment. For the 55+ community, this has prompted many to move away from browsing and trying articles in person and turning to online brand exploration. This in turn has opened up new opportunities for brands to reach older Australians without breaking the media budget. But perhaps none more notably than the luxury marketing sector.

So why the delay?

To defend marketers, the 55-64 age group has long been one of the most expensive demographic groups to reach in paid media. They still watch free TV, read the newspapers, and listen to the radio – the three most expensive channels available to media buyers.

However, the tide has turned for digital channels due to ongoing COVID lockdowns. More than 55 audiences are accelerating their adoption of e-commerce and digital publications, and have found new technological utilities for everyday life, from online banking and shopping to video conferencing and streaming.

Online shopping data from the Global Web Index shows 59% of baby boomers research products online before they buy, more than any other generation, while 32% use social media as a channel for discovering new brands or new products and 74% bought a product online. produced in the last month. These changes in behavior have made this demographic less expensive than ever to reach through more profitable and highly targeted digital channels.

So if you’re still not convinced that the new “super consumer” is a worthy buying target for your brand, now there’s an affordable opportunity to prove it. It won’t take a million dollar national TV campaign to validate or disprove the position – they are using social and digital channels more than ever.

So now it’s less a question of “can I afford to aim for 55+” and more of a question of “can I afford not to? “.

Georgia Butler is Head of Strategy and Innovation for Nunn Media Sydney.