Better with age: Why the media industry needs to find new ways to engage over 50s
With the media putting so much focus on finding ways to engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha, there’s a danger a group further along the age range is not being given its fair due. As people live and work longer, it’s increasingly important for publishers to understand what over 50s want, both as consumers and employees.
The urgency with which the matter needs to be addressed is underlined by statistics showing a massive shift in population in all the developed countries. In the United States alone, 35% of the population is over 50. Millennials turn 50 in seven years and bring with them an enormous economic impact, spending $8 trillion a year (increasing to $13 trillion in 2030) and representing 70% of the wealth.
One of the biggest champions for the media industry embracing this change in population is Michael Clinton, former President/Publishing Director of Hearst Magazines and author of Roar: Into the Second Half of Your Life (Before It’s Too Late), which looks at ways to be happy and productive as you get older.
A pilot, photographer, philanthropist and marathon runner who recently ran the Everest Marathon as he approached his 70th birthday, Clinton embodies the attitude of many over 50s who speed up, rather than slow down, later in life.
Sitting down for a conversation with Nicki Murphy, CEO of The River Group, at the recent FIPP World Media Congress, he stressed the importance of publishers having a clear strategy when engaging and employing older generations.
“For media people, it’s our responsibility to create the modern contemporary images of what 50 plus looks like – not just in images, but in words and in representation,” he said. “In a world of D&I, one of the things that is not talked about is age.
“Only 8% of companies include age in their D&I policies. And if you think about age, it affects everyone regardless of race, gender, politics, religion. We need a clean sweep of how we represent 50, 60, 70 in media.
“The cultural cues come from media, entertainment and from Hollywood. And we have to shake it up to realise that we have a responsibility.”
The beauty of old age
A number of magazines have carried the torch for older generations this year. The May issue of Sports Illustrated featured the 81-year-old Martha Stewart in her swimsuit on the cover.
Vogue Philippines put 106-year-old tattoo artist Apo Whang-Od on the cover of its April issue, while Town & Country went for 91-year-old actress Rita Moreno for its February cover.
“We’re really talking about representation, not a wholesale shift,” said Clinton. “We’re talking about integrating contemporary images and words that represent what this new 50, 60, 70-year-old is.
“Our children and our grandchildren are going to be living to a hundred, and we want them to have dynamic, exciting, meaningful lives in their sixties, seventies, and eighties. We were taught that 65 was the end date. It was all over at 65. And for many of us, that won’t be the case.”
It is crucial, said Clinton, that the media industry creates role models in as many age groups as possible.
“The content that the media produces needs to really shed themselves of stereotypical cliched representations,” he added. “It reminds me of how women were represented in media in the sixties and seventies before women collectively blew the lid off of it and said, wait a minute, you’re representing me in a way that is very one-dimensional.”
Working together
It’s not just content that has to be tweaked to reflect a wider demographic. Media organisations need to prepare for newsrooms with a greater range of ages than ever before.
“We’re going to have, for the first time in history, five generations working together in the workplace,” Clinton pointed out. “People are working longer, and companies are going to have to adapt to people working longer in their sixties and their seventies. It’s a phenomenal trend.”
Research has shown that intergenerational groups working together and learning from each other leads to better productivity. “We can all learn from each other,” said Clinton. “(Older generations) bring the experience and the wisdom, the younger professionals bring the idea of new technology and new things that are happening.
“But that being said, we should all be students. When it comes to generative AI, for instance, everyone – whether you’re 30, 40, 50, 60 or 70 – should jump headfirst into learning how it’s going to impact our business.”
Following the mammoth success of Roar, which is now in its third printing and has had a billion media impressions, Hearst has partnered with Clinton to launch a business in its Ventures division called ROAR Forward, putting a spotlight on the 50 plus segment and, through B2B business intelligence reports, events and a free newsletter, showing how it’s a growth market.
“We are in the beginnings of a massive, massive change in the developed world as to how 50, 60, 70, 80 will not only be represented, but how it will become a time when we will all flourish in new kinds of chapters in our lives,” added Clinton.
