The Age Bridge Awards by Fifty Not Out and The Stable are about work that talks to those 50+. As over 90% of people who work in advertising are aged under 50 (don’t get us started), making good ads for those over 50 means crossing the bridge, not just staring from the bank. The goal of the Awards is for it to be unnecessary to have these awards. Until then we’ll be applauding the good, and calling out some of the bad.
Creating change in how the creative industries view, and talk to the 50+ generations – hell, getting you to realise you need to talk to the 50+ generations – is a very difficult task. But you do need to talk to the 50+ generations. They make up 25% of Australia’s population, the bulk of them working, shopping, travelling, using services from banking to plumbing…getting on with life.
More importantly, because it makes the stereotypes obsolete, there’s a new older generation tribe, the ageless generation, growing. They’re not all of the 50+ set yet but they’re a new opportunity that should excite marketers. It’s a lost opportunity for marketers that they’re not. Up to 40% are starting again in many ways – dating (devouring all the goods and services that go with that), restarting or injecting more ambition into their careers, amping up their financial ambitions. Another half is feeling empty nest freedom after 20+ years – doing things, buying things, trying things they’ve had locked away for years in their “some day” drawers.
The Awards are part of a larger movement we’ve begun. The Age Bridge was started because as 50+ ad people, we’re fed up with the artificial division that society, and the creative industries that promote its culture, make between young and old. We’re defying ageism, bringing people together from both sides.
The first Age Bridge Awards winner was a unanimous choice, a commercial for Eargo, by agency, Huge. While there has been something of a flood (or a fad) recently of ads that include older (SO OLD) people in their “cover the ground” or diversity montages…
…Eargo is a commercial made for older people that older people would have to love. That is a very rare achievement.
There’s no 30-something voice talking down to them. It’s not only millennials who hate that. The 50+ cast members look right. They’re not granny stereotypes. They’re not stereotypes at all. They’re not seen as less than able in any way or applauded for still being able. And the ad’s humour is even risqué. It’s not horrified by having someone 50+ and sex in the same story. (Do look up “the sexual revolution of the 1960s”. You get to do it freely because the now 50+ did.)
Fifty Not Out founder, Jeff Sanders, explained, “We chose the Eargo TVC because we feel it gets it right in terms of tone and manner, messaging, casting, scripting etc. And it’s in a category that usually gets it really wrong and really OLD. For that alone, kudos. These guys are getting it.”
If you don’t think the story is realistic or relatable, you’re way too young. Have you considered what an older mind or two could add to your work?
Client: Eargo Agency: Huge
