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Your introduction to the most attractive demographic in Australia...and no, it’s not Gen Z

IS YOUR BUSINESS PREPARED FOR THE BIGGEST CHANGE IN DEMOGRAPHICS SINCE THE 1900s?

Life beginsat50

8 INSIGHTS-TO-GO TO GET YOU STARTED ON YOUR JOURNEY

50+ MYTH BUSTINGDispelling the stereotypes that are stopping you from connecting with your 50+ target

A LOOK AT PROJECTED POPULATION CHANGES AND HOW THEY WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO WHO YOU TARGET

By 2016, one in every three Australians will be 50+

Life beginsat50

An introduction to

4 5An Introduction to Life Begins At Fifty An Introduction to Life Begins At Fifty

ContentsThe Perfect Storm ..................................................................6Are you ready? .....................................................................8Our Manifesto! ................................................................... 108 insight gems to get you started ...........................................11Our ecosystem ...................................................................30Our ways of working ........................................................... 31Contact us .........................................................................33

Welcome!

I have spent over 25 years as a market researcher and even more as a psychologist and academic researcher. Over that time I have had very few experiences where an audience of over 50 years of age (or even 40+) was found to be inspiring or interesting to a marketing team. This has always astounded me.

Why is this, when what we have is a huge and lucrative market waiting and wanting to be tapped? It is no niche; it encompasses consumers of many age bands and from very diverse walks of life.

We believe businesses need to make sure they are targeting their products and services at all ages, including the over 50s. They need to stop thinking that 50 is “old-age” and start thinking about it as age an opportunity. We need to look at this group through lenses other than chronological age, ensuring that they are not tied to myths and clichés that can hamper strategic growth and development.

In the following pages we offer you a taster for consideration in your business.

Ellen Baron - CEO


The Perfect Storm

These changes are not just isolated to Australia. The same conditions are present everywhere in the developed world.

This is a global issue. But what does this change actually mean for business?

Older Australians are working longer, and have changing spending patterns and changing services needs.

Structural Ageing meets Numerical Ageing. The perfect conditions for long-term demographic change.

These two factors play a critical role in the changeing demographic of the Australian population. ABS population projections show that the proportion of those 50+ will grow rapidly, compared to other age groups.

Projected Australian Population 2012 - 2100 (Proportions)

0

1

2

3

4

20102000199019801970196019501940

3.5

2.3

1.9

2.0

(Source ABS, Births Australia, 3301.0, 2013)

Australian Fertility Rates

Females

Males

2010s1960s1900s

(Source ABS, Gender Indicators, 4125.0, 2014)

Life Expectancy (from birth)

55.2

74.2

84.3

69.9

79.9

58.8

Population replacement target rate is 2.1.

Australia has not met this rate since the 1970s

The past 100 years has seen a significant increase

in life expectancy. People are living more than 25+ years longer

than they were at the turn of the last century

NUMERICAL AGEING

0%

25%

50%

45

32

22

42

37

21

40

39

20

39

41

19

39

42

19

Under 18

50 plus

18 - 49

2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s 2050s 21002060s 2070s 2080s 2090s(Source ABS, Population Projections, data based on Series B, 3222.0, 2013 / Year Book Australia, 2012, 1301.3 )

By 2016 one in every three Australians will be 50+

The proportion of Australians aged under 18 is in gradual decline as the century progresses

It is projected that by 2063, there will be a greater proportion of people aged 50+ than those aged 18-49

By 2080, 19.6 million Australians will be 50+. That will be 41% of all Australians

STRUCTURAL AGEING


YOUR INTERNAL PRESENCE

YOUR EXTERNAL PRESENCE

This structural change will have a significant

impact on the way organisations think

about and serve their customers, constituents

and workforce{ }

Are you ready? What are you doing about...?

More and more of your customers and staff will be older. What we think about them will have to change. All this change may seem a little overwhelming. After all, it’s been bugging policy makers for a long time.

So much, that they’ve chosen to ignore the issue since people worked out what was going on in the 1970s.

