Grey Might Be The New Blonde
Last month, the daytime Emmy Award for outstanding lifestyle programming went to the Martha Stewart Show. A surprising nomination within this category was the TV show “My Generation” which runs weekly on PBS and is a show created by AARP aimed at viewers 50 and older. According to the executive producer of the show, the contest between other TV veterans, such as Oprah’s home design guy and the Style Network, and “My Generation” which has a full-time staff of only four people, was something of a David and Goliath battle.
In an industry where marketing to youth translates into profit, the AARP show stakes out an audience far from the 18- to 34-year-old target audience that advertisers and TV executives typically crave. Instead, the 30-minute show, hosted by Leeza Gibbons, is meant to appeal to a mature population, with health and wealth tips – Martina Navratilova on improving posture or investment strategies from Jim Cramer – and profiles of high-achieving people or celebrities, along with the doom-and-gloom segments on Alzheimer’s, care-giving and strokes.
According to The New York Times, the idea for “My Generation” was born several years ago, in AARP’s head office in Washington. In an effort to reach more people, the group decided to broaden its brand from publications (such as AARP the Magazine) to TV. The most powerful stakeholder organization wanted to move into a new medium to show the industry that there’s interest, there’s a market and it could be lucrative for marketers. According to the Association, this is a population with a fair amount of disposable income and contrary to the old stereotype that older people are brand loyal, that’s not necessarily the case. The bottom line is, the 50-plus are watching TV and buying products and services.
Picking 54-year-old Lisa Gibbons as the host of “My Generation” was probably the smartest move that AARP has done. “It’s not surprising that AARP is interested in making sure the voices and faces that represent them accurately reflect what it means to be 50 or better in our culture today,” she said, “I think I am a pretty good example of what it looks like. Being old doesn’t necessarily come with admission into the ‘sage and serene’ club, and that inspiration can strike at any age.
While AARP is continuing with its rebranding initiatives with Betty White, the MVP of aging, embarking on a campaign to invite people to “Get Over It (Aging),’ Moses Znaimer and his Zoomer Media empire are also doing the same thing to rebrand Canadian boomers and seniors; or, in his words, boomers with ‘zip.’ Boomers will watch TV, and they will like to see themselves continue to be represented in TV.
Lina Ko