What is more important for you, Money or Pride?

I am contemplating an advertising campaign targeting South Asians market segment for high-end products. I would like to have your input regarding importance for money and pride. Could you please click at the Have Your Say! tab above to participate in a poll. You would also be able to view the result there.

Thank you in advance.

Second Anniversary

November 2009 marks two years of blogging on Marketing Mirror and it has been a fascinating and satisfying journey for me. I met with people who wanted to discuss my articles, spoke in forums, pursued my passion and provided value-addition to people around me.

This blog was started with a simple objective:

To add value to my clients, colleagues, friends, family & students by sharing my passion and ideas on Marketing.

I was invited by readers of this blog to discuss my articles over a cup of coffee. I spoke on Multicultural Marketing in professional forums and was able to practise the art of marketing. During these years, I wrote 40 posts and received 100+ feedbacks / comments. My professional and family commitments kept me away from writing at times. Similarly, my writing came in way of family commitments. So no hard feelings!

I look forward to continue writing in future and add my two-cents. Thank you for visiting and reading my blog posts.

Cheers,

Fazal

South Asian Market in Canada – Some Statistics

National

• South Asians are the largest visible minority group at 1.27 million people according to 2006 Census results.
• South Asians group grew by 37.7% from 917,000 in 2001 to 1,262,900 in 2006.
• They represented 25% of all visible minority and 4% of the total Canadian population in 2006.

Ontario

• In 2006, South Asians were the largest visibility minority in Ontario at 794,200 individuals or about 30% of all visible minorities and 7% of the total population in the province.
• About 72% South Asians are foreign-born who came to Canada as immigrants.
• South Asians are the fastest growing visible minority in Ontario and increased at 43% from 2001 to 2006.

GTA

• South Asians were the largest visible minority group in the GTA at 684,100 individuals followed by Chinese at 486,300, as per 2006 Census
• They account for about 55% of all South Asians in Canada and 14% of the GTA population
• The cities of Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga have largest population of South Asians at 298,000, 136,000 and 134,000 respectively
• South Asians represent 12% of  total population in Toronto, 32% of total Brampton’s population and 20% of Mississauga’s population.

My Favourite Brands

 

Harley-Davidson: For over 100 years, Harley-Davidson has successfully targeted, satisfied perceived needs and touched the lives of its target market, that is, men and women of 40+ years. It understands its target market well. It cultivates emotional bond via innovative graphic advertising and classic conditioning through exposure to its ads, merchandising and branding. It fulfills the brand promise with consistent product quality and meets perceived needs for freedom and sense of achievement. Harley Davidson is an iconic brand with highest brand loyality from generations of customers.

Tim Hortons is a symbol of nationalism and a lifestyle brand. It has become one of the most recognized brands in the country on the basis of effective branding, brand image and brand experience. It executes effective branding via ubiquitous brand name, signage, tagline and its red color, and brand image via creative advertising and sales promotions. Above all, it offers excellent brand experience at all touch points. Tim Hortons satisfies human needs for food and enjoyment (fun) by regularly introducing new products, maintaining superior quality and offering convenience, comfort and good value for money.

Canada-Pakistan Trade Expo ‘09 – A Window of Opportunity

The current economic slowdown has once again highlighted the significance of globalization and diversification of trade for Canada. Though Canada’s economic indicators (sub-prime loans, real estate and job markets) were better positioned than the US, Canadian economy got badly bruised due to over dependence on a single market, the United States. (79% of the Canadian merchandise was exported to the USA in 2006). The government is encouraging diversification of international trade, however, much more needs to be done by both the government and the private sector to expedite the diversification process and reap economic benefits from moving into emerging markets.

There is a need to focus on second-tier countries, beyond the BRIC, to expand the market base. Anecdotally, mostly  western and Canadian businesses focus on the BRIC turning these countries into pure-competition markets for many products and services. From long-term economic and social perspective, it is prudent to shift focus to the second-tier markets and Pakistan is one of the potential market with 172 million people, 7% GDP growth rate and existing US$750 million bi-lateral trade between Canada and Pakistan.

Is Twitter a fad

Twitter is the buzz  word these days and possibly the fastest growing social platform. Results of a recent survey by Nielsen Online riased doubts on the long term potential of Twitter. I provided my two-cents worth on it few days ago. If you are interested in knowing more about Twitter’s status and future posibilities, click at the link below.

http://www.canadianmarketingblog.com/archives/2009/05/is_twitter_a_fad.html

 

Let us know what do you think by posting your comment on it.

Thank you,

Know Your Market

Marketers know how vital it is to understand the target market and its nuances for successfully positioning and marketing products and services. This becomes increasingly important in international markets, where cultural differences accentuate the significance of understanding consumer behaviour and markets. You may have heard stories about marketers and brands facing problems because of not respecting cultural differences and expected norms.

The following joke candidly depicts a similar situation!

A disappointed salesman of a Cola drink returns from his Middle East assignment. A friend asked, “Why weren’t you successful in this part of world?” The salesman explained, “When I got posted in the Middle East , I was very confident that I would make a good sales pitch as Cola is virtually unknown there. But, I had a problem I didn’t know Arabic. So, I planned to convey the message through three posters…

exhausted

Drinks Cola

Running

First poster: A man lying in the hot desert sand…totally exhausted and fainting.
Second poster: The man is drinking our Cola.
Third poster: The man is now totally refreshed. And then these posters were pasted all over the place “Then that should have worked!” said the friend.
“The hell it should had!? Said the salesman. I didn’t realize that Arabs read from right to left”

Designing Better Ads – Stop Readers In Their Tracks

I recently attended a webinar on Designing Better Ads conducted by Susan Down, Director Marketing at the Canadian Newspaper Association. Susan inferred from extensive market research and readers’ surveys by epic advertising research organizations. She advised on what generally works and makes print ads stand out from the clutter. Many of us would be aware of the points she highlighted and may be putting some of these in practice. It was, however, useful to get an affirmation and systematic refresher. I share the information with you, as I gathered, adding my two cents’ worth on few points.

Ad Size & Color
1. Ad size matters. Full page ads are noticed 48% more than smaller ads
2. There is no difference in the visibility of ads between right hand side and left hand side page positions. If the ad is attractive, it will get noticed on any page.
3. Color ads are noticed 33% more than black & white ads. The impact of color ads has grown over the time. Susan showed a bar chart to highlight this fact. She also informed that women notice color ads more than men.

Advertising in Recession – Part II

In December last year, I wrote on effective advertising strategies for slow economic times. Recently, I found a comparison of advertising by two similar brands during the Great Depression that supports my thoughts on advertising during recession.

Please review the image below. It shows that Post was as big a cereal manufacturer and marketer as Kellogg’s in 1929. They cut back on advertising during the Great Depression of 1930s and could not sustain themselves. Kelloggs, on the other hand, maintained its advertising levels during the same period. They emerged as the brand leader in the US cereal market.

Moral of the story: Best reason to advertise in 2009 is….2010
(P.S. I am not implying to write off 2009. Just maintain or increase the adspend and you would gain market share now and when the economy recovers.)

Creative Advertising-V

This ad was developed by creative agency Euro-RSCG and printed in the Daily Telegraph, Sydney on January 21, 2009. It leverages George BUSH exit for promoting Veet – hair removal cream. It is funny, simple, timely (in fact, spot on) and simply effective. I believe it got much more exposures and a wider Reach than it has paid for. Moreover, it connects well by alluding to a popular event.

If an ad makes its readers / audience smile, I think, its a job well done!