Brands starting to recognise that older people are important demographic

Recently a number of high-profile brands have been using older people in their advertising campaigns.

An advert by French fashion house Céline quickly went viral after using 80-year-old author Joan Didion as the face of its new campaign. This was later followed by Saint Laurent, Marc Jacobs and L’Oreal, the latter recently announcing that 60-year-old Twiggy would be joining the brand as an ambassador.

While older people are often used in advertising for healthcare products such as walk in baths and showers, it has been much more unusual to see those over 60 used in campaigns for beauty and fashion. An example of where this has occurred recently is when Kate Spade surprised audiences by using 93-year-old Iris Apfel in their advertising campaign, who is a businesswoman, interior designer and fashion icon.

The rise of older people in advertising

According to an article in Ad Week, the consultancy A.T Kearney has found that consumers over the age of 60 are the fastest growing group in the world. In just ten years, the global population of those over 60 has increased by 25 per cent and is an audience that brands are starting to recognise.

Brands are realising that this group has strong buying power and are starting to market fashion and beauty products at this age bracket. This is particularly true for quality, high-end brands, who feel that the older consumer is more likely to be wealthy, with a disposable income to purchase their products. This is confirmed by the fact that in 2010 it was recorded that people worldwide over the age of 50 collectively spent $8 trillion, which is expected to almost double by 2020.

Following this trend, many are hoping that the youth-orientated world of fashion is now embracing women of an older age. However, a number of people are sceptical that this will last and feel that brands are simply using older women as a novelty factor, in order to make people stop and pay attention.

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