‘Admit it, this age thing suits you.’

In a media ecosystem which still urges women to ‘fight the signs of ageing’ the strapline of House 337’s latest campaign for JD Williams deserves more than just a sentence of celebration. 

Mid-life women are one of the most sidelined and stereotyped consumer groups in history despite being responsible for almost half (47%) of all purchase decisions. All too often a woman ageing is treated as an unravelling to irrelevance. In line with this approach while a man’s ‘midlife crisis’ is both celebrated and catered to with an ever-increasing range of products and services, once a woman turns 50 she becomes almost invisible in marketing and culture. Brands have a long way to go to realise the true cultural firepower that comes hand in hand with this transitional stage of life. 

In this ecosystem JD Williams and House 337 are delivering category defining work.

As the brand for midlife style, JD Williams is successfully drawing a line in the sand and  saying enough is enough. Ignore midlife women at your peril. For Autumn Winter 2023, they have put midlife women centre-stage in a new campaign that takes those midlife myths head-on. Spearheaded by a 30-second TV spot, House 337 shows them as the fiercely stylish women they really are.

A cast of women over 50 are seen as they so rarely are: happy, vibrant and energetic. The spot's narrator repeats all the tired old rumours: “We have lost our style, forgotten how to party, are past it, probably stopped having sex a long time ago, choose to be invisible, play it safe – we are nothing but a hot mess.” 

House 337’s work rejects these mediaeval myths of midlife in all aspects of women’s lives, from style to beauty, their sex lives, to partying and hosting at home.

This campaign follows on from JD Williams’s previous work celebrating women in midlife, reflected by their role as sponsor of Davina McCall’s hit midlife dating show My Mum Your Dad. Associating with a show which so powerfully underlines the cultural currency of reflecting the lived experiences of older people has further cemented JD Williams's positioning as a brand blazing a trail with a new narrative for midlife. 

Esme Stone, Head of Brand Marketing at JD Williams, explained: “We’re proud to present a second campaign that once again demonstrates our commitment to truly representing midlife women. With House 337, we’ll continue to flip the perception society holds of women past a certain age and represent a style which is made for them. Embracing the wit, confidence and the true stories of real midlife women across the entire lifestyle category this Autumn.”

Zara Ineson, Executive Creative Director at House 337, added: “The tides are slowly turning on society seeing the value and awesomeness of middle-aged women. But this can’t happen soon enough. We’ve been misrepresented or altogether ignored for too long, so shove over ‘silver fox’ men HERE COME THE F-ING GIRLS, and we’re not who you think we are! It’s fulfilling to be a part of this cultural revolution of really seeing midlife women through our myth-busting work with JD Williams. And I encourage even more marketers to harness the power of creativity and the reach of their brands for both commercial and societal progress.”

The female first firepower of this campaign is a compelling reminder of the creative currency that comes hand in hand with taking older women seriously.