#ageisNOTjustanumber

On my weekly Instagram live I had the pleasure of interviewing Susan Colby, the Co-founder and Creative Director of Grace Creative in LA. It is a woman owned advertising, marketing and creative agency that says that it deeply understands how to reach the most empowered consumers in history...women over 50. 

Susan said that her background was a long career in advertising, working on many major campaigns including Disney and Apple. When I asked her why she set up Grace Creative she said that her and her business partner, Cathy, decided that they wanted to do something that was closer to their hearts, as well as incorporating their skills and experience. She added that they realised at the time that, despite women over fifty living through a lot, they were not being valued in marketing and advertising. Research showed that in the US, women make 87 percent of buying decisions in the household and yet Advertising and marketing agencies were ignoring them. They wanted to help change the conversation and the imagery surrounding ageing because the message currently being put out there did not bear any resemblance to the reality of women over fifty. She said that Images in the media and advertising are powerful, but they are not putting across the real story. 

She talked about the importance of having an agency run by women, especially incorporating older women on the workforce. She explained that they can target women over 50 and connect with them because they have lived.  She also stressed it is vital to have an intergenerational workforce so that they learn from each other. 

As an agency they are working on a menopause campaign because often society has tended to write women off who are going through the menopause, especially in the workplace. Susan said this needs to change because the menopause is a natural normal part of life. 

Grace Creative works with clients who want to reach women over fifty, but she also wants to see the general advertising conversation incorporating older women, not just including them in specific products that are aimed primarily at older women.

She said "We are not just about ageing, you do not have to market to us as old people"

Finally she spoke about their campaign they are running on their Grace Creative social media account #girlsgone5 . It is called #ageisNOTjustanumber . It shows, through a series of videos posted by women over fifty, that age is a collective result of all your experiences, talents and perspectives.

If you want to be involved in this campaign they would love you to make a video and post it on your social media and tag three friends. Go to  gracecreativela.com website and on the drop down menu at the top of the page chose #ageisNOTjustanumber and all the instructions on how to film and what questions to answer are available there.

If missed the interview you can still find it on my IGTV Instagram feed @shuvonshuvoff



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