A survey conducted in early October by Ipsos Reid on behalf of World Vision asked 1,006 Canadians which of five statements best described the spirit of the Christmas season.
Bringing family together topped the list and was selected by 53% of those surveyed. There were no significant regional differences.
Celebrating the birth of Christ came in second with 14% of Canadian saying that it best describes the spirit of the Christmas season. This was as high as 25% and 21% in the Prairies and the Atlantic regions respectively.
Quebeckers, at 9%, were the least likely to say that the season is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Montréal’s La Presse is reporting today that the SAQ is exploring the feasibility of setting up shops in Québec grocery stores to sell champagne, vodka, rhum, and other spirits. The 1,500 sq.ft. space, which might be a stretch for retailers to accommodate, would offer between 400 and 500 products.
According to La Presse, the idea for this pilot project came from the Québec City suburb of Ancienne-Lorette where an SAQ branch had to be closed for renovation. The branch was temporary relocated in a nearby Loblaws store. Satisfaction rates reached 86% and traffic in that store increased. While representatives from the SAQ had much to say about their plan, those from Metro, IGA and Loblaws were more circumspect.
This ad is appearing in consumer magazines in Québec such as Coup de Pouce. The headline claims that Quebeckers are the happiest people in Canada. The body copy goes on to ask if your glass is half full.
The ad seems to be part of an effort to communicate the idea of a “Silk pause bonheur” (a Silk happy break). In English, the brand delivers “happy facts” on its Facebook page (e.g. dancing can increase happiness).
There is nothing in the magazine ad to support the claim that Quebeckers are the happiest Canadians. And we couldn’t find supporting data on the brand’s website or on its Facebook page.
So here’s the “happy fact” from the Centre for the Study of Living Standards’ report on the determinants of the happiness of Canadians. (Canadians Are Happy and Getting Happier: An Overview of Life Satisfaction in Canada, 2003-2011)
The CSLS measures life satisfaction, the key measure of happiness.
Over the 2003-2011 period, Nova Scotia had the highest average per cent of the population reporting being satisfied or very satisfied with their life in general at 94.1 per cent, a level of satisfaction notably higher than all other jurisdictions. Quebec ranked second at 93.2 per cent, followed closely by Newfoundland and Labrador at 93.0 per cent. Life satisfaction was lowest in Nunavut at 90.6 per cent. Ontario ranked second lowest (91.0 per cent) and British Columbia third lowest (91.1 per cent).
Among the 36 CMAs (Census Metropolitan Areas) in Canada, Québec, Trois-Rivières, Peterborough, Ottawa-Gatineau (QC) and Saguenay had the five highest average percentages of the population reporting being satisfied with life in general in the 2003-to-2011 period (Chart 7). The average for the top five CMAs was 93.9 per cent, 3.3 percentage points higher than the average for the bottom five CMAs (90.6 per cent). The five CMAs with the lowest per cent of the population reporting being satisfied with their life in general were Winnipeg, Vancouver, Kitchener, Windsor and Toronto.
Whether or not drinking Silk Almond milk contributes to happiness has yet to be scientifically proven.
It was bound to happen. There was of course the much-publicized attempt last year by Lakeridge Health in Oshawa to recruit doctors and nurses from Québec by claiming it doesn't care what's on your head but what's in it. This was an opportunistic tactical ad published in McGill University’s student newspaper aimed at generating free publicity through earned media. Which it did quite successfully.
This is different. This is a campaign for a brand of locally bottled imported bulk wines sold at Costco and Couche Tard.
The company, Julia Wine, is a disruptor in Québec's wine business. It's the kind of David and Goliath story the media loves because it’s about how C-store owners in Québec have “declared war against theSAQ” - Québec’s liquor board.
We won’t get into specifics but suffice to say it has been a very public and bitter battle that’s made front page news and caused much chatter in social media.
Provocative marketing
Julia Wine is also known for its marketing approach. It does not shy away from controversy. It feeds on it.
It introduced itself with this YouTube video announcing the ‘End of prohibition’ featuring Québec sommelier Patrick Saint-Vincent. It won’t win awards for the quality of its production values but it effectively told the story of how Julia Wine is challenging the status quo.
