Canada's latest wave of immigration is from:
• Asia • South Asia • Africa This means they have a different culture and often a different set of values to the Euro-centric background of longer-established Canadians.
• Food - more vegetarians, restrictions on kinds of meat eaten • Religion is different - Celebrate different holidays, different Sabbath • Music, Art, and Colour influences are different as well.
The more recent immigrant is a member of a visible minority, and in a growing number of cities such as Toronto, Brampton, Markham and Richmond B.C. this group represents more than 40% of the population.
These immigrants are more than twice as likely as a more-established Canadian to have a university degree.
This group is younger than the Canadian average and has more children than the Canadian average.
The major difference between the ethnic groups and the general market is not so much age, income, occupation or gender, but on a much larger scale, culture. Due to differing cultural backgrounds one consumer may not even hear or even see an advertised message if it isn't relevant or placed within an environment conducive to his cultural behavior (i.e. language or media preference).
The growth in 2nd & 3rd Generation Canadians is now coming from countries that don't share the traditional European background and values from previous migrationsWhy This Is Important The change in the psychographics of buyers will have an impact on Brands both existing dominant brands that don't see the change and emerging brands that can adapt.
So if there is dropping influence of traditional European culture and growth in Asian/African/South Asian/Middle Eastern cultures through the growth of population - it reasons that our society is going to respond to a very different set of stimuli.
Wouldn't you want to be able to adjust your product and service mix as the population changes?
For marketers planning for growth, recognition of ethnic and cultural segments is essential.
As subsequent generations become more entrenched in Canada, the process becomes less about assimilation and more about the merging of new values into the mainstream culture.
Gen1 • These people have immigrated to Canada but may live isolated from • Mainstream Canadian often living or working in clusters of their own ethnicity, refer to the country of their origin as "home," and eat ethnic foods.
• They may help support relatives in the homeland and return there as often as possible.
• The key issues for this group are establishing themselves, learning the business and cultural norms for operating in Canada.
Gen2 • In their desire to "be like everyone else," some go through a period of rejecting their culture and language.
• 2nd generation ethnics are more brand conscious than 1st and 3rd generation ethnics and they are focused on wealth building • 2nd generation ethnics-want to see themselves in GAP ads, etc.
Gen3 • 3rd generation ethnics are discovering the merits of being ethnic and feel a sense of loyalty to their grandparent's values.
• In a sense, rebelling against their parents outward show of wealth and/or devotion to western materialism.
• 3rd Generation ethnics want to see social values built into the ads that they want to see themselves in.
Generation Beyond • Many are calling this the North American Generation. It's that point in time when the visible minority immigrant has blended into society.
• They don't speak the cultural language of their ethnic group and may even change the spelling of their names. They do not celebrate the holidays nor eat the food of their ethnic people. Their visibility, however, may identify them as belonging to a certain cultural heritage.
The US Market • One Third of the U.S. is non-European.
o 36 million black, o 35 million Hispanic o 12 million Asian and o 18 million of other racial backgrounds • The Hispanic population is projected by the Census Bureau to rise from 22.5 million in 1990 to just under 90 million by 2050, • Asian and Pacific Islanders will rise from 7.6 million in the 1990 Census to 41 million by 2050.
• The Black population will grow from 30.6 million in 1990 to 62 million by mid-century.
Following the Road Home One of the strongly emerging components of recent waves of immigration to North America is the growth of two-way communications and the development of true trans-global communities.
Today's patterns take on a different flavour. Immigrants are not only fleeing poverty and war - they are running to economic opportunity and leaving something behind to return to. Case in point: the Hong Kong and Dubai entrepreneurs who set up shop in Canada in order to protect their investments from potential politically-motivated loss but still run businesses in their country of origin. Or there is the case of the President of Latvia who was a Canadian citizen before returning home after the dismantling of the Soviet bloc.
Canada’s Global Face - New Market Opportunities at Home - To learn more about this author, visit Jim Adams's Website.
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