Marketing to retirees: Some golden tips on marketing for senior living

It was a pleasure to talk but more importantly hear so many interesting points of view at month’s Property Week Retirement Living conference chaired by the Housing LIN’s Jeremy Porteus.

Here are some highlights from what I spoke about.

The lay of the land

A staggering 85% of British people aged 50 or over believe advertising aimed at older people rely on stereotypes. 79% claim their age group is patronised by advertisers. There's obviously a huge opportunity for any retirement based brand to better connect with this audience in order to move effectively leverage their marketing budget.

85% of British people aged 50 or over believe advertising aimed at older people rely on stereotypes

Major marketers and global brands are starting to take notice. Refinery29 rebranded to refinery59 to draw attention to this "invisible" audience. Getty Images has released a new library of 1400 images entitled "The Disrupt Aging Collection (opens new window)" to tackle the issue of ageism.

At Silk Road, we specialise in consumer research, marketing & advertising. Here’s a selection of relevant advertising we like. It gives you a smile and isn’t patronizing and is based on a clear insight. So check out these ads/commercials on YouTube:

Let’s make new memories (opens new window), a commercial by Australian retirement community operator Aveo

Welcome to Life after 50 (opens new window), a TV ad by insurer SunLife

Quest for independence

From our own research with the over 70’s, it’s clear that a sense of independence is critical.  From what we’ve seen, many retirement living developments provide this so a lot of time it’s more perception than reality. This is where marketing plays a critical role and this is only going to increase as and when the ever sceptical Baby Boomers start to come through.

If you found this of interest, check out James’ previous guest blog for the Housing LIN, Older people shun spa in favoiur of WiFi and greenery when it comes to retirement living (opens new window).