What Québec Wants™

Gourmandise. A deadly sin in Quebec?

This ad for La Presse’s upcoming holiday food supplement reminds me of an interesting debate that could only take place among Catholic food lovers in Quebec and in France.

What Anglophones refer to as either a “gourmet” or a “foodie” is a “gourmand” in French. According to Wikipedia, a gourmant is a “person who takes great pleasure in food. The word has different connotations from the similar word gourmet, which emphasizes an individual with a highly refined discerning palette, but in practice the two terms are closely linked, as both imply the enjoyment of good food.”

Quebeckers can be “gourmands” without thinking of themselves as “gourmets”.

In fact, data from PMB (Print Measurement Bureau) supports this point. When asked about the leisure activities they engage in, “gourmet cooking” is listed along with “bird watching”, “woodworking”, etc. The implication being that “gourmet cooking” is a hobby instead of an everyday pursuit. It’s no surprise then that Quebeckers are significantly less likely to say they engage in gourmet cooking as a leisure activity. When you are a gourmand, gourmet cooking is perhaps seen as the hobby of those who aren’t.

But the real debate is about the fact that being a “gourmand” once meant being a glutton. In fact, it’s one of the Seven Deadly Sins: gluttony, lust, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.

Wikipedia adds “with the evolution in the meaning of gourmand (and gourmandise) away from gluttony, towards the appreciation of good food, French culinary proponents are advocating that the Catholic Church update the infamous list to refer to "gloutonnerie" rather than "gourmandise".” 

Somehow I think Quebeckers would be fine with “gourmandise” remaining a sin as long as it’s not deadly.

Nest egg

The giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Quebec, like all major investment funds, is having to deal with the global economic crisis. But the Caisse is more than a fund. It’s Quebeckers’ “bas de laine” (reference to keeping your savings in a wool sock). And any threat to it is a threat to Quebeckers’ sense of identity and confidence in their future.

So it’s no surprise that Quebec Liberal Leader Jean Charest’s opposition is hoping to make this an election issue.

Pauline Marois of the Parti Quebecois has found the narrative to play it up in last night’s leaders’ debate. Referring to revelations in The Globe and Mail that the Caisse de dépôt et placement sold off $10-billion in shares during the market meltdown just to meet obligations, Ms. Marois asked: "Mr. Charest, how is it people from Toronto have more information than people in Quebec?"

The nest egg is being threatened and Toronto is somehow involved…

An explosive issue that’s game changing two weeks before the vote? I think not.

Election fatigue in Quebec

“Electors in the province that has consistently provided Canada with its best political drama are engaging in this election the way a pedestrian on an urban street listens to an ambulance or a fire truck. They're aware it's passing; how could they not hear the noise? They just don't feel it concerns them,” writes Konrad Yakabuski in today’s Globe & Mail. 

Perhaps they’re not concerned. Or perhaps they’re just fed up with electioneering.

A colleague in Montreal put it this way: “We had the last federal election. And, even if we didn’t vote, we had two years of drama with the US election. So we’ve had enough elections for now. We're tired.”

Merde

Cleaning the dirtiest part of the body.

Rose George is the author of an unusual book entitled The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why it Matters. (2008, Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company)

According to George, the world may be divided into the two ways we cling to toilet habits: Some belong to the paper culture, some to the water culture. The Japanese were once paper people who, after years of persuasion, have become water people. 

There are now 20 million "Washlets"  in Japan – a toilet that offers a warm seat, a cleaning spray, and a waft of warm air to gently dry the essentials.

George takes all this very seriously. For more on her work about the issues of human waste around the world, read this article in a recent issue of the Toronto Star. She quotes a survey conducted by an Oxfordshire doctor who examined the underpants of local men and found fecal contamination in nearly all of them.

George writes in her book: "Anthropologists and sociologists should be infesting public bathrooms. There's nothing else in human society quite like them. Not in society, not quite out of it. Needed, but rarely demanded. A place where all sorts of human needs and habits intersect: fear, disgust, conversation, grooming, sex ... To be uninterested in the public toilet is to be uninterested in life."

