July 11, 2013

Top 10 Mistakes When Advertising To Grown-Ups





Don't let this happen to you!













TCWriter said...

>>Your idiot copywriters have no clue how to talk to them.

If agencies hadn't run off their more experienced writers in favor of cheaper social-media wielding twenty somethings (who are now making the same mistakes that experienced writer did a decade ago), you'd be wrong.

But I think you're right.

It seems only fair; twice I've been told that anyone over 40 can't possibly talk to 25 year-olds. How could someone who lives on Twitter possibly speak to a 50 something who doesn't use words like 'kewl' and 'whatevs'?

Paul Suggett said...

Spot on. It's amazing how cliché the briefs are (when we get briefs) when talking to the over 50's crowd. Suddenly you hit 55 and all you car about is reclining arm chairs, soft foods and movies on Lifetime. George Carlin was over 70 when he died. He was sharper than most of us will ever be. Most 55 year olds don't even seem that old any more. The ones at my gym could kick my ass.

Jeffrey Summers said...

Who wants to talk to a 25 yr old?

TCWriter said...

Hell, I don't necessarily want to talk to the target audience of any of my clients. But there's that little matter of making a living.

Carol L. Weinfeld said...

Good points, especially #6 re: the whimsical nature of all consumers and their lack of brand loyalty.

Shanghai61 said...

I may have said this here before (my memory isn't what it was) but there's a fundamental problem with people. The effects are worse the younger you are, but it applies to everyone - even old farts like me.

We simply cannot imagine what it is like to be older than we are. Sure, everyone can remember what it was like to be younger, but nobody can get their heads around being older. We have a blindspot the size of Mars.

So, if you're a 28 year-old brand manager, or account person, or copywriter for that matter, you have real trouble empathising with a target that's older than you are. Hence, the lapse into stereotypes.

I tell 'em to go talk to their mothers or fathers about how they really feel about stuff. (God forbid they should ever talk to anyone older that they aren't actually related to). They give me that sympathetic smile, the one that says, 'let's pacify the grumpy old dude', and carry on turning out the same shit.

When the industry's fixation with 'youth' started back in the 50s and 60s there was a reason. A baby boom. Young people with money and a willingness to spend that their more cautious depression / ww2 era parents didn't have. So the numbers made sense. These days, it's sheer insanity.

Except, I might add, in China, where the post-80s generation is living out the 'swinging 60s' as we speak. They won't have this problem for another 20 years ...

Cecil B DeMille said...

I don't think I've ever been able to write an ad for a 20-something. It wasn't terribly memorable if I did. I've always thought the benefit of the product was what sold it, not the age of the audience. If you're advertising an adult diaper, you hardly need to establish the context. Most products are like that, when you boil it down. Advertising has a nasty habit of missing forests for trees.

Tim Orr said...

Recently, I saw a trailer for a "coming-of-age" film. The trailer had someone singing, "I know what it is to be young but you, you don't know what it is to be old." Interestingly, there's an Orson Welles recording of a song based on this premise. [See #3]

LisaB said...

I'm still waiting for someone to notice Gen X. We're in our '40's now, managers and business owners. Still the red headed stepchild of the media world even though from the music I've heard on many commercials I think there are a few Gen X Brits bouncing around there.

Alain Bransford said...

Another great piece, Bob! Many twentysomethings at ad agencies do seem to think that anyone over 50 is a grandpa or grandma. Perhaps they need to make a few friends out of their age group to get some perspective!

Sean Peake said...


Neuromarketing, the new phrenology for advertisers, has determined that Boomers' brains are different that younger folks, some of it caused by disease and/or degeneration, and marketers need to use a different approach. http://www.marketingmag.ca/news/marketer-news/inside-the-boomer-brain-83715#comment-193129