Influence also provides a summary of the most talked about companies in Québec’s media in 2013. Hydro-Québec, Quebecor, Bombardier, Desjardins and the SAQ (Québec's liquor board) top the list.
Influence’s full report in French can be accessed via this link.
With the year coming to an end, this is the time for the annual “best of” and “worse of” lists. It always makes for entertaining reading and inevitably leads the reader to ask “what were they thinking?”. Adweek’s 20 Biggest Brand Fails of 2012 is one of those lists and we eagerly await the 2013 edition.
One blunder that generated a significant amount of media coverage and social media chatter is Radio-Canada’s announcement last June that it would rebrand itself ‘Ici’ and, in the process, drop Canada from its brand name.
The rebranding of Radio-Canada
As a marketer and a branding practitioner, unifying the Radio-Canada brand across all its platforms makes sense to me. I said so to the Globe and Mail’s marketing reporter the day the announcement was made. What I did not know at the time was how this would be reported. Here’s how I was quoted in the piece.
The move is garnering positive responses in the marketing world. Eric Blais, president of Headspace Marketing Inc., said the change does not constitute a full-scale rebranding since CBC’s instantly recognizable logo – designed by Burton Kramer in 1974 – remains part of the brand. “Radio-Canada is so much more than radio. It’s totally appropriate for this organization to want to revisit their brand to better reflect their offering,” he said.
Rather than be treated as a branding and marketing story, my comments were included in a front page story by Daniel Leblanc, the Globe and Mail’s Parliamentary reporter. Whatever debate we could have had about the merits of this branding strategy had instead become a story about how Radio Canada was dropping Canada from the federally funded broadcaster’s name and how it was wasting $400K on what many thought they could have designed better themselves.
The Heritage Minister at the time, James Moore, declared that “It’s concerning for a lot of Canadians. CBC has to make it clear to Canadians that the brand and the presence of Canada, in Canada’s public broadcaster, should not be diminished in any part of this country.”
Canadians across the country voiced their concerns too. Here’s a sample from an online comment:
“This is another example of how Quebec diminishes the Canadian brand in Quebec and yet we in the other provinces continue to ship over millions of dollars we work hard for to subsidize the tribal demands of people with a chip on their shoulder. Get rid of this spoilt child now!”
Many in Québec also thought the rebranding was a silly idea - including SRC’s own labour union. What is most surprising about this story is how Radio-Canada’s leadership did not appear to have anticipated the potential for this sort of public reaction.
Creating a unifying brand identity for all of SRC’s properties makes sense. Linking it to what has effectively been the brand’s tagline for as long as I can remember also makes sense. (‘Ici Radio-Canada’ is as much part of the brand’s equity as James Earl Jones’ signature ‘This is CNN’ is to the cable news network’s brand.) And shining a big light on Burton Kramer's classic logo makes sense. But dropping Canada from the brand name doesn't and, most importantly, wasn’t even required. The unifying use of “Ici” could have been achieved without raising hell.
A few days later, Radio-Canada publicly addressed the issue in a release with an apology from CBC/Radio-Canada President and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix.
“We apologize for the confusion that was created in people’s minds when we introduced the term ICI as a common denominator for all of our platforms. Our intention was never to distance ourselves from Radio-Canada and everything it represents. However, Radio-Canada has heard the message loud and clear that the public has been sending us over the past few days. We recognize people’s powerful connection to everything that Radio-Canada stands for.”
The release confirmed that the new ‘Ici’ brand identity would still be implemented but Canada would stay. “Télévision de Radio-Canada will be designated as ICI Radio-Canada Télé, the Première Chaîne radio network as ICI Radio-Canada Première, and the Radio-Canada website as ICI Radio-Canada.ca.”
If you’re confused, don’t be. This brand architecture diagram shows how the visual identity will continue to evolve over the coming months. This seems to be a decent compromise between the branding strategy originally announced and the need to keep Canada in the brand. However, as often happens with the implementation of branding strategies, it isn’t totally consistent with the promise to keep Canada in the brand. For example, ICI Alberta doesn’t include Canada. Could this be another example of how Alberta systematically diminishes the Canadian brand in Alberta?