Quebeckers and the toilet

We haven’t come across much data on this rather private aspect of Quebeckers’ lives. However, one survey about facial tissue usage suggests Quebeckers differ from other Canadians in the type of paper they use.

Asked whether they agree or disagree with the statement “Facial tissues are always a good substitute for bathroom tissues”, 24% Canadians agreed. Quebeckers were significantly more likely to agree at 31%.

Asked whether they agree or disagree with the statement “I often use bathroom tissue in place of facial tissue”, 25% Canadians agreed. Quebeckers were the least likely to agree at 19%.

Conclusion: Quebeckers are more likely to treat their bums the same way they treat their sensitive noses.

Social Networks - When socializing gets you fired.

The use of social networks by corporations as part of their marketing strategies is now fairly common in many sectors. But what can act as a great multiplier of the brand message can cut both ways. As Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have apparently found out the hard way.

An excerpt from a piece in the November 8^th issue of The Economist:

As well as embracing blogs, firms have been exploiting social networks such as Facebook and MySpace to get their messages to a broader audience. But although they have the potential to be useful marketing tools, such networks can also be a source of damaging publicity, as British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic have discovered to their cost.

On October 31st Virgin fired 13 of its cabin crew who had posted derogatory comments about its safety standards and some of its passengers on a Facebook forum. Among other things, crew members joked that some Virgin planes were infested with cockroaches and described customers as “chavs”, a disparaging British term for people with flashy bad taste. On November 3rd BA began investigating the behaviour of several employees who had described some passengers as “smelly” and “annoying” in Facebook postings.

Read the full article article.

Social networks more about “socializing” among English Canadians than among French Canadians.

French-speaking Canadians who visit social networks mention obtaining information (41%) and fun (24%) as motives more often than English-speaking Canadians (22% and 14% respectively). Conversely, socializing is mentioned as a reason for visiting social networking sites by only 19% of French-speaking Canadians, compared to 43% of English-Canadians.

(Source: The Canadian Internet Project, Year Two Report, 2007)

Show the fashion. Talk the price.

The “new” Fido now lives in a yellow doghouse.

Yellow is the colour of no-name products.

And yellow is the colour of the Best Buy logo used for its new Best Buy Mobile retail format.

It wasn’t clear when Rogers acquired Fido how the two brands would coexist. It is now.

“Giving low prices a good home” can’t be clearer. The brochure says it all: “Times change. Needs change. That’s why Fido is changing. We now offer lower priced plans.”

The old “faithful” idea is still in there somewhere. The line “Toujours fidele” is still up on the wall of the Ste-Catherine store with its sleek, elegant fixtures. Except the signage makes you think of Wal-Mart’s Rolling Back Prices.

Couldn’t price have been emphasized without the Dollarama feel?

This reminds me of something a very smart merchant used to tell me when we discussed his brand. David Margolis founded the off-price retailer Winners. His approach to branding was quite simple: “Show the fashion. Talk the Price.”

Couldn’t Fido have kept its sleek, urban and boutique-feel while still emphasizing value? I’m sure budget brands like Koodo are nipping away but why throw the baby with the bath water?

As John Ryan writes in his post on The Canadian Design Resource blog:

“Perhaps budget is the new boutique.”

When it comes to wireless devices, “fashion” matters – particularly in Quebec.

A survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid in October 2008 for Windows Mobile asked an interesting question.

When choosing a mobile device, what do you look for first, FORM (The look and feel of the phone) or FUNCTION (The features and technology)?

While FUNCTION matters more to all Canadians including Quebeckers, it’s worth noting that Quebeckers are significantly more likely than other Canadians to say that FORM matters (42% of Quebeckers compared to 34% nationally).

So Fido, couldn’t you have kept showing the fashion while talking the price?

Colour blind

Sometimes agency creative folks (particularly in Quebec) have what they refer to as a “flash”. It’s said in French as in “j’ai eu un flash” (I had a flash.)

