Staying Relevent With An Aging Population. An Elderhostel Case Study.

The blog 50-Plus Marketing (from consulting firm 20plus30) had a great post this week titled Elderhostel makes a fascinating marketing case study.

It is about how Elderhostel, a travel and educational organization for older adults, is trying to reverse a decreasing enrollment trend that has led to the organization losing millions of dollars this past year.

One problem is the age of their average customer has risen to 73 from 68 over the last ten years. In other words, through attrition alone they are on a downward spiral as they are losing relevance to the market they desperately need to sell product to - older Americans. And ironically, this is the fastest growing, largest and wealthiest demographic in the US. 

Not good.

So what are they doing?

A lot but the three biggest changes are:

1. A name change. They are now Exploritas.
2. Their top line messaging is now "Educational Travel in the U.S.A." with a tagline of "Adventures in Lifelong Learning".
3. They removed their age restrictions. No longer do you have to be at least 60, now anyone 21 or older will be able to participate.

I hope it works but removing the age restriction is a huge gamble.

I am in my forties but I am quite familiar with Elderhostel because my mom was a loyal customer up until her death last year. She loved Elderhostel! It was basically an educational vacation where you went to nice destinations and learned something by taking courses. She had a blast and enjoyed meeting new people.

But I'm not sure she would have enjoyed hanging out with 20 somethings - or even forty somethings. And vice versa. So this is a risky marketing strategy. In fact, I was surprised to see on Exploritas web site that in the section "Browse by' my choices were:

• Location
• Interest
• Date
• Activity Level
• Catalog
• Map

But not "age".

Interesting.

Anyway, I do hope their marketing strategy works because they have a great product.

Just about every business in the US needs to pay attention to this "case study" because:

1. If you don't currently include older American's in your target market you need to. The aging population is the largest, wealthiest and fastest market segment in the US. You can't grow your business by ignoring this demographic.
2. If your target market is limited to "older American's (like  Elderhostel's was) you need to realize that today's older consumers make buying decisions far different than yesterdays older consumers. Continuing to market today like you did yesterday will lead you down the same path as what Elderhostel has experienced. I'm not saying you need to do a 180 degree turn like Elderhostel did and include all age groups in your target market but you do need to repackage your products, branding and marketing to remain relevant to the Boomer market.

And that is the marketing case study all businesses will face the next several decades.

Interesting stuff - and a challenge all marketer's should love and embrace.

Comments

[Erin Read Ruddick]

As the only full-service Boomer marketing agency in Elderhostel's "backyard," our take on the name change was "What took you so long?" http://bit.ly/GDsxf

Creating Results has long felt that the name was out of synch with both the quality of their programs (educational travel that was far better than "hostels") and their targets (what Baby Boomer sees him/herself as "Elder"?).

We actually like that you can filter trip choices by anything but age. The type of programing, location and activities are far more important than age.

Today's mature consumers have a wide range of interests and abilities. For example, my neighbor Betty is 83 and a newlywed. Remarried at 82, plays tennis twice a week and is far more active than I am at 39. If Betty was forced to choose trips for 80-year-olds they'd likely be sedentary/in observer mode. What's relevant to her is defined by her passions, not her years.

Seventy year olds would not have trouble being on trip with 20-somethings, if they shared the same interests.

Your challenge to organizations is well-stated: "to repackage your products, branding and marketing to remain relevant to the Boomer market."

To do so, those in travel, finance, healthcare and beyond need to be strategic, thoughtful ... and they need to start today.

[Mark Willaman, Founder of SeniorCareMarketer.com]

Erin,

I 100% agree the name change was a great move. But I must disagree with you about the age. Since their founding they have had age restrictions in place (good or bad) so an outright elimination of this is a huge gamble and marketing challenge. They may be taking on too much and spreading themselves too thin because you market to each demographic differently and this is going to be very hard to do - and you risk alienating your core base.

Why not go half way (maybe position as 40+). Or, add packages such as an inter-generational program where your kids can come along or a specific program open to various age groups, etc.

But the point is to give your customers the option. Some seniors just do not want to be in a class with people 40 years younger so give them the OPTION. This would also allow you to test the waters before completely changing your brand to a anyone can go Club med type offering.

It's like Teen magazine overnight changing their focus to all ages - very difficult marketing strategy. Teen magazine one day, People magazine the next.

Like I said, this will be very interesting to observe.

Thanks for the comment!