In today’s marketplace, age-positive advertising is more important than ever.
As the Centre for Ageing Better tells us, consumers over 50 in the UK spend more than £319 billion each year. And due to our ageing population, this number is expected to rise to £550 billion by 2040 – that’s 63p out of every pound spent.
Yet, despite this, companies’ marketing strategies continue to misrepresent over 50s or don’t represent them at all. And since research tells us that most people consider a brand’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) actions before purchasing their products, organisations that don’t think about age-positive branding could be missing out on valuable customers.
Beyond commercial gains, marketing can influence conscious beliefs as well as unconscious ones. Brands, therefore, have a moral responsibility not just to avoid ageist stereotypes, but to help foster positive views of ageing.
But what does age-positive marketing look like? Below, we’ve spotlighted three brands, how they’re getting it right, and why.
1. JD Williams
This year, fashion and lifestyle brand JD Williams launched a fresh, age-inclusive advertising campaign, which encourages women in mid-life to “defy conventional wisdom and dress according to their joy and attitude – not their age.”
The marketing material uses empowering language to celebrate ageing, including the tagline: “Admit it, this age thing suits you”, and employs a diverse cohort of models that are not only different ages but races and body types too.
We believe the way the campaign directly confronts and overturns ageist biases is particularly effective. In this advert, for example, the voice-over lists some common stereotypes about mid-life women, while the imagery stylishly subverts them.
For example, as we hear that, according to rumours, mid-life ladies “don’t know how to dress”, are “dull”, and “aren’t beach body ready”, we see a fierce woman in her 50s or 60s strolling out of the surf in a vibrant bikini. The effect is powerful. It amusingly and intelligently conveys that our biases are just “rumours” and not based on reality.
Another reason why this age-positive campaign is effective is because it feels authentic, which is likely due to the age-diverse creative team – 85% of which were over the age of 35, as The Drum reports.
Zara Ineson, executive creative director of House 337, the agency behind the campaign, says they wanted marketers with lived experience. “We are being very conscious when we put together teams, sign off work or are working with the client that decisions are made from a place of experience rather than just research alone.”
This demonstrates how impactful building an age-diverse marketing team can be for your brand’s ability to reach a wider range of audiences.
However, it’s not a perfect age-positive campaign. For example, the advert below has been criticised for its opening line: “Nothing’s changed”. While it’s an inspiring sentiment, it risks glossing over some of the challenging realities of ageing. Although age shouldn’t act as a barrier, it does bring some inevitable hurdles – and people struggling with these can become alienated by messages like these.
2. Tena
One company that doesn’t shy away from the realities of ageing is Tena. In 2021, the incontinence brand won Channel 4’s Diversity in Advertising Award for this two-minute commercial about a woman struggling with menopause symptoms, while her teenage daughter contends with puberty.
For starters, the advert unflinchingly portrays the realities of menopause in a way that, as far as we’re aware, hasn’t been done before in TV marketing. We watch the protagonist experience various symptoms that are, unfortunately, still relatively taboo – including hot flushes, feelings of rage, and bladder leaks.
We see the protagonist in a range of states – from mildly inconvenienced to distraught, amused to elated. Scenes depicting the unromantic realities of menopause (such as accidental bladder leaks) are juxtaposed with joyful moments, for example – the protagonist being intimate with her partner. And this diversity of experience is immensely important from an inclusion point of view.
Too often in advertising, older adults are portrayed as one-trick ponies, often through ageist stereotypes. These can range from the well-intentioned but problematic ‘wise mentor’ to offensive stereotypes that paint all older adults as frail and vulnerable. Even the aspirational portrayals, while sometimes inspiring, can just as often feel unrealistic, and leave people feeling daunted and disheartened if they can’t relate.
However, like all demographics, older adults’ experiences vary considerably. While one person may have mobility issues, another might be a triathlete. In the context of Tena’s advert, people may experience certain symptoms of menopause but not others. By presenting a diversity of experiences as this advert does, companies can make their marketing materials more relatable and inclusive of a wider cohort of older adults.
The intergenerational themes in this advert also make it effective from an age-positive point of view. Director Shannon Murphy masterfully ties the menopause up with puberty by drawing on ‘coming of age’ storytelling tropes. While lots of marketing material positions generations as at odds, this one chooses to highlight the similarities of our experiences. The commercial ends with the daughter asking, “Mum, what’s the menopause like?”, which encourages communication and collaboration across the generational divide.
3. Dove
Over the years, personal care brand Dove has displayed a passion for diversity and inclusion in all its forms by rolling out campaigns championing people of all races, sexualities, and body types.
For example, their ‘Real Beauty’ campaign in 2004 used regular people instead of professional models to destabilise lofty beauty standards. While this is a relatively common marketing strategy now, it was a pioneering move at the time – and so too was their recent #KeepTheGrey campaign, which encouraged women to embrace their silver locks in later life.
It all started in 2022 when 58-year-old Canadian journalist Lisa LaFlamme claimed she was fired from her chief anchor role at CTV National News when she stopped dyeing her grey hair.
In a show of solidarity, Dove changed its iconic gold logo to grey, stating, “Women with grey hair are being aged out of the workplace, so Dove is going grey.” They also encouraged people to add a grayscale filter to their profile pictures online and donated $100,000 to Catalyst, a nonprofit working towards inclusivity for women in the workplace.
The results of the campaign were very positive. According to a report from Edelman, it had over one billion impressions and was featured in over 675 stories. Plus, 89% of people said it gave them a good impression of Dove and 61% of people said they were more likely to buy from them after seeing the campaign.
What’s more, due to the campaign, Dove became the first beauty and consumer packaged goods brand to be offered a place on the Ontario Human Rights Commission Board to continue campaigning against sexism and ageism. But why was the #KeepTheGrey so successful?
For starters, by reacting quickly to the news of LaFlamme’s dismissal with a creative campaign, Dove demonstrated an awareness of issues around age diversity and inclusion, which helped build deeper, more meaningful relationships with their customers. However, in a social climate where individuals and organisations are frequently accused of manipulating timely social causes for their own gains, what made the #KeepTheGrey feel so authentic?
A simple answer is that over the years, through plenty of meaningful campaigns, Dove has created a reputation as an advocate for diversity and inclusion. In fact, British consumers who took part in this research from Kantar voted Dove as the most inclusive brand, which demonstrates their enduring dedication to diversity and inclusion. So, when they waded into the LaFlamme discussion, it didn’t feel disingenuous.
What we can learn from this is that effective, age-positive marketing requires long-term commitment. Brands need to build trust with their audiences through multiple campaigns over years or even, in Dove’s case, decades. As Mark Fisher, a partner in Kantar’s Sustainable Transformation Practice, says…
“The success of pioneers like Dove does not come overnight – it’s built on the foundations of a strong DEI strategy and taking a consistent approach to communicating its values over time.”
Final thoughts…
Whether by representing people of all ages or directly confronting ageist stereotypes, it’s encouraging to see brands like JD Williams, Tena, and Dove harnessing age-positive marketing campaigns to reach wider audiences and change attitudes towards ageing for the better.
Unfortunately, however, brands like these are still outliers. For example, this report from creative data platform Creative X analysed over 126,000 ads worldwide and found that only 4% of people featured were over the age of 60.
Research like this shows that although we’re taking steps in the right direction, there’s still lots to be done in the marketing world – and it’s up to progressive, forward-thinking brands to make the difference.
For help on how to make your marketing materials more age-positive, you can email us at [email protected] or get in touch here. Or, why not read our article, How to create compelling, age-inclusive branding?
Do you have another example of age-positive marketing you’d like to share? If so, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.