We see it a little differently though. We think it’s pretty exciting.

We are entering an era when the phrase “ageing population” will simply become “the population”.

Our new demographic structure will soon be hard wired and steady, rather than something we expect to change. We say, let’s stop wringing our hands about what to do, and make the changes we need to make today. BRAND

DEVELOPMENT

NPD & INNOVATION

HR & TALENT MANAGEMENT

COMMUNICATIONS

MARKET SEGMENTATION

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

SERVICE DELIVERY

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

TRAINING &DEVELOPMENT

HEALTH & SAFETY

USER EXPERIENCE


Our Manifesto!The 50+ crowd are not one segment and not to be ignored. They are here and they are many segments in one; demographically, attitudinally and perceptually.

We believe organisations are more successful when they embrace this group of marketing-, career- and benefit-starved individuals.

That’s why we want to provide better insight into how this 50+ crowd can benefit your current business thinking.

By bringing you up-to-date with the facts, not the hype.By thinking differently about this group, now and into the future.

And by providing you with insight gems that you can start using straight away – not buried in academic papers or dreary powerpoints.

We’ve also got a range of tools to help deliver on our promise to provide better connection with the 50+ crowd for you.

We have a Life Begins at 50 Facebook page and websiteWe will be running qualibus studies so you can drop in ideas and questions We can bring the 50+ crowd into your workshops and boardrooms so you can get them to help shape your thinking and your planningAnd we will continue to talk to them about their lives, dreams and passions so we can drive a stake through the stereotypes and myths.Once and for all

More than anything we hope that it gets you excited about how you can connect with this group. They are a fun bunch.

It’s all part of our commitment – that Life really does Begin at 50.

WE ARE APPLES, ORANGES AND BANANAS

BEEN AROUND THE BLOCK, NOT OVER THE HILL

PLEASED TO MEET ME, BUT ARE YOU?

24 HOUR BS DETECTORS

TIME IS OPENING UP, NOT RUNNING OUT

WISE BEYOND (YOUR) YEARS

LOOKING TO THE PAST HELPS ANCHOR ME TO THE PRESENT

THIS MORTAL COIL

8 insight gems to get you started


We are apples, oranges and bananas

You’ve seen the ads. A wealthy couple in their 60s drive down the Great Ocean Road in a convertible without a care in the world. “Baby Boomers” you think. Some people see us all like that. And it’s driving us crazy.

So who are we?

We are conservative, progressive, family-focused, hedonistic, curious, closed-off, fit, unhealthy, working, retired, wealthy, struggling, ramping-up, winding down...

That’s right – we are all different. We are not the couple in the car. Well, some of us may be, but not most of us

One thing is for certain. We are a big group and we are getting bigger. Ignore us, or misrepresent us, at your peril.

DID YOU KNOW...

As time progresses, older Australians are more multi-cultural, with a significant increase of people aged 50+ born overseas


Time is opening up,

not running out

“Bucket List”...yeah, those things you have to do before you die and ticking each one off, one by one, in a morbid stupor.

We don’t really have one, because we are not about to kick the bucket

We don’t see the second half of our life as a race to the finish line. We see this as a time to still get the things we may have put off, done, and we are willing to make some big life changes in our relationships, our career and our education for it to happen.

Baby, it ain’t over, ‘til it’s over.

It’stime

DID YOU KNOW...

How Australians Use Their Time (ABS, 2006) found that as people aged, they don’t feel as rushed or pressed for time, still manage to keep as busy and occupied as they once did, and became more satisfied with how they were spending their time, compared to when they were younger


Bee

n a

round the block but not over the hill

We’ve had more life experiences than you’ve had hot dinners. We’ve seen things change and morph, and history does repeat itself. So if you are seeing it for the first time, chances are we’ve seen it, or something similar, before.

But people treat us like we couldn’t possibly understand, or keep up.

But we do. And we are.

DID YOU KNOW...

