AARP rolls out its first new ads in three years, targeting its youngest audience

In its first new brand campaign in three years, AARP speaks directly to the youngest echelons of its eligible membership, positioning the nonprofit as both a friend and a fighter for Generation X and young Boomers. Created by BBDO New York, the “Wise Friend and Fierce Defender” campaign is rooted in the growth of American life expectancies—now over 78 years old on average—that will continue to see the populace experience a larger portion of life after 50, the floor of the group’s target age demographic. The ads are designed to forge a connection with people born from roughly the mid-1950s to as late as 1980 (the cut-off for Gen X) and emphasize the need for long-term life planning, as illustrated by the campaign’s tagline: “The younger you are, the more you need AARP.” “As well-known and recognized as AARP is as a top advocacy organization, we also help prepare people for the next stages of life,” says Martha Boudreau, the group’s executive VP and chief communications and marketing officer. “The creative in this campaign shakes up the way people think about our organization by bringing personality, warmth and optimism to the most important aspects of their lives.” AARP’s new messaging encompasses four individual 30-second TV commercials, with anchor spot “Anthem” setting the tone for the entire campaign with its debut this Sunday during the 93rd annual Academy Awards. The three subsequent spots, dubbed “Money,” “Happiness” and “Health,” will rotate alongside “Anthem” throughout the rest of 2021. All four spots feature intergenerational vignettes “designed to inspire, captivate and connect emotionally with people in their 50s,” AARP says. Following the campaign’s Oscars launch, the ads will continue to make the rounds on prime time TV, morning networks news programming and “select lifestyle shows,” the group confirms, with additional media running through social, digital and marketing activations. The “Wise Friend and Fierce Defender” campaign is the first work for AARP from BBDO New York since it was named the group’s agency of record last year, following a creative review that saw the Omnicom Group shop beat out incumbent Grey, owned by WPP.

AARP rolls out its first new ads in three years, targeting its youngest audience

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