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Creative strategies for connecting with mature individuals

John Nielson and Kathy Curry

We live in a world of false impressions, and, over time, we often lose sight of what is real and what is not. Distortions become reality and we stop searching for the truth. Take the color of leaves, for example. Most people will tell you that leaves are green. But, in fact, chlorophyll masks the color of leaves during the summer. In autumn, when the chlorophyll has dried up, leaves return to their naturally resplendent red, yellow, orange and golden hues. Weve done the same with mature individuals over the years: those of us in marketing and advertising have let natural beauty be masked by disinterest and gross generalization. We have basically ignored their individuality and diversity the multitude of shapes, sizes,varieties and colors in which they appear. Why, we even have trouble defining where maturity begins: 50-, 55-, 60- or 65-plus?[1]. Now, however, as the hype builds around baby-boomers turning 50, the trillion-dollar transference of wealth and the dearth of younger age-cohorts, our older population is starting to get more of our attention. Yet, as advertising people are called on to create marketing campaigns to touch older audiences at the core of their being, they too often rely on traditional advertising techniques to get through: shallow, mass-market-oriented, technologically extravagant, condescending concepts[2]. Creative approaches must change Our creative approaches must change. Communicating, developing relationships and building loyalty with mature individuals is different. We have new insights into how mature markets perceive our messages, what they are looking for in their advertising and what makes them turn the other way. We have new communication levers at our disposal as well: the technology to mass customize our messages and remain highly interactive with consumers. So like learning to appreciate the true colors of leaves in autumn, it is time to learn about and respect the natural beauty of mature individuals so that we might begin to present our products and services to them intelligently, meaningfully and uniquely. Enlightened with these new learnings, the task then becomes to translate them into creative marketing and advertising campaigns that deliver a distinct and proprietary position in the marketplace. Extracting chlorophyll at American Express Financial Advisors Inc. Our most recent, most illuminating and most humbling examples of how mature individuals perceive advertising messages differently than other
Special thanks to Mary Neal and Mike Enright, American Express Financial Advisors Inc., and Nic Richardson, Kaiser Permanente, for their insightful contributions to this article. John Nielson and Kathy Curry, 1997
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markets, emanates from research[3] conducted with several of our clients, primarily American Express Financial Advisors Inc. (AEFA). AEFA realized that there was a chlorophyll-like process at work as it tried to implement traditional marketing communication plans and materials with its older constituency: what had worked for younger individuals just did not play with older markets. So AEFA launched a wave of qualitative and quantitative research to determine the true colors of an audience with which it wanted to conduct business, namely those people retired or within two years of retirement. After the process of presenting several positioning possibilities to mature individuals across the country, one was selected as the basis for a campaign on which advertising, direct mail and seminar materials were developed. Journeys financial options for mature individuals The road to the final name and tagline used in all AEFAs marketing materials targeted at older Americans was not smooth or direct. Over time, only one common characteristic of mature individuals emerged: that they are among the most diverse and idiosyncratic of all age cohorts. Naturally, this made for a difficult challenge in developing a crisp name, tagline and visual that emotionally and relevantly spoke to AEFAs mature target. The first step of the creative development process was our natural inclination to prioritize AEFAs positioning statement. Our instincts told us that AEFA could not have it all in a new logo and tagline. So we started rating what we felt would be the most meaningful message for mature consumers versus what was most unique about this offering from AEFAs market position perspective. Of all the concepts presented, the final favorite choice of mature consumers was Journeys financial options for mature individuals. This name and tag was accompanied by an illustration depicting an open gate leading to new horizons. The color version of this logo incorporated a yellow pathway, reddish-orange gate, forest-green hills and light-blue sky. To summarize, there were three main reasons most older individuals preferred this treatment: which were its colors, conditionalism and clarity. The colors of maturity Consistent with current research regarding how mature individuals feel about themselves, the rich, vibrant colors of the new logo are suggestive of the positive station in life in which most older Americans believe themselves to be. Of course, they face their fair share of lifes challenges as we all do, but their overall attitude and outlook is positive[4,5]. Mature individuals feel they have a lot to accomplish and are taking up lifes challenges with a spirited can do attitude. So, when searching for companies with which to do business, their collective eye is attracted to companies which are also projecting a bright, bold, confident image of themselves. The use of a bright color palette cannot be emphasized enough. When duller, earthy tones were presented to mature focus group participants, they had a difficult time getting beyond the blandness of the color scheme itself and were then less interested in the rest of the message. Time and time again, we found that mature individuals were unmotivated to talk about those designs that did not visually hit em in the chops as one focus group respondent stated. Interestingly, while the chart shown in Table I was not derived from the AEFA focus groups, it is very consistent with how older participants perceived specific colors.
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Diverse and idiosyncratic

