Which images motivate mature consumers?

According to Creating Results' recent survey, Photo Finish, marketers targeting a mature audience, Baby Boomers and beyond, would do best to use Single Image ads rather than Collage-style imagery. Of the 414 Americans aged 40+ surveyed, 66% preferred single image to collage (34%) and most were drawn to images that illustrated products and lifestyles.

"With more than 115 million Americans over 40, spending trillions of dollars on travel, healthcare, housing and more each year, mature consumers represent a great opportunity for lifestyle-related businesses," said Todd Harff, President of strategic marketing agency Creating Results and a nationally recognized expert in multi-generational marketing.

"Understand their preferences. Pick your pictures wisely, and you can help your product or service cut through advertising clutter and speed the purchase process."

Additional findings from the Photo Finish report include:

- Vibrant pictures featuring brighter colors and an expressive model trumped Subdued images (cooler colors, contemplative model), 65% to 35%.

- Images in which the model's face was clearly Identifiable were preferred to Cropped (65%).

- The older a consumer, the stronger their positive feelings for Identifiable photos (76% of those over 75, 75% of 65-74 year olds, and 62% of 55-64 year olds chose Identifiable).

- Lifestyle photography was preferred to Product photos by all respondents (59%), and was most effective with Caregivers (71%), Gardeners (78%) and Volunteers (75%).

- While 56% of all respondents preferred Product images over Product-in-Use, men differed from the whole - 54% chose Product-in-Use as more appealing.

Creating Results' 60-page report is available for free download.

Tags: Baby Boomers, Creating Results, imagery, lifestyle, lifestyle photography, mature consumers, Photo Finish, photography, photos