What Québec Wants™

Accents and apostrophes

Should anyone care whether food retailer Metro has an acute accent in its name?

Yves Michaud, a well-known activist shareholder in Québec, clearly does. He filed a complaint with the Office québécois de la langue française and was quite vocal at Metro’s annual shareholder meeting held earlier this week.

Metro’s management isn’t budging. It argues that “Metro” (without an accent) has always been its trademark and is neither French nor English. From a strict legal standpoint, Metro is right and l’Office is likely to agree.

What might be surprising to some is not only the media coverage this is generating but also the views expressed in editorials by leading, pro-business publications.

Les Affaires’ François Pouliot asks “What would be the harm in giving Metro a true French name?” He argues that the retailer is a success story and a symbol of Québec Inc. After all, this wouldn’t have to be done overnight but gradually as new signs are installed so that they are “better adapted to Québec’s linguistic landscape” [The translations are mine.] Click here for the full article.

La Presse’s Vincent Brousseau-Pouliot writes that it’s difficult to understand Metro’s position on this. He suggests that Metro could keep its legal name for financial documents and for its operations in Ontario but gradually change its store signs in Québec. Click here for the full article.

Signs are expensive but the two Pouliots seem to forget that there’s far more to having two separate brand visual identities - just ask the folks at Staples/Bureau en Gros, Mark’s/L’Équipeur, Home Outfitters/Déco-Découverte, to name just a few.

Fueling this debate over accents is Quebecor’s recent public musing about adding an acute accent to its name in Québec. The media conglomerate is apparently studying the matter and will likely recommend the change to its board and shareholders.

Apostrophes

Retailers and foodservice operators entering Québec rarely have acute accent issues but they must sometimes deal with having an apostrophe in their name. Tim Horton’s dropped the apostrophe to become Tim Hortons when it entered the Québec market. Few in the rest of Canada seemed to care about the hockey player’s name new spelling. Just as few in Québec seem to care that Restaurant McDonald’s kept the apostrophe in its name.

On the Run

Don’t get me wrong. Language issues matter a great deal in Québec when branding decisions get media attention.

ExxonMobil brands its convenience stores On the Run, unstranslated, around the world, except in Québec, where opposition from the population, despite government sanction, forced Exxon’s local subsidiary to retain the French name Marché Express.

Marketing

Les Affaires’ François Pouliot claims that adding an accent to Métro would be “un bon coup de marketing” (a good marketing move).

It would be if Metro’s customers cared. Judging by the nature of readers’ comments in La Presse, it’s not clear that a majority does. Some rightly point out that even Paris’ Metro is spelled without an accent.
Even if many did care, one would have to assess the cost-benefit of implementing the name change on many more assets than simply exterior store signs? Would the brand equity gradually erode? Or worse, would customers start boycotting Metro without an accent?

I doubt it.

This is a public affairs issue at this point and it should be handled as such. How it’s handled will determine whether it becomes a marketing issue.

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Here are some cases that have attracted the interest of the language watchdog or people seeking to protect the French language:

• 1996: A woman warns the owner of a Quebec pet store she might get in touch with language authorities because Peekaboo, the parrot she wanted to buy, didn't speak French.
• 1999: The Old Navy chain is asked to rename its stores "La Vieille Rivière." It never happens.
• 2000: The owner of an Indian restaurant is told he's breaking the law by having coasters for "Double Diamond," a British beer.
• 2001: Some people express disappointment that race-car driver Jacques Villeneuve calls his restaurant "Newtown."
• 2005: Language authorities say they will investigate complaints that Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay's party used the word "Go" on its campaign posters and pamphlets, as in "Go Montreal."
• 2007: Imperial Oil says it will keep its Quebec-only "Marché Express" name for its Esso gas stations after protests against a proposal to change the name to "On the Run," as the stations are known elsewhere in North America.
• 2007: Language activists decry that callers to many Quebec government offices are told to "press nine" for English before instructions are delivered in French. Some of the departments have since changed the message to put English at the end.

[Source: CBC]

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Related posts on What Québec Wants

Metro brings Québec’s love of food to Ontario

Sign language

Secret in a bottle

The Caramilk secret is not so secret thanks to Wikipedia – no need for Wikileaks on this one:

The caramel is dropped into the bar by using a mold that cools the bottom of the chocolate while the upper half of the chocolate bar is still liquid. The caramel is heavier than chocolate and sinks, then the upper half of the chocolate bar is cooled, sealing the caramel into the bar.

