Adventurous agers. Communal caregivers. Empty nesters. Seniors. When brands lean on these categories to define adults ages 65+ in their marketing strategy, they’re often missing the point. An expert in aging, Gerontologist Kerry Burnight provides strategies on how to connect with an aging audience, or our future selves, in The 19: Entrepreneur Edition podcast.

Rochelle Reiter: [00:00:05] This is The 19. In 19 minutes or less, game-changing insights from Orange Label, the leading response marketing agency for established brands that are driven by a fearless entrepreneurial mindset.

Rochelle Reiter: [00:00:05] The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that the population of older adults will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history in 2035. And yet, when we look at much of the advertising and marketing content around us, adults 65+ are often left out completely or catered to for age-related issues. Not only is this a disservice, it may be a major misstep as Euromonitor finds that more than 50% of U.S. income belongs to those over 55. National expert in aging, Kerry Burnight is dedicated to understanding older adults and making aging a better experience for all of us. With a PhD in Gerontology and 18 years as a professor of Geriatric Medicine, Kerry is now focused on advising brands on how to create everyday solutions that serve older people and the entire population. Welcome to The 19, Kerry, it’s great to have you!

Kerry Burnight: [00:01:20] Oh, I’m glad to be here!

Rochelle Reiter: [00:01:27] So we’ve worked together in various capacities over the years, and now you are having a new endeavor, which is called the Gerontologists. Can you tell me a little bit about that and what you do?

Kerry Burnight: [00:01:37] Yes, after about 30 years of real hands-on with older adults in geriatric medicine, I really had this front row seat of both the triumphs and the tragedies of older age. So we are right now at this really exciting time because there’s all this innovation, largely digital innovation in housing, health care, transportation, end of life, care-giving. But what companies are finding is that this innovation only makes a difference if it’s adopted, accepted, embraced by its intended users, older adults. So this advisory firm, The Gerontologist, it’s helping companies succeed in the human side of longevity.

Rochelle Reiter: [00:02:23] Mm hmm. That’s amazing. So knowing you and your mission to improve the second half of life, how does this guide and direct you in advising your clients on a daily basis?

Kerry Burnight: [00:02:33] Well, the clients these companies are incredibly new and innovative. And yet I’m guided by this really, really ancient Latin phrase that’s Nihil de nobis, sine nobis and it’s nothing about us without us. The companies, in order to succeed both short term and long term, need to be listening to be including the people that they’re hoping to serve. And so really the biggest thing, if there’s only one take home, it’s that companies learn how to listen to older adults.

Rochelle Reiter: [00:03:13] Yeah. Playing the typical situation why clients hire you. At what point are they at where they say we need Kerry and we need The Gerontologist?

Kerry Burnight: [00:03:23] I think any company that has its eyes open sees that demographic imperative that you pointed out early on, and that is that we are all aging and we can’t underestimate what it means, that the fastest growing segment of the population is those over 80. So companies recognize the medical, social, ethical, legal complexity of older age and they recognize that they need to know not only about gerontology, but also how to listen to older adults and then turn that learning into actionable strategy, into implementation and into outcomes that we can ...