Earlier this month, the Toronto Star presented a special series by journalist Judy Steed documenting the most pressing policy issues of our aging society, as part of the 2008 Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy. It is apparent that Ontario is bracing for a grey wave – a demographic tsunami is headed our way. Canada is fading to grey, as the population bulge known as the baby boomers closes in on senior status, with the first wave turning 65 in 2011. This generation will live longer than their forebears; not only has Canadian life expectancy doubled in the past century, to 82 for men and 85 for women, but many more of us will live to be 100. What are we going to do with all these old folks?

More importantly, how will the proliferation of all these senior’s affect our society, economically and culturally? Will they have the same influence and buying power as they have had throughout their entire lives? Will advertisers continue to target the aging boomers? Will the boomer be defined in a new and improved way?

ZOOMERS
Dr. David J. Demko, professor of gerontology and editor of AgeVenture News Service, first coined the term in 1998 to identify this new trend-setting group of Boomers who are breaking retirement tradition.

Increased life-expectancy has transformed ‘Yesterday’s Yuppie’ into ‘Today’s ZOOMER.’ These new boomers are colouring outside the lines, zig-zagging and zooooooming toward a bright new horizon chock-block full of possibilities for reinventing retirement and redefining what it means to be a mature adult in the new millennium.

According to Dr. Demko, someone is a ZOOMER who:

1) Knows the difference between primary (inevitable) and secondary (reversible) aging
2) Performs daily exercise (aerobics for endurance, anaerobics for strength, and neurobics for brain power)
3) Calculates daily nutritional and caloric needs based on age, gender and weight
4) Orchestrates a social support system of companions, close friends and a confidante
5) Enjoys a positive self-concept, and a passion for living life to the fullest
6) Achieves the resources necessary to live an adventurous life thanks to sound retirement planning

Gee, I wonder how many of these ZOOMERS still have the necessary resources to live an adventurous life, since the economy has gone down the toilet.

Nevertheless, the ZOOMER has been decreed a viable and new audience, and is the latest venture of Toronto media guru Moses Znaimer, who is now the Executive Director of CARP (Canada’s Association for the 50Plus) and the founder of ZoomerMedia. Znaimer’s new vision of aging for Canada incorporates a variety of media ventures that encompass radio, print, social media and events tailored to the 45+ or 50+ crowd. And it’s interesting to see why he would target this market.

Quick Zoomer facts*
Zoomers purchased 58% of all cars in the past year. They represent 73% of households with $100,000 income and enjoyed 55% of all vacations in the past year. Zoomers purchased 80% of health care products, and they represent 83% of households with savings or securities over $500,000.
*Statistics Canada Census Data, 2007

Gee, I wonder how many of these Zoomers will be purchasing new cars, going on vacations, will be gainfully employed and still have savings or securities over $500,000, since the economy has gone down the toilet. Putting all cynicism aside, the Zoomer is still the largest demographic with disposable cash and will continue defining era after era.

The baby boom generation (1946-1964) is the largest age demographic in North America, and the primary reason why advertisers started to create and target youth audiences. Because they are the largest demographic, they will always be marketed and targeted. We are already bombarded with ads for health insurance, health care and health & beauty products. Just think of all the ads for skin care – and the creation of Dove – real beauty ads. As the boomers are aging, aging is being projected in a different light, and as the oldest of the boomers are creeeping toward senior citizenship – watch and see – ads on funeral planning, wills and estate planning, retirement planning, cancer treatments, travel and leisure, and cosmetic surgery will take over the airwaves.

The definition of zoomer does not fit everybody in the 45+ age bracket. What a lot of people keep forgetting is that the boomers born from 1960-1964 did not have the same advantages as the boomers born from 1946-1959. The late boomers are actually “Generation X” and the subject of Douglas Coupland’s novel of the same name, which dealt with their collective angst at not being able to achieve the same things as those who came before them. This group is so overlooked that the original Gen X moniker has been displaced and shifted to the group that was born after them from 1965-1979.

