#213 Are you an "Ailing Outgoer" or a "Healthy Hermit"?

Segmentation

As life expectancy increases the diversity of ageing individuals grows. Are there patterns?

A Five Minute Read

Multiple Ways of Ageing.

We age in many different ways. Biological ageing is an evolution in our body and senses. Our eyes have been ageing since the day that we were born. The lens is one of the few parts of the body that does not regenerate. It grows throughout our lives. It grows thicker, stiffer and yellows. By the age of 40 we can start to see the effects when we need to read with glasses. The thresholds of our senses increase. We need more scent to smell, more chili to taste and louder sound levels.

Our mind does change. Our different mental abilities change throughout our lives in different ways. This is cognitive or psychological ageing. Our numerical reasoning does not peak until we are around 40. It then declines slowly. Our perceptual speed declines from our early twenties. This is our “pattern recognition” skill. Our ability to focus our attention declines. We can store new memories, but we have to work harder to encode them.

Our social perception changes. Our attitudes towards ageing itself changes. Our subjective age is always less than our chronological age. As we get older the gap does get smaller. Our perception of our place in Society changes. We take on new roles. Husband and Wife. Parents and Grandparents.

An Infinite Variety

We are a function of all these changes but also the life experiences we have been through. Not all senses change. Not everyone will lose their sense of smell or taste. Even if the physical receptors decline our brain has the remarkable capacity to fill in the gaps. We do not think that we have sensory loss. There is huge diversity across people.

Physically we have all seen the 100-year sprinter or weightlifter. We all see obesity destroy the fitness of a 50- or even 40-year-old. There is no common pattern of decline. The UK data shows that the top 10% of 90-year-olds are only as frail as the bottom 10% of 50-year-olds.

All the research shows the diversity of cognitive ability at a given age. There are super agers whose memory at the age of 90 is as good as when they were 50. We know that stimulating jobs sustain cognitive ability in later life. We know that if we “don’t use it we lose it”. We know that training can rejuvenate some abilities. We know that a bout of ill health can undermine cognitive ability. Knowing someone’s age tells you little of their cognitive ability.

We are the sum of our experiences in life. Each major experience challenges us. We respond to the stress each experience creates, and we grow. Today there are multiple pathways through life. Chronological age is little guide. A 65-year year old can be “old” and looking forward to a quiet retirement. Another 65-year-old can be enjoying work. They can be a newlywed and even a new father.

As life expectancy increases so does the diversity amongst the ageing population. This is exact opposite of the the “old person stereotype”. Those stereotypes are the way in which the brain copes with the processing of information about people. The stereotype is a shortcut. It assumes a homogeneous group of people called “ the OLD”. If we can pigeonhole someone quickly our brain can move on. The problem comes when we receive more information. Information that does not fit. A 75-year-old athlete or a 90 year old practicing lawyer. The stereotype loses its value.

Segmentation

As a marketing professor I worry about the way to segment the ageing market. Marketers break markets into smaller homogeneous groups of people. Groups for whom a product or service could be designed. Groups for whom a social media campaign might be particularly effective. Clearly, we cannot accept the “homogeneous OLD” stereotype.

The Center for Mature Consumer Studies suggests that we should focus on individuals perceptions of being old. They split those perceptions in two: biophysical and psychosocial. They have found that social and psychological ageing are strongly related. There is a strong interplay between these two dimensions and they have combined them. The two dimensions generates four “gerontographic” segments: healthy indulgers, healthy hermits, ailing outgoers and frail recluses.

Healthy Indulgers have not experienced the onset of psychosocial or biological ageing.

Frail Recluses have experienced both biophysical and social ageing.

Healthy Hermits have internalised psychosocial ageing. Without experiencing significant biophysical ageing.

Ailing Outgoers have maintained high self-esteem and a positive outlook on life. This despite experiencing biophysical decline.

The team argues that if we know in which category someone is, we can better understand their needs as consumers. Clearly some individuals will move around within the quadrants depending on their life experiences. A bout of illness can move a Healthy Indulger to an “Ailing Outgoer” or a Frail Recluse. Losing a job, or a spouse can undermine psychosocial wellbeing.

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