Ryman Pioneers

"Retire" means to "retreat, withdraw, pull back" - but not this generation. This audience might be retired but they are far from retiring. Research show 94% of seniors in New Zealand and Australia hated the way they were portrayed in advertising and communications. They couldn't see themselves in it, and found it demoralizing: "we aren't...dull, grey...helpless, fragile, old people".

We wanted to reach and resonate with a new group of people who hadn’t been considering retirement living options or retirement villages at all, because it hadn’t appealed due to their perceptions of what life might be like in a retirement village, or the benefits it offered.

James Johnson

Client Services Director, VML

Retirement and aged care marketing is full of smiling seniors and caring staff. But what it fails to capture is the true spirit and individuality of this dynamic audience. With the population aged 80+ increasing by 300% over the next 40 years, we needed to create a platform for Ryman that spoke to the game-changing Baby Boomer generation.

To transform the category, Ryman Healthcare showed seniors as they never been seen before. As themselves.

Featuring real residents from Ryman Villages in New Zealand and Australia, Ryman Pioneers breaks stereotypes while helping Ryman staff reset their sales and customer experience approach and demonstrate their true understanding of what motivates potential customers.

Ryman Pioneers is a total brand experience platform designed to anticipate this major sector growth. The platform is executed in multiple video formats capturing the essence of the Ryman Pioneers and their individual stories, large scale out-of-home, print, radio, real estate sales communications, and on-site sales experiences.

Social engagement increase 1474% as octogenarians became the new influencers, attracting modeling and product endorsement offers - and an outpouring of pride, appreciation and interest from an age group long overlooked and misrepresented.