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"I am 61 years old and nobody is interested in selling me anything.

The only way to sell products is to associate them with youth, but how

many young people do you see driving a Porsche?" Germaine Greer's

disillusionment resonates with many of the over-50s that make up the

grey market, as well as some of this month's Think Tank panelists.

Older may be wiser but not necessarily more popular, especially not

where marketers are concerned. Research shows that 85 per cent of

consumers over 50 dismiss advertising as of little or no relevance to

them. Yet a significant proportion of the over-50s have a yearly income

of more than £25,000, giving them substantial spending power.

A market with potential you would think, so why are so many companies

still failing to effectively target the grey market? Is it a question of

a lack of understanding, or just a lack of interest? Are marketers

sending out the wrong messages via the wrong channels?

The grey market is not a simple one. When you consider that this term

encompasses everyone from 50 up to possibly over 90, depending on how

long any one of us is lucky enough to live, you begin to appreciate just

how enormous a group it is, and how varied.

Andrew Randall, general manager of Home & Capital Trust, which helps

retired homeowners release equity, says: "At one end you've got all the

reports that this is where all the disposable income is and at the other

end you've got the spin that charities tend to put on it that they are

actually underprivileged, scrimping and saving."

Peter Rivett-Jones, managing partner of DM agency MWL, worries about

marketers over-generalising and tarring everyone with the same brush: "I

don't think that when you talk about the grey market it's easy to group

them together. Often it's statistics that group people and you need to

pull those things back apart. One 55-year-old and another can be

absolutely different."

Martin Smith, managing director of Millennium, an advertising agency

focusing on the over-50s market, feels the same way: "I agree. I don't

think there's such a thing as the grey market. That's a title we've

invented just for convenience, for our own understanding."

Randall nods: "It's not so much a grey market. There may be grey

consumers, but if there's a product, there's a market people dip in and

out of at different stages. Thirty years ago you were buying trains

because you had small children. Now, 30 years on, you're buying some of

these things again because you're a grandad."

Poor perception

The problems associated with the grey market and with grey market

products are as old as the hills. Randall believes perception is a big

part of the challenge. Grey market products, such as life insurance and

stair lifts, are just not regarded as exciting products to work on by

young marketers. He says: "This means grey market products get

un-inspiring brand managers, account managers and PR managers."

Todd Norman, strategic partner at Zalpha, the strategic consultancy

within WWAV Rapp Collins Group, agrees. He believes this poor perception

of the grey market is a key element of why it is so badly targeted. "The

problem here is; is it sexy? Is it going to drive my career on? It's a

lack of respect for people over a certain age."

However, he also believes that the issues runs deeper than a simple lack

of understanding: "There's a difference between inability and lack of

desire and drive. I would hope that with good quality research and with

an interest in the market sector and a true curiosity, a young marketer

can effectively market to an older individual."

There's no avoiding the fact that most advertising is simply not

reaching, or attempting to reach, the grey market. Steve Martyn

previously worked at the now defunct agency Prime, which specialised in

developing communications for the mature consumer. He is now the

managing partner of Seriously Bright, an agency concentrating on the B2B

market.

He has carried out detailed research into advertising and its

effectiveness in reaching the grey market. "There's no shortage of data

to substantiate the fact that people always buy certain consumer

products, but there's a disparity on how advertising is focused," he

says. This inherent resistance in the advertising industry against

targeting the older consumer is the main reason why Prime failed. The

agency had many conversations with companies but ultimately found there

was a lack of interest in targeting this market.

Research by Prime involved taking six product categories, including

cars, and looking at where the advertising for a particular product was

focused and who actually bought it. The Renault Clio came out tops with

the under-25s for its advertising. However, the under-25s do not make up

the majority of buyers: "In terms of TGI," explains Martyn, "35 per cent

of sales come from people aged over 50, and around 40 per cent from

people over 60.

You have this dicotomy where something like five per cent of all Clio

sales are to people under 25, and the people who are older who don't

like the advertising are consuming the product."

Not that all companies target exclusively to the under-25s. Our

panelists could think of a few good examples of companies whose

advertising was inclusive of all age groups.

Inclusive advertising

Antony Page, managing director of Age Concern, believes that the

companies doing it well avoid the hard sell and the constant reminder of

age. These, he says, are the kitchen, the fitted bedroom and the home

improvement companies. "They say it simply, present it simply, and leave

it for the customer to respond. They don't try and shove down your

throat that you're 55 and need a new kitchen."

Smith is intrigued by this: "That raises an interesting question, which

is the difference between inclusive and exclusive advertising. To put a

picture of an old person on the front says this is for you and only for

you, whereas to put a picture of a kitchen on the front says this is for

everyone of any age who's looking for a kitchen."

"So unless you're selling Stana Stairlifts for example, you're selling

to people which include old and young who happen to have an interest or

an opportunity," surmises Norman. So, inclusivity is in, exclusivity is

out, unless you're selling a product particularly aimed at an older

market, like stairlifts, or life insurance for the over 50s.

If this is the case, is there actually any real need for agencies

specialising in this sector. "It's a little like positive

discrimination. All we're preaching is what mainstream advertisers and

their clients should be recognising.

