In July, Our Media joined as expert panellists at The Silver Marketing Summit, a day of learning, debate and networking in the field of marketing to the over 50s.

In addition to sharing our 30 years of experience, we were also delighted to sit in on some truly fascinating talks.

In 10 years’ time it’s projected that almost one out of every two UK adults will be over the age of 50. One of the greatest shifts in human social history is taking place right before us, as we move into an era whereby older adults equal the rest of the population.

To quote keynote speaker of the day, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox (Longevity speaker, thinker, Forbes columnist): “We are now generationally balanced humans, for the first time in our species history”.

Wittenberg-Cox goes on to highlight that this demographic change still isn’t being treated as a strategic priority in the same way as other mega trends such as AI and climate change. And yet, she states that this shift impacts “every country, every company, every family and every career”.

Marketeers, fundraisers, executive teams and governments alike need to create a new approach to meet these challenges and to respond to the new opportunities that arise from an expanding audience segment.

A market too big to overlook

The over 50s' segment holds 80% of the nation’s wealth; the potential revenue opportunity is sizeable, but all too often isn’t sufficiently tapped into. At the summit we looked at lots of reasons why and many possible solutions. Overwhelmingly, however, it’s this one change that appears to offer the most impact: segmentation.

Most often, the over 50s' market is generally split into households with adult children and retired empty-nesters. Not only is this a reductive approach to segmentation, but the data shows that it’s also out of date:

• In 2026 one third of the paid UK workforce is aged over 50.
• People over 50 contribute an estimated £561 billion annually in paid employment. This is equivalent to around 22% of the UK’s entire economic output.
• The over 50s already account for 54% of consumer spending, set to rise to 63% by 2040.

In addition to this demographic being the fastest-growing consumer group across recreation, culture and travel, the fashion industry now identifies the ‘silver spender’ as one of their biggest growth opportunities.

The shift behind the spend

Of course, a rise in population plays a part in this economic growth, but spending per head has also increased over the last 20 years. This is the result of extended working ages, combined with a generation more culturally inclined to consumerism compared to the previous generations.

Behaviour has changed too. The over 50s are more likely to volunteer than ever before, more active in their community and they're the fastest-growing leisure and recreation market – their spend has even held strong when it comes to eating out.

So, when marketing to over 50s it’s clear that we’re far from targeting people in their final chapter, and we should plan accordingly.

We wouldn’t place a new post-grad in the same segment as a hard-working family, even though they both fall into the ‘active adult’ status, yet this is accepted for the over 50s' demographic. The recurring theme of the summit kept coming back to this point. We explored solutions through the lenses of AI, visual representation, economics and media – including Tik Tok.

Marketing for life stage, not age

Everyone’s marketing strategy is different, but there’s a simple and thought-provoking approach to understand how to build out multiple personas to represent people’s varying interests, values, mindset and context. Wittenberg-Cox’s model treats these life stages as quarters.

Q3 is the 50–75 age group where the largest share of actual UK consumer spending power sits. In the third quarter of our life we’re now spending up to two thirds of it working, while still taking an active role in social norms. Within this quarter, with the benefit of life experience, strong values are formed and exercised, and mindsets shift from self-proof to self-actualisation. This shows up as expressing oneself culturally, trying new things and upholding values with confidence.

Crucially, this quarter is still expanding socially and economically, and this trend is set to continue alongside the shifting generational balance.

Against this backdrop, Wittenberg-Cox advocates for intergenerational marketing: essentially, campaigns not defined by age. That can feel like a challenging ask; not all of us are able to make that shift completely, as context and personal circumstances still have a vital role to play in the way that we deliver value and encourage action. But adapting our marketing playbook to leverage the spending power of an imminent 50% of the population sounds like a good place to start.

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At Our Media we deliver intergenerational engagement through proposition development; we don’t change what we stand for, but we change how it’s experienced. Drop me a line if you’d like to chat about your intergenerational planning.

Sources: ONS, House of Commons Library, Silver Economy Ltd, Centre for Ageing Better
Images: iStock/Getty Images

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