The essence of ‘yold’. Or, how to make age irrelevant in advertising

Alan Saywood

The advertising industry tends to be oriented towards younger people, both in terms of its practitioners and its output, despite the fact that an older 50+ generation has most of the UK’s spending power.

Marketing has failed to advertise relevantly and respectfully to people in the over-50s demographic. A succession of speakers at the Mature Marketing Summit (London, October 2017) argued that, both in marketing and among marketers, this age group is under-represented in advertising and only by being more inclusive and non-patronising can this be corrected.

Embrace late radicals

"Does advertising have any idea how to talk to the biggest consumer spending group of all time?" asked Robin Wight, President, Engine Group. "It's a resounding no!"

This is particularly disappointing, he said, considering that "the over-50s spend 41% of all disposable income". Despite...

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