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.

How Big Is Your Carbon Footprint?

Carbon footprint is a measure of the impact of our activities on the environment and in particular on climate change. Click here to see in how many ways we impact the environment.

We are a consumptive society because of the abundance we enjoy due to advances in technology and production capabilities since mid 1900s. A vast majority of activities we undertake in our daily lives, as individuals, organizations and communities, affect our environment. As individuals, what we eat and drink in, how long we drive, how cool or warm we keep our homes, and how much recycle and waste we produce affects the environment. Up-size food servings, plastics containers, excessive transportation result in direct and indirect emission of CO2 and greenhouse effect. The higher the waste we produce, the more we pollute our seas and quicker we fill-in the land fills.

Big Isn’t Always Beautiful

2009 – Toyota became the biggest car manufacturer in the world surpassing General Motors.

2010 – Toyota recalls 8 million cars worldwide to fix problems with brakes, accelerators and steering.

In their quest to be the biggest car manufacturers, it seems Toyota (TMC) lost sight of quality and focused on quantity producing more but defective cars, consequently tarnishing their image for “Toyota’s Reliability”. It will take the TMC a while, huge resources and investment to re-gain their market position. Earlier, the GM was the biggest car manufacturer for years and became so bloated that they lost touch with their customers and lost their loyalty, got consumer perception for low quality, focused on push sales and short-term gains and could not stay profitable. Result – the US government had to intervene to rescue the GM from bankruptcy but not before major layoffs and closing of several plants.

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.

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!

Telonu.com – a new kid on the Blogsphere

A new blogging site Telonu.com (Tel.on.u) has been launched for sharing views and reviews on workplace, people and other important stuff. I think Telonu has potential for becoming a powerful on-line community because it provides info-sharing platform for a vast majority of Internet users and an easiest way to learn about potential employer, boss or colleagues, new products, school and more. Its seems like a big idea from marketing gurus and it’s for free (well you knew that! its web 2.0, it has to be for free) . Check it out at www.telonu.com and as they position it; rave, rant and rate there.

Advertising in Recession

Some advertisers tend to pull back on advertising during economic downturn. I see several advertisers are contemplating to cut down on advertising and few have already done so. This knee-jerk reaction is natural amid news of slowing economy, job losses, turmoil in auto sector and sub-par (read sub-prime) performance by the financial sector. I believe that retrenchment decisions are largely influenced by emotional and psychological stimuli from the external environment. I would digress momentarily to share a joke with you in support of the above premise. A friend, Ahad Rasheed, sent this joke and I quote with some additions.

 

An old man used to sell hot dogs. His eyesight was weak so he neither read newspapers nor watched TV. All he did was selling hot dogs and he sold lots of them and had a good income. Old man son graduates from a business school and joins him in business. He tells his father that economy is not doing well and he should save some cash, as Cash is King! The old man started buying fewer buns and meat, closed his shop before sunset to save on Hydro bills and consequently his sales went down. His brother retired from a government job and had seen the old man prosper by selling hot dogs. So he wanted to invest in hot dog business too. He seeks old man advice. Guess what, the old man advised; the economy is slow and hot dog sales are down. It is recession!

 

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.