What advertisers have to do is take a good look at the baby boom generation and not lump them into one group package like Znaimer’s Zoomers. All demographics based on age have to be overhauled to reflect a new reality – Do you honestly think that 40+ men and women are like 40+ men and women from the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s? I turned 45 this year, and panicked when I realized that I would be shifting from the 25-44 demographic and lumped in with the 45-59 or 45-64 set and thought no way – when did this happen? In the last year and half, I finally got my degree and completed a graduate program – I am not your typical 45 year-old. That being said, in this topsy-turvy economic climate, spending will be curtailed and many people who have lost their jobs will be starting fresh career paths or going back to college or university. The face of a post-secondary student will continue to shift and not fit the conventions of advertisers. Age lines are definitely blurry and demographics should reflect this.

I have returned from a self-imposed blog sabbatical, where I actually spent more time reading books (memba them) and interacting with people instead of my laptop. Well, now I am back and ready to prattle on about a myriad of topics. My first blog, fittingly, is a salute to National Grouch Day and provides an overview of some of pop cultures most celebrated grumps from the past and present. Enjoy and have a Happy Grouch Day!

Next time I see you, remind me not to talk to you

GROUCHO MARX  was an American comedian and film star who made several movies with his brothers – Chico, Zeppo, Harpo & Gummo – collectively known as the Marx Brothers. As the leader of the comedy troupe, Groucho’s trademark greasepaint moustache, eyebrows, glasses and cigars have become icons of comedy; however, his ascerbic wit and biting remarks are truly grouchy. I highy recommend three Marx Brothers comedies – Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed. 

I am free of all prejudices. I hate every one equally.

W.C. FIELDS, yet another oldie but goodie who exudes grumpasaurus. He created one of the great comic personas of the early half of the 20th century – a misanthrope, yet a charming drunk who hated children, dogs and women (unless they were the wrong sort of women). Check out My Little Chickadee with Mae West and The Bank Dick to see this comic grump genius at his best.

Who picks out your clothes – Stevie Wonder?  (to David Letterman)

DON RICKLES, also known as the Merchant of Venom & Mr. Warmth is an insult comic extraordinaire. You may also know him as the voice of Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story movies, or most recently saw his appearance on the Emmy Awards with Kathy Griffin, where he won two Emmy’s for his comedy special “Mr. Warmth.” His career has been a lengthy one, due in part to his philanthropy and reputation that his insults are meant in jest and not actual spite.

I hate spunk

Lovable, yet irrascible Ed Asner as Lou Grant on both the Mary Tyler Moore Show and spin-off Lou Grant is another salutable grump.  When he first interviewed Mary, he liked her because she had spunk, even though he hated spunk. He offered her the job of associate producer at WJM-News, which paid less than the secretarial position for which she had initially interviewed, but she approved it, saying that she could only afford being an associate producer. Little did Mary know that he offered her a position as producer for even less money.

Good morning, dickhead!  Hello moron!

JACK LEMMON and WALTER MATTHAU are in fine form as John and Max, two former friends who live next door to each other, and who for the past 50 years continuously argue and insult each other. Enjoy this clip from Grumpy Old Men.

Where’s the beef?

CLARA PELLER - the grumpy old woman of the 1980’s – found fame starring in a TV ad campaign for Wendy’s where the catchphrase “Where’s the beef?” has become an all-purpose phrase questioning the substance of an idea, event or product. Despite the huge popularity of the commercial, Peller was fired by Wendy’s after she had “found the beef” endorsing Prego Plus Spaghetti Sauce.

Do you smell it? That smell. A kind of smelly smell. The smelly smell that smells…smelly

MR. EUGENE H. KRABS, owner of the Krusty Krab and SpongeBob SquarePants’ boss is one crusty crab.  Money, money, money is always on Mr. Krab’s mind and he can usually be found in his office counting cash and tallying up the day’s receipts. Even though SpongeBob gets on his nerves – Mr. Krab really likes that he’s willing to work long hours for very little pay. Money makes the world go ’round! Interesting video which compares Mr. Krab’s pursuit of money to the pursuit of the American Dream and the great American businessman.

Now leave me alone and get lost!

