Is it time for wellness brands to start channeling their inner Silver Fox and Gray Panther spirit animals? As it stands, the 50+ crowd is largely ignored by fitness and wellness brands. That is changing fast, as companies wake up to the huge underserved market that no longer subscribes to the “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” commercials of the late 1980s. While seniors control 70% of the America’s disposable income, they only attract around 10% of marketing budgets and less than 1% of innovation. Everyone from Peloton to Apple to "you name it functional CPG brand" has rushed into focusing on the highly coveted consumer demographic/psychographic known as H.E.N.R.Y. (high earner, not rich yet). That’s slowly starting to change recently, as start-ups realize seniors are an active, vivacious and connected group deserving of the same empowering, aspirational attention lauded on younger consumers. Millennials and baby boomers increasingly mirror one another in adopting healthy lifestyle habits, and you’re seeing this play out with new startups.
