The AMA Roundtable on the Emerging Ethnic Markets in Canada

It was good to see a full-house in the AMA round-table discussion on The Emerging Ethnic Markets in Canada: The Pioneers of Multicultural Marketing held in Toronto last week. It highlighted the interest in the multicultural and new-Canadians markets.

The panellists for the discussion were from the CPG, Market Research, Telecommunications and Banking sectors. Panellists shared their multicultural marketing approach that differed from each other based on the industry / category they represent. Rubicon Foods primarily focuses on other drivers than ethnicity to expand in Canadian market. Rogers caters to all major ethnic segments with cable TV as TV watching differs across cultures. The RBC engages new-Canadians and also promotes multiculturalism within for continued customer satisfaction and engagement.

There was also discussion on how marketers are still trying to get the multicultural marketing on the map. I think “multicultural marketing not on the map” is an effect and feel that it would be useful discussing the cause to this effect. Why the multicultural marketing has not received the recognition yet? Is it because,

My Popular Marketing & Business Articles

So far I have written more than 80 articles and posts on this and the CMA blog. A visitor to this blog asked which ones were the most visited / viewed. Following are the top five articles by number of visits. Click on the titles to read and do let me know what do you think about the ideas discussed in these articles by providing your comments here.

• Putting Multicultural Marketing On The Fast Track
• Highly Effective Communication Model
• SACHIN- A market to grow with
• Workplace Dynamics
• Designing Better Ads

Happy Reading and cheers,

Putting Multicultural Marketing On The Fast Track

Though Multicultural Marketing a.k.a. Ethnic Marketing is in vogue for years, its potential hasn’t been harnessed yet. Primarily due to short-term approach, heavy focus on paid-for advertising and lack of measurement. I wrote on putting multicultural marketing on the fast track for the Canadian Marketing Association blog. You can click here or on the CMA icon to learn more.

Please let me know what do you think by providing your comments.

Advertising Gone Wasted

Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half – this is a 100 years old quote that stands true for many ad campaigns even today. I saw few ads where 100% money was wasted and I think the advertisers have no clue.

The following ad appeared in a Georgetown, Ontario newspaper trying to reach South Asians with a divine public service message. Besides the models standing on the wrong sides of the flags, the ad targeted a geographical area where hardly any South Asian live. Can you guess how many South Asian families live in Georgetown? According to my findings, THREE, yes THREE.
The above advertisement ran several times in a wrong medium spending $1,000+ per household, basically putting thousands of $$$ down the drain and it was public money intended for a good cause

Canadian Muslims – Another market segment to grow with

Market segmentation is the foundation for developing sound marketing strategies and successfully implementing marketing programs. It is especially vital for marketing in Canada that thrives on diversity, mosaic and multiculturalism. Anecdotally, immigrant groups in Canada retain their identity and likes & dislikes longer than in other countries, like the USA and Australia.  South Asians, East Asians and Afro-Canadians are some of the discrete groups that are pursued and catered by forward-looking organizations.

There is another market segment, Muslim-Canadians, which is sizeable, promising and untapped. It is evident from the highlights and facts provided below that Muslim-Canadians market segment will be highly lucrative for the companies with relevant products and services for this group. For example, meat producers, clothing companies, financial services, restaurants, capital goods, grocery stores and travel and tourism. Highlights of Muslim Canadian market segment are as follows:

Results of a Survey on South Asians – Jan 2010

I conducted an online poll and survey among South Asians using email and the social media, that is, LinkedIn, this blog and Facebook. People from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were contacted for this survey. The aim was to find out what inspires South Asians more, money or pride. The question posed was what is more important to you, Money or Pride? Please refer to the post below and the poll at http://ca.linkedin.com/in/fazalsiddiqi for details about the poll question and possible answers to choose from. 

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.

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!

The other side of the picture…

I received an interesting article from a friend, Badar Shamim. It was written by Dr. Yamil Alanso who is working on a project for the Brampton Board of Trade. The article, titled Discrimination or Employers’ Expectations, shows the other side of the  immigrants unemployment / underemployment picture. Dr. Alonso asks if the new Canadians meet employers’ expectations and lists follow-up questions that he thinks need to be answered by new Canadians in order to ascertain if they are “employment ready”.

