What Québec Wants™

Celebrity spokespeople in Québec. Are they still as effective?

What better way to get noticed and tell your brand's story in Québec than to sign-up a celebrity? Quebeckers love them and celebrities have the potential to multiply the impact of your media investment. But times have changed and the thinking on how best to leverage the power of celebrity endorsers in Québec will need to evolve.

Québec superstar Martin Matte goes grocery shopping at Maxi

According to Guy St-Pierre, Vice-President of Loblaws-owned grocery retailer Maxi in Québec, the celebrity comic can help the retailer improve its reputation for freshness. With plans to spend $5MM over the next two years, the ad campaign builds on Maxi's strong association with low prices while stressing its renewed emphasis on freshness.

Maxi's competitor in Québec, Super C, also uses a well-known celebrity spokesperson. Guy Jodoin has been telling a similar story for almost two years with advertising claiming that Super C always has low prices, is always fully stocked and is always fresh - "toujours à bas prix, toujours en stock, toujours frais".

The two deep discount supermarkets were neck and neck in 2014 when we asked French-speaking Quebeckers where they grocery shopped most often.

It's not clear how Martin Matte will help Maxi differentiate itself from Super C. The bigger question however is whether or not Martin Matte can do for Maxi what he did for Honda fifteen years ago. Times have changed and we would argue that social media now requires a much more transparent approach to the partnership between brands and celebrities. As Lily Bradic wrote in Social Media Week last year, "the most effective celebrity endorsements are those who seem like they would be an authentic customer of the product or service that they promote, and enough so that fans and consumers genuinely believe this."

The celebrity better be a committed customer and brand loyalist. And it better be believable to those who are "friends" with that celebrity, at least on social media.

In closely-knit Québec, simply being believed to be an authentic customer of the product or service might no longer guarantee success. The celebrity better be a committed customer and brand loyalist. And it better be believable to those who are "friends" with that celebrity, at least on social media.

So far, Martin Matte has said little to his 700,000 followers about his love of shopping at Maxi other than thanking his fans for their kind words about the advertising.

 

Martin Matte and Honda in Québec

In 2001, after decades of making better cars, Honda faced growing competition in Canada from its Japanese, domestic and new Korean rivals. All had raised the bar on durability, reliability and overall quality, and were advertising aggressively to get a greater share of new-car sales. The problem for Civic was further complicated because the parent company decided to retire the ever-popular Civic hatchback in 2000. Civic sales and market share were quickly eroding. This led to mounting pressure from the Quebec dealer network to shake things up, and stop the migration of sales toward competing models.

Quebeckers love to laugh. So in 2001, the agency enlisted the talents of one of Quebec’s hottest young comedians, Martin Matte. He would deliver the story of Civic's exceptional fuel efficiency in a hilarious tongue-in-cheek way. You can read the full case study from the 2007 CASSIES.

 

 

Quebeckers in the grocery aisle

In an article recently published in Canadian Grocer's newsletter, Marc Inkol of Explorer Group, a Mississauga, Ont.-based shopper consulting company, revealed "the hidden ways people go through stores".

We thought we'd add a Québec perspective to some of Inkol's findings.

Grocery shopping is tiring. A shopping trip that covers all aisles of a large-format grocery store results in the shopper covering a half-mile. That’s a lot of walking. Given this, shoppers will typically not go back for missed items. All product sampling should be conducted in close proximity to a product’s permanent shelf location.

Shoppers typically don’t enjoy grocery shopping. It is a task-driven exercise, with shoppers following the same pattern on each trip. In many regards, shoppers function on autopilot. So getting them to change their shopping patterns is difficult.

Findings from our What Québec Wants survey of 3,000 Canadians in 2014 revealed that half of all Canadians (51.6%) say they "really enjoy grocery shopping". That number increases to 57.2% among residents of Québec. There are also significant differences among age groups between Québec and the RoC; 58% of Quebeckers between the ages of 58 and 67 say they really enjoy grocery shopping compared to 44% of Canadians of the same ages in the RoC. The differences are even more marked among younger grocery shoppers as 72% of Quebeckers 18-24 really enjoy grocery shopping compared to 50% of Canadians 18-24 in the RoC.

Sixty per cent of grocery shopping trips are quick trips lasting less than five minutes. Usually only one to three items is typically purchased at a time.

Quebeckers likely spend more time in the store. They are less likely to say they are willing to pay a little extra to save time shopping (19% in Québec compared to 28% in the RoC according to PMB 2015 survey data).