I saved the best grouch for last – Oscar the Grouch, who has been a grouchy presence on Sesame Street since 1969.  Did you know that Oscar was originally orange in Season 1? I love that the Children’s Television Network used Jim Henson’s muppet creations to educate children about different behaviour and feelings. It’s OK to be angry and grouchy sometimes – like today, October 15, 2008.  Stand up for your grouchy rights. Go ahead – be a grouch- now, go and get lost! But first – Oscar the Grouch and his Grouch Anthem from Follow That Bird.

 

What are you doing this Saturday night? May I suggest that whatever you do, that between eight and nine p.m., turn off your lights in honour of Earth Hour. On March 31, 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 businesses in Sydney, Australia turned off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour.

With Sydney icons such as the Harbour Bridge and Opera House turning off their lights, and unique events like weddings held by candlelight, the world took notice. Inspired by the collective effort of Sydney, many major global cities are joining Earth Hour 2008, turning a symbolic event into a global movement.

In one short year, Earth Hour has grown from an idea to an international celebration of the environmental importance of turning out the lights to use less power. The incredible results from the Sydney experiment demonstrated that “if the greenhouse reduction achieved in Sydney during Earth Hour was sustained for one year, it would be the equivalent of taking 48,616 cars off the road for one year.”

How can you take part? By registering for Earth Hour at www.earthhour.org and getting involved by reducing energy consumption. Earth Hour is one little hour – 60 minutes of your life to be a part of a global collective conscience that has one goal in mind – to reduce global warming. What can you do during Earth Hour? Well I recommend one of these three ideas:

1) have a romantic candlelit dinner

2) hold an Earth Hour cocktail party by candlelight – serve Global Warming cocktails

3) explore the night sky and star gaze

If you were in Toronto, during the blackout in August 2003, you will remember how incredible the night sky was. I have never in my life seen that many stars in the city, so Earth Hour will hopefully provide an amazing hour for star gazing.

When I last checked, more than 60 cities in Canada are taking part in Earth Hour. In the GTA, approximately 15,000 people have registered as participants with the World Wildlife Fund. Toronto’s city core is expected to darken significantly with more than 30 prominent buildings like First Canadian Place, the Canada Life Building, Commerce Court and TD Centre committed to dimming their lights during Earth Hour. Some of the Toronto retailers participating include the Eaton Centre, Home Depot, Honest Ed’s, Sears Canada, Whole Foods Market, Loblaws and Willow Books. The Hudson’s Bay Company which includes The Bay, Zellers and Home Outfitters – 600 stores across Canada – are also participating by dimming or completely turning off lights depending on whether they’re open for business. Also, a free, acoustic and clean-energy-powered concert will take place at Nathan Phillips Square, featuring Nelly Furtado, Philosopher Kings and Fefe Dobson.

Simple steps like turning off your lights can make a big difference; however, if you really want to see a difference, then make Earth Hour part of your everyday life. Three simple things that can make a big difference:

1) turn off appliances while not in use  

2) Change your light bulbs to energy efficient bulbs    

                                                                                                                     
    3) turn off the lights when you leave a room   
  

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Oh, look out you rock ‘n rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes (Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Pretty soon you’re gonna get a little older
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time
I said that time may change me
But I can’t trace time 

- David Bowie

This week marks the official end to in-class sessions in the Corporate Communications & Public Relations grad program at Centennial. Throughout the week, I felt a myriad range of emotions from elation to sadness, from stressed out to completely relaxed, from bitter to sweet. The whirlwind of the second semester has come to a dead halt, and I find myself walking through the doorway of new opportunity.

Today, is the day that I received incredible news. I have an internship with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. I am so excited that I will be working with this fabulous not for profit organization, and will give it my all to help achieve their goal, “to create a future without breast cancer.”

To all of my classmates – Thank you for your awesomeness – I wish all of you well as you embark on your field placements. Can’t wait to see all of you again when we report on our internships.

To all of my instructors – Thank you for your dedication and your words of wisdom – I will certainly stay in touch with all of you and keep you posted on my progress.

I am finally posting again after returning from vacation and getting caught up with everything. Whew…I’m back in the saddle again. Recently attended Podcamp 2008 at Ryerson where I sat in on two sessions. The first was a session about Talk Shoe a service that enables anyone to easily create, join, or listen to live interactive discussion, conversations, podcasts and audioblogs. How very “get smart.” Love eavesdropping…but I was really there for the next session, Twitter 101, moderated by Adele McAlear with a panel of “twitterers” Eden Spodek, Tommy Vallier, Dave Fleet and Connie Crosby.