Positive station in life

Bright red-orange Bright yellow

Vital force, desire and action Intelligence, innovative, great hopes and expectations Happiness in enlightenment and perfection Natural constancy, permanence, perseverance Security may be desired and change resisted Accomplishment, steadiness, order and condition of peace

Blue-green

Dark blue Source:[6]

Table I. Color/emotion findings

While an enthusiastic presentation of a companys product or service is preferred, it must be tempered with reality. There was a strong aversion to primrose paths which were perceived as overpromise. This is of particular relevance in the category of financial services because older individuals are generally more concerned about preservation of capital than they are with growth. To paraphrase one focus group participant, I dont want my money to evaporate to inflation and I dont want to hit one over the park. Going overboard with value-inflated visuals and concepts that are not believable to older consumers suggests to them that you are not really tuned in to their unique needs[7]. The more conditional, the more personally meaningful The preferred logo design at AEFA also scored high points for its interpretative nature that is, letting the consumer personally decide what the art and words symbolized. The open gateway depicted opportunity in general, but many personal articulations of this opportunity were also offered. Certain words were more meaningful and relevant to the older participants than others. The final tagline comprised words that positively spoke to the youngest and oldest members of the group and offered them just what they were looking for from a financial services company. Remaining highly conditional while stating a clear, concise market position is perhaps the greatest conundrum advertisers and their agencies face in connecting with mature markets. Yet mature individuals will demand the freedom to roam within a marketing or advertising concept according to their personal station in life. Take away that right and your campaign will be perceived as presumptuous by older individuals. Additionally, since the mature market is so diverse, you cannot be so specific in your executions for fear of isolating many. Therefore, you must be broad, yet meaningful on an individual level, to embrace this diversity. Although this sounds impossible, the most successful mature market campaigns have solved this paradox. The current Quaker Oats campaign, fueled by the tagline, Oh, what those oats can do, is based on a conditional positioning of mature energy, vitality and individuality. Personal profiles of the people featured in each advertisement grounds this conditional positioning with enough realism so that a reader can see him- or herself in the advertisement. Even the line about age in the personal profile section is answered conditionally with phrases such as, None of your business, and A state of mind, both of which communicate attitude but do not restrict Quaker Oats users to any specific age group. Prudential has also conditionally positioned itself with mature markets. Its campaign, based on the three phrases, Live well. Make a plan. Be your own
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Interpretative nature of logos

rock, speaks a universal language to all mature individuals, yet specific executions offer detailed examples of how different people are living this credo with the help of Prudential. Sterling examples One could argue that the Quaker Oats and Prudential campaigns are nothing but sterling examples of the testimonial approach in advertising. What makes them unique, however, is their ability to tap into universal mature market themes, deliver their messages on a highly personal level and tie this all together based on each companys unique value proposition within their respective categories. To be sure, this is the formula for success with mature markets. David Wolfe, author of the highly regarded book, Serving the Ageless Market[8, p. 28], offers a definition of why the principle of conditional positioning is so powerful with mature individuals:
The less absolutely a product is defined, the greater the likelihood that consumers will define the products attributes using their own processes of imagination in terms of their individual self-images, personality characteristics and perceptions of need and desire.

Furthermore, as Wolfe and many others have documented, mature individuals have powerful imaginations, positive self-images and definitive expectations of need and desire from products and services. The more you understand the mind of your mature customer, the more you can conditionally present your product or service in such a way that your target can ultimately deduce the value of your offering. And as any salesperson will tell you, the most powerful way to close a sale is to let your prospects feel they are in command of the decision-making process. Conditional but clear The final characteristic of the AEFA logo most preferred by mature individuals is the virtue of clarity. Of course, the words Mature individuals precisely spell out for whom these services are intended, but the dimension of clarity that most focus group participants referred to was how the entire logo held together as a single unit speaking to their unique financial needs as older consumers. It was their ability to put the entire unit together, using their own imaginations, that led to feelings of comfort and security (see Table II). In other designs presented, the unfamiliar was the most unpopular. Wellspring was one concept we felt had real potential going into the research because of its imagery of surging forward with vitality and general wellbeing. But because of a lack of familiarity with an actual wellspring