Now Canadians are being treated to the latest in brand stretching: Caramilk cream liquor.

The first chocolate bar flavour in the alcohol market. Imagine that.

See what this  blogger had to say about the sample she received over the holidays.

Cream liqueur in Québec

The consumption of cream liqueur among Quebeckers and Canadians in the ROC doesn’t differ significantly. According to PMB 2010, 6.5% of Canadians living in the ROC personally drink cream liqueur (103 index) compared to 5.8% of Quebeckers (92 index) who are also more likely to be lighter liqueur drinkers. We should point out that 1.3% of Canadians living in the ROC personally drink Crème de menthe (66 index) compared to 4.8% of Quebeckers (237 index). Anyone for Trident Peppermint Splash Cream Liqueur?

When brands rub off.

Very interesting article by Simon Houpt in today's Globe & Mail.

There's nothing new about the notion that people associate with brands that reflect who they are or what they aspire to be. But this article refers to research suggesting that people actually become the brand (or at least adopt its personality) by associating with it.  

Here's an excerpt:

For the first of four studies described in the Journal of Consumer Research paper, women were given a Victoria’s Secret shopping bag to use while visiting a suburban Minneapolis shopping mall. After an hour, the women perceived themselves to be more glamorous, more feminine, and more good-looking (the three most salient characteristics that make up the brand’s “personality”) than those who had used a plain pink shopping bag.

In the second study, MBA students at the University of Minnesota used pens branded with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology logo. At the end of a six-week period, they felt they were more intelligent, harder-working, and possessed more leadership qualities than those who had used a common ballpoint.

Chevy, FedEx & GazMétro – When brands get nicknames

GM executives issued a memo about Chevrolet’s branding:

"We'd ask that, whether you're talking to a dealer, reviewing dealer advertising or speaking with friends and family, that you communicate our brand as Chevrolet moving forward. The more consistent a brand becomes, the more prominent and recognizable it is with the consumer."

Nothing wrong with that.

However, it also asked GM employees to stop using the word Chevy.

The memo was leaked to the media. GM had to backtrack, calling the memo “poorly worded”. (Backtracking, G.M. Says Please, Call It a Chevy)

It even led to this editorial in today’s New York Times – yes, and an editorial about branding in the automotive sector...

Chevrolizing Chevy

For a while last week, General Motors was telling employees at its Chevrolet headquarters to stop using the word Chevy, explaining it was important for brand “consistency.” After a report in The Times provoked a widespread “Huh?,” Chevrolet said it was talking about expanding foreign markets and was not “discouraging customers or fans from using” Chevy. But the original effort, and the response, left us thinking about the emotional tie of automobile names and their evanescence.

 

As branding or rebranding attempts go, this one strikes us as arguing with success. “Chevrolet” does sound more formal, if not necessarily more upscale, than “Chevy,” much as “Cadillac,” another G.M. brand, sounds more formal than “Caddy.” But car owners do not have formal relationships with their vehicles. They have intimate ones, requiring nicknames.

Chevrolet’s memo also reminds us of the long line of once household automobile names shoved aside by time. There is something almost evolutionary about the history of the industry — an explosion of life forms in the early 20th century, most of them unsuccessful, dwindling into the few major lines that still survive.

Who remembers the Brewster Knight or the Dagmar or the Menominee? What about the Marmon or the Stout-Scarab? The names of vanished autos reads like a graveyard of inventors, though it also reads like a list of the emotions one might be supposed to feel on the open highway. And then, of course, there are the strange cases like the Studebaker Rockne, named after Knute. None of these are more than a memory, not even such memorable names as the Pungs-Finch.

Our feeling is that foreigners will learn to love “Chevy” the way Americans have ever since the company was founded in 1911.

FedEx

I don’t know if it’s true but someone in the parcel delivery business once told me that Fred Smith, the founder of Federal Express, initially pushed back on the idea of rebranding the company using the name everyone used to call it.

GazMétro

This reminds me of a presentation I once worked on for a new business prospect: Gaz Métropolitain – the gaz utility in Québec. We knew most people called it GazMétro and we were planning to recommend rebranding it using this more friendly name – a strategic move given how Quebeckers were at the time frightened by natural gaz, believing it would blow up their home. The president of the agency vetoed the idea.

