Age Friendly Marketing

In March 2019 a few dozen whitehaired folks boarded a bus at Laguna Woods Village a retirement community in Southern California Where were these mostly 70 and 80somethings some using canes and pushing walkers going One might say to the happiest place on Earth but it wasn39t Disneyland which was just a few miles away Rather the group was off to the Bud and Bloom marijuana dispensary in Santa Ana where they would spend the next few hours eating a light lunch playing a few games of bingo and selecting their next month39s supply of cannabisinfused products quotIt39s like the ultimate senior experiencequot said one of the retirees he like the others interested in the therapeutic value of cannabis rather than its mindaltering propertiesBaby Boomers and even some of the Greatest Generation represent the fastestgrowing segment of the CBD industry finding medical marijuana to be of considerable help in chronic pain management anxiety and sleeplessness Some Laguna Woods Village users had been taking dozens of prescribed pills a day many of them opiates for their condition but had swapped those out for an herbal gummy or chocolate bar and were pleased withamp160the resultsA Costly StrategyBingo and pot were a nice mix of ingredients in the creation of what I call agefriendly marketing efforts by the business community that resonate with older consumers Just as Big Business underserves people in their 50s and older by discriminating against them as workers so does it treat them unfairly as consumers This shouldn39t come as too surprising as ageism serves as a powerful common denominator in both the earning and spending of money There is in other words a direct relationship between Corporate America39s adamant refusal to hire and retain older employees and its overt snubbing of older consumers This is not only strange given the sound reasons not to do either but profoundly disturbing For better or worse our society runs on consumer capitalism making the exclusion of citizens in their third act of life on both ends of the process one of our nation39s worst featuresAgeist marketing is all the more absurd as what is alternatively called quotthe silver surgequot quotthe silver economyquot or quotthe gray dollarquot arguably represents the biggest opportunity in business for the next couple of decades Much has been written about the value of connecting with older consumers but marketers themselves have been reluctant to do so because of ageist thinking quotCompanies tend to neglect older generations focusing instead on Millennials and Gen Zquot wrote Andrea Felsted for bloombergcom in 2021 thinking that in the future quotsuch a strategy will be costlyquot Beyond all the myths and stereotypes surrounding older consumers many marketers typically focus on household income versus net worth mistakenly assuming that less money coming in means less money can go out While there are certain differences between older consumers and younger ones the latter tend to spend less on fashion and beauty but more on food travelamp160and technology according to the Mature Marketing Association way too much is made of the role of age in the marketplaceYou Can39t Take It with YouBaby Boomers39 transfer of wealth to their children has made headlines but most of them are not quite ready to open their wallets In fact it is Boomers who are inheriting money and a lot of it Boomers inherited about 9 trillion between 1989 and 2016 a 2019 study by the retirement planning firm United Income found with much of this money going toward medical bills and savings Whatever remains of Boomers39 wealth will indeed be passed on to heirs and given to charities a whopping 36 trillion it is estimated but this will take about 30 years to happen Until they have no more need for money you can39t take it with you as they say boomers will actively find ways to spend itFortunately as the implications of the longevity economy become ever clearer more marketers are beginning to appreciate the opportunities being missed Even if it is more about increasing the bottom line than doing the right thing smarter managers at smarter organizations are recognizing that older consumers specifically Baby Boomers represent too big and wealthy a market to ignore Because the economy is the core of American culture agefriendly marketing is a means by which we can lessen ageism in America a good thing for everyoneClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNetamp160

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Age Friendly Marketing

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Larry Samuel

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