Thirtysomethings seem to know what they like and like what they know

Advertising & Marketing: By 35 most people know who they are and what they like which makes them the hardest market for advertisers to reach, according to a new industry study into Europe's ageing market.

Their CD collections are frozen in time, technology is becoming a bit too much to cope with (98 per cent of all text messages are sent by people under 35) and, if older consumers decide to hop between brands, they'll be the same brands they have hopped between for the previous 10 years.

That would not be so bad if over 35s were a relatively unimportant group for advertisers but the European population is rapidly ageing.

A larger proportion of consumer goods are being sold to an age group not particularly interested in change, says the study's author, Mr Simon Silvester of Young & Rubicom Worldwide. His new research suggests inertia in European markets is now so great that "marketing professionals are usually pleased to see a couple of percentage points change in market share in a year".

In the nappy market where most buyers are under 35, a single product innovation can produce swings of more than 40 per cent in market share.

Irish marketing people, fed on the line that we have the youngest age profile in Europe, can afford to feel a little more comfortable - but not for long. Demographically speaking, Irish marketing has never had it so good. The birth level peak of 1980 here is delivering a receptive, experimental group of consumers, which is good news for a whole range of sectors from mobile phones to confectionery, soft drinks to casual clothes.

But it won't last. With a birth rate that is almost flat, the bulge of experience hungry twentysomethings is unlikely to be seen again. According to the Central Statistics Office 46 per cent of the population is now over 35 and by 2011 the over 35s will be in the majority at 51 per cent.

Despite their fixed tastes and opinions, these stick-in-the-mud consumers can be sold to, according to Mr Silvester, it's just a matter of figuring out what motivates them. There is, he says, now a segment of consumers happy to try new things if the sales proposition feeds into their image of themselves as people interested in such difficult to define sales propositions as "personal growth". So, for example, car manufacturers are as likely to talk about the spirit of the driving experience as they are about the engine size.

Cosmopolitan middle-aged people are open to foreign influence so, as Mr Silvester suggests, "if you want them to try your new convience snack, mention the trace of Calabrian olive oil in it". Once someone reaches 35 they are more likely to be persuaded on the basis of a brand's quality - Haagen-Dazs being a prime example - the research found.

The report does emphasise brand building which is relevant to Irish marketing professionals busy trying to fix their brand values in the minds and pockets of brand hopping twentysomethings. The upside of older people being wary of new brands is that they tend to stick with the brands they know.

Given longer lifespans, it is reasonable to think someone who uses a brand in their 30s might still be using it 50 years later.

• Irish advertising agencies, smarting at the cost of pitching, will be looking enviously at developments in Brazil where the industry representative body has imposed a payment system for companies which invite agencies to pitch for its business. Natura Cosmetics, a Brazilian leader in door-to-door sales and an Avon rival, will pay $8,000 to each of the three advertising agencies shortlisted to pitch for business.

• This year was bad for the Irish magazine industry with Smurfit, the State's biggest publisher of news-stand women's titles, admitting that it had been exaggerating its circulation figures by as much as a third. The people least shocked by the news were advertisers, which already believed there was a question mark over the measurability of the advertising value of some magazine titles.

In an attempt to restore confidence in the magazine media, the PPA Ireland, the representative body for the magazine industry, has adopted a Code of Verification of Circulation as a condition of membership. The code categorises magazines into various industry categories and obliges those above certain agreed thresholds of circulation to hold an internationally recognised audited circulation certificate such as ABC figures.

• Dublin marketing communications company Rothco has been awarded the Setanta Sport Pay Per View advertising business in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. The campaign, predominantly print and radio, will be bought by Scottish media agency Feather Brooksbank, part of the Carat network globally.