We did not win the business. But the winning agency obviously made the same recommendation...

 

So many brands wish to engage with consumers, to be seen as ‘friendly’. What’s wrong with being known by your nickname?

How about a nice Céline Dion Cabernet Sauvignon?

Celebrity wines may sound like nothing more than a gimmick to sell wine to those who believe that a Marilyn Napa Vallley Red Wine or an Elvis Presley Blue Suede Chardonnay will somehow be a great find.

Yet celebrity-branded wines are gaining in popularity in the U.S.  

According to The Nielsen Company, celebrity-branded alcohol beverage products - those directly associated with a famous person - are gaining popularity in the US, and wine is leading the category, having grown steadily in sales and category share since 2000.

In 2007, celebrity wine sales were up nearly 19% from 2006 in grocery stores and increased 8% in liquor stores.

How long before we see celebrity wines making inroads in Québec? The market is known for its high per capita consumption of wine and its deep pool of local and not-so-local celebrities.

Quebeckers think Toyota is doing a good job despite being in a tough spot.

University of Toronto Marketing Professor David Dunne writes in the Globe & Mail today that the Toyota brand will ride this out.

According to Professor Dunne, “while the crisis strikes at the heart of Toyota's brand promise, the   company's management has handled the situation, if not perfectly, then reasonably well. It has assumed responsibility for the problem, pledged to fix it and appointed a task force to undertake a deeper investigation of the issues.”

He adds “look for Toyota's brand to recover, not instantly but, like some of its cars, faster than you expect.”

A survey published yesterday by Canadian Press/Harris Decima tends to support Dunne’s point of view.

The survey asked Canadians about the recall of Toyota vehicles.

Nine in ten Canadians have heard of the recall.

At this point in time, most say they hold a positive impression of the company, although one in five holds a negative impression. Quebec and B.C. residents, as well as more affluent Canadians tend to hold more positive views.

A majority feel the company has done at least a good job in handling the issue, with Quebec residents being most favourable in this regard.

In terms of how this may affect sales, just under one third of Canadians say this recall has made them at least a little less likely to purchase a Toyota in the future.

Fitting with their impression of how the company has responded, Quebec residents stand out as standing by the manufacturer more than residents from the rest of the country. For any subset of the population, the plurality is saying this recall has not yet had any effect on whether or not they would purchase a Toyota.

On the surface, the opinions expressed in this survey suggest that North American automakers may net out with a slight increase in market share as a result of Toyota’s recall.

26% of Canadians are saying this issue makes them more likely to buy North American next time. However, the majority does say this has no bearing on whether they would buy Toyota, another foreign brand or a North American brand in the future.

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Based on what you have read, seen or heard would you say Toyota has done a very good job, a good job, a poor job or a very poor job of handling this issue?

 

Advice to Dr. Rapaille as he begins his search for archetypes in Québec City

A follow-up on my previous post about Québec City’s decision to hire Clotaire Rapaille to build its brand.

Québec City’s newspaper Le Soleil reports that Dr. Clotaire Rapaille arrives in town today to begin his branding initiative using his unique approach – which is well document in his book The Culture Code. According to the paper, he will receive $250,000 for this assignment lasting ten weeks – plus another $25,000 for incentives for 330 focus group participants, plus travel and accommodation.

It’s the talk of the town in Québec City. The mayor has had to defend his decision to hire this outsider from the moment it was announced. Le Soleil covers it all including the stormy debate among the city council and the mayor’s visible irritation. The mayor even brought his consultant’s book into the debate yesterday and implored his opponents to read it.

Unsolicited advice:

Dr. Rapaille, forget the formal research – it’s going to be biased anyway given the debate raging about your legitimacy as an expert who can guide Québec City’s destiny.

Here’s an archetype – free of charge: CHAUVINISM

Chauvinism is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a blind belief in national superiority and glory. By extension it has come to include an extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of any group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group.

Try building a brand with that one. Good luck. Bonne chance.

A psychiatrist’s view of Québec City

Québec City has hired cultural archetypes expert Dr. Clotaire Rapaille, author of The Culture Code, to refresh the city’s image.

