In the past, I have gone on ad nauseam about how mobile driver’s licenses are more private than physical driver’s licenses. Here is how I stated it in July 2024:
“When you hand your physical driver’s license over to a sleazy bartender, they find out EVERYTHING about you, including your name, your birthdate, your driver’s license number, and even where you live.
“When you use a digital mobile driver’s license, bartenders ONLY learn what they NEED to know—that you are over 21.”
Which is extremely limited information.
But some age verification systems may provide your age in years, without necessarily revealing your exact date of birth.
That single number—whether it is 17, 27, or 57—reveals a lot more than we realize.
Let’s say that we know that Jill is 57 years old. This means that she was born in either 1968 or 1969. If Jill has lived her entire life in the United States, we immediately know several things about her with some certainty.
- First, we know that she is part of Generation X, which means she may exhibit skepticism rather than corporate loyalty, and a comfort level with email rather than Telegram or what we now refer to as “voice calls.”
- Second, we know the types of experiences she probably had in her childhood and teenage years. She probably played with Star Wars toys as a kid. She knew a little bit about Billy Carter, the funny Presidential brother. She feared for the lives of the hostages in Iran.
- Third, we know the types of experiences she didn’t have. She never saw a cigarette commercial on TV. If she watched Star Trek, she saw it on an “independent” station, not on NBC during prime time. She never feared for the lives of the Israeli Olympians in Munich.
It’s not a lot to go on, and it may not be 100% accurate if Jill grew up in a household that viewed television as demonic.
But it’s enough for a product marketer to shape age-sensitive product marketing.
This isn’t true for all products. Biometric system marketing, for example, isn’t affected by the age of the government procurement officer who is buying the biometric system.
But if your product appeals to some ages more than others, knowing the ideal age of your target audience personas shapes your content. If your target audience is just out of college, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing” is meaningless to them.
Bredemarket 