Alberta Business Marketing

Statistics Canada predicts that by 2031, 63 per cent of the GTA’s population will be visible minorities with South Asians and Chinese leading the pack – that’s up from the 43 per cent in 2006. With the minority set to become the majority, the GTA has become the battleground for marketers from major retailers, banks and wireless providers trying to attract the ethnic consumer.

With ethnic minorities predicted to become the majority across the GTA in the near future, mainstream businesses are looking to capitalize on the demographic shift. But ever since I've begun to counsel clients on multicultural marketing when I first immigrated to this country in 1990, I've always been skeptical about how long does it take for companies to realize it takes more than Google Translate to 'multiculturalize' a marketing strategy.

Data collected by Statistics Canada in 2006 shows the cities of Toronto, Markham, Brampton, Mississauga and Richmond Hill experienced a major surge in visible minorities from the previous census year (2001). Markham had the highest proportion of visible minorities in the country – they made up 65.4 per cent of its population. About half were Chinese and one-quarter were South Asian. In Brampton, the census subdivision that ranked behind Markham, 56 per cent of residents were South Asian.

Recently, grocery giant Metro purchased a majority share of Adonis, a grocer with a steady following of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern consumers. This came two years after its competitor, Loblaw, snatched up T&T, a major Chinese supermarket chain. Both deals give Metro and Loblaw access to suppliers and business strategies geared to reaching ethnic consumers.

While marketers realize that multicultural marketing is very different from using the same approach as preaching to predominantly white, middle-class consumers, very few mainstream companies are willing to dedicate manpower and budget to properly communicate and connect with multicultural audiences. As recently as 2006, major brands seemed to be missing the mark when it came to ethnic consumers. In a survey conducted that year by a Toronto-based research company, 52 per cent of the 3,000 visible-minority participants agreed with the statement, “I rarely see advertising messages intended for me.”

But there is good news after all these years. Though it still trails the steady growth of these populations, the industry is slowly gaining sophistication. Major businesses are co-ordinating ethnic merchandising teams and hiring ethnic marketing firms. With geographic information systems, they can learn which ethnic groups to target at various store locations. With loyalty programs, they can data-mine for consumption trends among their diverse customers. A year ago, Loblaw hired a senior manager of ethnic marketing. Scotiabank and Rogers have their own multicultural marketing managers. And in offices in Markham, North York, Mississauga and downtown Toronto are dozens of marketers who specialize in reaching Indian, Chinese, Filipino and other visible-minority consumers.

Most mainstream marketers fail to understand generational differences call for different ad strategies. The newcomer requires different treatment from the established family or the Canadian-born children of immigrants. Sterotyping visible minorities are not going to get you anywhere.

Is brand awareness enough to drive sales behaviour among multicultural consumers? Like their mainstream counterparts, the ethnic population shops around for prices. So, other than variety, pricing is also important because most of the new immigrants are smart shoppers. But being serious about understanding the diverse mix of new Canadians is an important first step in winning over the ethnic consumer.

Lina Ko

Tags: Branding, Strategy
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According to a new study co-authored by professors from Dalhousie University, Carleton University and the University of Guelph, all four generations in the Canadian workplace value similar things. So what might cause employers headaches is that they value them in different ways.

The Millennial Generation (in their 20s) is most likely to covet a job that offers quick advancement, congenial co-workers and a lot of fun. Gen-Xers (in their 30s and early 40s) put the most value on work-life balance. Boomers (aged 46 to 64) are most likely to say they want to continue to grow and use their skills on the job and get clear information from management on what’s expected from them. Mature workers (over 60) are more concerned about their advancement than boomers or Gen-Xers.

Job-hopping, apparently, has become a fact of life for younger employees. The study indicated that it’s not the economy that is making them jump ship, but because they feel that they have to keep moving because they are not getting what they want from their current jobs.

I’ve previously blogged about inter-generation tension within the workplace. But according to this new study, maybe the key takeaway for employers is that they should provide more flexibility for young and mature workers alike, and create more opportunities for employees to move within the organization to accumulate experience and enhance capabilities. Once companies are able to make this a reality, they should also try to brand themselves that way to attract the right people.

Tags: Human Resources
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Everybody knows that Canada’s population is aging. But how many marketers are actually capitalizing on the opportunity and really marketing to baby boomers? Our population is getting older faster but is living longer than the previous generations. TD Waterhouse’s Senior Vice President Patricia Lovett-Reid recently identified a number of high-potential industry sectors for boomer marketing: leisure, healthcare, assisted living, anti-aging and, of course, financial services.

