For those who are retired and are enjoying good pensions, one of annoying things in life is having to put up with advertising messages that are condescending, irrelevant and irritating, claims research conducted by YouGov.

This means there are great opportunities for PR campaigns to step in where advertising fails, and give the older generations the type of information they are keen to receive, information that is engaging, relevant and intelligent.

Speaking at the latest Mature Marketing Summit, Joe Twyman, director of political and social research and founding director of YouGov, outlines key findings about how today’s audiences feel about advertising:

• Respondents aged 60 and over are more likely to feel bombarded by advertising.
• Respondents aged 60 and over are more likely to find adverts to be a “waste of time”.
• Under half of 60-plus respondents expect advertising to be entertaining. Only one in 10 of this age group enjoy adverts featuring their favourite celebrities, approximately half that of those aged 59 and under.
• Respondents aged 60-plus are less likely to claim that advertising influences or helps purchasing decisions. This is for direct mail and advertising in general.
• Only one in eight people aged over 60 find advertising relevant, half that of those aged 59 and under.
• Around a third of all respondents, of mixed ages, find that advertising these days is less relevant than it was ten years ago, suggesting that advertising is failing to adapt to modern demands.

Twyman concludes: “With advertising being perceived as less relevant than 10 years ago, it seems that either the advertising has changed, or the individuals have. The challenge is to make advertising relevant and engage the 60-plus audience.”

Background

2,000 adults were recently interviewed by YouGov online as part of a regular omnibus survey. See here for more details of the next Mature Marketing Summit.