Sensu Grows Stronger!

The New Year is off to a great start for all of us here at Sensu!

I would like to take the chance to introduce Amanda Chen, Sensu's newest addition. Amanda will play a critical role in driving Sensu's research capabilities, including the development of our proprietary model used to better understand ethnic Chinese consumers from all walks of life. Stay tuned as we are really excited to share our findings with you!

Here is a little bit more about Amanda:

Born and raised in Shanghai, Amanda pursues education and work experience all over the world. Besides undertaking most of her undergraduate study in Hong Kong and volunteering extensively in rural areas of China, she spreads her footprints all the way from Asia to the US, Canada, Australia, Norway, England, and many more countries during her travel. Equipped by academic training in Statistics, Sociology and Urban Development, Amanda extends her cultural sensitivity through participating in a variety of activities and work projects in different cultural contexts. From debating in the classroom of Harvard University to handling delicate ancient art crafts at Hampton Court Palace in England, from selling brownies for international students organization in Norway to daily working in suit at a prominent bank’s headquarter in Australia … Amanda now finally settles down in Toronto – to reflect on her identity as an inbetweener of cultures and engage in the multicultural marketing conversation for better communications.

Welcome Amanda!

What does "holiday" mean?

The importance of Christmas for Canadians is equivalent to Chinese New Year for the Chinese. As the biggest holiday, Chinese New Year, means new clothes, big fat dinners and red envelopes for kids; for most young people, Chinese New Year means a 7-day holiday. In some sense, Chinese young people seem to appreciate Western holidays more than traditional Chinese holidays.

Before I came to Toronto three years ago, my understanding of Christmas was all about shopping. I guess it is common for Chinese as Christmas usually is the beginning of “on-sale season” in China... that was why I couldn’t understand the closing of all stores on Christmas Day. In China, even during the Chinese New Year holiday, most stores are open and even packed as people go shopping between two meals.

I heard the only store open on Christmas Day, in Toronto, was Pacific Mall. Being in the market for more than 10 years, Pacific Mall has established its position as the leading Chinese mall. You can tell how popular it is by looking at its always-busy parking lot. My friend Jenny brought me to Pacific Mall on the past Christmas Day but we couldn’t find a parking spot for almost 30 minutes. I was excited to see so many Chinese people, which reminded me of my hometown, Shanghai, a metropolitan with more than 20 million populations. We had to leave Pacific Mall finally and then I was wondering what Canadians do on that day. Obviously, they don’t play Mahjong nor sing Karaoke.

A Canadian friend told me that family members open their Christmas gifts and share their happiness on Christmas Day. I can picture a happy family in a living room enjoying their moment no matter how cold outside was.

Comparing the Chinese way and the Canadian way to celebrate holidays seems thought-provoking. Sharing with family and friends is a simple and traditional way and it might be the essence of any holiday.

Pre-boxing day madness at Pacific Mall

Don't be surprised when you find out Pacific Mall is open on Christmas Day.

"The mall is a certified city tourist attraction, meaning it is exempt from Ontario’s Retail Business Holidays Act, which allows tourist sites to remain open on statutory holidays." - The Toronto Star

Over the holidays, it's a hot spot for (extremely) last minute gifts, an attraction for mainstream consumers, and a place to spend quality family time. According to The Toronto Star, Pacific Mall was "the only major mall open in the GTA". As expected, the shopping centre's parking lot was jam-packed as if it were peak hours during a busy boxing day.

Even I remember years back going to Pacific Mall during a holiday (not Christmas, but definitely a statutory holiday). At the time, the mall itself and the parking lot were like ants. Cars everywhere you look, people fighting for parking spots... people making their own parking spots! It was like a pre-boxing day experience. I could only imagine how Christmas Day would be like.

As crazy as it may sound though, Christmas Day (along with other holidays) brings in thousands of people and it benefits both the businesses and the consumers. Whether people are there shopping with their families or enjoying the cultural experience, Pacific Mall definitely brings everyone together.

Reference: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1106932--pacific-mall-attracts-thousands-of-shoppers-on-christmas-day

Embracing the future! 2012 - we are ready for you!

Welcome to all of our new team members!

and

THANK YOU & BEST OF LUCK to those who have inspired Sensu's growth and now move on to part deux in their career journey!

As we review the year in a glance, we can certainly say it's been a great year for us (though we are very excited to have an even better year in 2012)! The opportunities gained, people encountered, relationships built, and of course, lessons learned -- are all integral in shaping our culture here at Sensu Communications.

