The priceless benefits of hiring, retaining and appealing to an ageing market – and why brands shouldn’t ignore this segment.
Mark Twain famously claimed that: “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Sadly, this is not true. Ageing is a fact of life, as much as we’d like to stop it, we can’t; unfortunately, we cannot be like Benjamin Button and age backwards. Yet there is an inherent prejudice against employing older women in this industry – and it’s been like that since I first started out.
Traditionally, women would come into the industry in their 20s, get married a few years later, have kids and maybe they take off a couple of years to raise their kids. A lot of women today cannot afford to do that, and return to work mere months after childbirth. Nothing wrong with this, right? The problem is the prejudice that follows; in the eyes of employers you are no longer that ‘always available, reliable employee’ who can be counted on to get the job done, day or night. You’re almost a liability because you have family obligations that you cannot ignore: sick kids, school holidays, PTA meetings.
We lose a lot of talented women because they put their families first – unless your agency has women at the helm, there is a lot of grumbling and mumbling behind the scenes that makes the work environment very uncomfortable.
Now jump forward to when the kids are much older and no longer reliant on you and you’re ready to take on a bigger role. Will you get that manager/director position? Maybe, if you are still in your 40s, but once you hit 50? Hmmm, doubtful.
Whatever you do, do not leave your job when you are in your 50s because very few companies will employ a woman who is over 50 – which is a shame. Employers do not seem to understand that they are throwing away skills and experience that have taken years to hone – all because they think that mature people are the less likely to be able to understand today’s advertising/media landscape.
A viable market
The 50+ market is very different today to what it was 20 years ago. We’re not ‘old’, we just can’t run the 100m in under 10 sec. But we are sure as hell a viable market. Our needs have changed a little, our tastes have matured. Our lifestyles evolved and it’s more about us; we don’t have to pay school fees, so we have the disposable income to travel, go to expensive restaurants, and buy ‘stuff’ that makes us happy. So why are we not a market that advertisers want to talk to? Surely marketers want to sell products to people who can afford to buy them?
I do empathise with today’s agencies; their margins are really squeezed, and clients are more demanding than ever. Agencies are being forced to hire cheaper, which means younger. So, it is very easy for the HR departments to stress that candidates be digital natives, to avoid offending older candidates. The truth is that older, more experienced candidates are expensive.
There is also the belief that older people do not understand the digital channels, and this is just not true. As media people we steered these channels into existence, and it is our job to understand the strengths and weaknesses of all media. I may not have to implement and manage a programmatic campaign, but I must understand how a programmatic campaign will benefit a strategy and why it is the right strategy.
With age comes experience, knowledge, and good judgement. Some call this wisdom. As we get older, we learn all sorts of soft and hard skills; we develop our own sense of self and a view of the world and the people around us. Wisdom is not driven by age, it is a mindset. You can be very wise at 25, and very doff at 55, and vice versa. It all depends on how receptive you are to new ideas (media platforms) and new ways of doing things. The desire to learn is not controlled by how old you are.
Remodel mentorship
What the industry is not good at doing is recognising the need to retain older, more experienced staff who can mentor and guide younger ones. Once upon a time you could employ an inexperienced 22-year-old, throw them in the deep-end, and they’d swim. This was before media became complicated. Today you cannot do that; there is too much data to be ploughed through to make a recommendation. And even if you know how to source the data, do you know how to interpret it? Over the years I have seen dreadful mistakes where young planners misread data, and bring shame on themselves and their agencies. It is not entirely their fault; these mistakes happen because there is no one guiding them.
Mentoring is something everyone talks about, and everyone knows is important. Unfortunately, it is not something that most agencies do. Quality mentoring costs a lot. First, you need people with solid experience, and they are not cheap; also, they need to have the ability to mentor, which is not everyone’s strength. Employers then need to allow the mentor to spend a percentage of their time actively doing so. This cost is sizeable, and not necessarily affordable for all agencies – but the benefits are priceless.
There are ways of structuring this that can work for agencies, mentees and the women who have decided to return to the industry after retirement or retrenchment – or are seeking a fulltime position after freelancing. Contract them with the responsibility of mentoring your junior staff. Create real deliverables within given timeframes for the mentors, and then reward them on completion.
As an industry we desperately need more skilled staff, but this does not mean having to overload already overworked staff.
If we do not initiate an industry-wide mentorship scheme, we will definitely exacerbate the problem. Avoid costly mistakes and having clients move their media in-house: make an effort to retain, or bring the skilled 50+ (and 60+) back into the media industry.
Marketing only to the 25-49 age group and ignoring the 50+s is myopic. Us 50+ folk have access to and use digital media on a daily basis; we stream, socialise, bank and purchase online; media is an important part of our lives … I’m sure that this older age group is responsible for more than 60% of international travel and luxury purchases, I do not have data to back this up, but it makes sense. So why ignore this extremely valuable market?
The rest of the world has started realising how important this market is and they are incorporating them into ad campaigns, putting them on the covers of magazines, bringing them back into the industry. South Africa, it’s your turn.
Virginia Hollis has garnered extensive experience as an active player in the wider media industry over 30 years. The former MD of The MediaShop and current owner of strategic consultancy Magnetic Connection as well as co-owner of TV content integrator G2 Connection. She is also the Chairperson of Media Research Forum, has judged at Cannes, AdFocus and Chaired the Loeries Media panel. She also received the Media Legend Award at the MOST awards in 2011.