Its most recent advertising effort for the holidays went further. Julia Wine created three videos inspired no doubt by the PQ’s proposed values charter. They were rejected by the RACJQ (the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux) on the basis that one of the characters is wearing a Santa Claus costume which, it said, goes against the rule preventing the use of fictitious or real characters associated with minors. This ruling and the media coverage it generated again provided Julia Wine with much free publicity.
The folks at Julia Wine are claiming that their Julia Cellier wine is “100% laïque” (100% secular). And they don’t shy away from depicting various religious dress and symbols.
This poster spotted at a Couche Tard in Montréal this week promotes the brand with the line “Ceci n’est pas du vin de messe”. (This is not sacramental wine.)
Julia Wine is clearly getting the attention it is seeking. What it says about the quality of its wines is debatable. The public hearings on Québec’s charter of values, Bill 60, began yesterday. The proposed charter meant to defend “secularism” has become very divisive in Québec where identity politics can get messy. In its attempt to stir the pot to get visibility, Julia Wine may be tempting faith.
Wine and beer sales in Québec are flat or in decline, and spirits are
still the least popular alcoholic choice of consumers here compared with
the rest of Canada.
The SAQ sold less wine last Christmas (over a quarter of a million
fewer bottles), Easter (400,000 fewer) and all of last spring (half a
million fewer) in its stores and in supermarkets and dépanneurs than the
previous periods. Quebec sales of domestic and foreign beer also
haven’t been good; they fell by four per cent in 2012, more than
anywhere else in the country. And Quebecers still drink the least amount of spirits per capita, only 15 per cent of SAQ sales.
They're called Irresistibles, Personelle, Le Choix du Président or Equate.
Like most Canadians, Quebeckers are fond of private labels but they appear less likely than Canadians in the rest of Canada to give them five stars when comparing them to nationally advertised brands.
When we asked 3,000 Canadians last year if they agreed with the statement "food products and beverages sold under a store's own brand name are often better than the nationally advertised brands", 30% of Canadians agreed. In Québec, among French-speaking Quebeckers, 20.9% agreed.
Quebeckers are also significantly more likely to say that once they find a brand they like, it is very difficult to get them to change brands. While private labels might be "worth switching supermarket for" in English Canada, it may take more convincing in Québec.
For more on the What Québec Wants™ syndicated study, please download the prospectus.
Its promoters call it YellowWeek. I call it a six-day long promotional and sampling program.
French Champagne producer Veuve Clicquot, the brand creating this event to promote itself, is dubbing it a “tribute to creativity” showcasing gastronomy, arts, fashion and lifestyle.
The website describes the essence of YellowWeek this way:
Veuve Clicquot created Yelloweek to showcase the work of Montréal artists and artisans who constantly push the limits of creativity in the name of beauty and refinement, just as Madame Clicquot did in her time. In 1805, at 27 years of age, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, to whom we owe the name and success of Veuve Clicquot champagne, took charge of the Maison following her husband’s death. She would become one of the first important female entrepreneurs of the 19th century and create a world-renowned luxury brand.
Equating artists pushing the limits of creativity and a widow who took over her late husband’s company involved in banking, wool trading, and Champagne production is a bit of a stretch. On the other hand, if it means the brand can be at the center of a series of events that gives it increased visibility with the right crowd, why not?
We are told that this “international première edition of Yelloweek” includes four sections and three special events.
Yellow FASHION will shine a light on the creations of four innovative designers on their way to international recognition. Birks store will also unveil for the first time the exclusive Birks Yellow Diamond Collection.
Yellow TABLE will feature an exquisite series of champagne pairing dinners at five of the most iconic restaurants in the city, matching the best of their cuisine to the best of Veuve Clicquot.
Yellow ART will introduce aficionados and the public to the stunning work of Montreal artists, who have begun to attract the attention of collectors from around the world.
Yellow PICNIC and Yellow NIGHT will embody the “zeste de folie” spirit of Veuve Clicquot with unforgettable afternoon and late-night parties.
Yellow By The GLASS will share the joy of champagne throughout the city.
Yellow CONTEST is an opportunity to share happiness at home.