For many, grocery shopping is similar to driving to and from work; people remember leaving home and arriving at work, but not too much about what happened along the way. Retailers will notice this behaviour most when store sections or aisles are changed. Shoppers find such changes disruptive for an extended period of time because it forces a change in their shopping “routine.”

Product categories that are more difficult to navigate or shop should never be placed in the front or back six feet of an aisle. That’s because this area is a “transition zone” where a stopped shopper is likely to get bumped by another shopper entering the aisle.

Getting people to walk down aisles isn’t easy. The average aisle penetration per trip in a grocery store is only 20% to 30%.

People like “choice” as a concept but have trouble managing it as they shop. The average family shops for only 300 different items in a grocery store annually yet many supermarkets have upwards of 45,000 SKUs. Choice and variety do not cut through the clutter. That’s why many new product introductions don’t get noticed. The solution: set up “discovery zones” to highlight and promote all new items in one place.

Shoppers are more likely to shop for impulse and indulgent items in the last one-third of their shopping trip. They don’t typically purchase these items early in their trip when they’re more concerned about restocking regular items.

Findings from our What Québec Wants survey revealed that Quebeckers are significantly more likely to 'always use a list when grocery shopping' (67% of Quebeckers compared to 61% of Canadians in the RoC). This might explains why they are less likely to buy on impulse (37% of Quebeckers say they make impulse purchases when grocery shopping compared to 48% of Canadians in the RoC). It's also no surprise that Quebeckers are more likely to 'plan meals for the week'  (41% of Quebeckers compared to 34% of Canadians in the RoC).

Hollywood PQ

The powerful influence of Québec celebrities on consumers has long been recognized. But how does it stack up against Hollywood's glamorous stars?

When L'Oréal Paris launched a Canada-exclusive skincare line called Hydra-Total 5 earlier this year, one would have expected the global brand to have signed a Canadian celebrity to be its face.

“Traditionally, L’Oréal Paris product advertising is developed for an international audience and implemented regionally, but, because Hydra-Total 5 is not a worldwide launch, we had the unique opportunity to choose the formulas and develop an exclusively Canadian marketing campaign tailor-made to our consumers" said Amélie Fortier-Cyr, brand director for skin and cosmetics at L’Oréal Paris.

The campaign may have been designed for Canadian women but L'Oréal chose to feature Indian actress Freida Pinto in its advertising.

The actress, who L'Oréal described in a release as having a particularly strong fan base with Canadian women who often struggle with uneven skin tone, is not Canadian. But she made sure to point out that she has a Canadian connection in this launch video: the movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes in which she stared was shot in Vancouver: "This Canada connection, I can't get rid of it. It's always going to be in my life."

Contrast this with Canadian cosmetics brand Lise Watier's approach to celebrity endorsement. Distributed nationally, the brand is deeply entrenched in Québec where its eponymous founder is a celebrity herself and an inspiration to women. The brand's recent advertising features Québec actress Caroline Dhavernas.

Marcelle, another Québec-based cosmetics marketer, has featured Québec actress Karine Vanasse in its advertising since 2013.

She is joined by Québec actor Thomas Beaudoin in advertising for another Marcelle brand; its recently launched CW Beggs and Sons line for men. Coincidentally, Beaudoin also appeared in an English language television spot for Old Spice this year.

Could these brands have signed Hollywood faces instead?

It's possible. Montréal-based Reitmans injected some American star power in its brand when it signed Meghan Markle from the hit television series Suits, to promote the retailer in both languages.

The use of celebrities in advertising has been a common practice for more than 60 years. Marketers aim to associate their brands with people who are recognized and often admired, sometimes idolized, by their target audience, such as actors, athletes and entertainers. It is estimated that between 14 and 20% of all television commercials in the US feature celebrities. Celebrities deliver stopping power; the ability to draw attention and interest in a cluttered advertising environment. They help ensure higher levels of correct brand attribution; people who claim they saw an ad and correctly identify which brand it was for. Ads using well-liked celebrities are also usually more effective at favourably influencing the target's evaluations, feelings, attitudes towards the advertising and, consequently, the brand. Studies have also shown that celebrity endorsers' trustworthiness and attractiveness can have significant positive impact on purchase intentions.

Hollywood CA or Hollywood PQ?

Flip through the pages of most women's publications and you'll find the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Andie MacDowell and Jennifer Lopez staring at you to promote makeup, shampoo and perfume. French-speaking women living in Québec have been exposed to the French versions of the same ads appearing in magazines such as Châtelaine and Coup de pouce.

Québec is well-known for its deep home-grown talent pool. Québec’s star system is a force fuelled by television talk shows and celebrity gossip magazines. And while Quebeckers are interested in the lives of Hollywood celebrities, they're equally if not more interested in their own stars.

