What Québec Wants™

The upside of politeness in Québec

By Eric Blais

As expected, the Québec government indicated last week its intention to challenge Québec's Court of Appeal's ruling that the province cannot force companies to add a French component to their name.

UPDATE: At a news conference today, Hélène David, the minister responsible for the French Language Charter, said the government will oblige Québec retailers to add French descriptives to their outdoor banners. However, David confirmed Québec has decided not to appeal the Québec Court of Appeal ruling. Instead, it it will change the law at the level of regulations.

Several multinationals took the province to court after they were told by the Office québécois de la langue française to change their names or risk running afoul of the rules governing the language of business in the province. A Québec Superior Court judge sided with the companies, which included Walmart, Costco, Best Buy, Gap, Old Navy and Guess.

I leave it to others to debate whether this should be forced upon retailers through legislation. It's a sensitive issue but one marketers would be wise to consider from all angles before dismissing it as just one more obstacle to overcome when doing business in Québec.

Québec Premier Philippe Couillard was a brain surgeon before entering politics. He could also have been a marketer. This time, the governments appears to be adopting a slightly different tone. The narrative from past government on this delicate issue has often been about protecting the French language and the Québec nation's distinct identity. It still is but Mr. Couillard gave a different explanation for his government's position - one that sounds more like a marketer's viewpoint than a politician's.

The Premier gave the example of Second Cup:

“Everyone knows that they sell coffee, but it’s like this company said, ‘I know where I am, I know what environment I am in and recognize the existence of the French in Quebec.

“We don’t want to erase trademarks – it’s not that Canadian Tire will become Pneu canadien, let’s be clear on that, but it’s a question of politeness.”

A question of politeness

Most companies operating across geographies comply with local regulations while looking for efficiencies. It's not always an easy balance to achieve and Québec, with its many unique requirements, can be particularly challenging. Those who are frustrated by Québec's demand that a French descriptor be added to English trademarks will view this latest move as one more costly irritant.

Others will view it differently. Many already have; through a marketer's lens instead of a lawyer's.

The Premier called it a politesse, a courtesy. The importance of being courteous is nothing new to retailers. Let's stay with coffee. According to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Specialty Coffee Retailer Satisfaction Report, staff, more than price or merchandise offerings, is key to driving higher satisfaction among specialty coffee customers. One of the key staff factor is courtesy. It's not a stretch to suggest that adapting all brand touch points in Québec to cater to French-speaking customers can signal a higher level of courtesy, including the sign above a store's entrance.

A competitive advantage

Quebeckers will view a retailer's brand more favourably if it makes an effort to adjust to their needs. For retailers, adding a French descriptor to an English name is a symbolic way to signal that they are catering to them. There is directional evidence of this in the findings from our firm's What Québec Wants™ study. When we asked 3,000 Canadians whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement "I prefer to buy products and services from companies that make an effort to cater to the specific preferences and needs of people in my locality", 63% of French-speaking Quebeckers agreed compared to 50% of Canadians living in the ROC.

There are no doubt cost and operational implications for doing so. When Crate & Barrel added the word “maison” next to its name, it did what many others have done without being forced to. To quote the Premier again, "it said, 'I know what environment I am in" and I will brand myself accordingly.

There is no law forcing banks and other retailers to have signage in Chinese in Markham, Ontario and in other communities across Canada. They do so voluntarily. Clearly, these organizations see it as an investment instead of a cost. Even Québec's Banque Nationale thinks it's a business practice that will help its brand in that community.

Retailers should carefully consider their position on this issue. Rather than look at this as being forced to invest to protect the French language, they should consider assessing how it might benefit their brand to be the more polite one.

Are political parties’ taglines bygone marketing relics that should be replaced by “flexible branding”?

The electoral campaign in Québec begins today. We’ll be treated to 33 days of scripted and unscripted brand messages from the main political parties who all claim to be super ready for this campaign, only 18 months after the last one.

We haven’t seen the promises and the ads yet but we’re already getting a glimpse of the political brands’ narratives through their slogans.

“Ensemble, on s’occupe des vraies affaires.”

Photo: Radio-Canada

The PLQ (Québec Liberal Party) inadvertently leaked its slogan yesterday. “Ensemble, on s’occupe des vraies affaires.” translates into “Together, we’re looking after what really matters.” The leader of the PLQ claims that, in Québécois speak, “les vraies affaires” are related to the economy, health and education. Not the divisive issues of identity and separation. It’s a step up from the 2012 campaign slogan “Pour le Québec” (For Québec).

“On se donne Legault.”

The CAQ (Coalition Avenir Québec) unveiled its campaign bus yesterday with its slogan. “On se donne Legault.” translates into “We’re giving ourselves the go”. A play on the name of the CAQ’s leader François Legault. This signals a focus on the leader instead of his team. Perhaps a wise decision given that his team seems to have shifting allegiances. One of his star candidate in the last election is now running for the PLQ. The CAQ’s slogan in 2012 was “C’est assez, faut que ça change”. (“That’s enough, things need to change!”)

