“Who do I want to be now?” Trend 1: Life stages are giving way to life changes

Customers are not standing still.

In this three-part series, we explore three emerging trends that are changing the relationship between customers and brands.

Here is the first.

We are noticing a quiet rebellion happening among older consumers.

The traditional life-stage rulebook — slow down, settle down, know who you are by now — is increasingly irrelevant. Instead, we’re seeing people in their late 50s, 60s and beyond asking a much more liberating question: who do I want to be now?

Conversations we have had while working on brands such as Pindrop Hearing, Allergan and Saga highlighted something important. Later life isn’t necessarily about preserving the person you’ve always been. It can be a moment to become someone different: A new career. A new relationship. A different look. Travelling alone for the first time. Learning a skill. Getting fitter. Starting again.

What struck us was how many assumptions brands still make about age. Too often, older consumers are segmented according to what we think people of their age should need, rather than who they are becoming or what they want next.

And that matters, because identity doesn’t stop evolving at 50.

The opportunity for brands is to move from defining life stages to enabling life changes. That means understanding people through their ambitions, transitions and desired identities — not simply their date of birth.

The brands that get closest to older customers will be the ones that stop reminding them how old they are and start helping them imagine who they could be next.