Lina Ko

Lina Ko is one of North America's pre-eminent marketing communications professionals, specializing in brand positioning and marketing. She is a partner of NATIONAL Public Relations Inc., Canada's leading public relations firm.

She has counseled senior management and marketing teams of leading North American and international companies on building brand equity for some of the world's leading consumer, lifestyle, technology and healthcare brands. She has over 20 years of international experience in brand positioning, product launches, special events, consumer promotions and buzz marketing for clients in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Her experience in brand building and positioning spans three international markets: Hong Kong, the United States and Canada. From luxury brands such as Montblanc, Shangri-La, Mercedes-Benz, Hermès and Chanel; to food and beverage brands including Campbell's, Coca-Cola, Kraft, Unilever, Twin Fin wines, Piper-Heidsieck champagne, Hennessy and Remy Martin cognacs; to travel and leisure brands such as American Express, Cathay Pacific Airways, The Peninsula Group; to retailers such as American Eagle Outfitters, Wal-Mart, Holt Renfrew, Amazon.ca and Yahoo! shopping, Lina has helped build brand power for a wide array of international clients and made a difference to their business.

Lina is the author of www.boomerwatch.ca and oversees the Baby Boomer Marketing Division of NATIONAL which helps clients make better business decisions through a deeper understanding of the boomer demographic. The firm brings a wealth of experience and knowledge about the 40+ market through its work in consumer healthcare, anti-aging, food, retail, real estate, financial services, long-term care and estate planning. Services offered include primary research, market analysis, product seeding, advocacy group relations, media relations and direct-to-consumer events.

Lina is a Past President of the American Marketing Association, Toronto Chapter (TAMA). She also won a Gold Quill Award given by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). Lina was on the Program Committee of the Canadian Marketing Association's 2005 National Convention and Trade Show and a Senior Judge of its 2004 "CMA Awards." She recently delivered a keynote speech on "Globalization of China Brands" in Huizhou, China, at the Annual Famous Brands of China Conference.

The Age of Entitlement

According to a recent issue of The Financial Times, it was Yankelovich - the market research company - that claimed to have invented the term 'baby boomer". Generation Ageless, a book written by the research company's senior partners, explored the way today's grown-up baby boomers differ from previous generations: their refusal to grow old gracefully and, indeed, their conviction that they are not growing old at all.

They certainly have no plans to make way for anyone else. As the book says, these are people who, their entire lives, have "revelled in the attention like babies at bath-time". Generation X, those born between 1965 and 1978, can wait.

In the heat of the U.S. Presidential elections, we need to remember that the two Democratic Party Candidates vying for the Democratic ticket are both baby boomers. Barack Obama is a trailing-edge boomer while Hillary Clinton is a leading-edge one. Bill and Hillary Clinton were, in fact, the White House's first baby-boomer couple. As the oldest of the baby boomers enter their sixties, their values, disputes and, above all, sheer numbers are still with us. The Clintons represent much of what the baby boomers stood for, and still stand for.

Former broadcaster Tom Brokaw's book - Boom! Voices of the Sixties - Personal Reflections on the 60s and Today - looks at baby boomers then and now reminds us what a time it was. The 1960s have led to today's advances for black Americans and for women. The current showdown between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would have been unthinkable without the 1960s. Women now account for half or more of the students in American medical and law schools.

Although we're not Americans, the 1960's touched us all. Companies everywhere in the world now need to know what and how to sell to baby boomers. The Financial Times suggested that the answer to this is:
home offices and multi-generational cruises (for the ‘sandwiched’ boomers); easy-grip cooking utensils, higher chairs in shoe shops and cars with bigger dashboard displays. I've also blogged about fashionable hearing aids and 'tall' books. Baby boomers are getting older, whatever we think - just don't remind us!

Increasing Health-Care Workers To Cope with Ageing Boomers

I read with interest that my friend David Foot, author of best-selling book Boom, Bust & Echo, has been urging New Brunswick to move swiftly in training new health-care workers in light of the upcoming retirement of baby boomers. According to Foot, the province's relatively old population means News Brunswick will feel the 'serious pinch' before Central and Western provinces in Canada.

The current shortage of health-care professionals is already a challenge much discussed by the media, thought leaders and think-tank organizations. It is incumbent upon the Government that they must work quickly to bolster the declining ranks of doctors, nurses and other health-care workers. We are not producing enough health-care professionals for what we will need five, 10, or 15 years from now. I agree with Foot that we need to think long-term and be creative in solving this problem.

