While telecommunications, financial services and luxury car companies have been reaping the benefits for years, a much broader cross-section of major advertisers is starting to pay attention to the Chinese market.
Tina Chow, director of marketing and sales, eastern division at Fairchild Television in Toronto, says over the last few months, the increase in new advertisers at the station – that is, mainstream advertisers targeting the Chinese market – has been impressive.
They include AT&T Canada Long Distance Services, Bayer, Canadian Tire, Future Shop, Wal-Mart Canada, Clearnet, the Royal Canadian Mint and Microcell, which markets the Fido PCS.
Chow attributes the increased interest in part to the success of early adopters such as Bell Canada, bc tel and luxury car-maker Lexus, as well as to the availability of more media opportunities.
Vancouver-based Fairchild Television and Fairchild Radio have regional offices in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, and provide national coverage to the Chinese community, as do daily newspapers such as Sing Tao and Ming Pao.
The Royal Canadian Mint, the Crown corporation responsible for the minting and distribution of Canada’s circulation coins, had a lot of success with its recent campaign targeting the Chinese community.
The Mint, which introduced a sterling-silver coin commemorating the Chinese Year of the Tiger, which begins Jan. 28, 1998, sold its entire inventory of 68,888 coins in just two days, and had to cancel the rest of its advertising.
The campaign consisted of two events – unveilings Jan. 3 and 4 at malls in Markham and Vancouver respectively – as well as an integrated national media effort that included Fairchild TV, Fairchild Radio, and dailies Ming Pao and Sing Tao.
Not only are more advertisers making an effort to target Chinese consumers through Chinese media, but there is a growing trend to recognize cultural differences with tailor-made, as opposed to adapted, creative.
John Boynton, vice-president of marketing for residential services at AT&T Canada Long Distance Services, says ethnic communities are more receptive to advertising made specifically for that target market.
‘I think that’s self evident. We’ve got several hundred years’ experience with a province called Quebec which is virtually the same situation.’
Data from DJC Research of Toronto shows that 73% of newer immigrants to Canada (those who have been here one to five years) prefer communication in their own language. Further, 52% of those in the country for more than a decade still prefer it.
Boynton says at&t has done ethnic advertising in the past but with the launch of its new ‘Our World is Flat’ flat-rate international price structure, the company is embarking on the largest ethnic market campaign done by any telecommunications company in Canada.
at&t does not have a Chinese agency, but Boynton says the company was able to call on its international partners, its mainstream agency Young & Rubicam of Toronto, and media partners such as Fairchild and cfmt-tv in Toronto in creating the campaign.
