Your ATTN Please || Saturday, 5 July

July 05, 2025

Age is just a number (in marketing, to be specific).

What I mean is we’re all lifelong consumers - everyone at every age can be sold something. But for whatever reason, we’ve collectively decided that targeting people in their mid 50s or older is a waste of time, even though they inhabit the same digital spaces as everyone else (and often have tons of disposable income). It’s all because of a phenomenon called “digital ageism”, and it’s about time we outgrew it.

- Devin Pike, Guest Editor 💜

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Reddit fights AI with AI, Australia wants teens off YouTube & AI dating is rarer than you think

Fighting fire with fire? Reddit says: fight AI with AI.

When it comes to protecting its data, Reddit don’t play. Earlier this month, the company sued AI startup Anthropic for “engaging in unlawful and unfair business acts.” The acts in question? Scraping subreddits for info. But how does one stop the multitude of chatbots that threaten to swallow vast amounts of data from platforms like Reddit, particularly when the search ecosystem is under threat?

By launching your own AI service, of course! The Reddit Answers AI service will generate responses based purely on what exists within the platform, unlike general-purpose chatbots that summarise others webpages. It's a clever gluing together of the simplicity of AI chatbots with Reddit’s corpus of commentary - smart move, Reddit.

Australia wants to include YouTube in under-16s social media ban, and the platform is less than thrilled.

The company criticised the move and even accused the nation’s online safety boss of ignoring parents and teachers, YouTube public policy relations manager Rachel Lord saying the Australia's eSafety Commissioner's position "represents inconsistent and contradictory advice, having previously flagged concerns the ban ‘may limit young people’s access to critical support’".

“eSafety’s advice ignores Australian families, teachers, broad community sentiment and the government’s own decision," she continued. What's unclear is whether or not YouTube will ultimately be included in the ban. What's definitely clear though is that no one can seem to agree on anything - yay!

AI companions are actually far less common than you may think.

It’s become a bit of a hit headline, to the point where you’d think “I love my AI boyfriend” has become the new hottest thing since polyamory. But a new report by Anthropic says that’s not quite accurate. Apparently, people rarely seek out companionship from Claude (run by Anthropic) – using the bot only 2.9% of the time for emotional support and personal advice.

According to the report, “Companionship and roleplay combined comprise less than 0.5% of conversations". A study run by OpenAI in March shared similar results, stating that only a small subset of users engage emotionally with the bot. Guess that's great news for the “I don’t want robots taking over the world" community!

DEEP DIVE

Forgetting to invite the boomers: Does marketing have an ageism problem?

Forgive me if I’m wrong, but sometimes it feels like we collectively decided anyone over the age of 55 doesn’t exist, or at least, don’t scroll.

If they are online, we kind of imagine them stuck in pop-up purgatory, typing with one finger, forwarding chain emails with subject lines like “Fwd: Fwd: RE: Angels Among Us”. And well, that’s stupid. Because they’re not. They’re on WhatsApp, Pinterest, and (obviously) Facebook. They’re buying plane tickets, designer soy candles, and CBD balm for their sleep (and joints). They're sending you TikToks you saw yesterday. They're quietly thriving digitally, yet totally ignored by marketing.

If it’s not some shiny new stats about Gen Z, it seems we just don’t care. And for an industry that claims to be obsessed with “knowing your audience”, we’re awfully bad at acknowledging older consumers - one of the most powerful demographics in the game. So… why did we stop inviting them to the digital party?

First of all, the internet has a youth complex.

Everyone does tbh. But marketers in particular are obsessed with youth. We build campaigns around Gen Z trends, rewrite tone of voice guides to include “slay” and “it’s giving”, and stay up late refreshing TikTok to understand a meme that will be irrelevant by morning. We bend over backwards to appeal to 17-year-olds with no money while completely overlooking Boomers and Gen Xers who collectively control over 70% of disposable income in countries like the US, the UK, and Australia.

This isn’t a mere creative oversight, it’s freaking delusional. And it’s costing us big time. Just because you don’t see older people online, doesn’t meant they aren’t there - duh. They’re not digitally illiterate, they’re just not doing thirst traps and trauma-dumping in comment sections. Their digital lives look different, less performative and more practical. They use tech with purpose. They don’t need six browser tabs open to validate their existence. They’re not allergic to (gasp) calling customer service.

