Is age just a number...

I saw a stat this week which showed that in seven years the age profile of Facebook has radically changed taking over 65s from a 6% minority to the largest single demographic cohort in 2021 at nearly 20%. In fact, the change within the older audiences in the main digital platforms shows high percentage increases throughout as the early adopters potentially move on and leave them to “mainstream” use.

So with the fast pace that our media behaviours are changing, can we still use age groups to paint a picture of our audiences habits and media consumption? As with most things, the answer is not clear cut and I think we can to an extent but there are some elements embedded in our brains which we first need to overcome.

Assumption is the lowest form of knowledge

Kantar’s latest report ‘Beyond Age’ offers a new perspective on the understanding of age profiling in making your marketing more effective. A important chart in this report is the “Arc of Life” which shows age versus key life events such as moving home, getting married or having children. Milestones like these have always been crucial indicators for advertisers in sectors like home improvements and child related products to really understand when someone is most likely to engage with their brand. Society ‘norms’ are shifting so for example the average age to buy a house is 27 as is the birth of a first child. Marriage tends to come later at 34 and retirement is now standing at 67-68 which could be different to what you might assume. So assumptions are something we very much have to avoid in our media planning. What’s more, the importance of conducting in-depth research up front is becoming more and more vital as consumers are faced with ever-increasing ways in which media is delivered to them.

So what is age good for?

Age can still be a good predictor of attitudinal differences. For example, Kantar shows that people become more risk averse over time, and naturally prioritise fashion and career ambitions when they’re younger. The importance of what others think of them shows a significant decrease as people get older. This could be a positive depending on the impact this has on their attitude towards brands and how this affects their propensity to absorb and engage with them.

In some cases, over a range of attitudes, the results are very flat signalling that age is a poor differentiator. For example, the statements “How I spend my time is more important than the money I make” and “It is important to have a lasting relationship with one partner” do not change with age. It seems some beliefs remain embedded as part of who you are as opposed to how old you are.

What does mean for media consumption?

Taking those classed as Generation X (born 1965 – 1980) as an example, we discover significant diversity in the way they consume media demonstrating why they should not be approached as a single group.

‘Senior Sole Decision Makers’, for example, spend the most time with media and are the top segment for both live TV and internet use - at least two hours more per day than ‘Playschool Parents’ and ‘Empty Nesters’.

‘Senior Sole Decision Makers’ are also 81% more likely to be among the heaviest fifth of live TV viewers, while ‘Playschool Parents’ - tied up with childcare - watch the least live TV. And yet both ‘Playschool Parents’ and ‘Empty Nesters’ are above average readers of newspapers, relative to the average Gen X-er.

We can therefore see that life circumstances can and will have a significant bearing on category, product, and brand choice – even within a defined age group. Marketers seeking to optimise their campaigns will be well served by looking beyond age to better understand the range of factors that influence the choices of their potential customers. Effective marketing has always been about reaching the right people, at the right time, with the right message – it’s just become increasingly more complex for us to navigate through the plethora of ways to achieve this compared to when I first started media planning back in the day!

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In the words of the Rolling Stones… all I hear is Doom & Gloom. Show me a bit of sunshine!

By Karen Light • 25 May, 2023

Winter is bleak enough, without a looming recession, high inflation and now the threat of food rationing. As consumers feel the pinch and businesses face soaring costs, a lot of brands are questioning how they can best connect with consumers at this time. ITV’s recent ‘Race to the Top’ webinar highlighted that despite the pressures, people are still spending, but assessing value in different ways. The ITV study found that whilst price is important, quality came a very close second as a factor of choice. Consumers were also more likely to purchase when brands communicated why prices needed to go up and didn’t mind paying for something if it made them feel good. This emotional hook could be rooted in the social or sustainable benefits from buying a brand, or simply by offering those everyday magic moments; like a home interiors advertiser suggesting little home lifts, or an indulgent me-time snack. TGI’s Global Quick View 2023 study shows that if UK adults had to reduce spending due to the cost-of-living crisis, they would prioritise holidays and going out to eat and drink. Consumers don’t want bleakness right now, they want uplifting experiences that enrich their lives. So, before brands turn to price discounting as a value incentive, perhaps they should consider their customers’ needs and how value may be added in other ways. Then communicate that in an entertaining but empathetic way. Karen Light Sources: Race To The Top: How brands should respond to the cost of living crisis (itvmedia.co.uk) GB TGI December 2022-© Kantar - “If you have to reduce your spending due to the cost-of-living crisis, which of the following would you prioritise spending your money on?” (top choices in Britain, by % adults): 29% Holiday/Short Break, 27% Going out to eat or drink System1 Group – Innovating in a Recession Jan 2023

Can media measurement evolve to truly capture cross-media reach in a fair and equitable way?

By Karen Light • 11 Nov, 2019

Cross-media reach blog post

All we hear is radio ga ga

By El Long, Planning Director • 07 Nov, 2019

Radio is a brilliantly effective media type but can often be undervalued and can admittedly be difficult to measure. So, radio, what’s new? Let’s take a look… Anyone who knows me, is well aware that I love a bit of audio advertising having worked for many years at a radio station group and headed up radio planning at a large network agency. It’s not right for every brief (but what is?) and it’s a specialist skill to write a great script for radio (we know some ace people who can help out in that area). Nine times out of ten though, radio can deliver cost effective reach volume against many key audiences, contributing to both short and longer term impact on sales and brand health measures. So why do many advertisers shy away from it? Like a lot of brand advertising activity, the bottom line is that it can be hard attribute and measure direct impact. This is never music to the ears of the finance department – nor helpful when you’re the marketing lead keen to seek budget approval. Growing numbers of people are tuning in to commercial radio Radio in the UK is having it’s finest hour - now reaching its highest ever total audience. The most recent Rajar figures revealed that commercial radio has overtaken BBC radio channels on share of listening for the first time in 23 years! The UK total radio weekly audience now stands at 49 million people, with a whopping 88% of the population tuning in. Within that, commercial radio now reaches 36.3 million. In contrast, the BBC’s total audience has declined from 34.9 million in Q4 2015 to 33 million in the latest figures. Great news for advertisers – the opportunity to reach high volumes of consumers via radio advertising is on the up! Couple this with the increased adoption of digital audio and the popularity of podcasts growing all the time, radio & audio platforms offer a prime opportunity for advertisers to take advantage of. We know it works; the largest advertising brands have invested heavily and consistently in radio over many years, often combining it with other media to gain that holistic multi-touchpoint effect. For me, the confidence in using radio comes from embracing both soft and hard metrics. There has to be a blend between the hard metric of “we spent this and got this back” with softer brand health metrics which you take time to build and to measure impact. RadioCentre have some amazing supporting studies for radio advertising. One demonstrates that digital activity, whilst measurable, has significant weaknesses in areas where radio excels, including increasing brand salience and maximising campaign reach. More importantly; radio sits above all media except TV in increasing profit ROI