I defend trying to put a mature market spin on things because it is so

badly under-represented."

Meaningful communication

Despite a consensus that the over-50s do not need to be targeted

radically differently to the rest of the population, the panelists agree

there are differences in the way older people make decisions, which

effects the way marketers need to approach them.

The problem is not in finding products that people over the age of 50

want, but in finding a way of communicating that means something to

them.

Giving them time to mull things over without being rushed or pressurised

is crucial, according to Page. "The selling process is much longer," he

says. "The older person chooses very carefully, they take time, they

think about it." His experience is that people's values change with age.

Time becomes more important and they become more discerning and so less

easily rushed into parting with their cash.

Mike Bingham, director of Senior Response, a company specialising in

reaching the over-50s using the same age group to talk to them agrees:

"On the phone, we find you have to give them time. Do so with people who

can empathise and sympathise with them and you get the reward."

The time element helps to explain the effectiveness of direct mail with

the over-50s. A piece of direct mail enables the recipient to take their

time over it, and there's no-one breathing down their neck asking them

for a quick response. There is also more emphasis put on receiving post

by this age group in particular. "Very few people send personal letters,

but that age group still does. They place great value in a letter," says

Rivett-Jones.

Learning from older people's habits, likes and dislikes, Randall has

discovered the results to be gained from press ads. "I would still hold

up a flag for press advertising in specific magazines, mainly because of

the tendency of the elderly to hang on to things." He quotes an example

from his own experience: "I'm still getting responses today to ads I

placed in grey market specialist magazine Yours last November."

But tried and tested favourites are not the only way of targeting this

particular group. Martyn is surprised new media channels are not used

more: "The penetration figures of people using the internet show the

fastest growing sector is the 50 plus age group. It's a way of accessing

that audience." He also sees an opportunity with email: "You couldn't

have designed a more perfect tool for older people to communicate

with."

Page is not so keen: "If you send me something through the post I have

time to make a response," he argues. "If I sit in front of my computer

and suddenly you're trying to sell me something, do I get a feeling of

intrusiveness?"

This is also a problem when it comes to telemarketing, a medium that

tends to rely upon young callers. This is an approach many over-50s do

not find appropriate. Bingham, an advocate of telemarketing, believes

the callers have to fit the target audience to make it a success. His

company only uses people over 50 in its call centre to target the

over-50s. "An older person is 15-20 per cent more likely to open up to

another old person.

Order taking by an older person from an older person probably upsells by

a factor of 25 per cent. Lead generation might be 100 per cent."

Presentation

"The problem is," says Norman, "that older peolpe don't think anyone is

like them, or the people that are like them aren't on the telephone and

haven't made the marketing materials." Marketers can get the channel and

the message right, but if they present it in the wrong way, all that

hard work is lost. As Bingham says: "All that creative stuff can get

ruined if it's a younger person talking to an older person."

So the message is make advertising inclusive and don't ignore the

over-50s. For a grey market-specific product, target and present it

properly without generalising that everyone in this sector is the

same.

As Smith says: "Within this market you have got extremes, and you've

probably got more variability than in any other market. But it's about

inclusion. It's making sure you include people and don't suddenly decide

they're about to fall off the edge of the database and don't exist."

Marketing Direct is pleased that our Think Tank is in association with

QAS, the addressing systems specialists. For more information contact

David Pope on 0207 498 7777

THE PANELIST LINE UP

TODD NORMAN, STRATEGIC PARTNER, ZALPHA

Started working for Research International in quantitive research in

1985. He then moved to Craton Lodge Knight as a planning consultant, and

then to BHWG, providing planning support. He joined Zalpha in January

2000.

MARTIN SMITH, MANAGING DIRECTOR, MILLENNIUM

One of Millennium's founders. He started as marketing manager for John

Collier Menswear, joining the Damart Group in 1984 as marketing

director, then Saga Group as DM director.

PETER RIVETT-JONES, MANAGING PARTNER, MWL

Co-founder of brand response agency MWL, he started with EWA & GGT

Direct. He joined Marsden Grant to head-up client services before moving

to Joshua as client director.

STEVE MARTYN, MANAGING PARTNER, SERIOUSLY BRIGHT

Started as a media trainee at Davidson Pearce, then moved into account

handling at Masius Wynne Williams and later O&M before founding his own

agency. He formed Prime to develop communications for the mature

consumer before launching Seriously Bright in 1998.

MIKE BINGHAM, DIRECTOR, SENIOR RESPONSE

This summer Bingham launched Senior Response, a telephone centre for the

mature market. He previously worked as a consultant with BT and Merit

Direct (now Sitel).

ANDREW RANDALL, GENERAL MANAGER, HOME & CAPITAL TRUST

Randall has held several positions with General Foods, American Express,

PPP healthcare, Kinetica, British Standards Institution and Central

London Training & Enterprise Council before joining Home& Capital Trust.

ANTHONY PAGE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, AGE CONCERN ENTERPRISES

Page has spent his life in publishing, marketing and product

development. He is also a director of the charity Age Concern England.