Baby boomers open to new brands

Warc, 1 March 2013

SYDNEY: Baby boomers in Australia display an openness to trying new brands and experiences, but feel let down by the quality of the advertising they are exposed to.

A survey of 508 people aged 50-69 years old in Australia by Mi9, a digital media company, found them embracing new technologies and inspired by a sense of adventure, with 72% willing to try new brands.

The fact they hold more than 40% of the country's net wealth and the average household net worth is over A$1m encourages such trends, the analysis added.

"While some consumers are tightening their belts, this lucrative 'Lifestyle' stage provides real opportunity for brands to attract new customers and drive sales through more targeted campaigns based on deep audience insight and intelligent data," Gabbi Stubbs, head of research and insights at Mi9, told B&T.

But advertisers will have to comprehensively rethink how they approach this group. Just 6% of respondents said they liked the way advertisers spoke to them.

One of the reasons for this may be that advertisers are making wrong assumptions about age and behaviour: 67% of those surveyed felt more youthful than their parents did at their age and 41% said they "have a desire" to spend their children's inheritance.

A significant majority, 84%, are still working, as Australia sees a rise in semi-retirement, and 74% were trying to live a healthy lifestyle, by eating and drinking responsibly.

They have also adapted to the digital age, spending 21 hours a week online, with a third of them practise "dual screening", or being online while watching TV.

Indeed, penetration of PCs is very high at 81%, while 67% own a laptop, 40% a smartphone and 19% a tablet. Fully 90% have purchased products online, and a quarter do so every week.

"Our research can help brands to better understand not only their digital and lifestyle behaviour, but their attitudes and mindsets as well," said Stubbs.

Data sourced from B&T; additional content by Warc staff