Generation X continues to hit the spot, but why is the industry still missing out?

The over-50s are being ignored, both internally and externally. At the industry’s peril.

Nicky Bullard, Chief Creative Officer, speaks with Campaign’s Matt Barker on what the industry must do as part of his article below. *Originally posted in Campaign.

It kind of made sense with “baby boomers”. Such a genuine post-war consumer phenomenon demanded a handle, something for sociologists and marketers alike to get a grip on and use as an instruction for all that was to follow, as shifts became faultlines and everything changed and then never stopped changing.

Now, however, in our hyper-fluid times, where older generations are the ones with disposable income, are tech-savvy and continue to be among the first in line for virtual and live experiences, tidy age categorisations can seem a little trite at best (one step away from horoscopes) and, at worst, damagingly reductive, particularly when it comes to advertising and marketing.

The frenzied rush to engage with a Gen Z audience has come at the expense of a huge market, one that, according to recent research from the MullenLowe Group UK, will very soon make up more than half of the UK population: the over-50s.

Produced with Kantar, the report, The Invisible Powerhouse, warns that the generation in question now risks becoming an abandoned, erased majority, describing the situation as “a shame and a scandal”.

It kind of made sense with “baby boomers”. Such a genuine post-war consumer phenomenon demanded a handle, something for sociologists and marketers alike to get a grip on and use as an instruction for all that was to follow, as shifts became faultlines and everything changed and then never stopped changing.

Now, however, in our hyper-fluid times, where older generations are the ones with disposable income, are tech-savvy and continue to be among the first in line for virtual and live experiences, tidy age categorisations can seem a little trite at best (one step away from horoscopes) and, at worst, damagingly reductive, particularly when it comes to advertising and marketing.

The frenzied rush to engage with a Gen Z audience has come at the expense of a huge market, one that, according to recent research from the MullenLowe Group UK, will very soon make up more than half of the UK population: the over-50s.

Produced with Kantar, the report, The Invisible Powerhouse, warns that the generation in question now risks becoming an abandoned, erased majority, describing the situation as “a shame and a scandal”.

Sticking, for the sake of argument, with the well-established demographic tags, and casting aside the long shadow cast by the boomers (born between 1946-1964), it’s the following age group, Generation X (1965-1980), that is shaping up to be the great lost opportunity for brands.

Gen X-ers are certainly an interesting bunch, maybe the last generation to have been part of a distinct UK youth culture, one that operated separately from what was happening over in the US. Across the Atlantic, the image of the 1990s, plaid-shirted slacker still tends to hold sway, but really has little to do with what was happening over here.

The term was taken from a 1991 Douglas Coupland novel, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. The phrase dates back to 1953, used by photographer Robert Capa to describe the angst and uneasiness of post-war, pre-boomer youth.

In 1964, it was the title of a book exploring the first stirrings of British youth culture, one that would enjoy a cult following the next decade and lend its name to a middling punk band fronted by future MTV rocker Billy Idol (Coupland always insisted that the title of his novel was unrelated).

But it’s that 1960s book that is, in many ways, a clearer pointer to how Gen X consumes and behaves. As a teenager during the 1980s (full disclosure: I’m typing from memory here), everything was available in second-hand (note: not “vintage”) shops and markets.

The books, records, clothes and other pop cult detritus of bygone eras could be had for loose change. It can be quite a chastening experience visiting Abebooks to see just how much those original copies of Generation X go for now.

Gen X expectations when it comes to gig-going continue to drive a lot of Live Nation’s thinking and planning, with one current vogue for premium packages that include me-time health and wellbeing offerings, like spas and yoga and pilates classes, alongside the usual VIP wristband enhancements and perks.

If the age group’s curiosity and openness to new opportunities and platforms (streaming, digital radio, etc) excites Campling, at MullenLowe there’s still a sense that not enough is being done to engage with such a potentially lucrative market.

Group chief creative officer Nicky Bullard believes that the industry needs to rethink a lot of the work that it’s putting out, particularly when it comes to targeting the over-55s.

“One of the things that always hits me is when you fill out an online form and you tick what age you are,” Bullard says. “You look at the age brackets, often it’s 55-plus or 60-plus, there’s no option after that. Everyone’s put into this big blob of nothing, of beige, and it just doesn’t make sense, it certainly doesn’t make any commercial sense.”

During Cannes Lions, Bullard staged her own protest, wearing “best before” stickers to call attention to the industry’s deep-set insistence that anyone in their fifties is past their creative prime and out of touch with the preferences and demands of a younger audience.

“Experience isn’t valued, it just becomes expensive,” Bullard explains. “Things need to be cheaper, so you can make savings with a more junior team. But then you need this pool of experienced, expensive freelancers on hand to bail everyone out. It’s crazy, we’re nuts.”

Talking through the MullenLowe report, one particular stat stands out for Bullard. “There was one thing that really upset me,” she says. “Eighty-eight per cent of over-55s said that they were unhappy about the way advertising treats them, 77% were really angry about it, 66% felt ignored and 15% felt depressed or disheartened. Fifteen per cent of the people over 50 who we are marketing to, we’re making them feel depressed. That’s awful and we’re not really addressing it.”

One significant step would be to stop using terms like Generation X, boomer, millennials and all the rest of it. “Really it would make much more sense to group people by their passions and interests,” Bullard says, not unreasonably. “All of this age group thing, it’s a bit weird. It’s very strange.”