How To Create Advertising That Persuades Seniors
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I'm a writer.

   Advertising copywriter, comedy writer, gagwriter, press release writer, etc. You name it, I've written the words to sell it or make it understandable.

   I have two specialties. One of them is writing ad copy for the mature market.

   Here's a revelation - we're ALL now part of an aging population. Oh, sorry - you knew that already? So I guess you also knew that the majority of Seniors (actually, they HATE that term!) thinks the bulk of the advertising out there sucks? (Not just the advertising aimed at them - ALL advertising.)

   As an advertising copywriter who has done years of research on what it takes to reach - and persuade - the mature consumer, most of the advertising that's supposedly targeted to them just makes me want to laugh. Or cry, when I think about the money that's being wasted.

   I'm going to let you in on a few little secrets on how to reach those mature consumers with your advertising. (With a bit of advice and experience from my friend and mentor, John Straiton)   In most ways, Seniors - sorry, "mature people" - haven't changed much. Look at your parents or your grandparents.

   Today's 65 year old person was born in the year 1940. She or he turned 10 in 1950 with a mind imprinted indelibly by The Great Depression.  Even kids who reached 10 or so, even after World War Two, up to, say 1950 -- people who are now in their fifties, lived in pretty austere times with parents who looked over their shoulders at the Dirty Thirties.  The most dramatic difference between the 65+ generation and newer generations is in their attitudes to money.
You've all heard from your parents and grandparents how it cost 25 cents to go to a movie and a can of tomato soup was 10 cents, and you want to say to them, "Get real -- things are different now."

   But the truth is, to those Seniors -- in their unconscious -- things are not different now.

   In their heads -- nothing has changed. No matter how much their house is worth or how much they have in Mutual Funds -- they still have the feeling tomorrow could be a disaster. Throughout their formative years, they actually feared they could be without a home -- maybe even without food. So they became fanatical savers. They can't live comfortably with debt.