I believe that working on the areas highlighted by Dr. Alonso will help new Canadians move closer to getting a gainful employment in their fields. However, sincere & consistent focus and efforts on both sides of the picture will get them the suitable employment. Besides new Canadians, the onus is on the government and whos’s who of the immigration and settlement landscape to provide an even playing field to new Canadians for successfully assimilating and leveraging thier potential.

Check out the article by clicking on the link below and let us know your thoughts by posting comments.

discrimination-or-employers-expectations

Economic Meltdown, Is it

The $700 billion bailout plan by the US government and latest short term interest rates cut by Central Banks of United States, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, England and the European Union have not resulted in the expected positive effect on the world stock markets. Specially in the United States, the real estate market continues to be in doldrums, unemployment rate jumped to 6.1%, stock market is down and car sales shrinking. In  Canada, exports are down, CA$ had a free fall, real estate market has stagnated, stock market performance is listless, and increasing unemployment / layoffs a major threats.

The million dollar question is how to check the impending economic meltdown and recuperate the Canadian economy?

There are 101 ways to skin a cat. My way is to diversify the economy & trade in order to reduce dependence on the US markets. (As Canadian economic fundamentals are better, however we are still badly affected due to over-reliance on south of border). I think trade can be expeditiously diversified by encouraging and facilitating new Canadians to look for business opportunities with their country of origin. This will be a win-win situation for the government and the unemployed & underemployed new Canadians.

Do you agree with the above strategy? Please comment below.

From the “R” word to “D” word

We are paying the price of unabated spending on homes and consumer goods during last few years. Cheap and easily available credit (sub-prime lending), stable consumer goods prices, and technological & productivity gains created excesses and fueled the economy for most of current decade. Thus we got caught up in a housing boom in 2000 and onwards similar to the dot-com boom of 1990s.

Excessive sub-prime lending in the United States has taken its toll with rampant defaults on mortgage payments resulting in write-offs and tightening of credit by commercial banks. This checked the growth of Real Estate market. Simultaneously, oil prices rose to unprecedented level crossing US$140 mark in July 2008, which along with increased staple food prices sparked inflation. This decreased the consumer purchasing power and slowed down the demand for capital goods. Spillover from economic downturn south of border has adversely affected Canadian economy, especially the economy of Ontario, which is heavily dependent on sales to the US markets. In 2007, 83.5% of the total goods exports from Ontario were to the US<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[1]<!–[endif]–>. Furthermore, exports declined due to stronger Canadian dollar, while layoffs in auto industry further contracted the Canadian economy.

The Game of Cricket & Canada

I resumed playing cricket in Toronto after a lapse of two years. From playing in different cities and on various pitches in Pakistan, I knew that I would have to adapt my batting technique to adjust to the new environment. What I was uncertain about was how much of an adaptation would be required. Indeed it was more than I anticipated.

Primarily, the grass on the outfield is left longer than normal on the grounds that I have played on, which stops the ball short of boundary. So one needs to either settle for singles and doubles or resort to hitting over the top of fielders to score runs quickly. Moreover, we play on mat pitches, which facilitates swing bowling more than the flat turf in India and Pakistan. This required to play late and let the ball finish its jugglery before hitting it. On the other hand, the matches start around mid day, so the bowlers are unable to take advantage of morning dew, which is common in Pakistan, as cricket is played in winter.

Good Analysis

I found a cool analysis and summary of my recent articles on South Asian Canadians posted by Jim on a blog. Thought you would find it interesting. Check it out by clicking on the following link – Thanks. 

http://influenceresources.blogspot.com/2008/07/south-asian-canadians.html

Canada Calling, Now What!

You have landed in Canada, gone through the initial process of applying for the SIN card, registering for medical care, looking for a place to live and a school for children. The next step is to search for a job, preferably for a career, similar to one you had in your country of origin. In a lighter vein, this step draws a parallel to the popular words by Neil Armstrong after he took the first step on moon. He commented, one small step for a man – one giant leap for mankind. Yes, looking for a livelihood could be another step but getting the right job is a giant leap for you and your family in the new homeland.

Yes, you can

Today a client graciously asked me if he could reprint and use one of my recent posts. I told him to use any of my posts, if he could mention the source.  

I would also like to advise you to feel free to reprint or use any of my posts and articles, as long as you include a credit line.

Thank you,