Health authorities have called for larger classes at Canadian medical schools. According to the National Post, Canadian schools now graduate between 1,800 and 2,000 doctors a year - similar to 20 years ago. An ageing population means more graduates are needed. According to Foot, governments must define the roles of different health-care professionals in addition to hiring more workers. Everyone from nurses to pharmacists to occupational therapists must be utilized more, to ease the burden on doctors.

I agree that new ideas are needed to keep older health-care workers in the system. Perhaps they could work reduced hours at a reduced rate. Some minor responsibilities can be shifted over to nurse practitioners, who are able to diagnose some ailments, prescribe medications such as antibiotics and order X-rays and blood work. As well, pharmacists should be allowed to prescribe medications for minor ailments. A creative way to share responsibilities and work load without compromising on the quality of our health-care system is urgently required to cope with the ageing population in the country.

Boomers Motivated By Mind-Stretching Games

Age-defying boomers are proactively seeking to increase their mental activities so that they can slow the ageing process. A number of things happen normally such as memory loss or forgetting things once in a while.

According to Dr. Roland Auer, neuropathologist and professor at the University of Calgary, there are four elements that are required to keeping your brain healthy even into old age. "Watch your calories, do mental exercises, get active physically and get some sleep," he says. "Eating less and eating the right foods feeds your brain. Sleep boosts immune system activity and the physical interacts with mental fitness."

As boomers are becoming more comfortable with technology, manufacturers and web site producers are also introducing quick and effective brain games at low or no cost. From Nintendo's Brain Age game to rock-paper-scissors, there is a variety of activities that stimulate the brain. According to Future Shop, brain health games are by far the best-selling items among ageing boomers. People can play and have fun, and they can work on vocabulary, memory and life skills. More and more boomers who travel a lot also want something for the road, the hotel room or the plane.

Baby boomers are well-educated and adventurous. The demand for different cerebral activities will grow and expand.

Capitalizing On Boomer Opportunities

According to a recent McKinsey report, companies are gearing up to capitalize on the opportunities to market to the huge percentage of the boomer population. Lincoln National, a financial-services company in the U.S., has created a task force to design flexible work arrangements for older employees. The drugstore chain CVS offers 'snowbird programs' which permit boomers to transfer during the winter to sunny locations such as Arizona and Florida. IBM and P&G also look for retirees to work on projects that let them share expertise with younger workers.

In Canada, financial institutions such as HSBC are also doing the same thing to tap boomers as a source of reasonably-priced talent. This year, the bank started a program to actively recruit retirees back to work on a part-time or contract basis. So far, half a dozen retirees have taken the bank up on its offer, and are working part-time on projects and acting as mentors to younger employees.

As competition for ageing knowledge workers heat up, recruiting them will require a better integrated set of initiatives that satisfy more of their needs. McKinsey is predicting that five years from now, a company might have work centres with seating, lighting, computers and telecom equipment geared to the physical needs of older workers. Other workplace trends might include flexibility about working hours, including the option to work from home; company-sponsored affinity groups such as cooking, reading, photography or home improvement, to connect boomers with similar interests; and customized employment agreements.

Helping baby boomers overcome the enormous financial, physical and social challenges and achieve their aspirations for ageing will be a significant business opportunity in the years ahead.

Will Boomers Work Until They Die?

According to the Globe and Mail on October 18, gone are the days of ageing Canadians retiring to a life of leisure. A survey of 304 baby boomers by polling firm Ipsos Reid for Bank of Montreal indicated that 15 per cent of this demographic who either retired early to start their own business or who plan to do so said they expect to work for themselves 'until they die'. One in five, or 21 per cent, of the boomers polled said they expect to run their own business for more than a decade while just 16 per cent said they will work less than five years.

In his latest book Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes, Mark J. Penn, President of U.S. polling firm Penn, Schoen & Berland, pointed out that to the baby boomer generation in the U.S. who is nearing 65, the traditional idea of 'retirement' - with its gold watch, rocking chair and golf course - is just about ready for retirement itself. According to Mr. Penn, boomers reinvented youth in the 1960s and economic success in the 1980s; they are not about to do their senior years by someone else's formula. According to a 2005 survey by Merrill Lynch, more than three in four boomers say they have no intention to of seeking a traditional retirement. Rather, they look ahead to their 20 more years and they say Bring It On.

Having said that, boomers would want more flexibility in the work force so that they can take time off to pursue outside interests or home reponsibilities and still contribute to society. Many may not have saved enough to live comfortably in their old age, so some paid work is better than none. If companies can give boomers the chance to realize their life-long dreams, they will come back to the workforce and it's a win-win for both the employee and the employer.

The longer companies can keep boomers active in the work force, the better off everyone will be!