Advertising still treats ageing as either illness, retirement, or dependence: Sanjay Mehta

There’s a moment I return to often: watching my mother move through her day with an energy and clarity that makes the word 'ageing' feel almost meaningless. You would never guess she is 60, or that she belongs to the age group advertisers love to stereotype. She handles UPI payments effortlessly, manages the home with precision, keeps track of everyone’s medical appointments, learns new recipes from Instagram, binge-watches crime dramas on OTT platforms, books her flight tickets, and even plans family vacations. She is active, informed, curious, and constantly adapting, everything except what Indian advertising imagines someone her age to be.

Because when brands speak to people like her, they usually show only three themes: retirement, illness, or life insurance. It’s as if an entire generation has been reduced to a checklist of decline. 

India is undergoing one of the largest demographic shifts in its history. The population of senior citizens in India is projected to increase to about 23 crore by 2036, which is about 15% of the total population.

The Government of India estimates the country’s emerging silver economy at over ₹73,000 crore, fuelled by spending on wellness, travel, technology, lifestyle enhancements, and financial planning.

This is not a passive, retiring audience. This is one of India’s most influential consumer segments, wealthier, healthier, more digital, and more aspirational than ever before. Research identifies senior citizens, along with professionals in the 45 to 64 age bracket, as the 'wealthiest age cohort' globally. But because marketing teams tend to skew young, the 50+ audience remains a blind spot: huge in size, powerful in spending, but trapped in outdated portrayals that no longer reflect reality.

This is the gap Sanjay Mehta, Founder, Ananta Quest, noticed. After decades in digital transformation, he realised the most overlooked disruption was happening within his own generation. That insight shaped Ananta Quest a year ago, his attempt to reframe life after 50 as a stage of possibility rather than decline. 

Their flagship event builds on this idea: a one-day, action-oriented gathering for individuals aged 50 to 65, centred on addressing the questions of purpose, wealth, health, legacy, and lifestyle that define this life stage. The event brings together subject-matter experts to help participants move from uncertainty to structured, future-ready planning.

Mehta unpacks how India’s demographic shift is morphing into a cultural and consumer moment; why many brands are slow to catch on; where the biggest opportunities lie; and what it would take for messaging to truly resonate with this generation, with dignity, ambition and authenticity.

Edited Excerpts:

You’ve spent decades helping brands navigate digital disruption. What made you turn your gaze inward and identify India’s 50+ audience as the next big cultural and consumer shift? What was the personal or societal trigger that made you embark on creating Ananta Quest?

For most of my professional life, I’ve helped companies navigate technology, behavioural shifts, and the future of work. Along the way, I realised the one segment nobody was analysing seriously was the one I belonged to people in their 50s and 60s.

The trigger was personal before it became societal. In conversations with friends, colleagues and clients, people who were successful, educated, and secure, I noticed the same underlying uncertainty about the next 20-30 years. There was anxiety, but also possibility. Yet there was no platform that spoke to this phase with dignity or ambition.

That gap made it clear: a major cultural and economic shift is unfolding. Ananta Quest was born from that realisation, a space for people like us to reimagine our second curve not as an ending, but as a new frontier.

From a market perspective, how large is India’s 50+ population, and what does their economic footprint look like today? Despite their size and spending power, why do you think this audience is still largely ignored by brands in India?

India has nearly 200 million people above the age of 50, almost the size of Brazil. More importantly, this group controls a significant proportion of household wealth, manages financial decisions, funds children’s aspirations, travels frequently, and increasingly spends on wellness, experiences, and self-development.

Yet brands have ignored them for two reasons:

1. A legacy mindset that ageing equals winding down.

2. Youth-heavy marketing teams who instinctively build for people like themselves.

It’s a blind spot. The sheer size, purchasing power, and influence of this segment make it one of India’s biggest missed opportunities.

Do you see India’s 50+ population emerging as a distinct lifestyle category? Which brands or sectors stand to gain the most, and what opportunities in these spaces remain untapped?

Absolutely. We are looking at the birth of a new lifestyle category that is active, aspirational, financially capable, and curious. The biggest opportunities lie in wellness and preventive care, financial planning and retirement income products, travel and leisure, upskilling and second careers, housing and community living, and lifestyle categories like apparel, beauty, and skincare. Most of these remain in their early stages in India, which makes this the right moment for brands to build for this audience with intention.

