Hong Kong's 2012 Chief Executive Election

Today marks the day where Hong Kong is in the process of electing for a new Chief Executive to govern over the next five years. Most of the Hong Kong Chinese community, both locally in Hong Kong as well as here in Canada have been very tapped into recent news of the candidates.

There has been ongoing debate about the future of Hong Kong and how much of its "one country, two system" structure will be kept in the years to come. There has been rumours and opinions that China's central government has been intervening and exerting pressure on the elective council, a body of professionals and individuals who are eligible to cast their vote for the next Chief Executive.

It is pertinent for multicultural marketers to understand not only the purchase behaviours of Chinese consumers but also to understand the political landscape on the macro level. Brands wishing to target this community needs to understand the importance of China's historical and modern day government structure in order to genuinely understand the factors that influence and ultimately drive consumer ideologies and behaviours.

In the next blog post, I'll explore more in depth into the political landscape of China, how it shapes consumer values and ultimately drive consumption preferences. Moreover, we'll look into how to leverage this understanding to target the ethnic Chinese consumer here in Canada.

What does it mean to be Chinese in Canada?

Started my morning off with my usual routine, scanning Marketing Mag, Adage and Strategy Online (and if I have the occasional extra time, the Globe & Mail). Came across a column article by Pepper Miller, who founded an agency focused on the African-American market "To Know Market Segments, Know the Many Shades of Black Identity". I really enjoyed this article for its blunt, candid, grassroots and yet professional perspective of what it means to be black in America.

It prodded me to validate Sensu's reason of existence in the Canadian market. (I often like to tell others that we "sell people...Chinese people to be exact". Quite frankly, that's exactly what it is - we are selling an audience and along with it, their lifestyles, habits, attitudes, values and behaviours.)

You can easily apply Pepper Miller's article into the context of being Chinese in Canada. I think that our "shades" become much more complex: we have the fobs, the cbc's, the hongkongers, the mainlanders and even amongst the mainlanders, it breaks down further by region - GZ group is different than those from Shanghai and then different from those in Beijing. Fujian is another story altogether. Infuse the Canadian layer on top of all that...boy must I tell you, mainstream marketers have a LOT to learn and understand about Chinese consumers in Canada.

But I absolutely love the beauty of this complexity, because that is what gives Sensu our real value proposition, that is how we help our clients best. Pepper mentions that "Improving one's African-American cultural IQ is critical to understanding the differences among segments." In parallel, improving one's Chinese-Canadian cultural IQ is critical to understand not only the differences but also similarities, among Chinese segments. Trick is, you cannot really articulate a culture unless you are IN it. Culture is dynamic in nature, it is an experience not a theory, not a rationale.
 
Many clients hold back from committing to multicultural marketing, most of them mention issues with scalability and market size - it's about the bottomline. But they seem to be missing the key point - the nucleus of multicultural marketing that drives cultural activity and growth - is to pay attention to all the subtle differences between and within ethnic segments. To impact the bottomline is to not only recognize that there are subtle differences but also to show your customers that you care and you want to make a connection - an authentic one.

Scalability should not be a barrier to strategy nor creativity. Neither should it come at the sacrifice of authenticity.