Micro-blogging is something that has always intrigued me and I needed to learn more about this social media tool. Communications and public relations are all about conveying messages clearly and succinctly. What better way than to learn all about micro-blogging and what it can do for the profession. However, still a little confused about the messages that are being conveyed – Do I really care if someone updates me with a message that they are eating a cheese sandwich or out walking the dog?

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates or “tweets,” to the Twitter website via short message service, instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterific. These posts can not exceed 140 characters in length and updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in a circle of friends who in essence are followers to that person’s profile (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, e-mail or through an application.

Since Twitter’s launch in October 2006, the service has rapidly gained in popularity and many organizations, like the Los Angeles Fire Department have embraced the technology and put it to use in situations such as the October 2007 California wildfires.

Amongst the many social interactive media services used to track down the fires were two Twitter news streams. Dave Fleet wrote an interesting blog about the wildfires and the use of new media to communicate this crisis in the State of California. Dave indicates that immediacy is one of the positive aspects about web 2.0. and new media. Crisis communications must focus on mainstream media such as print, radio and television, but new media tactics have proven a quicker and more responsive way to communicate directly with people than traditional media channels.

OK…Twitter has been gaining in popularity and is touted for its immediacy, but what about outside the realm of crisis communication? or outside the area of corporate communications, public relations and marketing? How does twittering affect the personal user?

Rayanne Langdon, a classmate in the Corporate Communications and Public Relations graduate program at Centennial readily admits her addiction to Twitter as she posted this following tweet:

Classmate today asked me how often I’m on Twitter. My answer? Gosh, all the time. I have a problem. 09:52 PM March 10, 2008 from web

I signed up and became a Twitter user after attending PodCamp, but I can honestly say that I am not obsessive about it. I check in from time to time and send the occasional tweet, but I am still trying to wrap my head around the concept. For example, for some inexplicable reason, I have a follower from Mexico City and all of his tweets are in Spanish. After interviewing Dave Fleet for an upcoming podcast, we discussed Twitter and its viability, and have come to the conclusion that there is a learning curve to truly understand that it’s more than an instant messaging tool. Twitter, if used properly, can be an excellent marketing, public relations and communications tool.

Social Media Club calls Twitter an EM,  or  otherwise, an “everywhere messaging” tool with the potential to change the way organizations use marketing and publishing.

With Twitter…the purpose is not about communicating with another person instantly. While I could send a direct message to someone over an EM channel, it is probably not something that has a time imperative on it… Most importantly, with EM, I believe the message is more about me, my needs and my desire to be heard – it can also be more self serving along the same lines that social bookmarking is – to help me find something later. EM can just as easily be a tool for publishing as it is a tool for communicating with those I trust, or those that want to know what I am doing or thinking. As a tool for publishing, it can also be a tool for annotating and sharing.
Chris Heuser – Social Media Club

Even though micro-blogging has been embraced and promoted by many communications practioners, in 2007, Twitter began experiencing numerous challenges related to its growing user base.  The Wall Street Journal wrote the following:

These social-networking services elicit mixed feelings in the technology-savvy people who have been their early adopters. Fans say they are a good way to keep in touch with busy friends. But some users are starting to feel “too” connected, as they grapple with check-in messages at odd hours, higher cell phone bills and the need to tell acquaintances to stop announcing what they’re having for dinner.

A great posting entitled “Twitter Rant” on the blog Webwalker summarizes the mixed feelings about the use of Twitter. Twitter is enigmatic and a paradox to many. Let’s just say that it is a love-hate relationship and considered a necessary evil in their everyday lives.  As for me, I will persevere and try to learn to love Twitter, because the bottom-line is, in this ever-changing world of technological advances, Twitter is a platform that is both immediate and intimate.  And a newer and better way of delivering key messages effectively and efficiently. 

Please share your thoughts about Twitter?  And if you are a twitterer, define in one word why you love it or hate it?

The January issue of Marketing Magazine forecasts major pop culture trends in 2008.  One trend deals with environmental issues where consumers will place a focus on clean water and clean air as they begin to comprehend the real impact of climate change. 

