Persuade Seniors with Old Ad Models

For maximum persuasive effect of an ad, the type of product or service being advertised should influence how old the models appear to be. Another consideration is how old the intended audiences for the ad feel themselves to be.
     Researchers at Université Paris and Brest Business School explored what factors are important when choosing to use models who appear to be elderly adults. Here are my tips, based on their findings plus evidence from other studies:

• Show seniors as having benefited from the wisdom gained through a long life. They could be advising other characters who are included in the ad, or they could be making recommendations directly to the viewers of the ad. 
• Avoid the ad being somber unless it deals with an unequivocally serious topic, such as funeral arrangements. Even ads regarding significant health problems will benefit from the senior model being presented with a humorous or sentimental touch. 
• Keep the clothing and the behavior of the senior model roughly appropriate to the model’s apparent age. Elderly viewers and readers might wish they were somewhat younger, and almost every elderly adult says they feel younger than their calendar age. For these reasons, presenting the senior model in clothing associated with a slightly younger age than they otherwise appear and as engaging in behavior associated with a somewhat younger age can earn positive attention. But a large discrepancy corrodes the overall credibility of the ad, so fails to do an adequate job of selling. 
• Senior citizen viewers favor ads, and consequently what’s being featured in the ads, when the ads show the senior as part of a family group. It’s also persuasive to center the ad around an important happy event, such as a birthday, a graduation, or a vacation. This works because the positive associations spread to the item being advertised. However, this doesn’t operate nearly as well when a series of ads all indicate the senior’s identity is limited to family member. Change it up by also showing the protagonist as a skilled volunteer for a charity or a traveler on an educational journey, for instance. Similarly, in at least some ads, show the senior actually consuming the entity being advertised. Elderly adults like to be reminded of the variety of roles they still feel capable of playing. Included in that is the role of consumer. After all, people of every age are, by nature, consumers. 

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