Marketing in a multicultural world
As the Canadian marketplace becomes more diverse, it’s important for marketers to balance mass reach with specific targeting. Canada’s multicultural groups are digitally savvy consumers, and they expect brands to reach them with meaningful messaging in the right context.
So what can brands and marketers do to reach this unique audience? Win these consumers over from the beginning as they make Canada their home. Make sure you’re reaching them where they spend their time: on mobile. And ensure you are making an effort to have content for them in their native tongue: Nearly two-thirds of visible minorities say it is important to communicate in their native language in advertising because they feel closer and it makes the brand appear more meaningful.2
The way in which advertisers are approaching multicultural marketing—the message, the tonality—that’s where there are lessons to be learned. This group cannot be overlooked or underestimated. More than a third of consumers feel that if their ethnicity is represented, it is often done in a stereotypical manner.2
Marketers can serve an ad in a native language, but that is just the first step. They need to create content that accurately represents consumers of different cultural backgrounds. The longer-term goal would be to build culturally meaningful connections with these consumers that celebrates diversity. Brands need to make a sincere attempt to include visible minorities while also making an effort to understand the meaning behind any cultural nuances they want to portray in their advertising.
Methodology
MediaCom recently conducted new qualitative and quantitative research around “people who self-identify as visible minorities” in Canada. They surveyed six ethnic groups: Chinese, South Asian, Latin/Central/South American, Black, Arab, and Southeast Asian (including Japanese and Korean). They compared the responses of these visible minorities to “Total Canada” (visible minorities + the rest of Canada), hence calling it “the average Canadian consumer.” Phase one of the quantitative research was conducted from June to July 2017, while phase two was conducted from September to October 2017 among a representative sample of n=2,062 visible minorities and n=4,105 ”Total Canada” consumers. The qualitative research was conducted in September 2017 among visible minorities only. The total sample for the survey was 6,167. It was conducted in both English and French.