Virtue of clarity

Mature Active Alert Contributor Experienced Friendly Generous Good-looking Healthy Helpful Independent Mobile Neat Popular Well-groomed Well-to-do Worker

Retired Ailing Cheap Crabby Dependent Lonely Poor Selfish Senile Sloppy

Table II. Popular perceptions of mature vs retired


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(which we did not initially feel was so important) many focus group participants struggled with this concept until it became a turn-off. A positive example of how familiarity of visuals can engage mature individuals in an advertisement was experienced with a campaign the author created for Minnesota Chore Corps an information and referral network designed to help seniors live as independently as possible, for as long as possible. In three separate executions, one row of images rang true for the majority of older people who were asked to comment on the newspaper advertisements. The illustrations were of an old clothes washboard, a nonelectric push mower and an automobile from the 1930s. In nearly every case, focus group participants immediately picked up on these illustrations as cues that these advertisements were speaking to them. This is another example of how to connect with older individuals in your advertising without having to call out to them with negative words such as senior, elderly or retired person.[9]. The effect of always having the actual AEFA logo accompany the new Journeys theme was a major contributor to conjuring up images of the familiar among focus group participants. In fact, it was so strong that some of the participants questioned the need for a new program identity at all. But most did confirm that the solid brand equity of the American Express blue box added to their feelings of comfort, confidence and clarity when it came to understanding the character and type of services and products being offered under the Journeys banner[10]. In summary, Journeys financial options for mature individuals built immediate rapport with mature individuals because of the natural synergy between the name, the tagline, the illustration and its colors. The more this flow was interrupted, as was the case in several other concepts presented, the more quickly the participants concluded that such a concept did not speak to them on a meaningful level. Four main advertising techniques With a name, tagline and illustration that rang true to mature individuals, the work of integrating this positioning into actual advertisements, direct mail invitations, seminar slides and collateral materials began. Along the way, the techniques of successfully marketing to mature audiences were woven into every tactic. This went beyond merely using larger point sizes. It involved inverting many traditional advertising techniques, including four main ones: (1) time is not of the essence; (2) arrogance does not sell; (3) MTV quick-cut editing is out; and (4) remember that mature excitement is different from adolescent excitement. So far, the results have been solid. Attendance at AEFAs seminars is very strong and mature individuals are requesting follow-up consultations with American Express financial advisors at higher levels than had been the case when approached with traditional marketing materials. Let us now take a look at how and why it is so important to integrate these new principles into advertising targeted at mature individuals. Time is not of the essence Perhaps for the simple reason that older people generally have more free time available to them, they do not want to be rushed into doing anything anymore. They have learned how to transcend time to lead less pressured
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lives and do more of what they enjoy most. They will get around to contacting you when they are ready. The psychological basis for this is that mature individuals have a much more highly developed whole-picture orientation, as Wolfe calls it. They appreciate a richness of detail seen from many sides, seen with care totally, intensely and with complete investment.[8, p. 156]. Thus, the process of discovering and comparing new products and services is as important as the decision to buy. Which is why it is critical to respect this process, offer plenty of relevant information and leave the decision to purchase with the mature consumer, rather than to entice with crass, transparent offer ends at midnight! claims. Sales cycles with mature individuals are longer, but when they do decide to purchase, deliver to them what you promise and you will have a loyal friend for life who will pay a good price for what you offer, states Hal Norvell, Director of Travel Services of the American Association of Retired Persons. Furthermore, a recent Roper Starch study commissioned by Modern Maturity defines two new 50-plus segments, representing 21 percent of the current population. Common characteristics of these two segments are careful buyers who do their homework, people who are information hungry and individuals who have the time to investigate their purchases.[5]. Effective call to action So, when it comes to motivating mature markets, the most effective call to action may be no call to action. If your advertising has tapped into the right emotions at the outset, mature markets will respond in droves on their own schedules, of course. At Kaiser Permanente in southern California, for example, the Senior Advantage health plan is gently introduced via multiple contacts with prospects over an extended period of time. The goal of developing long-term relationships supersedes short-term sales figures. Such patience, which is rare among advertisers, is paying off: in 1996, Senior Advantage captured 50 percent of the market growth for Medicare health plans in their market. Thus, modifying the pace of advertising messages and marketing programs results in more deliberate and respectful communications. Granted this sounds basic, but patience and long-term vision have never been virtues of corporate America. Arrogance does not sell Here we have another seemingly obvious statement. Yet most advertising has traditionally been quite self-centered and very one-way. Mature individuals prefer the opposite. They are much more altruistically inclined and demand interaction, not in-your-face action, which is unfortunately the theme of so much of our advertising today. No wonder almost 50 percent of people aged 60 or more agreed with the statement, I often find advertisers portrayal of people in my age group to be insulting.[5]. And even when mature individuals have attempted to voice their discontent, they have been given the cold shoulder. Jo Lowery, coordinator of the Minneapolis/St Paul Gray Panthers, offers this example: I recently wrote female executives in each of the top 100 agencies to complain about ads I found grossly offensive and I only got one reply. I thought that was a snub.[11]. Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantage avoids the arrogance trap through close and frequent contact with its customers. By intimately listening to and getting to know its mature customers through ongoing market research, for instance, it discovered that most mature individuals were not impressed that
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Altruistically inclined individuals