She’s everywhere - including a show on the Food Network and a book titled “SKINNY CHICKS EAT REAL FOOD”.
She’s quintessential Hollywood.
Her profile states that she is a classically trained French chef, Certified Nutritionist, Media Spokesperson, TV Persona and Co-Host on Food Network’s show Fat Chef. She has been Hollywood’s go-to nutrition/culinary expert for celebrities such as Jeremy Piven, Audrina Patridge, Giuliana Rancic, Johnny Galecki, Paula Abdul, Rich Sommer, Jason Statham, Samantha Harris, Chelsea Handler, Henry Winkler, Kym Johnson, Steven Segal and Marcus Allen. Christine has counseled more than a thousand clients one-on-one in her private nutrition and fitness coaching practice located in New York City and Los Angeles, who have collectively lost more than 10,000 pounds.
Christine has shared her nutrition and culinary advice on the Today Show, Dancing with the Stars, Rachael Ray, The Doctors, Good Morning America, Oprah’s All Stars and dozens of others. Her insights can be found in magazines such as Vogue, W, New Beauty, Women’s Health, US Weekly, Health, Fitness, InStyle and many others.
She also recently endorsed The Skinny Vine launched in the US in January by Treasury Wine Estates, the Australian company behind Penfolds, Lindeman’s and Rosemount Estate. Yes. It’s wine for the calorie conscious.
According to an article by Peppi Crosariol in the Globe and Mail:
The Skinny Vine has shipments already exceeding 100,000 cases, the three wines – Slim Chardonnay, Thin Zin and Mini Moscato – weigh in at just 7.3– to 8.5-per-cent alcohol and 86 to 95 calories per five-ounce glass. That compares with an average of between 120 and 141 calories for comparable varietals made in California.
As expected, Christine’s visibility is enhanced by her extensive use of social networks. The day Peppi wrote about her endorsement of The Skinny Vine in the Globe, Christine tweeted “Got a great #shoutout today in The Globe! Many Thx @Beppi_Crosariol.
And on it goes...
Meet Dr. Isabelle Huot - Québec's version of Christine Avanti.
They share looks, a knack for getting exposure and a very smart business sense.
Isabelle Huot holds a PhD in Nutrition. One would think she also holds one in marketing with a specialty in personal branding.
I met her several years ago when she was a nutrition advisor for one of our clients and later became a spokesperson. Back then, she already had a binder full of press clippings to impress me during contract negotiations. There’s clearly no need for that binder anymore.
She is a successful entrepreneur who knows the importance of carefully cultivating her brand and generating visibility. The woman is everywhere in Québec.
She's on television. She is a regular contributor to TVA’s Salut Bonjour morning show. Québec’s version of The Today Show.
Salut Bonjour - TVA's morning show
She's in book stores. She has published six books with Les Éditions de l’homme (a division of Québecor Média)
One of six books published by Dr. Isabelle Huot
She's in advertising. She is the spokesperson for Québec commercial bakery St-Méthode. She appears in television advertising and her conseilsnutrition.tv advice is available via the bakery’s website.
She's on the web - in every way. Her ConseilsNutrition.tv website is classic content integration connecting the dots between the books, recipes, and online videos. It links to her website which goes a step further with a link to Kilo Solution, her nutrition and weight loss clinics.
Nutritional advice via web videos and other content
She's on cruise ships. Meet the doctor aboard a Royal Caribberan cruise ship. She’ll deliver conference themed “Nutrition at the heart of health”.
An invitation to hear her talk about nutrition while cruising the Caribbean
She’s on TVA’s Shopping Channel. Where she sells her line of food as part of her weight loss program.
She's on the radio. She has a regular segment on Rythme 105.7 FM in Montreal.
A radio commentator
She's in newspapers. She has a weekly column in Le Journal de Montréal (another Québecor Media property) where she delivers advice and she pitches her line of food. Why not treat promotion as news, if you can?
A weekly column
"News' reports
Or she reviews and recommends food products. Why not use that influence, if you can?
Reviewing and recommending products
She's in magazines. She is regularly featured on magazine covers.
Celebrity treatment on magazine covers
She’s on Twitter and Facebook. And she’s active.
Twitter & Facebook to engage and extend her reach
What’s missing?