That’s what Montreal ad agency Amen’s creative director Nicholas Massey says he had when Obama was elected. Quoted in the November 13^th issue of Marketing Online, Massey declared “The idea came to me in a flash right after Obama won the election. It’s the kind of opportunity that doesn’t come along very often.”

Here’s the ad the “flash” produced for client Cyntech’s Permapaint exterior concrete paint.

Marketing Magazine adds: Asked if he thought the symbolism could be seen as racist, Massey said he was more concerned about using such a well-known institution as the White House in an ad, rather than the fact Obama is black.

Says Massey “The whole concept is related to the colour of Obama, but it’s also the fact that a different party won the election.”

Come again?

I’m all for flashes of creativity. But this one doesn’t sit well with me.

Two weeks before the election I was watching Colin Powell on Meet The Press when he endorsed Obama. Here’s an excerpt:

I think we need a transformational figure.  I need--think we need a president who is a generational change.  And that's why I'm supporting Barack Obama.

Powell did not endorse Obama because of the colour of his skin. In fact, Brokaw asked him directly:

MR. BROKAW:  And you are fully aware that there will be some--how many, no one can say for sure--but there will be some who will say this is an African-American, distinguished American, supporting another African-American because of race.

GEN. POWELL:  If I had only had that in mind, I could have done this six, eight, 10 months ago.  I really have been going back and forth between somebody I have the highest respect and regard for, John McCain, and somebody I was getting to know, Barack Obama.  And it was only in the last couple of months that I settled on this.  And I can't deny that it will be a historic event for an African-American to become president.  And should that happen, all Americans should be proud--not just African-Americans, but all Americans--that we have reached this point in our national history where such a thing could happen.  It will also not only electrify our country, I think it'll electrify the world.

Click here for a full transcript of the interview

My take on this: Obama did not run as an African-American. He ran as an American on a platform of change.

So, yes, go ahead and change the White House. But don’t paint it black. That would be belittling the magnitude of the change America desperately needs.

Maybe that’s why this flash of creativity bugs me. I hope it sells a lot of paint.

Words and elections

“Change” won over “Maverick” last week.

Words matter in elections and some are loaded with historical significance.

Interesting decision by the Quebec Liberal Party to build its election campaign around the word “Oui”.

Will the PQ say “Non” this time? Unless they make no mean yes.

Lest we forget.

Surveys suggest we are forgetting, particularly in Quebec.

A recent Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of the Dominion Institute reveals that Canadians - in particular young Canadians - lack of basic knowledge about The Great War and are forgetting this important chapter in our country’s history.

The study reveals that less than half (46%) of Canadians knew that Remembrance Day marks the end of the First World War. Only 42%of Canadians aged 18-34 could correctly identify what this date commemorates.

Ipsos Reid doesn’t provide regional data for this survey but another survey conducted for the Dominion Institute in 2007 does.

As part of a quiz on Canadian history, 1,004 adults Canadians were asked this question:
Remembrance Day in Canada falls on November 11. November 11 was the last day of which war?
Nationally, 37% correctly answered World War 1. A four point increase from the results 10 years earlier.
This number drops to 25% in Quebec – the lowest score.

“This year marks the 90th anniversary of the End of the First World War. It is troubling to see that with every passing year our memory as a country is fading to the point that most Canadians do not even know what we are remembering,” said Marc Chalifoux, Executive Director of the Dominion Institute.

Front Lines

One way to refresh your memory is to watch “Front Lines” – a newly released film by the NFB which I had the chance to see it last night at the War Museum in Ottawa.

A First World War chronicle evoked by archival images and moving letters written home by five soldiers and a nurse. Ninety years after the Armistice, this new film breathes life into anonymous archival images so that we experience the conflict from the inside. Voices describe the everyday experience of war, a mingling of pride, hope, dedication, fatigue, fright and pain. Professional actors read the poignant words written by five soldiers and a nurse, aged 23 to 31.

The NFB is streaming it for free today on its site