Kaiser Permanente had been around for more than 50 years. A mature company often means different things to mature individuals, and in some cases it is even a turn-off when the perception is that a 50-year-old company has stagnated, become too bureaucratic and is no longer committed to meeting the new and evolving needs of older consumers. Egoless approach required Communicating with mature markets, then, requires a truly egoless approach on the part of advertisers and agencies alike. It takes a willingness and an open mind to understand, embrace and work with the nuances that this kind of advertising requires. MTV quick-cut editing is out We have already talked about the timeless nature of successful mature market penetration. On a more executional level, a new advertising rhythm is also required in the way TV commercials are edited, in the way the pictures in an advertisement are presented, in the way copy flows from one sentence to another. When we have tested copy with mature individuals, for example, short, terse, incomplete sentences exasperated them. While this cadence has always been popular with advertising copywriters, it is truly out of sync with how most mature individuals live their lives. But since so much of our traditional creative style is based on quick, choppy, sight and sound bites, the only message that the continued use of these techniques sends is that such an advertisement is not for older consumers. Pure advertising may not even be the best way to connect with this audience anyway. Nic Richardson, Director of Marketing and Sales for Senior Advantage at Kaiser Permanente, suggests that, we need to rethink the mix of broadcast and non-broadcast media for older consumers. For example, Kaiser has discovered that the social and relationship-building aspects of grassroots community events are very successful with this group. A new sense of mature excitement After presenting advertising creatives with some of these basic mature market learnings, we always hear the same collective moan: Whats left? they lament. Although they do not use these exact words, you can read it in their eyes: Youve just confirmed that old people are the dullards weve always believed they were and that creating great ads targeted at them is impossible. They could not be more wrong. Approached with an open mind, mature markets present a wonderful opportunity for both advertiser and agency to do some of their most inspired, most effective work ever. Mature personalities crave new experiences. The right kind of advertising can be one of them. Our agency has started to define mature excitement with three words: prominent, positive and progressive (see Figure 1). The research we have conducted with AEFA and other clients confirms that successful mature market communications must exude these characteristics. Communications should be prominent in terms of both visual and literal presentation. We have already discussed how color can contribute to this sense of prominence. Corporate attitude portrayed in the marketing materials should also strive to be prominent so that philosophies, from both a product and/or service and corporate perspective, are in sync with those of mature individuals. In the case of AEFA, tailored financial services for mature consumers and the bold
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Key creative characteristics: Prominent Positive Progressive