Wine. I bet it won’t take long for the über nutritionist to start pitching it.
Agreement with the statement "I am confused about how to eat a healthy diet": 35% of French Quebeckers compared to 25% of Canadians in the rest of the country.
We like to say that successful brand building in Québec has a lot to do with knowing when to adopt, adapt or create for the market.
Here’s a creative adaptation we’ve done of a great campaign for Emergen-C developed by Juniper Park. A simple, arresting message enhanced by a unique-to-Montréal outdoor poster/mural property.
These prestigious sites, seen daily by thousands of people driving the downtown core of Montréal, will set you apart from traditional OOH advertising.
These strategically located sites, offering large format artistic murals paired with a regular poster, will allow you to reach your target group. The poster element of this combination allows for branding and is enhanced by an artistic mural which allows for creativity and unique presence like no other in the city!
The artistic mural portion must be creative execution only and may not contain any logo, branding or character linked to a brand. These elements may only be seen on the regular posters.
The very public battle over Bell's plan to acquire Astral has generated much noise in the past weeks.
The most visible opponents are Québecor, Cogeco and Eastlink. Others, such as Rogers and Telus, have also made their views public and presented their case to the CRTC. According to La Presse, more than 832 organizations have made submissions to the CRTC on the proposed transaction which will hold public hearings starting September 10th.
Nowhere is the battle more visible than in Québec. The Québecor-owned Journal de Montréal has been running ads almost every day. The story is similar to the one being told in English Canada: "If approved, the giant new company would end up with a staggering 79 TV channels including HBO Canada, TSN, CTV and The Movie Network. This means you may face pressure to pay for Bell Canada services you don't want."
In Québec, however, the argument goes further and adopts a distinctly more nationalist tone. This deal is described by its opponents has posing a threat to Québec's cultural industry. The Société St-Jean Baptiste, the staunch defender of French language and culture, is quoted in this mocked movie poster as being "very bad news for Québec".
Aside from the issue of media concentration, opponents in Québec argue that it goes against Québec’s cultural interests. Some have gone has far as saying that George Cope, Bell’s CEO, does not speak French even when Bell’s annual meeting is held in Montreal. It’s a politically charged issue and the three major parties are against the deal. The PQ said it would do everything possible to block it. The leader of the CAQ, François Legault, stated that this transaction was bad for Québec and Jean Charest, while not publicly opposing the deal, indicated that his party wanted guarantees on the jobs, head office and operations of the new entity.
Bell’s bold response in Québec
Bell has been responding with a barrage of ads stressing its commitment to Québec’s economy and culture; head office in Québec since 1880, $20MM spent in 2011 alone in cultural sponsorships and partnerships, 46 of its senior execs live and work in Québec, etc.
Bell also claims it has committed to spending $20MM to support mental health initiatives.
All this is meant to shape public opinion in Québec.
The ‘coup de grâce’ has to be this week’s announcement of a Bell and Cirque du Soleil partnership to form a new entity that will create and distribute multimedia content for television, cinema and digital platforms.
According to Bell, the partnership is unrelated to the planned acquisition of Astral but is consistent with its spirit. Daniel Lamarre, head of Le Cirque du Soleil was quoted in La Presse saying that ‘just like the merger of Astral and Bell, this commitment to invest in content and job creation in Québec will be beneficial not only for consumers but for Québec’s creative and media sectors in general”. (The translation is mine.)
Quebeckers’ beloved Cirque du Soleil is not only taking sides but getting in bed with Bell. If that doesn’t do it for Bell. I don’t know what will.
Here’s an interesting article by Jonathan Montpetit published in Canadian Business about the demand for protest-related items in Québec these days.
The symbol of this protest - the red square - is meant to say that you’re ‘squarely in the red’ or in debt. It is worn as a small square-shaped piece of red cloth. Retailers are apparently running out of red cloth.
Maalox, the heartburn remedy, is a big seller these days. As Montpetit writes “the pinkish substance is used as an eye rub by activists looking for quick relief from the burning effects of pepper spray.”
La Matraque, a microbrewery brand launched to support the student movement, sold 500 cases in one week. It helped that the name means a policeman’s billy club and the brand was launched the day Bill 78 became law…
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