Luxury brands are experiencing a major glow-up, and it’s not coming from the usual suspects.
Move over, hot young things. The star of this show is none other than the legendary 88-year-old Dame Maggie Smith. You know her as the enchanting presence in blockbusters like Harry Potter and Downton Abbey. Hold onto your wands because she’s now casting a spell as the face of Spanish brand Loewe’s Spring/Summer 2024 pre-collection campaign sans makeup in a wonderfully refreshing trend after Pamela Anderson championed a natural look at Paris Fashion Week.
The images of “Professor Mcgonagall” draped in a fabulous faux fur coat, holding Loewe’s iconic Puzzle bag, or rocking a stylish turtleneck dress with a ruffled skirt and clasping the Paseo bag sent social media wild, showering her with over 54,000 likes in just four hours. On the other hand, the younger celebs in the same campaign, such as Josh O’Connor and Dakota Fanning, couldn’t quite measure up.
Shortly after, the iconic Parisian house Balenciaga followed suit by announcing the incredible 61-year-old Academy Award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh as a brand ambassador for their Spring 2024 campaign.
And it doesn’t stop there. Spanish brand Massimo Dutti recruited the fabulous 77-year-old Charlotte Rampling to star in their “True Minds” 2023 advertising campaign.
These legendary ladies are following in the footsteps of other trailblazers like the incomparable Jane Fonda, who rocked Gucci’s 2020 Off the Grid campaign at the age of 82, or Vanessa Redgrave, looking stunning in a Gucci Cruise campaign at 79 in 2019. And let’s not forget the iconic Joni Mitchell, who captivated us when she fronted Saint Laurent at 71, and the late Jane Didion, the poster girl of Céline at 80, both in 2015. Style has no expiration date!
And let’s not forget about the gentlemen. Hollywood silver foxes Jeff Goldblum, 71, and Kyle MacLachlan, 64, made their mark by bookending Prada’s Autumn/Winter 2022 show in Milan. Goldblum even fronted the advertising campaign. Who says cool style is only reserved for the young?
So, why this change in fashion’s perspective? Well, luxury brands have finally caught on to something important. Targeting an older demographic can lead to serious financial success. Research by the International Longevity Centre in the UK predicts a whopping £11 billion loss over the next 20 years for brands that overlook the spending power of older customers. Talk about leaving money on the table, right?
In a recent global research conducted by its Centre for Customer Insight on mature consumers in 12 markets - Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, the UK, and the US - the Boston Consulting Group says that many consumer brands are overlooking a US multi-trillion-dollar market right under their noses: the 1 billion consumers between the ages of 50 and 70 worldwide. They found that marketing to this demographic yields a better return on investment (ROI) than initially assumed. Mature consumers have immense buying power, spend more than members of other age groups do on individual purchases, exhibit strong brand loyalty, are resilient through economic ups and downs, and wield surprising influence over younger consumers.
So, there you have it. Older consumers are “the invisible powerhouse”, and brands would be missing a trick by not catering to Silverithmics.