Understanding the aging consumer…?

As a brand’s consumer gets older, their perspective changes in all sorts of ways…the ‘simple’ aging process can make demands on a body that cannot be imagined by a younger person, until now.

To simulate what it feels like to be old, the above Mobilstrictor suit includes marbles sewn into socks, scratched goggles, straps and splints that make every move agony...after a few moments 40 year old reporter Jane Fryer complained ‘This is a bloody nightmare. My ankles ache, my hips are stiff, my feet are throbbing and my legs have gone all floppy and hopeless. I can’t lift either arm above shoulder height, my fingers are unwieldy and my sight is slightly blurred….’

The idea behind Howard’s ‘Mobilistrictor’ invention is to let able-bodied people experience what it’s like to be old.

Not to look old — but to actually feel old, with stiff joints, arthritic feet and horribly fumbly fingers that don’t work when you want them to.

Britain has an exploding elderly population, with more people over 65 than under 25. Over the next 25 years, the number of pensioners will more than double.

In fact, the figures released earlier this week show an astonishing increase in life expectancy across the generations, with babies born this year almost eight times more likely to reach 100 than one born in 1931.

And it doesn’t stop there — 23-year-olds are three times more likely to reach 100 than their grandparents, and roughly twice as likely to reach 100 as their parents.

In other words, if your brand has an aging user profile, it will become increasingly important to factor the realities of aging into actual use of the product and help your consumer in ways virtually impossible to imagine today…