According to The Rapaille Institute’s website “Archetype Studies is unique. We are not consultants and do not charge by the hour or day. We do not conduct market research, and do not write reports. Our commitment to the client is that at the end of the process, you will thoroughly understand the Archetype studied. The Archetype Team will speak a common language, the unconscious Logic of Emotion of your customers.”

Dr. Rapaille is a colourful fellow who’s obviously impressed some of the world’s most sophisticated marketers. Can’t wait to see the outcome and what he discovers about Québec City’s residents’ and visitors’ unconscious logic of emotion.

Unique Naming for Liquor Brands | Branding Beer and Wine Products

via www.brandchannel.com

An interesting look at the naming of wine and beer brands in Canada. Learn about Dead Frog, Dirty Laundry and La fin du monde (The End of the World).

Friending brands

‘Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait to hear the answer.’

Can the same be said of online friends? And can brands be friends?

Here’s what blogger Patrick Glinski recently posted about brands that hang out in the same places where he connects with his friends. “These companies are not my friends in any sense of the word - they don’t call me, they don’t go out for beers with me, and they definitely weren’t at my last birthday party. They have no legitimate connection to me whatsoever. It’s scary to think that when I connect to a company through social media, I may have just given a psychopath access to my life.”

The psychopath reference is a bit much and borrowed from the documentary The Corporation. However, we can’t dismiss his take on ‘friending brands’: “The reality is, a “brand friend” is really more of an acquaintance.  If they start spamming your twitter feed, you’re probably going to block them. If they start messaging erratically, you tune them out. If they post in erratic voices you will be concerned about them, and if they lie to your face, you’ll be ticked off at them. It’s dangerous that more companies don’t evaluate what kind of friend they’re being.”

The firm Brand Amplitude heard similar views in two focus groups it conducted last March with Millenials about friending on Twitter and Facebook:

“Brands that show up on facebook often look like your parents when they (unsuccessfully) try to act cool.”

“Seeing a brand on facebook makes me just think is spam mail or a scam.”

“Yeah I don’t really pay attention to the ads on the side of facebook. A lot of them aren’t even accurate.”

“I’ve never clicked on the ads on the side on fbook or gmail – not out of principle, but they’ve just never grabbed me.”

“I mean, I think people use it as a user-to-user network. I mean, you call your connections “friends.” I don’t think I’ve ever joined a brand’s FB group — unless you count maybe a sports teams, though those are usually fan generated …There’s something really off-putting about a big brand sending you a facebook group invite. I’d never accept it.”

“I think there is a sniff test people give brands when they use such tactics. And I’m not sure what the formula is for passing it”

“I really enjoy being able to “friend” indie rock bands for their music, but I don’t really friend any product company, or brand. I always feel like most brands are scamming you in some way when they want to be your friend.”

The good news

Millennials do want to connect with brands as long as the connections are genuine and of value. One study even suggested Millennials would welcome a separate channel for ‘friending’ brands. Research by Pace University indicates 51% of Gen Y respondents saying they’d “join a separate social network dedicated to managing brand interactions.

Some of the more positive verbatim comments from the same focus groups:

“They need to surprise me with their content or genuine nature or candor.”

“I think a possibility forTwitter posts and Facebook pages for companies would be to have actual people doing them – to have entertaining personalities or something.”

“One cool use of Twitter is with Starbucks where they have a person at corporate who will communicate back to you.”

“Yeah Comcast has their customer service reps on twitter actually helping people.”

“Yeah exclusive deals are always good, makes you feel special, get you more engaged.”

“Make me feel smart for buying your shit.”

You can read more on this post titled Why Brands Make Poor ‘Friends’.

Here’s another interesting report on the subject written up in Brandweek, this time with data from an online survey of 1,000 US women conducted last month.

• Although 52 percent of female users have "friended" a brand, feelings of neutrality (64 percent) and negativity (19 percent) were the most common reactions when women encountered brands online. Only 17 percent said the experience was positive.
• Only 10 percent of women said that participating in brand-related activities, such as finding information (8.7 percent) and writing reviews (1 percent), was their most common social media activity.

Friending brands in Québec

Brands that befriend Quebeckers the right way might find it's worth the extra effort.

According to PMB 2009 data, Quebeckers are more likely than Canadians in the ROC to agree with the statements:

- When I find a new product I like, I typically recommend it.
- I find I'm easily swayed by other people's views.