National Seniors Australia say that demeaning stereotypes are pushing some people into retirement when they’d like to stay working. The Economic Potential of Senior Australians report says there are two million people out there who want to and are able to work, but feel locked out


Wise beyond (your) years

We’ve been around the block, so we have a lot of ideas and wisdom we can share. Sometimes it feels like no one is listening though. In the media we are treated like we are naughty spoiled children. Seriously?

Given a chance, the value that we can offer organisations and our communities is immeasurable. We have wisdom, because we’ve lived.

And we aren’t ready to sit back and act like “know-it-alls” either. We are really interested and engaged in life-long learning.

Whether that be teaching ourselves a new skill on YouTube, or enrolling in university to attain a degree. Some of us want to use this retraining and education for a new career as well.

You can teach old dogs new tricks. And if given a chance, we’d like to teach you some of our tricks too.

E=mc²

DID YOU KNOW...

Treasury estimates that not utilising the skills and talent of older Australians, is costing the economy

$10.8 billion a year


Pleased to meet meIt’s taken some of us 50+ years to get comfortable in our skin. We like what we see and feel. But, just when we get comfortable presenting to the world who we really are, we notice that people have become less interested in us. It’s like we are suddenly invisible. This goes for men and women.

Our confidence comes up to meet the world, and the world turns away from us.

The irony would be hilarious...if it wasn’t happening to us. We want outlets for our new desire for self-expression. We want to be looked at - and celebrated. And that’s not putting us on Harleys or showing us jumping out of planes. It’s about understanding who we really are, and responding to that.

but are you?

DID YOU KNOW...Between the ages of 45 to 80, mental health improves, and people aged in their 60s and 70s are generally happier than those in their 20s and 30s


Looking to the past helps

anchor me to the present

We’ve become more interested in our past. The distant past; our family trees and history, but also our more recent past by celebrating the signs and symbols that we grew up with.

Understating our past helps explain who we are today. We want to make sure we pass all this onto someone so it’s not lost. We love finding out things that may explain a family eccentricity, or uncover a family secret.

As for remembering things that come from my own living past?

They used to say if you were nostalgic you were depressed. New research suggests that nostalgia is about feeling happy. So we like to remember social objects from our own childhood and teens; music, personalities, even household objects, to remind ourselves of family and childhood.

Looking back makes us feel more certain about where we are today. It’s not about wishing things would go back in time, but about recognizing the path we’ve taken to get where we are.

mUM & Da

d

g RanDmA aNd poP

DID YOU KNOW...Research has shown that nostalgia is used to help in transition periods in life. You are as likely to be nostalgic when you are a young adult transitioning into university or the workforce as when you are an older one, transitioning into retirement


Most of us have seen loved ones pass away too soon before their time. Some of us have faced our own death head on already. Some of us have been given a warning sign that we need to change, and fast.

It’s sitting there, in the back of our minds, and we are thinking about how we want to spend that time, how we want to exit, in what circumstances we would end it. Some of us are also struggling with some health realities that may mean we exit far too soon – and we don’t seem to be able to make the changes we need to. Many are of us are caring for our kids and as well as our elderly parents. Sometimes a burden and sometimes a joy, but always confronting as it makes us think about our own mortality and quality of end-of-life.

Some of us don’t want to have these conversations about death or ageing, or “getting your affairs in order”, but a lot of us do; we just don’t have the words or the structure to get them started. We’d like some help here.

What dreames may com

e, When we have sh

uffle

d of

f Thi

s Mortal Coil, M

ust giue vs pa

wse.

DID YOU KNOW...An estimated 1.5 million Australians; mainly women, are part of the “sandwich generation”, caring for both kids and elderly parents. This places huge emotional and financial strain on these households, and many are not aware of the services available to assist them


24 hour BS detectors

If we don’t buy your product you think we are stuck in a routine and will never change. Have you considered we just don’t see the value in changing? If you demonstrate to us a genuine reason to change, then we will!

Our confidence means we don’t fall easy for marketing that focuses on “un-met needs” - only because we’ve worked out over the years the difference between a need and a want. But if we see something that will actually improve our lives, then we will flock to you. Just look at our use of social media. We are the fastest growing group of users

across all platforms. We see the value it offers us in our lives.

