Older than yesterday
I went to quite a few exhibitions last week as part of the Melbourne Festival. As I was leaving one of the shows I participated in an exit interview. The first question was about which age group I belonged to.
Normally a question like this is second nature, but I had to rethink my answer as I have moved into a different age grouping since my last birthday.
I know I’m not getting any younger, but I felt really old when I told the interviewer which age group I was in.
I’ve been thinking about age groups and demographics ever since. And I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re just not accurate anymore. If they ever were.
There is a veritable gulf between the ages of 18 and 25. Yet that is considered a demographic group. Why?
Most 18 year olds have just finished school whereas the average 25 year old has been in the workforce for some time or has entered the workforce after completing a degree.
The older age groupings are misleading too.
In the survey I answered people aged 45 to 55 were grouped together. Again I think there is a gulf between the younger and older members of the group.
Many people are seeming younger as they get older. Used to be that once you passed 40 you were well into middle age. It really doesn’t kick in till your mid 50s these days.
As I’m writing this I’m starting to rethink my thinking on age demographics. Perhaps it’s not the age groupings that has to change. Perhaps it’s what marketers do with that information.
I’ve heard agency people and marketers refer to people younger than myself as being too old for the internet. I’ve also heard these same people talk about females in their mid 20s as kids.
Seems to me there’s an opening in the market for a switched on research company to gather the data to create accurate age demographic profiles. The type of profiles that take into consideration the way we live today. Not how we lived in the 1960s.
posted by Stan Lee at 9:17 am
18 Comments:
Very interesting post and totally true! I am 22 and usually placed in the group 18-25...yet I can see a massive difference between the way I act & the interests I have as opposed to 18 year olds. In the future I feel it should either be grouped in smaller age brackets, or perhaps even grouped as age+lifestyle (especially in regard to the 'too old for the internet' comment - no-one is too old, only too ignorant to try).
Great post.
Stan, very nice post!
A 'silly example' i graduated last year and last month i went to one of my college parties... i felt like i had nothing to do with those guys anymore. It's just like you said. There's a huge difference between a guy at 24/25 leaving college and a boy at 18 entering it.
The same for the 45-55 group.
Maybe we groups should be divided more according to their "behavior" and not their age. It doesn't represent what it used to...
stan, you should know that demographics are just that! guidelines - you have to start grouping at some stage - and believe me, it's not the difference between an 18 and 25-year old that's the important thing if you're using demos, it's the fact that only people who are over 40 are going to the show.. or only people who are between 18 and 55 are going and no seniors. i hate age-based judgements as much as the next person (i hate being grouped with 39 year-olds!), but as you know, it's more what age you're not, as opposed to what age you are. that, and the bell curve :)
Here here. Demographics are increasingly irrelevant. "It's about attitude, not age" as they say...
P.S. I read a scary stat the other day about how according to the IPA only about 5% of the people that work in advertising in the UK are over 40. Five percent! Having turned 40 this year I started to wonder about where everyone goes. What happened to all the experience leaching out of the industry. Anyway, off my soapbox now.
I am one of those people Neil. I turned 40 a couple of years ago!
Here's a not so great saying for you: In advertising 40 is the new 60.
Gulp.
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