Turning 50: Gen X comes of age

Once you turn 50, the marketing world renders people invisible and always has done. But those turning 50 in 2022 are the original digital generation, the rebellious Gen Xers. How can today’s marketers continue to ignore this noisy generation? Our new research gives them back their megaphone and they have a lot to say.

We spoke to a range of people from different backgrounds, all turning 50 in 2022. We explored their hopes, fears, joys and insecurities.

Our 50-year-olds described a new found self-confidence and self acceptance around their looks, personality and choices. The self doubts around career and relationships they had experienced in their 30s and 40s had largely disappeared.

Yet 50 is an age at which the consequences of past lifestyle choices can start to become serious. This experience was not equal. There was a difference in health and wellbeing across our audience, and this was primarily driven by wealth and social inequality.

Our research is a call to action to marketeers, to see 50 as a milestone of middle age rather than the start of old age. So, let’s think about how we communicate with this audience and rewrite their script.

Download the report and explore our findings in full here