Blog
Here at Message House we have been advising clients on communicating in the context of longer lives for over five years now. It’s great to see some of the research we did to support the brilliant Phoenix Insights team at Phoenix Group published this week on the vital issue of flexible working. With the new legislative changes giving people the right to request flexible work from day one of employment, the research highlights how understanding the different motivations for flexible work will help employers attract and retain a diverse workforce. It’s particularly fascinating to me that a factual description such as ‘3 days a week worker’ was just as appealing as ‘part-time’ and ‘flexible’ worker. This helps gives employers a better understanding of how to have constructive conversations with their employees about flexibility.
At home in lockdown, what were you looking forward to doing most when restrictions started to ease? For one of the respondents in our survey, it was “Renew my Private Pilot Licence, I miss being able to fly.” Not a typical response, perhaps, and would it surprise you to know that the respondent was over 65? In a week when Sir David Attenborough became the fastest Instagram user to reach one million followers, Message House director, Rachel Lloyd, reflects on what’s happening to longevity right now and what it means for our clients.
As we go about living longer lives, the concept of mid-life MOTs is becoming increasingly popular. However, if we don’t consider the most effective and appropriate language for this initiative, then much of the good work being done in its name could be a huge missed opportunity to positively impact the lives of many in the years to come.
‘Age’ has previously been a pretty good proxy for ‘stage’ – with marketers making assumptions about life stages and likely activity. However, as we enter the era of longevity, this is a dangerous pitfall that brands need to work hard to avoid. We are starting to see changes in traditional life paths and so brands need to be more sophisticated in their understanding of longevity. The opportunities for those that can do this successfully are sizeable.
People are living and remaining active for longer than ever, putting strain on systems that were developed for the three stage life - education, work, retirement. In this post, I use the three horizons model of longevity to assess where the future of longevity may lie and how we can overhaul a predetermined life-path that will soon no longer be fit for purpose.
