The sting in the tail of aged based demographics

A.K.A please don't force me to face 50!

Personalisation is undoubtedly a goal of many marketers and when it's done well it's a joy to behold - my emails from Spotify being a case in point. And then there's the tricky question of age! Quite often offerings based on age demographics are a jolly good thing - nobody wants 15-year-olds being plied with alcohol and cheap credit.

Sometimes it's not so good and today was one of those days - an envelope dropped through my letter box - yes a real life, hard-copy, pay for a stamp missive. It was from Help the Aged - 'oh' I think 'a begging letter asking for support for our less fortunate pensioners.' NOT SO - apparently I am one of them! yes at the grand old age of 50 I qualify for Help the Aged concern - at least as far as flogging me home insurance goes.

Up to now I've managed to deal with 50 by mostly considering it as 'just a number' if advertisers want me to face up to actually being part of the aged population they're going to have to break it to me a little more gradually - maybe not within weeks of a milestone birthday.

The second point that made me raise a wry smile was that reaching my dotage means that I'm a better housekeeper and therefore worthy of great premiums - I'm not sure what this is based on, does a mid-life crisis come with an enhanced ability to wield a duster and vacuum cleaner - I'll let you know if that kicks in!

But in all seriousness on the delicate subject of age how many of us will get to reading what the actual offer is when being screamed at that it's because we're old? I don't know what insurance deal they were actually offering me I was too busy wrestling my shopping trolley from the coal hole, putting on orthopaedic shoes and planning a trip to Tesco for Womans Weekly and a pack of Werthers!