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It is the largest ethnic market in Canada.

There are close to 600,000 Chinese Canadians in British Columbia and Ontario today, and their numbers are growing.

Eager to tap into this burgeoning community, Bell Canada and bc tel introduced their new Chinese calling card last month.

Although the phone companies have for some time been targeting the Chinese and other ethnic markets with in-language advertising for their traditional products and services, the new card was designed specifically for use by Chinese-speaking customers.

More than simply a Chinese-language version of the original credit-based calling card, it incorporates an entire support system offering service in either Cantonese or Mandarin dialects.

Jacqueline Koropatnick, bc tel marketing manager, international long distance, says the idea originated when customers began asking if the phone company’s calling card was available in Chinese.

‘That launched us into taking a really strong look at the Chinese community,’ she says.

‘We did an in-depth survey on their long-distance use out of home, to find out what that looked like and what the needs were. It confirmed that there was a significant portion of Chinese-speaking customers who would prefer to have a calling card product in Chinese, and also a support infrastructure in Chinese.’

Among the other findings: that members of the Chinese-Canadian community maintain regular and frequent contact with friends and relatives in Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China and elsewhere; and that they are frequent travelers who visit their homeland often.

Nicola Law, advertising manager at Bell Canada, says that while not all Chinese Canadians necessarily want to speak in Chinese, newer immigrants are more comfortable with their native languages, particularly when it comes to matters such as technology.

‘The key objective is to provide products and services relevant to our customers,’ she says. ‘We believe that [use of] the high-tech products and system we have should not be limited by the language of preference.’

David Chan, managing director of LLT Advertising (Canada), which has handled advertising in support of the launch, says research also showed that the new calling card would be an excellent tool for retaining and winning back customers.

Both Bell and bc tel, he notes, had lost customers to Chinese-based long-distance resellers offering very low rates.

‘Chinese Canadians do receive a calling card from bc tel or the Bell PhoneCentre when they set up a phone for their home in Canada,’ he says, ‘but they never use it – they don’t know how.’

As with the English-language calling card, all long-distance charges are billed to the card holder’s account, and reflect Canadian telephone rates as well as savings plans such as Real Plus and Real Plus Extra.

In addition to the instructions printed in Chinese on the back of the card, an information brochure and pocket reference guide are mailed out with the product.

Further assistance can be had by dialing the toll-free number printed on the card to reach a Mandarin- or Cantonese-speaking operator.

Calling card users can also select the language they want to hear during the automated prompts that guide them through the calling process.

Canada Direct, which offers the long-distance access codes for more than 120 countries, is also available in Chinese.

The support system has been set up so that these benefits are offered to card holders whether they are calling from Canada, the u.s., Hong Kong, Taiwan or China.

The Chinese calling card was issued in mid-October to those customers who were on record as having requested the product, as well as to those on a list developed by Bell and bc tel’s Chinese-speaking telemarketing group.

The card was launched with a press conference for Chinese-language media. The event and the associated public relations campaign were orchestrated by Focus Communications of Markham, Ont.

Further requests for the card have been generated by the print and broadcast advertising campaign that LLT developed.

The campaign was placed nationally, using the daily newspapers Sing Tao , Ming Pao and World Journal as well as Fairchild TV, and regionally, using Toronto’s cfmt-tv and Vancouver’s major Chinese radio stations.

It is also being advertised on a news video that runs on Canadian Airlines International flights to and from the Pacific Rim.

In addition to targeting Chinese Canadians, Bell Canada and bc tel have been tracking the needs of other ethnic communities.

Koropatnick says the results generated by introduction of the Chinese calling card will be watched closely. She anticipates additional offerings for the Chinese community, as well as new card products tailored to other groups, such as the large South Asian market.

Among this group, she says, the particular demand would likely be for products in Punjabi and Hindi.

She estimates Canada’s Punjabi community to be about one-half the size of its Chinese population.

The phone companies recently launched new advertising, in both English and Punjabi, promoting the English-language calling card to their South Asian customers.