But these are business sectors on which marketers have already been focusing in the last five years. The following are my suggested alternatives:

- Customized travel tours designed for boomers: forget the cruise lines which have already been targeting boomers about a decade ago, but whoever fulfills the dreams of boomers such as guided hiking trips to Switzerland or adventure tours to exotic countries around the world will prosper;
- Organic food and nutraceuticals: baby boomers are increasingly concerned about what they eat and the impact of food on their health as they age. From farm to fork should be the key growth strategy for restaurants and food companies. Instead of drugs, any company manufacturing and marketing nutraceuticals – a combination of functional foods with health/medical benefits – will be highly popular;
- Retirement resorts – with the improvement of science and technology, boomers, hopefully, will not need assisted care until their very senior years. So developers should really look into building and designing retirement resorts for boomers to enjoy life while they can;
- Rebranding for boomers: any branding or image consulting experts who can offer some practical advice to boomers reinventing themselves or starting a second career will find themselves in hot demand;
- Mental fitness centres: everybody knows the importance of physical fitness and exercising to the aging process, but whoever focuses on the mental agility and spiritual fulfillment of boomers and seniors will enjoy a greater success.

I do agree with Lovett-Reid that there are numerous opportunities to market to the aging population, but a sound research prior to investment is crucial to a successful entrepreneur before embarking on a business venture aiming at baby boomers.

Lina Ko

Tags: Strategy
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Last month, the daytime Emmy Award for outstanding lifestyle programming went to the Martha Stewart Show. A surprising nomination within this category was the TV show “My Generation” which runs weekly on PBS and is a show created by AARP aimed at viewers 50 and older. According to the executive producer of the show, the contest between other TV veterans, such as Oprah’s home design guy and the Style Network, and “My Generation” which has a full-time staff of only four people, was something of a David and Goliath battle.

In an industry where marketing to youth translates into profit, the AARP show stakes out an audience far from the 18- to 34-year-old target audience that advertisers and TV executives typically crave. Instead, the 30-minute show, hosted by Leeza Gibbons, is meant to appeal to a mature population, with health and wealth tips – Martina Navratilova on improving posture or investment strategies from Jim Cramer – and profiles of high-achieving people or celebrities, along with the doom-and-gloom segments on Alzheimer’s, care-giving and strokes.

According to The New York Times, the idea for “My Generation” was born several years ago, in AARP’s head office in Washington. In an effort to reach more people, the group decided to broaden its brand from publications (such as AARP the Magazine) to TV. The most powerful stakeholder organization wanted to move into a new medium to show the industry that there’s interest, there’s a market and it could be lucrative for marketers. According to the Association, this is a population with a fair amount of disposable income and contrary to the old stereotype that older people are brand loyal, that’s not necessarily the case. The bottom line is, the 50-plus are watching TV and buying products and services.

Picking 54-year-old Lisa Gibbons as the host of “My Generation” was probably the smartest move that AARP has done. “It’s not surprising that AARP is interested in making sure the voices and faces that represent them accurately reflect what it means to be 50 or better in our culture today,” she said, “I think I am a pretty good example of what it looks like. Being old doesn’t necessarily come with admission into the ‘sage and serene’ club, and that inspiration can strike at any age.

While AARP is continuing with its rebranding initiatives with Betty White, the MVP of aging, embarking on a campaign to invite people to “Get Over It (Aging),’ Moses Znaimer and his Zoomer Media empire are also doing the same thing to rebrand Canadian boomers and seniors; or, in his words, boomers with ‘zip.’ Boomers will watch TV, and they will like to see themselves continue to be represented in TV.

Lina Ko

Tags: Branding
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According to The Vancouver Province, 2017 will be a watershed year – that’s the year when retirement will have shrunk baby boomers to 25 percent of Canada’s workforce from their current 50 percent share. That’s also the year when Generation Y will account for half of the country’s workforce and the Y-ers may look at the employer and decide whether they’d rather work somewhere else.

The tightness in the labour market will force employers to scrutinize their own brands. An employer brand, perceived by current and potential employees, has three essential elements: it must have a strategy to attract new employees; it must provide a workplace experience that is appealing to retain current employees; and it must boost staff productivity by ‘engaging’ employees.

In other words, companies need a genuine face and touch of charisma to attract employees. If employees trust that the company is doing everything in their best interest, as well as practising two-way transparency by sharing information and seeking feedback, they will, in turn, give back to the company.

As marketers, we talk about corporate brands all the time. But now is the high time to apply the same marketing discipline to employer brands.

Lina Ko

Tags: Branding
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