MIRROR IMAGES: How Lessons from Kids Marketing Benefit Brands for Aging Boomers

Having marketed and managed toys, games, and juvenile product brands, I am fascinated after surveying the growing marketplace of products and services for aging Baby Boomers and older adults over the past few years. Two observations stand out for me. Somewhat ironically, in a segment of the market often referred to as “mature,” I find the overall strategies and marketing of goods and services for older adults, as of yet fairly unsophisticated. But even more amazing are the parallels that exist between marketing to seniors and the dynamics that factor into managing brands and developing products for the children’s market — so much so that, at times, it seems these groups are mirror images of one another!

It is worthwhile noting an important distinction between kids and seniors: generally speaking, early child development follows a fairly universal course during the first few years of life, whereas the trajectory of older adults’ functional abilities varies greatly. While not all of us will decline as we age to the point at which we must rely on outside products or services to function in everyday life, many, if not most of us, will experience changes that affect our ability to independently manage ourselves in one way or another. The parallels I draw with the youth market in the next few paragraphs are specific to older adults who require products or services to augment, facilitate, or replace functions they once were capable of handling on their own.

Dual Audiences: Both markets on either end of the age spectrum must appeal to two audiences. In the case of the kids market, particularly for products geared to toddler- through early elementary-age children, marketers need to engage the interest of both the purchaser — most often the mother — and the child. Even at this tender age, without securing the interest of both, play products are much less likely to commercially succeed. Similarly, in the senior market, as many older adults are no longer are able to handle different activities, their care providers — often their adult children or other family members — become a second party involved in making purchase decisions. Just as older children eventually become the marketer’s primary target, in many cases the senior’s adult children and guardians become the primary audience to which marketers turn their focus.

Safety First: Care providers, both for the young and for older adults, generally have the best of intentions. Frequently their principal concern is for safety, physically and emotionally keeping their loved one out of harm’s way. With seniors, this concern extends to ensuring they don’t fall prey to financial scams.

Fostering Independence: Guardians and family care providers for both age groups often wish to develop or preserve their loved ones’ independence, thereby fostering or maintaining their self-esteem and dignity. This process can be supported with the right tools — be they physical products or services, such as training wheels on a bicycle, sound amplifiers for the telephone, or senior shuttle services.

Relationships that Transition: What emerges is a redefinition of roles at both ends of the age spectrum. As children are able to be more independent, parents learn to step back and relinquish control; and as older adults face losing the physical or mental capabilities they once had, families and care providers must step up to assume new responsibilities.

So, what value comes from noting similarities between developmental stages of both ends of the age spectrum? Companies serving the senior adult market might be wise to take a page from Toy and Games’ more marketing-savvy play book. As a rapidly emerging market segment, many manufacturers and service providers have yet to discover positioning and messaging that effectively engage older adults and family care providers making purchase decisions online, in advertising, and at the shelf level.

When developing marketing materials for seniors, consider the following general guidelines:

1. Just as kids don’t like to be associated with anything that suggests they are younger, don’t call older adults “old” and don’t remind them they are aging. Instead, focus on how your offering can make their lives easier, more fulfilling, etc.
2. Use visuals your audience(s) can relate to and find aspirational. Older people see themselves as 12 to 14 years younger than their chronological age; whereas, kids long to be slightly older.
3. Use the power of images to ‘show the fun.’ Employ them to create engagement, while conveying primary benefits and depicting a positive lifestyle.
4. Understand which audience most benefits from your offering. If the intent is to address a dual audience, then like toys marketed to both the parent and the child, determine if benefits can be communicated effectively to both groups, possibly at different levels. If separate messaging needs to be dedicated to reaching either the older person or the care provider, make clear whom you are addressing, or you’ll end up not connecting well with either group. And be sure to highlight features that are of interest to your main user.
5. Get to know which communication channels and vehicles your user(s) frequent most, and when they are active. It’s no coincidence that most Saturday morning TV commercials are aimed at kids!
6. Select words that are part of your users’ vocabulary — avoid trendy buzz words and phrases.
7. Present information in a structured manner that organizes visual and verbal content hierarchically, making navigation easier.
8. Lastly, be sure to keep point sizes of typography legible for older eyes.

The link between the seniors’ and children’s markets has not been lost on Hasbro, one of the world’s largest toy companies. At the Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit held several weeks ago, Ted Fischer, Hasbro’s VP of New Business Development, discussed how his company made its foray into products for older adults as part of its strategy to, as he puts it, increase its “share of life.” Hasbro’s first venture in this area was Joy for All?, a companion pets product range, which launched with a line of cats in late-2015 to keep often isolated seniors company; the range extended to include a Golden Retriever model in time for the Holiday 2016 season.

While these robotic pets don’t interact with people in precisely the same manner real pets would, as the company’s marketing materials attest, built-in sensors allow “pets to respond to your presence and touch; the result is playful, interactive companionship.” To add realism to the experience, Joy for All pets respond to the human voice, and purr or bark; have a “heartbeat effect” you can actually feel; and feature soft-to-the-touch fur that can be brushed. They offer an alternative to real pets, without the need to be walked, fed, or bathed — and even roll over on their backs for a belly rub!

But can these toys really satisfy the emotional needs live pets provide? In her article featured on the tech news outlet qz.com, titled CUDDLY OR CREEPY: Our weird future of loving robotic pets, Ali Wunderman questions the long-term impact of incorporating robots as recipients of our affection. Though various research studies have been conducted on the subject, we don’t yet know the benefit or harm that result from using robotic surrogate pets. Perhaps only time will tell. Ms. Wunderman offers the following note of caution, “When we offload responsibility for providing emotional support to a machine, we risk losing some of our own humanity in the process.”

As we’ve seen here, by observing parallels between transitional periods in the lives of young children and older adults, successful brand strategies, marketing and communication practices can be borrowed from the youth market, adapted, and tested to understand the value they bring to offerings for seniors.

Moss Kardener is Chief Brand Advisor at OnStrategy Consultants. His firm works to position companies, products, and services for success, distinguish them from competitors, define engaging brand experiences, and create strategic communications to tell their stories. Reach Moss at 1 (510) 499–9697, or [email protected]. ? 2017 OnStrategy Consultants. All Rights Reserved. Trademarks and data content belong to their respective rights holders.