Marketing “white bread” in a 12 grain world

Bhupesh Shah, B.Sc., MBA | ethnicomm inc. October 17th, 2011

Image: Rawich / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Agenda

What does diversity mean right now?

A 12 grain world

Stuff that messes up the traditional marketing approach.

Marketing Impact.

Marketers that get it.

140+ languages and dialects

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/qmnonic/

31% don’t speak English

or French @ home (City of Toronto)

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(City of Toronto)

South Asians and Asians - the

most visible of the visible minorities

In 5 years, 50% of the

GTA will be comprised of

visible minorities

of the residents of the GTA will be South Asian, exceeding all other minorities by far (StatsCan)

in 20 years

Photo courtesy: Shanu & Karim

~25%

of the region's population will be from a visible minority community (StatsCan)

in 20 years

Photo courtesy: Shanu & Karim

~67%

Marketing “white bread” in a 12 grain world

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10413717@N08/

will leave out

over

2/3

of the potential market

“70% of the retail

sales growth in Canada

over the next decade will

likely come from

visible

minority groups” (CIBC)

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasminepettersen/

Top 5 mother-tongue languages

Source: http://www.famouslogos.org

Chinese (420,000)

Italian (195,000)

Punjabi (138,000)

Tagalog (114,000)

Portuguese (113,000)

Top 5 visible minority groups in Toronto (2006 - % of population)

Immigrants go from poverty to “near” Canadian average income levels in about 4 years

larger households, more dual-parent families and more multiple-family households

greater incidence of homeownership

Source: http://www.freefullhdwallpapers.com

Education is a top priority! (% with University Degree at Bachelor Or Above)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Black

Southeast Asian

White

Canada

Latin American

South Asian

Chinese

Filipino

Source: Statistics Canada

Prof. Richard Day, Department of Global Development Studies - Queen's University

Source: http://www.queensu.ca

The idea of a minority is

going to have to shift or it's going to start

getting more and more ridiculous to talk

about a minority of people who in fact are

the majority…

visible

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High/low context cultures; family; values; religion and other stuff is killing

our traditional approach.

The Harpers are on to something…

Source: http://www.ipolitics.ca - THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

The face of Canadians is changing

"Soon a larger share of this visible minority population will be people actually born in Canada…children of immigrants or grandchildren of immigrants.” Laurent Martel

Source: mtvdesi.com Statistics Canada: Projections of the Diversity of the Canadian Population, Catalogue no. 91-551-X

Affluent minority “socialites” exist even if they’re never shown in the National Post!

Photo courtesy: Shanu & Karim

A lot remains unsaid

Non-verbal communication

/ cues important

Interpersonal relationships

important

Trust before transactions

High Context Cultures: ME, Asia, Africa

and Latin America, Mediterranean, French-Speaking Canada

Collectivist – family/peer group has influence on purchasing decision

Intuition over facts but still asks a lot of questions

Feelings over rational

Flowery language; like stories and storytelling

Indirect / Formal

Tradition/History important

Prefer f2f interactions

Indian Standard

Time Mañana

Low Context Cultures: English Canada/USA, much

of Western Europe

Individualistic

Fact based decisions over intuition

Action oriented

Precise, brief, blunt, direct

Logical

Words speak for themselves

f2f not as important as getting everything clear and documented

Time very important – things measure by time/productivity

Family Values

marriage

nuclear family or partially extended family

“old-fashioned” economic relationships (wife @ home)

HH income pooling

male inheritance; parents may stay with elder son

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

Religion

Chinese New Year

Lohri (Buddhist / Hindu / Sikh)

Easter

May 24 weekend

Ramadan

Eid-Al-Fitr

Diwali

Christmas

Finance

prefer to seek financial advice from someone who understands the cultural nuances that may affect their investment goals

“enduring loyalty and word-of-mouth” can be had

saving for long-term goals is ingrained into the culture – no need to make that sales pitch

Sources: http://www.flickr.com/photos/newtown_grafitti/; “A Self-Imposed Barrier for Advisors Serving South Asian Clients”, AdvisorOne Oct 9, 2011. Web

Time to broaden our palate

Image: Paul / FreeDigitalPhotos.net; Photo courtesy of: Brown Man Clothing Co.

Best Buy doesn’t get it…

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVuS4jspUVU

Our traditional marketing messages – headlines, copy, commercials…are FAST messages

doesn’t work as well on high context “slow” cultures

takes time to build relationships but they are generally deep-rooted/ longer lasting

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/httpoldmaisonblogspotcom/

Trudeau effect – Liberal party

Our traditional marketing messages – headlines, copy, commercials…are FAST messages

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/httpoldmaisonblogspotcom/

How do I do this

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dreamsjung/

Targeting high context cultures online

Würtz, E. (2005). A cross-cultural analysis of websites from high-context cultures and low-context cultures. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1), article 13. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/wuertz.html

low context: fast message culture, flat structure is the norm; straight

text for navigation

Targeting high context cultures online

portray collectivist values

pages should be diverse and hierarchical

EN FR…now multicultural pages - Chinese, Punjabi,

Tamil tabs

use of imagery vs. straight text for

navigation

focus of people and product

together

Würtz, E. (2005). A cross-cultural analysis of websites from high-context cultures and low-context cultures. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1), article 13. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/wuertz.html

Source: http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/newtocanada/southasian/

Source: http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/newtocanada/chinese

Long-term perspective: Lifetime value of a customer

retention

discounting is not the only way

repeat sales

upselling

Visible minorities are not all the same

Demographic segmentation

Psychographic segmentation

Savings/Investing mentality

Prestige conscious

“Succeeder” lifestyle

Higher education levels

Behaviour segmentation

lifestyle

purchasing patterns

where/how do they spend their time?

condos and monster homes

Benefit segmentation

How are your products being used or not used?

What does the customer need or desire?

Source: Philip Kotler, Marketing Management 13th edition

How do you want to be perceived in the minds of the visible minority target market?

Why are minority smaller companies targeting minorities this large market? Where are the big brands?

Kraft Gets It

Source: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150562415355401

State Farm Insurance gets it

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd_4Mi25jNk&t=9s

Wal-Mart gets it

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ivNDf7sISY

Rogers gets it

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCmd6wfPWtg

Go 12 grain! It’s better for your long-term health!

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/recyclethis/

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