Hundreds of people applied when Tosti Creative called for senior creatives. Twelve were selected — and their ideas stuck.
When creative agency Tosti Creative set out to address loneliness among an aging population, the older folks they spoke to came up with a better idea. As managing director Stefan Bothoff recalls: "They told us: 'Can't we just come and brainstorm with you? We want to participate. I may be old, but I'm not stupid.'" So that's exactly what happened. In December 2025, Tosti put out an open call for creatives aged 70 and over. Hundreds applied. Twelve were selected, and in January, they showed up at the agency's Amsterdam headquarters and set to work on client briefings.
Split into three groups, mixed by age, background and gender, they tackled briefs for Vodafone Foundation (digital skills for older adults), Funda (housing market mobility), and Takecarebnb (matching refugees with host families). By the afternoon, the seniors were presenting their concepts. The ideas weren't shelved as feel-good PR, either: according to Bothoff, all three projects were well received by the clients, and two are now in talks to be developed further.
The team realized that working with seniors gave them new insights and fresh perspectives. And the appreciation went both ways. As senior creative Katinka Hofstede van Beek said over coffee at the farm where she volunteers weekly, she and the other participants would happily join Tosti for another briefing. Katinka, an illustrator, knows she's often perceived as an old lady. But inside, she says, she's still 25 — with a mind bursting with ideas.
TREND BITE
The advertising industry rarely considers the creative potential sitting at the not-so-young end of the age spectrum. That's a missed opportunity. Older adults bring pattern recognition sharpened over decades, an intuitive grasp of what resonates across generations, and a directness that cuts through groupthink.
For brands, the benefits are even clearer. Older consumers command significant spending power, particularly in markets like the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Japan and the US. Yet they remain underrepresented in advertising, and when they do appear, they're frequently flattened into tropes. Involving them upstream in strategy and concept development can surface insights and nuances no trend report can replicate ;)