Stop focusing on retirement villages when marketing to older Australians: health expert warns
“People are staying younger longer, and marketers are missing this. They are focusing on retirement villages and cruises and things like that,” he told the Mumbrella Health Marketing Summit
Older consumers want more control over their lives and that control itself is leading to longer, healthier lives, according to Tonic Health Media founder Norman Swan who is also the host of ABC Radio National’s Health Report. “People are staying younger longer, and marketers are missing this. They are focusing on retirement villages and cruises and things like that,” he told the Mumbrella Health Marketing Summit. Mr Swan says that the stereotypical view of an aged customer now only applies to the last stages of someone’s life. “These people are young and they are young until the five years before they die and they don’t see themselves as old,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve designed the marketing messages for this cohort of people – we tend to think of ‘old people’s products’ rather than the fact someone is going to stay quite young and active until their 80s.” And his prediction for the next battleground for consumers and marketers? Alcohol and sugar. Food for thought.