Inextricably linked to advertisers unique value proposition

Figure 1. Portraying mature excitement

packaging of Journeys, anchored by the 102-year equity in the American Express blue box conveyed an irrefutable sense of prominence. Optimistic attitude Most people want to do business with companies that have a positive outlook on things. Mature individuals are no exception. Despite experiencing a full range of both positive and negative life events, most older consumers forge ahead with an admirable, optimistic attitude. Again, the products and services they choose end up reflecting this in some way. Being progressive, taking initiative, learning new things are all by-products of having a positive outlook on life. Mature individuals do not stand still for life and they will not stand still for advertising that does not communicate this same sense of progressiveness. Finally, mature excitement should not be only construed as always being action-oriented. Recalling that the mature market is the most diverse of all, mature excitement can refer to any mental, spiritual and physical activity. While most younger audiences will gravitate to the physical dimension for their source of excitement, mature individuals have a tendency to find quieter mental and spiritual opportunities for excitement such as volunteering; experiencing new people, places and things; reading; and just being, as opposed to always doing. Yet keep in mind, as Kaiser Permanentes Mr Richardson reiterates, the brand of mature excitement you depict in your marketing must be closely linked with the unique attributes of your product or service so that mature individuals feel good about your offering, rather than just feeling good in general. World of fresh opportunity From a creative communications perspective, there seems to be a world of fresh opportunity to develop inspiring campaigns that present products and services within this world of mature excitement. Because these types of campaigns are rare in todays environment regardless of targeted agegroup a company committed to connecting with older consumers can transcend its competition by avoiding so many of the off-putting techniques we have discussed. Beyond the advertising: building loyalty with mature markets Sensitively crafted mature market advertising campaigns can attract prospects to a companys products and services, but that is usually not enough to make the cash register ring. Sooner or later the consumer must interact with the company: through an e-mail request for follow-up information, via the telephone for clarification, or through a personal visit to a branch office to experience the company first-hand. If a company has only modified its advertising to connect with mature audiences, and not its customer service and sales and operational processes, mature prospects will turn away immediately. Companies must remember that serving the mature market really means respecting a whole new set of criteria that mature individuals use to assess and decide if a product or service is right for them. There is probably no better analogy to describe the new sales process that is required with mature prospects than by comparing it with the natural art of
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conversation. One must first strike up a conversation with a likely partner and then maintain the flow[12]. Good marketing then becomes good conversation. But as we have already seen, talking to mature individuals about products and services is different from other markets, which means maintaining the flow with older consumers becomes critical after they have responded to an advertisement[13]. This process can range from playing the right kind of music while mature individuals are on hold (if they really must be at all), to completely blowing up the organization as Tom Peters refers to it and as Kaiser-Permanentes Healthcare did with its marketing department[14]. Proactive, ongoing research To get closer to their mature customer and value people above established practices, Kaiser Permanente implemented a series of proactive, ongoing quantitative market research. It is also making sure its unique value proposition extends throughout its entire system from TV spots, to marketing brochures, to sales reps, all the way to the attitude of the healthcare professional delivering the service. For example, rather than have Kaiser Permanentes first encounter with new mature customers be when they are ill, Kaiser invites them in for a comprehensive health screening to identify their needs. This provides an excellent service to the older consumer and helps Kaiser manage its costs more effectively. A new financial experience Once AEFA prospects respond to a seminar invitation via the Journeys presentation of AEFA mature market products and services, they are also in for a completely new financial experience with the company. For starters, seminars are held when mature individuals most prefer them. While offering different time/location options is common sense, understanding that most mature individuals have a very different pace from most of the population is critical. They are just as busy, but they are busy at different times of the day and week. Rich story-telling technique Most traditional financial seminars rely on a very dry, direct communication of the principles being presented. The Journeys seminars are much different. They utilize a rich story-telling technique to mesh with research that has found that older people tend to be more receptive to emotionallyenriched information (which can be best delivered through the lives of people in stories) as opposed to emotionally-neutral information[15]. The Beardstown Ladies, a group of 15 women with an average age of 68, have also been thoroughly successful using the storytelling technique of explaining financial concepts to their audience. Their book, Stitch-in-Time Guide to Growing Your Nest Egg, is a refreshing mix of personal stories, proverbs and adages mixed with shrewd Wall Street wisdom[16]. Based on the sales figures of their books and videos, their requests for appearances on talk shows and their own seminar circuit, people young and old find them irresistible. As might be expected, many of the American Express financial advisors giving the Journeys seminars have also had to make adjustments to their personal presentation styles. In contrast to many of the traditional skills honed to work with other segments of the population, the profile of a successful mature market financial advisor was somewhat different. In short, the most effective advisors realized that success with mature individuals is based on building rapport with the prospect, then controlling the process, not the prospect.
