This is a PSA for brands targeting over 50s.

Stop treating older people like two-dimensional cardboard cut outs with no discernable personalities. These people aren’t just sitting at home wondering what life insurance to buy next, in between cups of tea, knitting, and waiting to die.

If you don’t start properly catering to older people, you’ll lose this lucrative demographic and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.

Older people feel like brands don’t care about their needs

A recent survey found that approximately 40% of over 65s feel like brands don’t care about their needs or outright ignore them. A dangerous mistake. Especially considering the number of over 65s in the UK is expected to rise by 40% in the next 17 years.

There are plenty of opportunities to tap into this growing market, but lazy stereotypes aren’t where it’s at. Take the time to understand your customers or risk losing them.

It’s up to you.

Case study: The strait-laced insurance company that’s scared of sex

Earlier this year, we were getting along great with a finance company that was really excited to work with us. They loved our content at Pension Times. But then they found Age Times and Health Times, where we talk about things like sex, swinging, and even dabble in drugs (okay, CBD!).

Cue shock, horror, pearl clutching and a refusal to entertain doing business with us.

How could they possibly associate with a publication that talks about…sex of all things?! The horror, oh the horror!

Nevermind that there are more over 50s searching for sex-related topics than there are looking for insurance or mortgage advice.

Older people aren’t sexless, celibate beings sitting in their bungalows waiting to die. They aren’t solely concerned with “putting their affairs in order” or finishing their latest crochet project.

Older people are embracing sex, drugs, and crypto

People don’t just check out of life when they hit 50 or start claiming their state pension.

And the stats support this.

Did you know that adults over the age of 55 are the most frequent users of CBD products in the UK? CBD is a cannabis-derived product that’s used for pain management, reducing anxiety levels and improving sleep quality. And older people love it, despite its controversial origins.

And older people are still having sex. About a third of women and more than half of men over 70 are sexually active, with many saying they are doing the deed “frequently”.

A healthy sex life isn’t something that ends once you hit retirement age.

And let’s ditch the idea that older people are more likely to be “technophobes”.

Turns out that over 50s use cryptocurrencies to invest and diversify their asset holdings all the time. Close to a third of them have invested in crypto, for a whole host of reasons, including seeing the new currency as the future of finance.

Brands, you need to listen.

Older people are pretty good at embracing modern life and living their golden years to the fullest. Stop reducing them to tired stereotypes they don’t even recognise themselves.

If you don’t, they’ll look for brands that are more with it than you.