Yellow BICYCLE will catch everyone attention in the city.
It’s basically an event-based promotional and sampling program. And it joins other similar programs by Veuve Clicquot’s SEASONS program that includes 'seasonal Canadian moments' such as Clicquot in the Snow (in Alberta and British Columbia), Veuve Clicquot Polo (Alberta) and Yelloween (in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia). It also generates free media for the brand.
I doubt that Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin celebrated Halloween in the name of 'beauty and refinement’ but two centuries later, it looks like she organized a nice party at Brassii in Toronto.
Quebeckers and Champagne
According to PMB 2013 data, 13% of Quebec residents drank 1-2 glasses of Champagne/sparkling wine in the past 6 months compared to 7% of Canadians in the ROC. 15% of Quebeckers drank more than six glasses in the past 6 months compared to 9% of Canadians in the ROC.
Thirty years ago when I started my career at Y&R, the New York office had recently created a campaign for the iconic soft drink. It had an original song that stuck: “I drink Dr. Pepper. It’s the perfect taste for me. It’s made for peppers everywhere I go. Wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper too? Us Peppers are an interesting breed and original taste is what we need.”
The wardrobe, the hair, the moves are dated but I bet the underlying idea is still relevant and differentiating today. In fact, the brand’s website today has text that seems to have been written based on the same brief: Dr. Pepper - Always One of a Kind. Step Inside One of a Kind - They cover every walk of life, but never walk alike. They’re 1/1. Just as Dr Pepper is one of a kind, Dr. Pepper is celebrating individuals who define paths by treading their own.
It seems that being a Pepper is as relevant today as it was 30 years ago.
Unless the Peppers are in Québec where referring to someone by the name of a carbonated beverage can be a slur - as in “He’s a Pepsi.”
Among the plethora of ethnic insults that traffic in food—Germans as “krauts,” say, or Irish people as “potato eaters”—“pepsi” deserves special mention. It’s the only slur I know that is based on a beverage. The lexicography team for the Canadian Oxford Dictionary tell me the epithet “pepsi” derives from the belief, first held by Quebec anglos in the late forties, that their French-speaking counterparts swilled Pepsi because they were too poor to afford Coke (which was marginally more expensive). While Pepsi’s early marketing did promote itself as the more economical alternative—“Twice as much for a nickel, too / Pepsi-Cola is the drink for you”—impecunious Québécois of yore were probably imbibing Kik, which was the cheapest postwar cola available.
What is less known however is how French Quebeckers came to be referred to as “peppers”. According to Richler:
“In the early seventies, the term (Pepsi) became more widely known both by francophones and anglophones living outside of Quebec. Back home, “pepsi” morphed among the Montreal anglo cognoscenti into “pepper”—an insult partially derived from another pop product, Dr. Pepper, back then available seemingly only in dépanneurs.
Don’t be a Pepper, just drink it.
Canada Dry Mott’s just unveiled a new campaign for Dr. Pepper developed specifically for Québec. Created
by DentsuBos, it aims to play up the uniqueness of the product in a way that will resonate with Québec consumers. Rather than invite the target to be a Pepper, it brings to life the “doctor” and uses humour to refer to its ‘therapeutic benefits’ linked to refreshment. Posters use headlines such as “Put on some ice”, “Cures thirst”, “Open wide and say aaahhh”, “One doctor per family”.
The TV spot takes the same approach.
I guess that’s what you do when the strategy is simply about brand recognition and refreshment.
Perhaps the doctor reference is a subtle reminder of the brand name’s origins. Dr. Pepper's website tells this story: a pharmacist named Charles Alderton created Dr Pepper in 1885. Alderton worked at a drugstore in Waco, Texas owned by Wade Morrison. Legend has it that Morrison named it "Dr. Pepper" after the father of a young girl he was once in love with.
Surprisingly, there’s almost nothing about the original taste and recipe for this concoction dating back to 1885. If there’s a USP, that would be it.
Dr. Pepper - It’s just liquor
The campaign’s signature adds a uniquely Québécois tone to the narrative: Dr. Pepper. C’est juste de la liqueur.
