Gymwear brands are failing to tap into a growing market of increasingly active over 50s with significant collective spending power, according to new research by Opinium for the Centre for Ageing Better. Adverse responses start a little youner, at 45, with consumers saying such brands do a poorer job at age representation in their promotion than those marketing technology, beauty products, hospitality and fashion. Among consumers aged between 55 and 64 nearly half (49%) feel that being overlooked as potential customers is the norm among gymwear companies, with few or no brands fairly representing their age group. And 26% in that group say they would buy more from them if they did. One 75 year old women supporter of the Centre’s Age Without Limits campaign says: “My age group is pretty much absent from most big brand leisure and sport advertising. It is as though we don’t exist. Last year a huge outdoor, activity clothing brand opened up near to me and a promotional brochure was delivered to my door. Not one page showed anyone in the 50-plus age bracket, and yet everyone I know is active and involved in some kind of sport related leisure activity. I raised this with the company but needless to say, I heard nothing back.” This may appear particularly odd given that a quick online check reveals a clutch of brands offering swimwear for older women. But one explanation, advanced by Katherine Crawshaw, the campaign’s co-head, is that fewer than one in ten ad agency employees are over the age of 51.
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