What Québec Wants™

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?

 

Lost in translation

The Japanese tourist agency Kinki Nippon Tourist Company decided to change its name after it entered its first English-speaking market and began getting inquiries for sex tours.

Some brand names can create headaches for marketers when the local language gives the brand a different meaning. Somehow the automotive industry seems particularly prone to these often-funny blunders. Ford introduced a low-cost truck, the “Fierra”. Unfortunately the name meant “ugly old woman” in Spanish. Ford also introduced the “Caliente” in Mexico. The word is slang for streetwalker. And we all know about the Pinto, which in Portuguese means “small male appendage.” For more on ‘blunders in international business’, read David A. Rick's book.

GM could be faced with a similar issue in Québec with its new Buick LaCrosse.

In Québécois slang, “se crosser” means “to masturbate”. But that doesn’t seem to be a major concern at GM Canada.

"We will use the Buick LaCrosse nameplate across all of Canada. Previously, we used Allure across all of Canada," George Saratlic of GM of Canada's product communications told the National Post.

GM says it plans to put more emphasis on Buick than it has in the past and adopting a common name for the sedan will help the automaker leverage the major advertising and creative campaign being  developed for its launch in the U.S.

Saratlic adds: "We are confident that this approach will have long-term benefits that will outweigh any short-term issue that may exist surrounding the vehicle's name.”

I guess the jury is out on that one. Jean-Charles Chébat, marketing professor at the HEC in Montréal is quoted in today’s French issue of Marketing Online: “It’s not an appropriate name for Québec.” (The translation is mine.)

 

Drives you nuts (Part 2)

A follow-up to a previous post about Quebeckers' driving habits. In it, I quoted Université Laval professor Jean Marie De Knoninck who heads a government committee on road safety . While he believes 'shock ads' are effective at changing attitudes and behaviours on the road, he added that 'some people don't identify with the violence - it's too over-the-top or surreal for them, like they're watching a movie."

This public service advertisement about texting and driving might be over-the-top or surreal for some but I'm never going to reach for my Blackberry again while driving. If you haven't already seen it, I'm warning you it's disturbing.

Student drivers in Québec

Ten years ago the Yankelovich Monitor asked Canadians if they agreed or disagreed with the statement: ‘everybody should be free to do their own thing’. 80% of French-speaking Canadians agreed compared to 68% of English-speaking Canadians.

This sense of freedom to do your own thing may have led a Québec father to let his seven year old son drive the family car at 70km per hour while capturing the moment on video.

You can see the clip in this CBC news report.

The story was followed closely by two thirds of the Québec population according to a recent survey conducted by Angus Reid Strategies.

What is most interesting about the survey however is the response to the question:

Do you agree or disagree with each of the following statement? - Relying on an online video to file charges against an individual is justified.

A majority of Quebeckers (63%) agree but significantly less than in the ROC.

Driving lessons in Québec

According to PMB 2009 data, Quebeckers are significantly less likely than Canadians in the ROC to have taken or be planning to take a driver education course in the past/next year. 2.5% in Québec (67 index) compared to 4.1% in the ROC (108 index).

Why bother when dad offers the courses and the booster seat for free?

 

Drives you nuts

Eastbound trips down the 401 into Québec offer great opportunities for observational research into the driving patterns of Ontarians and Quebeckers.

Ontarians have a tendency to move into the far left lane, turn on the cruise control and stay there. With their eyes transfixed on the road ahead, they seem to rarely check the rear view mirror. And when cars pass them on the right side, they ignore them.

As you get closer to the Québec border and that big ‘Bonjour’ sign, cars with Québec license plates start taking over the road. And the driving experience, so to speak, changes – more aggressive driving, tailgating, and weaving in and out of traffic lanes.

But is that really supported by data?

Quebeckers on the road

Angus Reid Strategies asked Canadians in November 2008 about what they see on the roads in their province. It concluded that Quebeckers are considerably less inclined than residents in the rest of Canada to have observed bad driving habits. And they are more likely to say that only a few of the drivers in their municipality are bad, and less likely to say that most of them are bad.

So, Quebeckers think they’re pretty good drivers. Or perhaps they don’t see bad driving habits for what they are.

Kanetix.ca offers online auto insurance quotes to Canadians and has valuable data to mine. Of the total car insurance quotes completed online in 2006, 16 per cent included at least one ticket. Québec was in line with the national average.

Percentage of quotes that included at least one ticket:

• Alberta: 17%
• Ontario: 16%
• Québec: 15%
• New Brunswick: 12%
• Prince Edward Island: 9%
• Nova Scotia: 8%

Without fail, the most common traffic ticket across provinces was for speeding. But Québec was the only province to have “signaling offences” in the top five.

I rest (part of) my case.

It’s worth noting that traffic deaths are declining in Canada. Death rates were highest in the Yukon between 2000 and 2004, followed by Saskatchewan, P.E.I., Nunavut, New Brunswick, Alberta, B.C. and Manitoba. Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador were the only two provinces with death rates below the national average of nine per 100,000. The death rate in Québec was 9.1 per 100,000 people in line with the national average.

