I’m sure that if I talk to you about generation X or Z you know what I mean, or at least, I’m sure they ring a bell, and the same with millennials or the generation Y, right? The point is that a few weeks ago I came across a new concept (at least for me):
the elastic generation or flat society.
For some people, this is a generation worth studying deeply and in detail. It’s the case of the people who work at J. Walter Thompson, who have decided to publish not only one but two reports about this generation (a general one and another one focused on women). Do you want to know more about it?
I’m sure that you know that our elders are standing strong. We only need to watch the news and realize that people over 60 aren’t “things” that we can leave aside and forget, but educated men and women, with a lot of experience on their backs and a lot to teach and share, who are aware of the world they live in, and don’t have a problem claiming their rights for a dignified life, which it was about time. But, don’t worry, I won’t make any type of apology, even though sometimes we want to do that and more. I am not doing it just because this is a blog about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs.
The thing is that talking about the elastic generation means referring to people who are between 50 and 60 years old, or even a bit more. In general, according to researchers, these people have some characteristics that are worth highlighting, acknowledging and coming to light.
To you, P.E., I ask you some questions,
- Have you ever wondered about what percentage of our population could be “catalogued” as the elastic generation?
- Have you ever thought about what services and products society is offering them?
- Have you ever asked them about what they like, what they want, what they crave?
- Have you ever thought about being in front of a “new consumer”, with specific characteristics, just as the generations X, Z or Y have been?
Personally, I think that we aren’t in front of just a new generation, but in front of a society sector, people who are looking for “something” that meets their necessities, who make them feel alive and useful, because they are. Starting a new business is not out of reach, as they have shown in many occasions, neither can we forget about them when we start our projects. Because the people from the elastic generation are those who demand for services and products ad-hoc, and not “of old people”, “for the elder”, but of a generation, of some consumers, of the true E.P., with values, an attitude, an open mind and some characteristics worthy of the best.
As Claudia Quirós Fernández, responsible of the Observatory of Global Trends of the Innovation Parc of La Salle, says:
The tendency of growth of this social group and their new values are a Global Macro Tendency; the redesign of the pension system is on the global agenda, and not only that: they are services that go further than health systems and retreats spaces, products and services according to the new values and concepts of life.
We have to work on new and innovative social schemes that integrate them into a new intergenerational empathic social model that, without a doubt, will have coinciding points to be able to shape future communities, with the integration of the needs and expectations of all of us who make it up, as well as a true sense of social responsibility.
There you have it.
Let’s enjoy life and think positive.
Translated by María Ubierna Quintanilla and supervised by Arantza Arruti.