Age Perception – How old is your “old”?

In preparation for the June 12 Age Aware Summit next week at the Sheridan Centre for Elder Research, one of the questions asked of attendees is: At what age do you think you will consider yourself “old”? The age perception issue has become a focal point for marketers when they are positioning their product or service to a so-called “aging consumer”. So it will be interesting to see how this answered by business owners at the summit.

Recently in the Silver Group blog, Kim Walker refers to the US based AARP survey “How Old is Old?” What’s curious about all this is; how do you appropriately market to a targeted age group based on the perception they may have about how old they are? What is the emotional button? In an instant the customer asks, is this how I identify with the portrayal of the perception?

What would be fun is for the groups at this Age Aware Summit to take on some case studies of product/service advertising in a game of “Marketing Hits and Misses”. Some of the pitches are appalling. Patronizing perceptions are abound and the customer experience does not always reflect reality.

Going in to this summit, if I’m to answer the “how old is your old?” it would be, old enough. From a marketing point of view, if you think offering me a “senior’s discount” is to my advantage, well then, I’m old enough.

“I am what I am, and that’s all that I am.” Popeye


 

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