To reduce this rate, Québec’s auto-insurance board appears to be shifting gears with its advertising this summer. After trying to change attitudes and behaviors with blood, gore and death, it is now using statistics and charts to show how little time drivers save by speeding. According to a piece published by Canwest News Service:

The example in the ads focuses on someone driving on a road with a 90 km/h speed limit. If you drive at 110 km/h over a 15-km stretch of that road, you'll save only about two minutes, a police officer says in the ad. Yet your chance of having an accident would be six times greater than if you had driven at the speed limit.

The same article quotes Jean-Marie De Koninck, a Université Laval professor and head of a government committee on road safety, who said previous years' shock ads were effective, but such tactics don't work on all drivers.

"Shock ads are good, but some people don't identify with the violence - it's too over-the-top or surreal for them, like they're watching a movie.”

 

 

Toyota tells Quebeckers to leave their cars at home.

The Toyota Dealer Association of Quebec is telling Quebeckers to “use their cars only when they really need to”. In one television spot, a family rides bikes to the cottage instead of driving in the family's Toyota Rav4. In another, a young professional takes the train to work instead of his Yaris.

It’s a long way from the kind of advertising aimed at road warriors with slogans like “Built for drivers” but it should resonate particularly well with Quebeckers.

According to a recent Ipsos-Reid survey, Canadians have already started to change their commuting habits as a result of high gas prices. In fact, four in ten (37%) commuters say that in the last six months, the rising price of gas has meant that they are now walking to work more often than before, while some have made other changes to their commuting habits such as using a more gas-efficient car (31%), carpooling (24%), or using public transit more often (19%).

Quebecers and Atlantic Canadians (43%) are most likely to say that they have been walking more often, and Quebecers are also most likely to say they have switched to more fuel-efficient car (41%), and are using public transit more often (23%).

Walking to work more often:
Canadians living in Quebec and Atlantic Canada (43%) are slightly more likely than residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (39%), Ontario (36%), Alberta (31%), and British Columbia (30%) to walk to work more often now.

Using a more gas-efficient car:
Quebecers (41%) are most likely to have switched to using a more gas-efficient car in the last six months, followed by residents of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (30%), Ontario (28%), Atlantic Canada (27%), British Columbia (26%), and Alberta (25%).

Carpooling:
Residents of Atlantic Canada (33%) are most likely to have been carpooling more frequently over the last six months, followed by those living in British Columbia (25%), Ontario (25%), Quebec (25%), Alberta (15%), and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (9%).

Using public transit more often:
Residents of Quebec (23%) are most likely to have been using public transit more often in the last six months, followed by those living in Ontario (20%), British Columbia (18%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (16%), Alberta (13%), and Atlantic Canada (10%).

Working from home more often:
Residents of Atlantic Canada (20%) are most likely to have been working from home more often over the last six months, followed by those living in Alberta (18%), Quebec (15%), Ontario (13%), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (12%), and British Columbia (7%).

Moved to a home closer to work:
Canadians living in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia (10%) are most likely to have moved to a home closer to work in the last six months, followed by residents of Atlantic Canada (8%), Alberta (5%), and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (4%).

Source: Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of CanWest News Service and Global Television from June 10 to June 12, 2008

Hyundai launches its first ever Quebec only ad campaign. Guess what? It uses a local celebrity spokesperson.

I reacted with skepticism to Hyundai’s announcement last week that it had selected a local Quebec actor as its spokesperson. The “we-have-nothing-to-say-so-let’s-get-a-local-celebrity” strategy is unfortunately a common strategy in celebrity-obsessed Quebec.

It can often work against the brand. A study conducted in the U.K. in 2002 suggests that simply using a celebrity for a testimonial instead of weaving him or her into the story is perceived as gratuitous and the brand spokesperson is seen as only doing it for the money. (I wrote about the use of celebrities in an article entitled “The Fame Game” published in Marketing Magazine in August 2006.The Fame Game)

Yet after seeing the TV spot featuring Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge and the company press release explaining the fit between his personality and reputation for extreme sports, there might actually be a credible fit.

An excerpt from the release:

The selection of Guillaume as Quebec spokesperson for Hyundai could not
be more fitting, given the similarities between the young actor's dynamic
personality and the equally exciting profile of Hyundai, which offers a wide
range of high-quality, versatile vehicles that reflect the tastes of Quebec
consumers. More specifically, the theme of the campaign will focus on Hyundai
owners, whose vehicles are so well equipped and so ideally suited to their
needs that, like Guillaume, they've become very difficult to impress.

Although just 33, Guillaume has already carved his niche among Quebecers,
having burst on the arts scene in the 1980s with major roles in both film and
television. Today, his long list of achievements speaks volumes about his
exceptional talent, as do his many awards and nominations.

Guillaume's most recent film successes include Nitro and 3 p'tits
cochons, which garnered him Jutra and Genie nominations for his outstanding
performances. Away from the cameras, he is just as prolific, with interests
that range from parachuting and rock climbing to wakeboarding, snowboarding
and waterskiing. He even has his pilot's license. In short, it takes a lot to
impress Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge...which is why he agreed to become the
Quebec spokesperson for Hyundai.

Let’s see now if Quebeckers think this wakeboarding actor is like a fish out of water at the wheel of a Hyundai.