The word ‘liqueur’ has remained part of the vernacular in Québec. Just as it does in English, it refers to a sweetened alcoholic beverage flavoured with fruit, cream, herbs, spices, flowers or nuts. However, in Québec, it is also used to refer to soft drinks instead of the more proper ‘boissons gazeuses’. In fact, liqueur has also stuck in another context; you still hear (older) folks talk about 'la commission des liqueurs' - from "liquor commission".
Brand building success in Québec requires knowing when to adopt, adapt or create for that market. Canada Dry Mott’s chose to create based on what appears to be a different strategy. Hopefully it will generate a solid ROI for the brand and its owners.
Twenty years ago Ries and Trout wrote a great little book called The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. One of the laws, the Law of Focus, states that “the most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind”.
In Québec, one brand has obeyed this law without fail: Pepsi
From the highly successful Claude Meunier campaign starting in the 80s to the most recent campaign featuring the comic duo Les Denis Drolet, Pepsi has been waiving the Fleur-de-lis. It has done so by focusing on one powerful word: “ici” (as in “here it’s Pepsi”)
This has served the brand very well as it played to Quebeckers strong sense of identity. As University of Toronto professor Andrew Stark once said “The place itself has become central to Quebeckers’ sense of identity”. This truism is also evident in the findings from our What Québec Want study.
The Chez Nous Connector (a strong sense of belonging) has a very high intensity - meaning it matters much to Quebeckers and does significantly more so to French Quebeckers than to Canadians in the rest of Canada.
Back then, Pepsi was justified in creating locally for the Québec market. The choice of a new generation featuring Michael Jackson just wasn't the choice of young French Quebeckers.
Perhaps things have changed.
It seems Pepsi is now hoping to own a word around the world. The still new global campaign “Live for Now” has been rolled out in English Canada since it was introduced by PepsiCo in the U.S. almost a year ago.
According to a Pepsi release “it conducted extensive global research, connecting with thousands of fans, and "Live for Now" reflects the insight that Pepsi fans all around the world desire to capture the excitement of now – a mind-set that is aligned at the very core with the brand's DNA.”
Embracing the now.
Findings from our What Québec Want study reveal that the Living in the Moment Connector, while not as intense as the Chez Nous Connector, is quite intense. Quebeckers are significantly more likely to say that it’s important to make the most of today because the future is uncertain.
Unsolicited advice to Pepsi
“Ici c’est Pepsi” is likely still a strong platform for the brand in Québec. However, it might be worth looking at ways to leverage the global campaign by combining two Connectors: Chez Nous and Living in the Moment. If the campaign can be rolled out in Spain (view the spot below), perhaps it can be adapted for Québec with a touch of Chez Nous. Only a few words of caution: while the message about living now might prove relevant to Quebeckers and, importantly efficiencies can be achieved by adapting a global platform, the backlash that dropping "ici" for "now" could trigger might not be worth it.
Journal de Montréal columnist David Descôteaux writes that the recently approved Bill C-311 allowing Canadians to freely buy wine in other Canadian provinces - by removing the limitation on importing wine from other provinces - will legalize something he says most Quebeckers have done in the past by making the short trip across the Ontario border to an LCBO outlet.
He adds, did you know it was illegal to do so until now?
It seems Quebeckers are the least likely to know about the 1928 law which, incidentally, created the liquor boards in Canada.
According to a recent survey by Harris/Decima, more than four in ten are aware of restrictions that prevent the transportation of wine across provincial boundaries. Nationally, 44% are aware, while 54% are unaware. Residents of Atlantic Canada and BC are most likely to be aware of these restrictions while residents of Québec are least likely.
Quebeckers and Canadian wine
The same study indicates that 51% of Quebeckers believe that the quality of Canadian wine has increased - a perception that’s consistent with the national level.
Yet the study also indicates that only 10% of Quebeckers claim to have increased their consumption of Canadian wine compared to 28% in Ontario and 40% in B.C.
This suggests that Canadian wine producers may have an opportunity to bridge the gap between perception and consumption.
Source: Data from Harris/Decima interviews with just over 1,000 Canadians through teleVox. The data was gathered between June 7 and June 11, 2012. A sample of the same size has a margin of error of 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.
For another post about Quebeckers and wine, click here.
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