Some call younger demographics “savvy”, we call them suckers. If you want to mix with us, you have to understand that our gained wisdom means we are the savvy crowd. And we can smell a “sales pitch” at twenty paces, as well as a good buy.

Our financial “memories” mean that we can’t throw good money after bad. We remember 18% interest rates! We do watch our dollars, but we aren’t parsimonious. We will spend, if you offer us something worth spending on.

DID YOU KNOW...

A 2008 study found that people aged 50+ felt generally that mobile data services were more useful than their younger counterparts, and this was driving service uptake. The study’s recommendation...If you want more

people aged 50+ to adopt a digital service? Design it around their needs!

2928 An Introduction to Life Begins At Fifty An Introduction to Life Begins At Fifty

ExcitedAre you

yet?This is the sort of change and excitement that we love and live for. We have crafted a way of working with our clients that enables them to maximise their success catering for the 50+ crowd, which is based on a thriving community of real people enjoying their second-half of life, who we connect with every day.

We’d love to meet with you and listen to your challenges, and discuss ways in which you can target this amazing group of individuals.


Our ecosystem Our ways of working

Consulting

Community Insight

Our offer is built as an ecosystem; a sustainable loop balanced around consulting, insight and community

CONSULTING is the foundation of our offer. Led by Ellen Baron, our consulting processes are designed to work with clients to ensure they are ready and fully informed of these challenges, and immersed in the target

INSIGHT underpins all our recommendations. Our rigorous approach to analysis of available data ensures our clients that any recommendation we make is based on sound principles

COMMUNITY is how we connect, listen and converse with the 50+ crowd. We run a popular Facebook page, conduct face to face meet-ups and a website where we continually connect with an engaged 50+ audience, as well as our 50+ Project Qualibus

www.facebook.com/lifebeginsatfiftycommunitywww.lifebeginsatfifty.com.au

We work with our clients in various ways, from pure consultation through to full-service insights and consulting. We’d be delighted to discuss with you the needs of your business and develop a bespoke solution;

“Myth busters” 50+ workshopA great introduction into the world of the 50+ crowd. A one day session with key stakeholders in business, working with them to understand this age group and the implications for each of their business units (marketing, HR, finance, technology etc).

Target Immersion via “Town Hall” style sessionsAn evening session with 20-30 50+ folks, either addressing a particular business issue, or simply getting closer to them and see what makes them tick. This is followed up with a half or full day workshop to build on ideas and issues that emerged the evening before.

Market SegmentationUncovers how this age group interacts with your brand, your products and your services. Who is the most profitable group you need to focus on, with what product or products and with what messaging.

EthnographyDeep dive into the lives of specific groups of the 50+ crowd who really impact your business.Helps an organisation to drive powerful comms and innovation.

The Semiotics of AgeingWhat are the signs and symbols you should (and shouldn’t) be utilising to work with this group of people. Semiotic analysis output builds a solid brief for comms and product innovation.

Innovation workshopsWorking against identified segment targets, what gaps exist in your current portfolio? How should you best be directing investment to create an “ageing proof” portfolio of brands and products?

On-line DialogueBuilding long term or shorter ad-hoc on-line communities - a longitudinal view on product innovation, communication as well as building a deep connection and understanding of the wants and needs of this group, including our regular 50+ Project Qualibus that covers commercial and social topics, and where our clients can test out or develop ideas with our community.

Expert PanelsWe have a group of experts on hand to answer your burning questions about the 50+ crowd. People who are 50+ and are thought leaders in their own fields, as well as experts in demographics, health, technology, fashion, etc. This group can be accessed via interviews and reports, thorugh to face-to-face panel sessions with your key stakeholders.


Contact us

Ellen Baron CEOdirect +61 2 8094 6801reception +61 2 8094 [email protected]

[email protected]

HiHello

Life beginsat50

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”

Maya Angelou

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