The team at Focus Communications Inc. would like to extend our early Chinese New Year greetings to you and your associates. Have you taken the opportunity to celebrate this occasion with your multicultural clients and customers? The ethnic communities are growing at a fast pace in Canada and the visible minorities could very well become a majority in 20 years. In this first edition of the Focus e-newsletter, we would like to share some exciting conference news with you and provide some tips on how to effectively tap into the fast growing ethnic market.

Why is it important to include ethnic markets in your strategic marketing plan?

The 2010 projections of diversity from Statistics Canada indicated that approximately three in 10 Canadians could be a member of a visible minority group in 2031, making up a total of between 11.4 and 14.4 million Canadians. Among all visible minority groups, South Asians and Chinese are expected to remain the largest visible minority groups in Canada.

Not convinced? Clients such as TD Waterhouse, Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO), and ORBIS Canada, have begun integrating ethnic marketing into their plan in the past few years and successfully widened their customer base. ORBIS Canada, for instance, has seen a 45% increase in their donor database since the launch of its ethnic outreach campaign in 2004. Now, 60% of the donations received come from the Asian community, and ORBIS continues to see an increase in donor numbers as well as donation amounts. For a better idea of how your company could benefit from ethnic marketing, email Loretta Lam - lorettal@focuscomms.com.

Come listen to multicultural marketing strategist, Loretta Lam, speak about the ethnic population at the Retail and Consumer Conference this February 23. Hosted by CIBC World Markets, this conference will discuss the impact and power of ethnic consumers in Canada. It will review results from CIBC World Markets’ new research report, The Ethnic Consumer in Canada: Understanding a Powerful Trend, and discuss the unique challenges that the growing visible minority populations and new ethnic retailers have created for mainstream Canadian retailers.

Stay tuned to our website for the webcast link!

Ms. Lam, with over 20 years of professional experience in marketing and public relations in Asia and North America, will attend as a guest speaker at the conference. Focus has assisted a number of consumer packaged goods clients in formulating their multicultural marketing strategies and tactics, including such clients as PepsiCo, Weston Bakeries, California Walnuts, and Heinz.

The number of Canadian immigrants is increasing each year and introducing more fragmentation among consumers. Marketers can capture the attention of new Canadians with a cost-effective, 360 degree approach.

In Fall 2010, Focus launched a pilot ethnic marketing campaign for Heinz Canada, an international consumer-packaged goods company. Lasting for two months, this campaign educated and engaged consumers through an integration of print and online ads in major Chinese media outlets, radio interviews and program sponsorships, weekly quizzes, celebrity chef endorsements, and an interactive Chinese website that offered culturally relevant product recipes and a contest to vote for your favourite recipe. This campaign was successful in attracting targeted audiences within budget, and generated significant editorial coverage for the company. For more success stories or for ideas of how your company can engage new Canadians, please contact the FOCUS Think Tank - focus.pr@focuscomms.com.

Want to understand the new Canadians better to more effectively formulate your marketing strategies? Making sure your staff is ready? Interested in tapping into the China and India markets? Focus has been offering cultural and business etiquette training for corporations who need to better serve the new Canadian consumers and business partners in Canada, as well as business counterparts in Asia. We can: