Despite the economic downturn in Asia, Chinese-Canadian consumers are still a thriving and viable target for this country’s advertisers, says the head of a Vancouver-based agency specializing in Asian advertising.
Ken Koo, president and creative director of Koo Creative Group, says the Asian Flu hasn’t had a major impact on the purchasing habits of the Chinese-Canadian community.
He says that while some Chinese immigrants still have businesses or investments outside of Canada, most of their money is invested domestically, so they haven’t been affected to the same extent as the Chinese in Asia.
The economic downturn in Asia has affected all businesses, says Koo, not just those operated by Asians.
Koo says the range of advertisers targeting the Asian community has grown over the past few years as marketers other than luxury car manufacturers, financial services and telecommunications companies have begun to appreciate the benefits of targeting this demographic.
He says progressive clients have realized that Chinese-Canadians will often purchase products and services out of proportion to their ratio of the Canadian population, provided the marketer can build a relationship with them in their own language.
He points to the luxury car category, where sales to Chinese-Canadians might total 40% to 50% of a company’s sales, despite the fact that Chinese-Canadians comprise a much smaller proportion of the overall Canadian population.
‘On the other hand,’ says Koo, ‘if you’re selling soap, the [potential market share] is truly whatever percentage they are in the total population.’
Unlike other niche markets, Koo says reaching the Chinese-Canadian market is simple because available media is limited to three daily newspapers, two national tv stations and a couple of radio stations.
‘You can get them if you spend the bucks because they can’t escape the message,’ says Koo.
