Chapter 1 : Views from leading marketers

How do leading marketing practitioners react to the 'aging' of Europe's consumers? Do they perceive the steady rise in the numbers of the 50 plus a problem, an opportunity or an irrelevance? Is it something that keeps them awake at night or never crosses their minds?

To answer these questions we spoke to some of marketing's thought leaders. People like:

• Robin Wight, Chairman, WCRS
• Winston Fletcher, Chairman, Advertising Standards Board of Finance
• Simon Thompson, UK Marketing Director, Honda (UK)
• Alex Batchelor, Global Brand Director, Orange
• Michael Harvey, Global Consumer Planning and Research Director, Diageo
• Richard Reed, co-founder and Marketing Director of Innocent the UK's fastest growing food and drinks company
• Sylvie Barr, Head of Marketing Café Direct and Marketer of the Year.

We were not trying to get a consensus, or to derive the definitive answer to our questions, but to understand how the best minds in the industry think about effect of an aging population on marketing.

This chapter was researched and written by Janet Kiddle, the founder of Steel Magnolia, the strategic research consultancy that specialises in understanding the 50 plus market. Janet's expertise as a senior manager with Saatchi & Saatchi, Team Saatchi and The Research Business International was vital in researching the views of these senior marketers.