No word yet on the slogans adopted by the PQ (Parti Québécois) and QS (Québec Solidaire) for this campaign.

The PQ’s slogan in 2012 was “À nous de choisir” (“We have a choice”). If the last year is any indication of the PQ’s brand narrative, expect a slogan related to identity and the bright future of an independent Québec.

QS (Québec Solidaire) had a one word slogan in 2012 with “Debout” (“Standing Up or Stand Up).

Will anyone care about the slogans? Do political taglines make a difference?

The slogans will be displayed on signs planted on snow covered lawns for a month. Some say that taglines are dead and that flexible branding is the new name of the game.

Denise Lee Yohn, who spoke at The Gathering conference I attended in Banff last week, wrote this in Adweek:

There’s certainly evidence that taglines have diminished in importance. Many of the most admired brands—Starbucks, Whole Foods, Lululemon, Nordstrom—don’t have them. Some brands whose taglines helped propel them to greatness no longer use them. Apple hasn’t used “Think different” for years, and the sign-off to its most recent TV ads, “Designed by Apple in California,” is less a tagline than a closing salutation.

Perhaps taglines’ most significant limitation is inherent in their nature. An effective tagline helps a brand stand out in the customer’s mind. As such, taglines work when a brand’s differentiation is derived from a product attribute (Where’s the beef?) or a unique benefit (Tastes great. Less filling). But most brands today are distinguished less by products and features and more by values and personalities. These differentiators can be difficult to convey succinctly.

The way we think about and use taglines needs to change. Carefully consider whether or not one is really needed. If your brand’s differentiation is well-established, perhaps you don’t. Think about the primary media and touch points in which it will be used. Do they lend themselves to the consistent use of a short phrase? If you’re not going to use it regularly, don’t bother having one.

Ultimately, taglines that issue invitations appeal more to people’s current connection-based sensibilities. Coca-Cola’s “Open happiness” and Expedia’s “Find yours” demonstrate the power of inclusion.

The parties will attempt to appeal to what Denise calls “people’s current connection-based sensibilities”. Just don’t expect that to be communicated by all parties via the “power of inclusion”.

Let the campaign begin.

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ADDENDUM

The PQ's slogan is "Plus prospère, plus fort, plus indépendant, plus accueillant". (More prosperous, stronger, more independent, more welcoming). It is less a slogan than the four themes the party will attempt to communicate during the campaign. Note how the softer "sovereignty" of past campaigns has been replaced by "independence". Not that we should read too much into this but the header of the PQ's website says a bit about the emphasis the PQ will put on "indépendance" in the campaign. "Independence comes after the news, the leader, the candidates, the party, the promises, and the the blog. This order could change after the election.

New campaign by the Parti Québécois aimed at 18-35 year olds promotes independence

The latest effort doesn't beat around the bush. It promotes “independence” not the softer “sovereignty” of previous campaigns.

Here’s the online video posted last Friday.

 

This is a rough translation of the voice-over:

You were never afraid of the challenges.

You know who you are and what you’re worth.

You walk straight.

You’re a builder of dreams, of solid ideas, of green ideas, of wealth and of the future.

You are proud of your forests, of your rich earth, of your rivers that “electrify” you.

And when we bring home the cup, you’re independent and passionate like your friends, your family and all those that come from far to build with you, here, in French, this rich and determined nation.

You’re proud to be Québécois.

Interesting months ahead in Québec politics...

Brand politics - ‘Ici’ is here to stay.

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?

Political hijacking

Earlier this week, job site Workopolis added its brand to political ads for candidates that were defeated in last week's municipal elections in Montréal. Since many will likely be looking for work, Workopolis and its agency Tank stickered the posters with the message "Welcome to Workopolis".

This sort of initiative isn't new to Montreal. Menswear retailer Henri Vézina did something similar during a provincial election.

For more on "highjacking" ads, see this previous post.

Bell's circus act in Québec

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.

- For more on this, read Steve Faguy's blog post.

Beer marketing and Québec’s big political party

Quebeckers are celebrating their Fête nationale on Sunday June 24th.

It’s a big party and it’s inevitably political. Which means it’s also about the French language.

A case in point is the controversy surrounding the celebrations in 2009.

Quebec bands Lake of Stew and Bloodshot Bill, whose members are English-speaking and bilingual Quebeckers, were added to the program of a local celebration of Quebec's National Day in Montreal called L'Autre St-Jean ("The Other St-Jean"). When it became known that they would be performing their songs in English, there were several complaints and later the musicians were barred from the celebrations. The Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste President, Mario Beaulieu, defended the decision to cancel these musicians' performances, by stating that the official language of Quebec is French. However, after public outrage from both the anglophone and Francophone communities, these two bands were returned to the program when it was clarified that the bands were allowed to sing songs in English. (Source)

Labatt Bleue has been leveraging Quebeckers’ pride for several years with its advertising and through its tagline ‘Fiers d’être Bleue’ (Proud to be Blue). The June 24th celebrations represent an ideal opportunity to tie the brand to Quebeckers’ pride and sense of belonging.

