Here’s an interview just published in iMoney.

This is quite strong coverage, as iMoney reaches an audience of 80,000 business leaders in Hong Kong with its business, marketing and financial oriented news, and the piece takes a very in-depth look at the implications of the silver market and how brands and companies are missing out on this huge demographic.

Publication: iMoney Focus
Date: 23 January 2010

Page: 10-11

Title:  The Silver Pioneer
How to sell to 51-year-old Madonna?

Synopsis:

The article begins with a lively example by Kim Walker himself – waking up one morning and realizing he is already aged 50. The journalist then cites some more examples provided by Kim, like the dim lighting and noisy rock music in the shop, and young models of electronic appliances, giving readers a familiar reference of the frustrating reality faced by the 50+ population.

In the second section, the journalist introduces the working experience of Kim and statistics that show the growing spending power of the 50+ in Asia Pacific. Kim further points out that the blind spot of the current marketers and their marketing strategies. 50+ market is being misunderstood by those marketers, thinking they are stubborn and rigid. Kim cites Madonna who is aged 51 and Michael Jackson as examples, showing that the silver market is much more creative and bold than people presumed.

The article is then followed by the successful marketing strategies of Japan. Other examples given by Kim, including the increasing number of retired Japanese taking music lesson at Yamaha, as well as the age-friendly mobile phone by DoCoMo, are quoted.

The article is rounded up with the comments given by Kim. User-friendliness is the main concern in order to attract the silver market. Useful and feasible ideas and precautions are listed, including a website without Flash, spacious alignment of website addresses, and keeping content in one-page instead of scrolling up and down. What’s more, Kim points out that the choice of models is another important concern, which is evidenced by the survey he took. According to the survey result, the 50+ population generally think that a 37-year-old would best represent them, instead of a young model, or a weak and winkle faced old model. The former is not convincing enough, while the later is simply discouraging.