Given Québec's strong celebrity culture, we sought to understand how using well-known Québec celebrities instead of American celebrities in advertising would affect its effectiveness. Our firm commissioned an online survey of 400 French-speaking women between the ages of 25 and 54 living in Québec.

We took two magazine ads appearing in French women magazines and created another version featuring a Québec celebrity. One for Aveeno skincare products featuring American actress Jennifer Aniston and one for CITIZEN watches featuring American singer-songwriter Kelly Clarkson. Both were signed as global brand ambassadors in early 2013 and have been prominently featured in global, multi-language, and multimedia campaigns.

Julie Le Breton, an award-winning actress born in 1975 in Québec who has played major roles in films and on television, was selected for Aveeno. Julie Perreault who is also a Québec-born award-winning movie and television actress and photographer was selected for CITIZEN. All other elements in the original French version of the ads were maintained.

We sought to measure the relative effectiveness of the two versions based on three criteria:

• which version, if any, is better recalled by the target?
• among those who recall seeing the ad, which version is more correctly associated with the brand?
• which version do more respondents agree is credible, relevant, arresting and original.

Four groups of one hundred respondents were each shown a version of the ads inserted in editorial content from the December issue of Coup de pouce magazine. They were asked to flip through the pages without reading the articles and told they'd be asked questions on what they had just seen.

After exposure to the magazine pages, respondents were asked if they recalled seeing the advertising. Those who said yes were then asked to identify the brand the ad was for from a list of brand names. All four hundred respondents were then shown the two versions of each ad and asked to rate each ad in terms of being credible, relevant, arresting and original.

The ads featuring Québec celebrities were as effective as those featuring American celebrities in terms of being noticed. Eight out of ten respondents exposed to the Aveeno ad claim to have noticed it. 84% did when it featured Jennifer Aniston and 82% did when it featured Julie Le Breton.

Seven out of ten respondents exposed to the Citizen ad claim to have noticed it. 72% did when it featured  Kelly Clarkson and 74% did when it featured Julie Perreault.

Correct attribution to Aveeno was high whether respondents saw the version of the ad featuring Jennifer Aniston or the one featuring Julie Le Breton at 92% and 95% respectively.

Correct attribution to CITIZEN was much lower with only 52.4% of those who saw the version of the ad featuring Kelly Clarkson correctly recalling CITIZEN. Importantly, one in three respondents who claim to have noticed the ad said they could not recall what brand it was for from a list that included Bulova, Omega, and TAG Heuer. Among those who saw the version featuring Julie Perreault, correct attribution to CITIZEN increased to 70.1%.

The version of the ad for CITIZEN featuring Julie Perreault was rated significantly higher as being credible, relevant, arresting and original than the version featuring Kelly Clarkson.

The two US celebrities featured in the magazine ads tested in this study have been associated with the brands for two years. Their role as ambassadors has been heavily promoted via media advertising and other communication channels including social media, the brands’ websites, in-store advertising, consumer promotions, etc. One would assume that their association with their respective endorsed brand is therefore already quite strong.

Despite this uneven playing field, the Québec celebrities performed very well. In the case of the Aveeno ad, the Québec celebrity was equally effective at grabbing attention and ensuring the brand is correctly recalled. And it was judged to be as credible, relevant and original as the version featuring a US celebrity. In the case of the Citizen ad, the version featuring a Québec celebrity was more effective in terms of branded recall and being seen as credible, relevant, arresting and original.

Each brand and category is different and each potential ambassador should be thoroughly assessed prior to making media investments in Québec. More than anything, this study indicates that there are no silver bullets for an effective celebrity endorser campaign in Québec. Hollywood is always an option for global brands but so is Hollywood, PQ.

What motivates French Canadians to engage with online content

AOL’s Content Moments study looked at over 6,800 consumer interactions with online content from 4,000 online consumers. It uncovered eight universal motivations or Content Moments:

• Inspire: look for fresh ideas or try something new
• Be in the Know: stay updated or find relevant ideas
• Find: seek answers or advice
• Comfort: seek support or insight
• Connect: learn something new or be part of a community
• Feel Good: improve mood or feel relaxed
• Entertain: look for an escape or a mental break
• Update Socially: stay updated or take a mental break

French Canadians are more likely to be in a Find, Entertain and Feel Good Moment, while English Canadians are more likely to be in a Comfort, Update Socially and Connect Moment.

IGA, Rona and Lindt are Québec's most trusted brands according to the Gustavson Brand Trust survey

Costco and Canon stand out as the only two brands to make the top ten most trusted brands in Québec and Canada overall.

