"Old friends are Best."
We live in two parallel universes. One is the universe created and inhabited by celebrities and wannabe celebs. The other is the world of our day-to-day existence.
Watching TV, going to movies and flicking through magazines brings us face to face with the celebrity universe. It is a place of beautiful people even if they are not really beautiful. A place where the laughter lines and silver hair of wisdom are banished in a tsunami of potions, creams, chemicals and surgical intervention.
In the real world we are confronted with a legion of grey blondes. A new generation for whom aging is a challenge to be confronted and defeated. A new car every year means you never drive an old one. The third remodelling of your home makes sure you are living not just in the present, but in the future you are trying so hard to put off when it comes to your physical self.
In the business of marketing, how do you cope with people who seem hell-bent on denying any association with products and brands that have an aura of middle or old age?
It used to be that when men reached a certain age they gave up swilling pints and settled for the mature comfort of a smoky whiskey. From a physical point of view this made some sense as it resulted in less trips to what Americans and mid-Atlantic Irish call “the bathroom”.
But somewhere along the way men decided they could be boys forever and so we carry on drinking rounds of beer and generally behaving like overgrown teenagers.
"The male equivalent of the Yummy Mummy is the Laddy Daddy."
The marketing of lagers, combined with changing tastes and a lack of real competition in the whiskey market means we only drink whiskey when we are pretending to be mature, at dinner parties and in country house hotels. The male equivalent of the Yummy Mummy is the Laddy Daddy.
Men tend to deny age in physical, behavioural ways. The majority do not dye their hair or slap on the anti-wrinkle cream. Instead they become more sporty. They take up going to the gym for exceedingly sweaty work outs or buy mountain bikes and lycra shorts. Like the four by four in the drive, the bike never sees a mountain but meanders around suburban roads frightening kids and dogs.
The way to the age averse man’s wallet is through allusions to fitness both inside and outside the sleeping quarters. That is why France’s brand new Monsieur le President likes to be seen out jogging with his new Premier Ministre. He is simply expressing the anxieties of his generation. American Presidents share the same obsession.
Many brands urge us to deny the appearance of age. But some are fighting back and the brand leading the charge is Dove. Has Dove really tapped into the zeitgeist of a generation or is it a brave experiment doomed to failure? Is the reality the brand deals with too opposed to the dream world of denial?
When you talk to people as they move through the journey of life they often refer to the fact that the inner person remains undiminished by the physical changes wrought by time. Clarks’ shoes captured the sense of that inner person with their “act your shoe size not your age” campaign. They showed people doing what they wanted to do rather than what the age police feel it is appropriate for them to do.
Both Dove and Clarks connect directly with their target audiences and demonstrate that while time waits for no one, you can have fun riding the crest of its wave rather than conceding to the values of a youth obsessed culture.
"The brands that succeed in this new world order will be the brands that offer a real consumer benefit rather than pandering to the illusions of the catwalk."
As people start to see through the airbrushed fantasies of celebrity imagery we will see a revolution rejecting the age of false youth and embracing an age of wisdom in which substance matters more than shadow. The brands that succeed in this new world order will be the brands that offer a real consumer benefit rather than pandering to the illusions of the catwalk.
A key part of understanding where your brand lies in this equation is to engage in a bit of brand demolition. The process is a bit like what Trinny & Susannah do to the hapless couples they remodel on TV.
The couple are encouraged to undress behind a backlit screen. Trinny, Susannah and voyeuristic us get to see all their bumps and bits while the couple get a new appreciation of what they are and have become. Having seen what lies beneath the layers the dynamic duo rebuild the dowdy ones into gleaming swans ready for the brave new world of high esteem and public approval.
Could your brand stand up to that kind of scrutiny? Does it just need a little repackaging or is some serious nip and tuck called for? It’s a tough process but the old maxim “change or die” is more relevant now than it ever was.
Older brands have a substance and connection with people that new brands struggle to achieve. Youth obsession is as prevalent in corporate marketing as it is in Hollywood. Any organisation that has mature brands should look at how to leverage their existing relationships with consumers. There is a rich seam of value to be mined in the comfort people get from hanging out with old friends.
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