The Over-45 Playbook

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So far this year, Ozempic’s brand metrics have all held flat with the over 55 demographic. Meanwhile, awareness of rival weight-loss injection, Zepbound, has climbed from 29% to 46% among the same group, according to data from Tracksuit.

It’s a very familiar story. Most marketing overlooks older demographics, especially in health industries. People over 50 account for more than half of consumer spending in the US, but only about 5 to 10% of marketing budgets go towards winning them over.

That leaves a gaping hole of under-served buyers in the market, which more brands are starting to notice. Hers is the women's health brand from telehealth company Hims & Hers, and Clinique is the Estée Lauder skincare brand. Like Zepbound, both compete in categories that put youth at the centre of their marketing, but each has grown by giving older buyers a brand that was clearly meant for them. Pulling it off has required a product that fit, the reach to get in front of them, and a reason to trust it in categories built on novelty.

Inevitably, most of the marketing attention goes to the largest group of buyers, which Tracksuit's data shows is under-45s for health and beauty categories. But they’re not ahead by much, with over-45s still representing just under half of the buyers in those categories, not to mention they're the people actually experiencing the impacts of ageing and the ones with higher disposable income to spend. But still, the ads they see are built for the younger bracket. So while everyone chases the under-45 buyer, brands that speak to over-45s are competing for close to half the category, against far fewer rivals, with buyers that have the most reason to listen and the deepest pockets.

Zepbound's success with older buyers started way before the results they’ve seen this year. Among over-45s, its awareness went from 5% in early 2024 to 46% by August 2026, with consideration, preference and usage metrics all rising behind it.

Across all age groups, whether buyers think a brand “is for people like me” is the biggest driver of consideration for the category. On that metric, among the over-45 age group, Zepbound scores 36% compared to Ozempic’s 29%. Ozempic is still more likely to be seen as premium, but Zepbound's edge is fit. They’ve cut self-pay prices and launched simpler packaging to make the product easier to access and use.

Over-45s were always potential buyers, but they only moved once a brand showed them they were understood and accepted.

Women over 45 have had good reason to look beyond their usual doctor for menopause care. A 2023 survey found only 31.3% of US OB/GYN residency programmes report a menopause curriculum. Midi and Evernow are two telehealth services focused on menopause care, and among US women over 45 their awareness sits at 12% and 3%. Hers sits at 62%.

Around half of US women over 45 already knew Hers when it launched a menopause and perimenopause specialty in 2025, so the new offering reached buyers who knew the brand. Awareness with women over 45 climbed 12 points over the year to June 2026, while the competitor average held flat.

Research from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute shows that brands grow by reaching as many category buyers as possible. The specialist menopause brands, built specifically for women over 45, still struggle to reach most of them. Meanwhile, Hers had the reach and brand equity first, then they launched the specialist product.

Clinique is a household name in the skincare category, having been around for over 50 years, and women over 45 rate it behind its competitors on innovation. But, they trust it a lot more. 55% of women over 45 call it a brand they trust, almost double the competitor average of 28%. 40% say it “is for people like me”, that magic indicator metric, against an average of 24%.

Warren Buffett famously said “if you've got the power to raise prices without losing business to a competitor, you've got a very good business. And if you have to have a prayer session before raising the price by 10%, then you've got a terrible business”. Well, 38% of Clinique’s target market think they’re worth paying more for, against a competitor average of 16%.

All these statement metrics are interesting, but I hear you asking about the actual business impact. You’ll be happy to know Clinique’s usage is growing too, from 39% to 49% so far this year among women aged 45 to 64. Skincare brands for younger buyers compete hard on what's new, but with older women Clinique is winning on trust.

Zepbound's product, Hers' reach and Clinique's trust all fulfil the same job. Each one showed older buyers a brand that was for them, the identity mirror at work in categories whose competitors built their image around the aspiration of youth. "Is for people like me" is the statement Zepbound and Clinique both lead on with over-45s, in categories where most of the marketing is aimed at younger buyers.

So, no matter what industry you’re in, look at how much of your research and spend goes to people over 45, then compare it with how much of your category they actually represent. For most brands and most categories, there’s a pretty big gap between the two. The brands growing by stepping into that gap are the ones convincing over-45s that they’ve built something just for them.

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