Why is this demographic still represented through limited or outdated stereotypes in Indian advertising, and what needs to change to move beyond stereotypes of illness or retirement to reflect who they really are today?

The reason is because advertising still treats ageing as either illness, retirement, or dependence. This is outdated. A 55-year-old today may be running marathons, leading companies, travelling solo, or starting new ventures. They have ambition and agency. The imagery needs to shift from “post-career vulnerability” to “peak-life possibility” by casting people who look real rather than caricatured, showing active lives instead of diminished ones, and acknowledging their confidence instead of fragility.

What kind of messaging, and tonality truly resonate with today’s 50+ audience?

This is due to three things:

1. Respect their intelligence. They’ve lived enough to know when they’re being patronised.

2. Speak to aspirations, not anxieties. They are future-facing, not nostalgia-bound.

3. Authenticity over hype. This group values substance, quality and trust more than trendiness.

They respond to brands that talk with them, not down to them.

Which recent campaigns, in India or globally, have meaningfully engaged the 50+ audience, and what made them effective?

Globally, some financial services and travel brands have done this beautifully, showing older adults as curious, independent and stylish, not frail. In India, we’ve seen a few encouraging sparks in categories like insurance and mobility, where the 50+ consumer is shown owning decisions confidently.

What works is not age-based messaging, but life-based storytelling, the idea that ambition doesn’t expire.

India’s digital ecosystem has largely been built for the young. How digitally ready are older consumers, and what do brands underestimate about their relationship with technology?

The assumption that older Indians struggle with technology is outdated. The pandemic accelerated digital adoption dramatically : payments, telemedicine, investing, travel bookings, OTT platforms. Many are extremely comfortable with technology, they just expect clarity and ease of use.

Brands underestimate their learning ability, they’re not afraid of tech, they just don’t like poor UX and their influence, because they guide the digital behaviour of the entire household.

What mediums actually move the needle for the 50+ audience today, and how does trust shape their media choices, which platforms have earned credibility and which haven’t?

Trust is everything. This audience relies on long-form content, expert voices, communities, credible publications, and platforms with strong verification signals. They are less swayed by virality and more by credibility. YouTube, podcasts, print, high-quality digital newsletters, and WhatsApp Communities work extremely well for them. 

When brands want to activate this demographic, what are the most common mistakes in media planning, and what should they be doing instead?

The biggest mistakes are lumping everyone above 50 into one monolithic bucket, speaking only about illness or retirement, using patronising language, and treating them as “old” instead of “evolving”. 

Instead, brands should segment the audience by life-stage and ambition, offer real value through education and guidance, and build products that enhance independence rather than dependence.

Do you feel the 50+ audience is underserved by India’s creator ecosystem? What role can influencers play in shaping this category?

Completely underserved. Most creators skew young, so the 50+ audience doesn’t see relatable role models. But there is a massive opportunity for creators who speak about health, money, travel, reinvention, relationships, and purposeful living beyond 50. 

Influencers, especially credible experts, can help normalise the idea that life after 50 is not a slowdown; it’s a reset. Not that I fancy myself as an influencer but I have become a content creator in my personal capacity, and especially for this audience. This is via my content series called What If You Live To Be Hundred. It is my humble attempt to bridge the gap that exists in this space.  

Beyond media and marketing, do you feel Indian society is evolving in how it understands ageing, ambition, and independence for the 50+ generation?

Slowly, but yes. People in their 50s and 60s are redefining ambition. They’re travelling more, working longer, investing in wellness, starting businesses, and learning new skills. We are witnessing the early stages of a cultural rewrite, one where ageing is not seen as decline but as a phase rich with time, wisdom, and possibility.

If someone turning 50 feels uncertain about what’s next, what would be your message to them about embracing this stage?

I would say this: You’re not entering the end of something, you’re entering the beginning of the most intentional phase of your life. At 50, you have clarity, resilience, and lived experience. This is the moment to reset your compass. Make choices that honour who you are now, not who you were earlier. Your next 20-30 years can be your most meaningful, if lived deliberately.