Does Experience Ever Get Old?

Like taxes, this will probably get you in the end..

I'm talking about ageism.

I was asked to be on a panel to discuss ageism in adland, both as a neglected marketing opportunity and the lack of senior talent across the creative industries.

During his presentation, Dave McCaughan asked why do we market to millennials who have no money and ignore those with wealth?

He makes a fair point, the fastest growing demographic in Asia isn't Millennials, but the generation who have experienced most of todays digital revolution first hand, are adventurous and, probably most importantly, far wealthier than the younger generations.

“Why as an industry don’t we focus on where growth is? Why are we focused on a group of people that don’t have money and not on the generations that have?”

So if the opportunity is so big why aren’t there more agencies or groups that are focused on it?

Kim Walker replied “It’s the million dollar question. The reason is it’s just not cool. it’s not shiny. He said the belief that seniors are all about hearing aids, spectacles and retirement “is absolute bullshit." He added: “Old people don’t want to buy products designed for old people. They want to use products that make them feel engaged with life.

“How much do you think the industry is engaging with that consumer and how effectively? The answer is pretty poorly.”

However, a far more serious issue facing the entire industry is the loss of wisdom, experience, and knowledge when driving out and ignoring talented and experienced execs in their 40s and 50s

While debate rages around gender and race, age discrimination is the industry's forgotten diversity issue, which severely impacts the level of knowledge and skill within all agencies and the skew towards a younger workforce in advertising is often overlooked.

Age discrimination is particularly rampant in the tech industry, which makes it a huge problem for the creative industries, as we're so closely tied.

Over 50's are hardly anywhere to be found in the tech workforce. But millennials are dominating. Seventeen percent of employees in the companies surveyed by Indeed were age 20 to 30, while 29% were somewhere between 31 and 35. The numbers only decrease for older workers. A mere 27% in tech were age 36 to 40, and even fewer (26%) were over 40.

Nearly half (46%) of tech employees are millennials.

Many factors contribute to tech’s ageist ways. Younger workers command lower salaries and fewer benefits. They’re also less likely to have families and are willing to work longer hours.

Highly competitive industries favor younger, cheaper workers — and that’s a problem.

Most millennials are willing to work for less. And considering their lack of tenure in the workforce, they do. Companies looking for the biggest bang for their buck could be tempted to hire the cheapest candidate, regardless of experience.

But despite trends, data suggest a healthy mix of older and younger workers could be a company’s most competitive advantage.

Hiring managers can cast a wider net for job applicants and find increased options for hire. Research also found firms with greater diversity and equality enjoyed higher profits and better employee performance overall.

Millennials bring an untapped energy source into the office, often at a much cheaper rate, but older people are just as innovative — if not more — than their younger counterparts. Older workers are better apt to solve more complex, deep-rooted problems thanks to their career longevity and detailed level of understanding.

In an industry so reliant on progress and innovation, failure to bring on older workers could backfire immensely. If companies won’t adapt, how can boomers override such strong bias?