I attended the first day of MARCOM 2008 this week; a conference focused on public sector and not-for-profit marketing. Now, marketing being a broad subject, the MARCOM organisers could have gone a lot of different ways with the opening keynote but I was happy to see that they invited Environics Research Group president, Michael Adams, to share some very valuable information related to one of marketing’s key commandments: know thy audience. Adams talked about the findings in his new book Unlikely Utopia: The Surprising Triumph of Canadian Pluralism. In the book, Adams argues against the notion that Canada’s multiculturalism means that it is just a matter of time before we suffer violent conflicts like those seen in France and other countries. He provides results of Environics research that shows that, despite the global economic slowdown, Canadians are not following the sadly historical route of blaming it all on, and targeting, immigrants.
Some of the stats he shared:
- Toronto has the largest foreign-born population of any city in the world
- 77% of Canadians said no when asked, “Do you think immigrants take all the jobs?”
- 63% said no when asked, “Do you think immigration is too high?”
- 77% feel immigrants have a positive influence on society
- However, a majority (sorry, I missed the exact stat) believe that immigrants don’t adopt Canadian values fast enough.
- Only 15% of Canadians reported being white, Anglo-Saxon, protestants (WASPs) in the last census.
So marketers: know thy audience…and be happy that, in Canada, thy audience hath good heads on their shoulders.
