Chapter 8 : The rules have changed

This chapter marks the halfway point of the book. The previous chapters have covered the intricacies of demographics, brands, consumer behaviour and geodemographics. This chapter is all about a single question: "What does all this knowledge about older people mean to the fundamentals of marketing?"

A quarter of century ago the first article appeared in the Harvard Business Review explaining the business implications of the increasing number of older people. Much has changed since 1980. As predicted the population has aged. In addition, life expectancy has increased along with the economic power of the older consumer. Most importantly; the mindset of today's 50, 60 or 70 year old has changed beyond recognition, compared with their counterparts of 25 years ago.

Few would argue that marketing theory and practice has adapted to these changes. The gap between marketing's perception of the world and reality has steadily widened. The remaining chapters of the book explain how to narrow this gap; how marketing's vision of the world and reality can be realigned.

This chapter begins this journey by summarising what we know about older consumers and the consequences for marketing. But, understanding these truths and what to do about them is not enough; they have to be acted upon.

Unless the way that marketing perceives and reacts to people's age is permanently changed it will continually revert back to its youth-obsessed ways. This chapter proposes a solution to stop this happening. Marketing has to fundamentally change and become age neutral in the way it operates.