WHATThe Silver Culture Project by BBH London is here to help adland address its biggest blind spot, the over 65s.
A world obsessed
by youth
WHYWe are a world and an industry obsessed by youth. Youngest ever CEOs. 30 under 30 lists. Endless briefs and trend forecasts on Millennials and Gen Zs.
To understand why, we have to rewind to the post-war baby boom era, which saw an uprising of economic and cultural change.
The concept of ‘the teenager’, rich in time and money, was born. The gaze of capitalism, and in turn marketing, advertising and the media, shifted away from families and became obsessed with youth culture.
Our industry is still operating on that model today. Many brands cut off their audience segmentation at age 65 or even younger.
A new cultural
revolution is here.
And just like youth culture demanded attention 70 years ago, this too deserves to be seen, heard and celebrated.
One in five people in the UK is over 65.
In less than 20 years that will be one in four.*
The over 65s hold over half of the UK’s wealth, with the average 65+ household having a net worth of £500k-£1 million.**
* ONS, Census, 2021
**ONS, Total wealth: wealth in Great Britain, 2021
73%
of Brits over 65 don’t feel well understood by advertisers or marketers
It’s time to address
our expensive
blind spot
They have more time, more money and more purchasing power than any other generation, but we know very little about them.
This is not surprising. Only 5% of adland’s workforce is aged over 50* compared to almost a third of the UK working population.**
It’s time to stop ignoring this neglected majority. And just like the eyes of the industry shifted to youth culture in the 60s, we need to get under the skin of silver culture today.
* Industry-wide All In Census, 2022
**UK Gov, Economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over: trends over time, 2022
AMBITIONA true ethnographic
research approach
Learn about silver culture.
To shatter the monoculture of old our industry perpetuates and help adland unlock the silver pound.
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We narrowed our focus to a 15 year age range, 65-80, to create a segment comparable to Gen Zs, Millennials, Gen X.
For a mix of breadth and depth, we conducted both wide reach national research and selective ethnographic research between October 2021 and October 2023.
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A Bounce Insights panel survey of 500 65+ year olds in the UK, recruited from a national representative framework.
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20 immersions with 65-80 year olds.
2 hour semi-structured interviews.
Home tours.
“Show and tell” with significant items.
With the help of our research partners, Northstar.
This was not about finding a representative sample of this age bracket in the UK. We deliberately went searching at the edges to explore how “old” can look different.
Using qualitative desk research into trending atypical or surprising activities within our age bracket, we identified 20 ‘power consumer’ profiles to challenge the monoculture. We worked with Northstar to match these profiles with real people.
PEOPLEWe interviewed 20 incredible 65-80 year olds
Two hour interviews - Home tours - Show and tell
Learnings
LEARNING 1
They are change acrobats
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They are change acrobats -
They have real confidence
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They have real confidence -
LEARNING 2
LEARNING 3
They strive for significance
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They strive for significance -
Learnings for marketers and advertisers
LEARNINGS
FOR
CREATIVESDon’t feel the need to be overly earnest, worthy or doom and gloom. One interviewee talked about wanting a “glitter coffin”.
Paint and dress older people in colour and vibrancy like we do other generations, leaving the beige at the door.
Show that intergenerational relationships exist outside of families, rather than pigeon holing over 65s into familial roles.
Celebrate the ways that older people are different; don’t perpetuate the idea that older people should do the things that younger people do (the “windsurfing grandma” trope).
Avoid marketing words like “baby boomers” that this age group don’t feel represents them.
Rather than making older people the butt of the joke, use humour in an empowering way that has them own it.
Build characters with strength and nuance rather than automatically treating them with fragility.
Open up casting and get over 65s involved consistently. Not to make a virtue of their age but because they are active members of society and we should see more of them in our ads. Also, we know there is a diversity dividend in advertising; diverse ads perform higher than the norm (See ITV’s Feeling Seen research).
LEARNINGS
FOR
MARKETERSAudienceMany brands cut off their segmentation at age 65 or even earlier, and agencies rarely see briefs focused on older people.
Constantly challenge your assumptions about who your brand is for. Older people offer brands the opportunity for growth that the youth once did, so ignore them at your peril.
InsightStrive for authentic insight with universal appeal, not lazy insight you assume has universal appeal.
Challenge the stereotypes in your own thinking, and beware sweeping demographic generalisations. Embrace nuance, and don't assume that oldness equals sameness.
PurposeLots of brands talk about ageism, but few go bold to change how older people are represented. Could you help this lucrative audience love you with fearlessly authentic representation that shatters the monoculture of old? Could you normalise speaking about taboo subjects around getting older?