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Building solid relationships In the mature market financial services category, the relationship reigns. Research shows that mature individuals prefer to initiate a relationship with a financial advisor through recommendations and/or seminars. After trust and confidence has been established, information, choice, products, services and recommendations can follow. Sensitive topic Marketing materials developed by our agency for the Personal Trust division of AEFA were based on the principle of helping financial advisors to build this trust and confidence among current clients who were considering the companys trust services. Complex and dependent on ones individual situation, personal trust is a challenging and sensitive topic to discuss with clients. Thus, the marketing materials were developed to assist the advisor in gaining the confidence of the prospect through a gentle copy pace, soft visuals and a format based on Wolfes key underlying motivating factors[17]. Beyond the Journeys seminars themselves, AEFA has truly adopted a 360degree approach to serving mature individuals so that every advertisement, every piece of collateral, every telephone contact, every newsletter, every alliance initiative really every interaction a mature individual has with the company is in sync with the mature market mission of AEFA. From the perspective of an AEFA mature client, it is this consistency of message that confirms that AEFA is a company dedicated to building a long-term business relationship based on an individuals unique needs. Unique product Another of our clients, Care Partners, has transformed the value of relationships into a unique product that none of its competitors offers. As a new organization developed to bring families, doctors and nursing homes together to ensure better care through better partnerships, Care Partners created the Geriatric care manager (GCM). The GCMs role is to be the single person that nursing-home residents and their families can contact for information, updates or to just discuss their care plan. In other words, the GCM was created to manage the relationship between residents, families, physicians and nursing-home staff. Traditional models had no such GCM and, hence, no one to manage these critical relationships. Lifetime value of mature clients There is another reason to cultivate long-term relationships with mature clients: we have the technology to do it. The art of targeting, mailing and personalizing has never been more sophisticated. New systems allow for a two-way dialog during which we learn more about an individuals attitudes and preferences with each conversation. This learning allows us to customize future communications, making them uniquely relevant to each consumer. Used in a respectful manner, consistent with a companys overall mature market mission, advertisers have the ability to develop deep, meaningful one-to-one relationships with its customers. Mature individuals are avid readers of financial materials and have the time to absorb the information they request. After all, the actual process of learning and discovery brings mature personalities enjoyment in and of itself. So the more personally relevant and meaningful this information can be, the more likely mature individuals will ask for more of it. However, personal and meaningful information evolves out of one-to-one communications with an individual: not something with which most traditional marketing companies and advertisement agencies are
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comfortable. There was no reason they had to be. Advertising has been oneway for a long time blaring out of five or six TV and radio stations with no way for consumers to interact with the messages. Obviously, things are much different today, however. As our population has matured, so has our media. We now have the technology to deliver and customize products and services to the unique needs of mature consumers. But we still do not have the nature. It is just not an advertisers nature to be honest, personal and respectful of an individuals right to take his/her time to make up his/her mind we want the fast sale now. It is just not an advertisers nature to invest in the lifetime value of prime, heavy users we are too focussed on short-term results. The campaigns not selling? Trash it!, is the all-toooften, short-sighted battle cry of many a marketing manager. However, it is those companies and their agencies that commit to investing in the long-term value of their best customers that will cultivate a loyal, lucrative following of mature consumers. Focussing on long-term relationships AEFAs shift from acquisition marketing to retention marketing is a good example of focussing on long-term relationships. When an American Express study found that AEFA was managing only 15 percent of a typical clients financial assets in the early 1980s, the company changed its approach. Financial advisors were encouraged to open up a relationship with a customer by selling a personal financial plan as the first transaction, rather than a single investment product. Leading with financial plans made it easier for AEFA advisors to make additional sales to existing customers. While annual sales results did not change dramatically, there was a much more rapid growth in the lifetime value of the customer base, which promised a more secure future for AEFA[18]. To be sure, relationship building takes time but, with mature markets, the payoff can be well worth the extra time spent in developing such a relationship. If you consider 50-plus to be the defining point of your mature market customer, this person will spend two years in this lifestage[19]. Even if you raise it to 55- or 60-plus, maturity represents this single longest lifestage among all other traditional marketing segments (Table III). And because the values of mature individuals are mush more likely to remain stable compared with the ever-changing values of younger age cohorts, a company that makes this long-term commitment to older individuals has the opportunity to retain them for longer. When managers strive to grow customer equity, they put the customer at the forefront of their strategic thinking.[18]. This is exactly where todays mature consumer needs to feel with regard to the products and services he/she is considering. For this is the best way in which to lay the groundwork to build a successful long-term relationship with the mature market.