This out-of-home poster does it all.

‘Je me souviens’ (I remember) is the official motto of Québec while ‘de ma langue et de la tienne’ (of my tongue/language and of yours) makes a not-so-subtle reference to the French language and French kissing.

For more about Québec’s Fête nationale and how beer brands tap into nationalism, read these two previous posts on the subject.

The meaning of Québécois - June 24, 2009

More on beer and national pride - June 6, 2008

Red squares, Maalox and beer

ERIC BLAIS

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…

Québec’s Oprah: Guy A. Lepage’s outsized influence

ERIC BLAIS

It's been called the Oprah effect.

According to this 2009 article published in Inc. magazine, “Even a casual mention of a product, exposed to her (Oprah’s) 44 million weekly viewers, is a boon for the company that makes or sells that product. Several companies from the 2009 Inc. 500|5000 have been so lucky as to score a spot on The Oprah Winfrey Show over the past three years, perhaps accounting for a great deal of their growth during that period.”

When Oprah endorses products and people, including a Presidential candidate, they’re adopted or elected. Read this Time article Under the Influence of Oprah for more.

Québec also has a talk show host, actor, comedian, producer who has Oprah-like influence.

Guy A. Lepage is the host of the immensely popular weekly talk show Tout le monde en parle on Radio Canada. The show typically draws over a million viewers each week. Although its audience has dropped under the million mark earlier this year.

Jack Layton was a guest on Tout le monde en parle during the last federal election. Guy A. Lepage called him a ‘bon Jack’ - a Québécois expression for a ‘good guy’. Quebeckers went on to vote for an orange wave of MPs. Many of them had not even bothered campaigning. The NDP’s success in the province can’t be attributed solely to Guy A. Lepage’s ‘bon Jack’ endorsement but I’d argue it was the tipping point. For more on this, read this previous blog post.

The high priest of Sunday night television also makes his views known outside his Tout le monde en parle soap box. He tweets regularly to his 115,000 followers.

He recently tweeted his outrage at juice maker Lassonde for its aggressive legal stance on a trademark issue. Over the course of a weekend, the issue went from a newspaper article in La Presse to an online explosion fueled in a large part by Guy A. Lepage’s announcement that he’d boycott Lassonde, a Québec Inc. success story. For more on this, read this previous blog post.

Last year, Guy A. Lepage was musing about boycotting Banque Nationale because its VP of IT was a unilingual anglophone. The headline in Le Devoir read: “Guy A. Lepage considers boycotting Banque National. ‘I can’t believe that we cannot find bilingual bankers!’

It would be an understatement to say that things are rather ‘tensed’ in Québec these days. And they may well get ‘tenser’ as the Charest government takes more drastic steps to end the student protests.

Québec’s Oprah is of course adding his voice to the debate.

In an article in yesterday’s Le Journal de Montréal about the preparations for the Fête nationale on June 24th, Guy A. Lepage says ‘there is collective indignation’ right now in Québec. The article claims that in the midst of a social crisis, the Fête nationale celebrations at the Maisonneuve park will be more political than ever and that artists aren’t afraid of words.

These are strong words from a powerful media personality.

Québec’s students may be losing the war (for public opinion) but they’re winning the internet battle.

ERIC BLAIS

The student protest in Québec over tuition costs is now in its 14th week.

Line Beauchamp, the Education Minister and deputy premier resigned yesterday. Jean Charest is vowing to end the unrest that’s paralyzed a city and made headlines here and abroad.

This isn't a political blog so we won't get involved in the debate. However, the whole saga offers an interesting study of how the media covered this story and how each side is using the media, including social media, to mobilize its supporters and shape public opinion.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the spokesperson for the CLASSE, the most radical of the student associations involved in this protest, is on the front cover of Québec leading newsmagazine L’actualité. He has become a media darling.

The same issue of l’Actualité includes a very insightful article by Jean-François Lisée on how the students have been outsmarting the government by leveraging the web, especially social media. Adman Jean-Jacques Stréliski calls it the ‘quiet e-revolution’.

This revolution happens at Internet speed and the government isn’t as fast as the students. The Minister resigned at 15:45 yesterday. Almost 24 hours later, the website set up by the government to tell its story www.droitsdescolarite.com  still shows videos of the Minister explaining the government’s position and stating that ‘the Government of Québec has signed an agreement in principle with the four student associations’.

By the way, the government’s website has been ‘highjacked’ by students who created a similar looking site.

In ‘traditional media’, the government ran newspaper ads in Québec’s major newspapers on April 29th outlining its ‘global solution’. It had the requisite Government of Québec visual identity in the bottom right corner. Whoever designed these ads chose to add a squiggle in the bottom left corner of the ad. There must be a reason. If anyone knows what it’s meant to communicate, we’d like to know.