"We shall scrimp and save" The Beatles were singing in 1960 in their song “When I'm 64”. However, the generation of Baby Boomers, who are 60+ today, is definitely not a generation of resigned pensioners, at least not in first world countries. On average, they live a decade longer than in 1960 when Paul McCartney wrote the lyrics of the above mentioned song. Even when getting older, they are fitter and as consumers they are very happy to spend their money. In 2020, their total purchasing power will have exceeded $15 trillion.

Yet, this group of the silvers, as they are called by the marketers, isn’t really targeted by the fmsg producers and owners. From the communication point of view, most strategies are oriented at younger groups also to lock the future potential. When this group actually gets targeted, it is then by pharmaceutical companies and food supplement and medical aid producers.

Why is it so? This was one of the topics for Martin Vlk, our strategy specialist, in an interview given to Marketing & Media magazine.

Regarding the majority of brands, it is very difficult to reset the target to start to focus on the silvers as a large portion of them is traditionally oriented on certainties and more passive values. They keep using the brands they encountered when they were younger, often out of routine. Of course, more active and progressive individuals, who like to try new things, also appear among them, but they constitute a minority. In the Czech Republic, it is only about one fifth. The size of the market, which is relatively small here, doesn’t really encourage producers to take advantage of their potential.

Can a new study Silver Heroes by Simply5 change this approach?

This is what I am hoping for as the potential of this group is interesting irrespective of the small size of the Czech and Slovak markets. Moreover, it’ll be more and more difficult and expensive for brands to achieve growth with younger groups.

How to work with this group regarding packaging design?

For those who search for certainty and safety, the design must be relatively simple. The brands and objects must be round. There should not be sharp and provocative elements and contrasts. Furthermore, this target group is even sensitive to products looking real and trustworthy on the package. The overall design should give a calm and pleasant impression. Regarding more progressive part of this target group, on the contrary, the design must correspond to quality and be impressive.

What works when launching new products and innovations?

Despite still being fit, these consumers deal with health problems more than the others. As they are mainly conservative consumers, new brands aren’t often created. The innovations are delivered by brands the silvers know and trust. For example, there is Pro.Active under the brand Flora, which addresses a concrete problem, i.e. cholesterol. Another example is Lučina, which recently launched Osteo Aktiv, with a higher content of calcium. With regards to abroad, we can take, for example, Black Magic box of chocolates from Nestlé: it has a bigger font for better legibility and larger holes in the blister for the chocolates to be removed easily. However, all these innovations are coming from the known world the silvers can well orientate themselves in.