Need to Know
10 : 02 : 23

UK – Saga Holidays, the British travel company for the over-50s, has launched a television campaign that aims to challenge perceptions about the types of holidays people over 50 enjoy. The ad, entitled You’re Not Wrong, is part of Saga’s Tailor-Made Travel campaign and follows actor Nicholas Farrell on a range of adventurous trips where he pokes fun at assumptions that over-50s want sedate breaks.

‘Saga Holidays. What springs to mind?’ asks Farrell. ‘Experience tells me you probably think we’re constantly stopping for tea. It’s not entirely unfair,’ he continues as he carefully cups a bowl at a Japanese tea ceremony. ‘As Saga continues to operate as a champion for people over 50, we are taking this opportunity to bust open the myths associated with our audience,’ says Saga’s Group chief customer officer Stuart Beamish.

Today the over-50s are a complex demographic that includes Gen-Xers and Baby Boomers. When thinking about how they consume there is room to do more than bust ageist myths. Ageing is changing and many over-50s have little interest in countering outdated perceptions; they are focused on pursuing the experiences that make sense to their lives.

US – Brands attempting to reach very large consumer pools in audio ads might be playing a losing game, according to new research comparing the effectiveness of general market ads with more targeted and culture-specific ads.

The Challenging the ‘One & Done’ Approach study, commissioned by podcast advertising company SXM Media, surveyed how different ads land among multicultural podcast listeners in the US. The findings reveal that general market ads don’t resonate with this audiences – such ads generate a 13% brand favourability lift among the general population, compared to a 4% lift for multicultural listeners.

The report suggests that in order to drive the levels of connection and affinity, boost brand awareness and convert new consumers, brands should avoid surface-level and overly general cultural references in favour of well-informed and culture-specific messages. Kara Manatt, executive vice-president of intelligence solutions at Magna, elaborates: ‘As long as the spots ring true and do not fall to stereotypes, brands that create advertising for specific, diverse communities will reap positive outcomes across favourability, preference and relevance.’

With audio’s recent revival, brands should see these findings as an opportunity to tap into niche audiences and deepen the bonds by exhibiting cultural relevance.