“They’ll start to ask questions about water in every format, from what kind of water is in their can of soup to whether or not marine water is being recycled at a resort they visit.  Water management and conservation will rise up the agendas of governments and corporations around the world.”   – Marian Salzman executive VP and CMO from JWT New York 

How fitting that the City of Toronto has initiated the “Water for Life” campaign that questions citizens of our fair metropolis on their water IQ!  Check out these PSA’s from thinkwater.ca

Would you pay $3/litre for gasoline?  Of course not, you would be outraged.  So why would you pay $3 for a litre of water?  Do you really know what is in your bottled water?

Flushing toilets

Storm water – What percentage of water that flows into sewer grates is actually recyled?  You will be shocked at the answer.   

This has been bugging me over the past few days, and I must get it off my chest.  Since when has Valentine’s Day been relegated to Christmas status?  What I mean is that a local newscast had a story about last minute Valentine’s shoppers the day before the VD holiday.  What’s up with that?  Over the past few years, there has been a substantial increase in over-commercializing this holiday resulting in an Anti-Valentine backlash.  However, capitalism pervails because businesses are creating Anti-Valentine cards and products for a new market – the cynical and jaded.  Without sounding too contrite, shouldn’t we be treating loved ones in a loving way all the time?  I appreciate the sentiment behind the holiday, but the true meaning and message of Valentine’s Day has become lost in the crass commercialism.

As a communications and public relations student trying to make sense of the world, I thought that it would be best if if I began at the beginning and the communication and media theories posed by Harold Innis, the man who inspired Marshall McLuhan.                                                                             

As many of you know, McLuhan was a Canadian professor of English literature, a literary critic and a communications theorist based at the University of Toronto.  He is known for coining the expressions “the medium is the message” and “the global village.”  McLuhan played a major role in discussing media from the late 1960s to his death and he continues to be an influential yet controversial figure in the present day.

How many of you know about Harold Innis?  Innis, like McLuhan was an esteemed professor who taught at the University of Toronto; however, Innis’ forte was Canadian political and economic history.  Leading up to his death in 1952, Innis wrote a series of essays exploring the roles of media and communication in the creation of history, resulting in his collection The Bias of Communication.  Innis’ historical overview of the forms of communication that helped precipitate the rise and fall of civilizations is a critique of media up to the first half of the twentieth century.

Innis argues that social organization within culture and society is constructed through the type of media used to communicate vital information, and that the predominant form of communication within a civilization establishes the social and psychological outcomes of the society.  He states that particular ancient civilizations were socially and culturally more stable over time because of their use of the oral tradition (storytelling) as opposed to the present Western civilization where the written tradition is prone to a bias of communication which creates fragmentation and assumptions.

The oral tradition is a slower and more complex way of communication because it emphasizes memory and training.  It is slower time-based media bound in the traditional form of oral communication which results in a time-based society better suited to retaining social and cultural stability.  On the other hand, the written tradition is a simplified version of oral storytelling which contains fragmented elements that can’t illustrate the complexity of expression.  Because the prevalent form of communication nowadays is found in the written tradition which favours control over space, because of the capability to relay news events and info quickly, Western society is susceptible to the bias of news fragmentation. 

The printing press and Industrial Revolution resulted in improvements in communication; however, these improvements made understanding difficult due to a bias toward fragmentation, assumptions and commercialism.  These “monopolies in language and knowledge” are maintained by the powerful through a bias that places limits on divergent voices and opinions.  Innis asserts that the media can be related to those in power and those who have sustained power, because the freedom of the press allows the misrepresentation of news and information making it difficult to understand what is being conveyed.  Sounds like propaganda to me.

The ability to be persuasive is paramount in communications and public relations.  With the explosion of social media and all of the talking happening on blogs – how are we really communicating?  Various divergent voices are being expressed through blogs which are written and must be read.  Where does this all fit in the scheme of things?  Is blogging a new way of combining the elements of the oral and written tradition?

PRattle On is part of the blogosphere.  Look to this site for updates on everything you  want to know about communications and pr but are afraid to ask.  This isn’t idle chit chat or childish banter, but a forum for talk, talk, talk.