The Gustavson Brand Trust Index (GBTI) measures Canadian consumers' opinions about 276 corporate and product brands across 27 categories. The GBTI evaluated responses collected from 6384 Canadian consumers to assess their levels of brand trust and examine what causes them to recommend a brand to their friends and family.

Canada's top ten most trusted brands:

1. MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op)
2. President’s Choice
3. Costco
4. Home Hardware
5. Shoppers Drug Mart / Pharmaprix
6. Canon
7. DavidsTea
8. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
9. Band-Aid
10. Columbia Sportswear

Québec's top ten most trusted brands:

1. IGA
2. Rona
3. Lindt/Lindor
4. Sony
5. Canon
6. Purolator
7. Samsung
8. Costco
9. Agropur
10. FedEx

Gustavson Brand Trust Model

The brand trust survey instrument measures different dimensions of trust that influence whether consumers recommend a brand to their networks:

• Brand trust – consumer perceptions of whether the brand is trustworthy and acts with integrity
• Values-based trust – consumer perceptions on the brand’s social responsibility
• Functional trust – consumer perceptions on how well the brand’s product performs or functions
• Relationship trust – consumer perception on how the brand interacts with its customers
• Net recommendations – whether consumers recommend the brand to others

The state of Lowe's Canada - six months after its purchase of Rona

Interesting look at Lowe's plans in this exclusive interview with the head of Lowe's Canada, Sylvain Prud'homme, in a recent issue of Québec business publication Les affaires.

Objective is to double net profit of the combined Lowe's/Rona business by 2021.

A new operational structure around four divisions with separate P&Ls; big box format, neighbourhood stores, pros and contractors, affiliated stores.

A decentralized structure to cater to regional differences leveraging the retailer's extensive database.

Multi-million dollar investment in e-commerce. According to Prud'homme, online sales do no negatively impact in-store sales - quite the contrary. In the home renovation sector, the web is only the starting point to a bathroom renovation project where shoppers may choose a bath and a sink but eventually visit the store to confirm their choice, get tips from store personnel and complete the project with additional purchases.

Rona signs won't soon disappear from Québec's landscape but Lowe's signs will very likely appear in the province over the next few years. Let's see if the retailer decides to drop the apostrophe as Tim Hortons did when it entered the market decades ago.

The Québec character: joie de vivre, easygoing, non-committal, victim, villagers, creative and proud

New book by pollster Jean-Marc Léger, journalist Pierre Duhamel and Professor Jacques Natel: Cracking the Quebec Code: The 7 keys to understanding Quebecers. It identifies seven traits that define the Quebec character: joie de vivre, easygoing, non-committal, victim, villagers, creative and proud.

Our firm, Headspace Marketing, published similar findings in 2012 and 2014 from our What Québec Wants study.

Tipping at the coffee shop in Québec

Statistical Snapshots - facts and figures about Québec and the RoC

Ipsos' Index of Ignorance: Quebeckers are the most knowledgeable about their province

Ipsos recently conducted a study entitled Perils of Perception, to understand how well Canadians know Canada.

In some cases, Canadians have a solid understanding of their province and the country, such as how much of our provincial budgets we spend on healthcare or how many of us smoke cigarettes. In other cases, Canadians remain ignorant on some facts about Canada, such as how many Canadians smoke marijuana, work in the resource sector, how many of us volunteer, drink heavily, travel abroad or vote.

Canadians tend to over-estimate their vices (i.e. marijuana usage, cigarette smokers, heavy drinkers), and underestimate their virtues (i.e. voting, passport holders, volunteerism).

The Index of Ignorance

The index of ignorance tallies the total amount of error for each province across the 12 core questions of the survey. The index shows which Canadians have a better understanding of their province and the people who live there (most knowledgeable), and which provinces have a weaker understanding of their province and the people who live there (most ignorant).

Quebeckers are the most knowledgeable

The results of the survey show that residents of Quebec have the honoured position of being the most knowledgeable, averaging 10 points of error across the 12 questions. They performed particularly well on their understanding of education in Quebec, smokers and heavy drinking.

Following Quebec, from most knowledgeable to most ignorant are residents of PEI (average of 13 points of error), Ontario (14), Manitoba (14), British Columbia (15), Alberta (15), Newfoundland and Labrador (15), Nova Scotia (15) and New Brunswick (16). Residents of Saskatchewan have the dubious distinction of being the most ignorant of their own province, overall, averaging 18 points of error. They performed particularly poorly on their understanding of the size of the resource sector, volunteerism, and marijuana usage.

 

 

 

Going to the gym in Québec

Statistical Snapshots - facts and figures about Québec and the RoC