And yet… marketing still treats them like they’re confused grandpas clicking on phishing links (RIP to the ones who’ve fallen victim). If your customer journey assumes anyone over 60 is using Internet Explorer and calling TikTok “The Ticky-Tok”, maybe the problem isn’t them. Maybe it’s your imagination.

Digital ageism is real, and weirdly acceptable.

Like, imagine saying “we don’t market to women” or “we don’t really target people of colour” in a campaign planning session. You’d get (rightfully) dragged out of the room and cancelled for the entirety of you career. But saying “our digital strategy skews younger” is somehow… normal? It’s not just lazy, but kinda sh*tty and, ironically, deeply shortsighted. Because unless you're planning to spontaneously combust at 40, you’re going to age, too, bud.

Marketing culture rarely engages with this because ageing is seen as the opposite of aspiration - it’s inconvenient, and it’s sooo not hot. But ageing is also inevitable, interesting, and incredibly underrepresented. We talk about inclusivity, but exclude a massive group based on an outdated idea of what “digital” looks like.

What if, instead, we actually designed for them?

Most digital products weren’t built with ageing bodies or minds in mind:
Small fonts, light grey text and button placement straight from hell. Microcopy that assumes you know five layers of subtext, and dark patterns wrapped in “user delight”. Older users often navigate all this despite the experience, not because of it.

So… what if we actually tried? What if campaigns considered:

  • Clearer UX without sacrificing style

  • Messaging that respects intelligence without being patronising

  • Visuals that include ageing without leaning on lazy stereotypes (no more stock-photo grandmas with salad bowls pls)

And also like… how about hiring more older creatives, strategists, and designers? So our work isn’t being shaped by the same 29-year-olds with ring lights and oat milk subscriptions?

Ageing is not a niche.

Nor is it a trend, or a phase, or a personality you “tap into”. It’s literally all of us, eventually. So, why not speak to the people who actually read the emails you send and click the links you post and buy the things you make? The ones who are less likely to scroll past your ad mid-existential crisis because they’ve already done their inner child work?

They have taste, trust, and most importantly, disposable income - y’know, that thing you want the most? And they’re right here, waiting, scrolling and spending it up online. All you have to do is invite them in!

TREND PLUG

“You look happier”

The 08' banger of Taylor Swift's 'You Belong With Me' (which is now 16 years old now HUH?!), became (personally) one of TikTok's funniest and simplest trends.

While it's unclear who came up with the genius idea of answering why they look happier, it's safe to say that people loved it, with the sound garnering over 180k+ videos!

Basically, creators are answering the onscreen question "You look happier", and their responses are why they do look happier in the form of "thanks I [blank]". Like, that's it. Examples include:

How you can jump on this trend: 

Hop on the sound, put the quote "you look happier", and reply with onscreen text by "thanks I [insert your happy place]".

A few ideas to get you started:

  • “Thanks, I just got client sign-off without revisions.

  • Thanks, the meeting got cancelled.

  • Thanks, the ad actually worked.

  • Thanks, I only had to do one take.

  • Thanks, I just booked annual leave.

- Abdel Khalil, brand & marketing executive

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😲WTF: Liverpool & Protugal International Dead at 28 💔 
❤How wholesome: Boy’s wholesome apology
😊Soooo satisfying: Soap Balls ASMR
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Homemade Chicken Stew

TODAY ON THE YAP PODCAST

Want even more “YAP”ing? Check out the full podcast here.

ASK THE EDITOR

With AI changing the way that consumers search, what steps can you take to get AI to recognise your brand as the go-to? -Shar

Hey Shar!

As consumers bypass Google and head straight to ChatGPT for recs, brands need to shift from chasing rankings to becoming the answer. Brands that win will create content that doesn’t just describe their product--it defines the category, shows up consistently across the web, and gets citations from credible sources. So the more often your brand appears in comparison posts, “best of” lists, and long-form reviews, the more likely it is to appear in AI responses.

To influence what AI recommends, brands need to create content that’s trusted, even quote-worthy. It’s less about keyword stuffing and more about signalling that your brand repeatedly shows up in a particular space. Because AI doesn't just look at everything that's out there. It looks for content that's consistent, cited, and clear.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

Not going viral yet?

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.

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