What Québec Wants™

Upward mobility: Quebeckers are catching-up with mobile devices

Roughly 52% of Québec adults now own a smart phone or a tablet, a significant increase from last year, when only 36% did.

These are the findings from the most recent study published by the Cefrio. For the first time in Québec, the number of adults who own a smart phone (44.4%) is greater than those who own a basic cell phone (39.8%). This remains lower than in the U.S. where ownership of smart phones stands at 56% and 91% of adults own at least a mobile phone (smart or not). (U.S. data from Smith, Aaron, Smartphone Ownership, 2013, Pew Internet & American Life Project)

The number of tablet users in Québec has doubled in the past year - from 12.7% in 2012 to 25.5% in 2013.

Click here to access the study report in French.

Sang-Froid

What do you get when you cross old Québécois myths and a PC game?

You get Sang-Froid, Tales of Werewolves. A video game PC Magazine praised for its “wonderfully vibrant art direction”. The game is the brainchild of Yan Pépin, the founder of Artifice Studio. It follows the story of two brothers, Jacques and Joe, defending a cabin and their fever-ridden sister Josephine from wolves, werewolves and, behind it all, the Devil himself.

The Toronto Star’s Adam Kovac wrote this about the game: “The twist to French Canada’s lore of loups-garous, or werewolves, is that they are based on a mixture of Catholic and aboriginal myth that emerged during a time of economic uncertainty in the 19th century. The terrifying stories told to children about half-man, half-wolf beasts that lurked in the dark were both a metaphor and a caution to any precocious youth who might have been thinking of leaving the family farm to seek work in a logging camp. Losing one’s soul (to say nothing of a potential mauling) was a very real fear in the Catholic-dominated culture of 19th-century Quebec.”

There are other examples of how popular French-Canadian tales have been used by marketers. The Chasse-galerie, also known as "The Bewitched Canoe" or "The Flying Canoe" is a tale of voyageurs who make a deal with the devil. That’s the image on the label of one of Québec’s most popular microbrew, La Maudite.

This taps into what we call the Chez Nous Connector; Quebeckers’ concern for tradition and pride in all that’s local. Our What Québec Wants™ study asked 3,030 Canadians how important or unimportant this statement is to them personally: Preventing regional customs or traditions from disappearing. 33.2% of Canadians in the ROC said it was important compared to 42.5% of French Quebeckers.

Quebeckers might not want the werewolves to return to their neighbourhood but they’ll enthusiastically shoot them in a digital world.

For more about our What Québec Wants™ study, click here.

Near-field marketing and dépanneurs

Interesting article by Susan Krashinsky in today’s Globe’s ROB about iSign Media Solutions’ partnership with Mac’s and Couche-Tard. I’ll make sure to walk by a Couche-Tard next month to see how ads get pushed to my iPhone.

There’s much buzz about the potential of mobile marketing but we’ll have to wait a bit for it to be fully realized - particularly in Québec where only one 4 in 10 have a smartphone.

[Source: Ipsos Reid survey conducted on behalf of PayPal between January 27 and February 1, 2012.]

Quebeckers, smart phones and shopping

 

With the Christmas shopping season in full swing, there is no shortage of pronouncements about how mobile technology has changed the way we shop forever.

Comparison-shopping is certainly a lot easier with smart phones that scan barcodes and connect to the web to provide local prices as well as online ones. Check out Google Shopper.

We might be in for radically different shopping trips in the future but, as they say in Québec, “c’est pas demain la veille” (the eve isn’t tomorrow). Only 9% of Quebeckers own a smart phone (Blackberry, iPhone, Android, etc.) according to a recent survey by Ipsos Reid on behalf of CIBC. Québec appears to be the province with the lowest ownership of such devices; Atlantic 17%, Ontario 26%, the Prairies 18%, Alberta 28% and BC 16%.

 

Marketing to reduced expectations

I keep seeing this billboard for Chatr with the claim that it has "fewer dropped calls than new wireless carriers". I guess it's Rogers' way to claim its network's superiority over Wind and Public. Somehow it must sound odd to those who aren't following the intricacies of the wireless sector's ultra competitiveness.

It's also an odd formulation for a superiority claim: we're the least defective of your options.

I get that no network is perfect but somehow the old "Can you hear me now" campaign for Verizon in the U.S. made the glass look half full instead of the half empty focus on dropped calls.

Here's what marketing to reduced expectations would sound like in other sectors:

The airline with the fewest delayed flights.

The retailer with the fewest out-of-stock items.

The car company with the least recalls.

The Mexican resort with the lowest crime rate.

This billboard posted a few feet away from the Chatr billboard might be an over-promise but it sure sounds more positive than one that markets to reduced expectations.

Truth and dare

Readers of Le Journal de Montréal today will come across two ads that claim to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.

