“The world is radically changing,” said Michael Clinton, founder and chief executive officer of RoarForward, a business intelligence platform focused on the new longevity. His book, Longevity Nation, was published earlier this year.
Thirty-five percent of the U.S. population is older than 50. In four years, the first Millennials will turn that age. Today, $8.3 trillion is already being spent by the 50-plus cohort. “In many industries, including beauty, the focus is on youth market, which is important. But you’ve got this gigantic shift that’s happening globally demographically in the 50-plus market,” Clinton said.
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He highlighted birth rates in 150 countries are now below the 2.1 replacement rate, and life expectancies are growing exponentially. Concurrently, 60-, 70- and 80-year-olds are a different type of consumer than anyone’s known before And they serve as role models.
“This is a long-term trend,” Clinton said. Therefore, the 50-plusers, as they grow and shift, must be firmly in companies and brands’ sites.
The focus on longevity began in the medical field and is now developing across many sectors. “This is a very big business trend that will have lots of implications for many of us,” Clinton said.
Simone Gibertoni, group CEO at Clinique La Prairie and cofounder of Holistic Health, noted that, meanwhile, the gap between lifespan and health span is widening.
When Gibertoni began at the clinic in Montreux, Switzerland, a decade ago, the goal was to help and inspire people to live longer lives. So he created an ecosystem of longevity for his clients. Subsequently, a location was open in China in 2024. Others upcoming will include in Phuket, Thailand, and Amaala, Saudi Arabia. Clinique La Prairie also began building satellites to help service clients’ 360-degree quest for healthy living. It will open a location in California’s Napa Valley next year, among others.
Gibertoni said despite all the technology available, human-to-human connection remains key for the clinic. Inside-out beauty, too, is a tenet of the company, and in step Clinique La Prairie launched Longevity Supplements a couple of years ago.
“Innovation is at the center of longevity,” Gibertoni said.
Clinton described that as: “medicine meets technology meets AI.” He said there’s a normalization taking place of the 100-year lifespan. “How will that be manifested?” Clinton asked. It might be through fast-tracking of drug development, for instance.
Longer life arcs represent both an opportunity and a challenge for cultures, societies and governments. The great opportunities today include preventative diagnostics, such as tools like Oura Rings. “With precision medicine and AI, you and I might be treated differently for a disease,” Clinton said. “You get on an early path to your particular treatment for what you might have.
“There is this flip that’s happening about ‘pro-aging’ versus ‘antiaging,’” he continued, counseling the beauty industry to take a pro-aging approach in how it represents, presents, speaks and markets.
What are the dangers with so many jumping into the longevity clinic business? Gibertoni said many enter without understanding its business model. “It’s not an easy space,” he said, underlining serious longevity clinics begin with diagnostics and are backed by medical approaches.
“Superficially, we are all the same, but the reality of our bodies are pretty different,” Gibertoni said. Diagnostics’ objectives are twofold. One is to anticipate disease as much as possible.
“The other part, which is extremely important, is this idea of customizing the intervention,” Gibertoni said, noting this can be both medical and mindset-oriented. “The tools that we have developed in the last year are incredible.”
Scientific studies generally show that just 25 percent of longevity is related to genetics, while the rest stems from epigenetics, or behaviors and environmental factors. “Seventy-five percent of your own personal longevity is in your hands,” Clinton said.
Five keys to a robust health span include: movement, conscious consumption, sleep metrics, purpose and community. “The secret for longevity is: create habits,” Gibertoni said, adding consistency is key.
People — especially the older cohort — want a “personal transformation,” he said.