Age cohort Childhood (0-17) Early adulthood (18-34) Middle adulthood (35-49) Later adulthood (50+)

Length of lifestyle (years) 17 16 14 29

Table III. Lifetime value of mature customers: 50-plus is the single longest lifestage
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Know em to break em The point of having new guidelines for developing creative messages that will connect with older consumers is to offer contrast to what most marketing and creative people in the industry have been taught for most of their careers. The front cover of our mature market agency guide is entitled, Know em to break em. The last page of this guide features a quotation from the legendary ad man, Bill Bernbach:
Logic and overanalysis can immobilize and sterilize an idea. Its like love. The more you analyze it, the faster it disappears.

It cannot be stressed enough that a good advertising idea must still be a good advertising idea that registers with emotion and delivers a clean, clear message that transcends anything the competition is saying. However, because mature markets are different, how you get there is also different than how it has mostly been done in the past. Mature marketing Mature marketing is rich with opportunity. A quick scan of advertising award books, design annuals and stock photo and illustration annuals shows a serious drought of meaningful mature market messages and images. Yet todays mature consumers are active, alive, adventurous among the most creative people in our society. Too bad they are too often subjected to advertising that has not tapped into the magic of maturity. In her book, The Fountain of Age, Friedan writes that the mature individuals she talked to kept telling her that, as they aged, they found themselves in a new place emotionally, mentally and physically. Want your marketing initiatives and your advertising campaigns to be noticed, absorbed and felt by these people? Get your company into this new place. Youll find very few of your competitors there for now.
Notes and references 1. Take your pick. Our agency defines mature markets based on stages of social and psychological development, not age. 2. For insight into why so many advertising agencies have trouble communicating with mature markets, read Dick Lees study, Ageism in Advertising, 1995. 3. Formal qualitative and quantitative research, in addition to numerous, informal raging debates with older relatives, neighbors and friends. 4. Optimism is one of the few common traits shared by most mature individuals as depicted by Roper Starch Worldwide[5]. 5. Roper Starch Worldwide, Modern Maturity: A New Market Smashing Old Stereotypes of 50+ America, 1995. 6. University of Oregon (1996), Color/Emotion Study conducted by Dr Max Luscher, a Swiss psychologist who performed studies to show how color affects the human mind and body in different ways. 7. Interestingly, distaste for overpromise went beyond making bundles of money. One of our concepts tested, Leading advice, failed miserably because of the perception by participants that one source of information could never be enough for them, as good as it might be. 8. Wolfe, D. (1990), Serving the Ageless Market, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, p. 28. 9. University of Colorado (1996) Joseph Rosse, words over half the respondents used to describe mature and retired. Boomers, of course, had the most negative attitudes towards the term retired. 10. In addition to the positive, 100-year reputation of the company log, do not dismiss the value of the dark-blue color of the logo itself. We didnt. The Journeys color scheme was designed to complement the blue box which we knew would always accompany the Journeys logo. 11. TV accused of tuning out older viewers, Good Age, October 1996.

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12. Blattberg, R.C. and Deighton, J., Manage marketing by the customer equity test, Harvard Business Review, July 1996. 13. Although it would be a real stretch to talk about advertising as an optimal experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi offers many clues as to the nature of the highest level of conversation between advertiser and mature customer in his book. See Csikszentmihalyi, M., Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Harper, Perennial, New York, NY, 1990. 14. Nic Richardson, Director of Marketing and Sales, Kaiser Permanente, speaking at UCLA Mature Market Conference, Wheres the Beef?, May 1996. 15. Carstensen, L.L. and Turk-Charles, S., The salience of emotion across the adult life span, Psychology and Aging, June 1994. 16. The Beardstown Ladies, Stitch-in-Time Guide to Growing Your Nest Egg, Hyperion, New York, NY, 1996. 17. Wolfe, D., Targeting the mature mind, American Demographics, 1994, pp. 32-6. Mr Wolfes key underlying motivating factors are: autonomy and self-sufficiency; social connectedness; altruism; personal growth; revitalization. 18. Blattberg, R.C. and Deighton, J. (1996), Manage marketing by the customer equity test, Harvard Business Review, July-August. 19. Based on the current female life expectancy rate of 79 (see [5]).

John Nielson is Creative Director and Kathy Curry is Account Supervisor at the Sandcastle Group (www.sandcastlegroup.com) a Minneapolis marketing communications firm specializing in mature markets and relationship marketing campaigns.

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