Word of Mouth in Any Language...It's a Splintered World After All

An article in today's Globe & Mail "Facing up to a new identity" talks about Canada's new ethnic diversity, with 5 million visible minorities and a tie to their own native culture growing ever stronger, the notion that we can receive our news or messages about a culture or brand through one shared media is outdated.

We simply do not gather 'round the radio to listen to Foster Hewitt on Saturday nights or Knowlton Nash at 10pm anymore. The closest thing we have to a frequently shared Canadian experience is Canadian Idol, and even then it is only 2 million people and a poor substitute for a deeply shared Canadian experience (unless having sideshow acts and fresh-faced prairie kids booting out David Foster-composed tunes is your thing) 

Here are the interesting numbers:

Place of Origin makeup
                                Toronto      Vancouver    Calgary
English                        15.9%        23.1%          27.2%
Canadian                    12.8           13.3             19.4
Scottish                      11.1            16.1              20.8
Chinese                     10.6            19.2                 7.0   
Irish                             10.5           12.0             16.4   
East Indian                 9.6              8.7               4.5
Italian                           9.2              ----                ----
German                        5.1           9.7               17.1   
French                           4.8           6.5               10.2
Polish                             4.1              n/a              4.5
Filipino                          n/a             4.0                n/a
Ukrainian                     n/a          3.9               7.1

Visible minority makeup
- 16% of Canadians are visible minorities (population 5,068,090) and in Toronto/Vancouver half of visible ethnicities are under 15

• 25% South Asian
• 24% Chinese
• 22% Other
• 15% Black
• 8% Filipino
• 6% Latin American

Urbanized Concentration
People of 200 ethnic origins inhabit Canada, making the Great White North one of the most pluralistic societies in the world, 96% of them concentrate in the urban areas, traditionally the big ones (see below - ranked by percentage of population who are visible minorities):

•    43% Toronto (as a northern burb of Toronto, 65% of people in Markham are V.M.)
•    42% Vancouver
•    22% Calgary
•    17% Edmonton
•    17% Montreal
•    16% Ottawa
•    15% Winnipeg

There's an adage in our business, "I don't care what you say, if I don't like how you're saying it" and with ethnicity, this is particularly true. Why play up to stereotyped  images and roles of culture in mass media that are seen as ingenuine (oops wrong word - let's use "insincere" instead).

How many caring Asian moms with big families, or rags to riches, happy and smiling, urban Black families with Gap clothes or big Indian extedned family dinners can we see in prime time TV commercials - good that these images are there, but it simply isn't a true or in a lot of cases, an aspirational reflection of their collective experiences, hopes and motivations.

Instead, why not think about the Long Tail of Canadian culture and tap into a network of alpha ambassadors of each group and have them parlay their experience with your brand, idea or media in their own language, in their own customs and in their own cultural circles. Seems a much smarter and more relevant way to market your offerings to me. But perhaps I'm wrong, after all I'm just  a mungee cake, Irish-Canadian.