The New Demographics
Markets and Opportunities
Hosted by Alexis Cleveland and Lord Andrew Turnbull, 6 March 2008
As healthcare and living standards have improved, we are seeing a great shift in our demographics. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the over-65s represented less than 5% of our population; yet by 2025 they will make up almost 25%. In the United Kingdom, someone born in 2025 will expect to live 15-20% longer than their grandparents born in 1950.
Yet along with this rapid change in our community, there has not been a shift in attitude towards the older members of our society. Over fifties are considered old, obsolete and, if not already there, then most certainly on the way to decrepitude.
The reality, however, is something altogether different. The personal wealth of over 50-year-olds in the UK is worth over £5 trillion - which is nearly 75% of the UK’s entire wealth and greater than the GDPs of Germany, France and the UK combined. Over fifties hold 60% of all the UK’s savings and are responsible for over 40% of all consumer demand in the country.
And yet they are being ignored.
Booz & Company’s fourth New Demographics roundtable gathered together marketing and communications experts to focus on the marketing and opportunities available with our ageing population.
Speakers were: Ivan Pollard, Andrew Morgan and David Anderson .
Introduction to Markets and Opportunities
Andrew Turnbull
We started out with a seminar looking at a series of general issues about the changing demographics of the UK (and what is shared by many other industrial countries). The theme of that initial workshop was: Have we really thought through just how much things are changing? Do we even have a good conception of how we’re going to live? Are we making the proper provisions for this? There was a general policy debate in that first session.
Then we had a second session which was about working age issues. What are the implications of where we are at the moment, which is an early retirement culture and a world in which businesses by in large are ran by the oldest, most senior people in the organisation? In a world in which retirement age is going up and pension age is going up -not just here but across Europe -how do we handle all those issues such as people wanting to work on into their sixties? They may also begin to acquire a new set of care and responsibilities such as having to look after their elderly parents, grandparents or great grandparents.
The third was looking at the issues around the late elderly, particularly around health, the provision on social care and housing, and the nexus that comes together. We were struggling with the problem that people have where they learn to ensure that if they die early and leave dependents, they die before the end of their working lives. By and large, people have managed to find ways of providing to insure against that unknown risk of how long you’re going to live. Another risk is not knowing whether you’re going to incur heavy costs in late old age and for how long – something which is very poorly provided for, other than by Ian Owen’s company, Partnership Assurance, who are pioneers in trying to find ways of pooling those costs.
The fourth and final one in the series is turning to the mainstream of companies of goods and services. In what ways are they changing their offering or the way in which they approach and communicate with their markets to reflect the change in demographics? rather than just simply trying to sell the same old things to people as they always were.
The topics covered included:
1. Communications strategy
2. Position and marketing
3. Financial opportunities
