Brands are a lure to the over-50s

I’m flabbergasted by Martin Smith’s advice to companies that older consumers are not swayed by brand or image (MW September 2).

This is very misleading and flies in the face of contemporary research into this market. On the contrary, those in their 50s and 60s grew up in a consumerist society, and are in tune with the role that brands have played in their lives.

OMD’s UFO research, a study of 1,700 people aged 45 and over, has finally shattered the old- fashioned view that this market yearns for rationalism. Instead it revealed a generation which is seeking out lifestyle brands.

Image was shown to be very important to these people, along with a strong sense of what brand image was right for them.

And as for the old car advertising argument: please, give these much-patronised people some credit. The Peugeot 206 “Sculpture” ad was by far the most popular among our respondents.

Jo Rigby

Group research director

OMD UK

London W2