As we have tracked for several years now, the fact that aging boomers are seeing modern medical science tagging more years on their lives has both positive and negative undercurrents.
With more time and greater economic need to make their lives useful, productive and creative deep into the golden years, the Boomer Renaissance is now fully engaged. As we forecast: “In 2014, we will see growing evidence of the resulting Boomer Renaissance in the form of self-guided entrepreneurship that will alchemize commerce, survival and self-actualization into a new world- and self- view.”
We report regularly on the growing evidence supporting this trend line. Creativity and meaningful, robust contributions to the social order are growing among older citizens.
But longer life doesn’t necessarily translate into quality of life. Cancer, heart disease, dementia and obesity are challenges that intensify later in life. Modern medicine may keep you alive, but living with pain, limited mobility and other problems becomes inevitable as we live longer.
Add to that the cost incurred — which many of the elderly can’t afford — and you have to wonder why more health and fitness industry moguls don’t focus on this group: senior citizens who need health and fitness regimens to live fuller lives.
As we reported in the Summer 2014 Trends Journal: “Seniors are overlooked by advertisers and virtually invisible in major ad campaigns, and they’d spend more if they felt valued and welcomed. And sure, there are products in the marketplace for the senior consumer: Motorized scooters. Emergency alert systems in case you fall and can’t get up. Pocket light-up magnifiers to help you read the small type on menus in dark restaurants. We’ve all seen the late night television ads.”
But health and fitness services and products — from exercise program DVDs to healing food guides — are disproportionately created and marketed for a younger audience.
We forecast that retailers and various sectors of the health and fitness industry will soon wake up to the enormous potential in targeting and marketing self-help products for the above-65 age group.
As we reported in the Trends Journal, “… 10,000 baby boomers will turn 65 each day for the next 19 years in the US, according to the Pew Research Center. Right now, about 13 percent of Americans are 65 or older; by 2030, 18 percent will be at least that old, creating a mature consumer population with the potential to rival the spending power of the coveted and much-courted 18–34 crowd. And this is not just a trend line we see in the US; countries across the globe are experiencing the same aging patterns.”
Start with wellness products.