We have many awesome things lined up for 2012 and are very excited to share them all with you as we move into the New Year. And yes, for many of you that are wondering, we are in the process of rebuilding our website and will be relaunching it in January. I promise you all won't be disappointed :)

And as if the parties over the holidays aren't enough to fill your calendars, please join us on January 12th, 2012 at Rosewater (19 Toronto Street) for American Marketing Association's (Toronto) inaugural Multicultural Marketing breakfast round-table event!! We have awesome speakers, great food, and lots of networking opportunities lined up for the marketing community - just in time after you return from the holidays! Find out about "The Emerging Ethnic Markets in Canada" and learn from the pioneers who have been there, done that and continue to enjoy much success in reaching out to ethnic consumers!

Check out our events page for more details: http://www.ama-toronto.com/events/the-emerging-ethnic-markets-in-canada-the-pioneers-of


and REGISTER YOURSELF! 

Catering to the Needs of Changing Demographics

...Literally.

The South Asian market is emerging just as the Chinese market is in the GTA. Over the past couple of weeks of working with Sensu and searching of related news articles for the blog, I've noticed a number of articles about the Chinese and South Asian markets. Whether it was about the growth of these two markets or the idea of businesses having culturally targeted campaigns, they were definitely mentioned.

An article called, "Langar on Wheels rolls out to Punjabi community" describes an elderly couple who have trouble making home-cooked foods, but are hesistant to sign up for the local Meals on Wheels program. After eating South Asian food for almost their whole lives, changing their preferences would just be too difficult and ultimately, unsatisfying. As the couple stated, they would rather have "roti with some sabzi (vegetables) and dal (lentils)" over the Meals on Wheels choices of shepherd's pie or beef stew.

The cultural gap of Meals on Wheels offerings and prominent increase of immigrants has pushed the program to provide specific meals for the Chinese, Greek, Italian, and Indian market.

With the changing demographics of the city and Canada in general, businesses (for profit) are not the only ones who must incorporate the multicultural aspect into their products or services. From the article, I can see that programs such as Meals on Wheels are gaining a better understanding of their community and refocusing their services. At the end of the day, the objective really is to meet the needs of changing demographics in our communities and Canada as a whole.

Reference: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/globe-to/langar-on-wheels-rolls-out-to-punjabi-community/article2274645/

"The whole world wants to do business with China"

...Nothing better than getting straight to the point. When I first came across this quote in an article called, "Telefilm, Canadian movies to tap Chinese Market", I thought it was pretty bold at first, but nonetheless true.


The growing Chinese market in North America has shifted many marketers' eyes and has triggered the makings of Chinese-focused campaigns. While some businesses are just tapping into this prevalent market in Canada, others are already going straight for the homeland, China.


For example, Canadian film makers, Telefilm Canada and the Whistler Film Festival Society (WFFS), are trying to collaborate with film makers in China with goals of creating films that can be released in both countries. By Canada and China working together and targeting both markets, each one can benefit from this partnership. As the article states,


“The China Canada Gateway project would see the Chinese get exposure to Canadian filmmaking expertise – screenwriting, visual effects and post-production in particular” … “[Canadians would] gain access to the huge Chinese market which currently allows only about 20 foreign films into its theatres each year.”


This plan for a Canadian business to work in partner with China is simply an example of whats to come in the future. Be on the lookout for more Canada-China initiatives!


Reference: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/telefilm-canadian-movies-to-tap-chinese-market/article2259572/page1/

Ethnic Marketing is Blooming!

The noticeable (and stats proven) rise of minorities in Canada is definitely sparking opportunities for ethnic marketers. Businesses can no longer mass advertise to consumers… they must have different campaigns for specific consumers and in this case, ethnicity is key.

One important point to consider however, marketers cannot just simply stop at ethnicity – there is a further break down within this segmentation process. As Tony Hernandez, director of the Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity at Ryerson University, states:

“A deeper issue with marketers is they fail to understand generational differences call for different ad strategies. The newcomer requires different treatment from the established family or the Canadian-born children of immigrants.”

Each ethnicity will require a different approach, but within these ethnicities, there requires an even more specific approach. With the differences in generations, it is up to expert ethnic marketers to efficiently target these segments.

Gautam Nath, a partner at Monsoon Communications, also states in the article that the South Asian and Chinese markets are stereotyped. What I would like to know is… who are the ones stereotyping these markets? They must not be of either ethnicity… or so I’m hoping. Ultimately, the ones that know most about these cultures are, in most cases, the ones with the same ethnic backgrounds.

With that said, in regards to the Chinese market… this is exactly where Sensu comes in handy.

Reference: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/globe-to/ethnic-marketers-capitalize-on-gtas-shifting-demographics/article2250484/page1/