The first is from Vidéotron, the cable broadcasting, internet provider, cable telephony and wireless telephone company that’s part of Quebecor, owner of le Journal de Montréal. The headline is about having the “power to know the whole truth”. It borrows from Vidéotron’s slogan about the “Infinite Power” of cable initially, and now, of pretty much anything in telecommunication. The ad goes on to list 13 service features the competition claims to offer, followed by a reality check and then what Vidéotron offers.

Flip a few pages and you'll come across another ad. This time from Bell, the “competitor”.  The headline reads “The power to know the truth.” There’s no attempt at debunking the competition’s claims but there’s an offer for a free HD PVR.

 

So if you can’t handle the truth from Vidéotron, there’s something free from Bell.

Don’t expect Vidéotron to play Bell’s game. Here’s what Robert Dépatie, president and CEO of Vidéotron, had to say on the subject in a Globe & Mail article last week:

“Bell is extremely aggressive, to a point that I don’t understand why they’re attacking on pricing so much. We have built our brand on customer service, values and product. We have no intention to match their pricing. If they want to do that war, they’re going to do it alone.”

Two different approaches. And perhaps further proof that there’s no monopoly on the truth.

Brain training is not that smart

Nature.com is publishing the findings from a study of computerized mental workouts. It seems they don’t do much to boost mental skills.

You get better at the mental task you trained for but no better at other tasks.  

Here’s an excerpt. For the full report in PDF, click here.

‘Brain training’, or the goal of improved cognitive function through the regular use of computerized tests, is a multimillionpound industry, yet in our view scientific evidence to support its efficacy is lacking. Modest effects have been reported in some studies of older individuals and preschool children, and video-game players outperform non-players on some tests of visual attention. However, the widely held belief that commercially available computerized brain-training programs improve general cognitive function in the wider population in our opinion lacks empirical support. The central question is not whether performance on cognitive tests can be improved by training, but rather, whether those benefits transfer to other untrained tasks or lead to any general improvement in the level of cognitive functioning. Here we report the results of a six-week online study in which 11,430 participants trained several times each week on cognitive tasks designed to improve reasoning, memory, planning, visuospatial skills and attention. Although improvements were observed in every one of the cognitive tasks that were trained, no evidence was found for transfer effects to untrained tasks, even when those tasks were cognitively closely related.

Quebeckers and intelligence

Yankelovich asked Canadians whether or not they agree with the statement “I think my I.Q. is higher than average”, about half of Canadians thought so. There was no significant difference between agreement levels in Quebec and in the ROC.

It also asked about agreement with the statement “I probably know more things than other people”. 35% of Canadians in the ROC agreed. That number climbed to 45% among Quebeckers.

They must have known that.

The rewards and perils of early adoption

On the day the iPad was released for sale, one of my Facebook friends posted a photo of himself holding the brand new device.

He’s obviously an early adopter. But why? Why be one of the few who can claim to have gotten it first?  

Rob Walker in his ‘Consumed’ column in the New York Times last weekend may have provided part of the answer. Here are a few excerpts. The full text can be accessed here.

Earlier this year Apple previewed its iPad tablet computer and enjoyed a blizzard of media attention. As is often the case, the most memorable response came not from a tech blog or a mainstream media outlet but from the satirical publication The Onion. In The Onion’s telling, the iPad would include this feature: “To ensure that its users receive the constant public attention they crave, the iPad will emit the phrase, ‘Hey, does that guy have an iPad?’ every eight minutes.”

To stick with the popular meaning then: let’s just call the estimated 200,000 people who preordered iPads for between $500 and $700 early adopters. What’s so great about being one of them? What these people are likely to get for their consumption daring is a chance to experience every single glitch or flaw that will be tweaked and patched in the months ahead. Also the guarantee that they’re paying full price (just like the early adopters who paid $600 for an iPhone in June 2007; the price was cut to $400 two months later, and angry adopters were mollified by a $100 store credit). And how surprised will they be if a year from now Apple introduces a new, cheaper and decisively better iPad? Sure, they get first-on-the-block bragging rights — assuming that it turns out iPad adoption proves worth bragging about. Somebody was first to buy the Newton, the Edsel and any number of other products that we don’t even remember the names of anymore, because later adopters never materialized.

I suppose it’s possible that the device will so improve the owner’s quality of life, productivity and social standing that he or she will enjoy a kind of competitive advantage over nonowners for a few months or a year. But there’s an inverse relationship between how long this advantage lasts and how good the thing is. If the iPad is so wonderful, I’ll just buy one, too; I’m pretty sure Apple will happily meet all demand. And if it stinks, then there was never any advantage to buying it early, now, was there?

Quebeckers and early adoption

When it comes to new technology adoption, Quebeckers in general tend to be laggards.

Agreement with various technology statements according to PMB 2009:

“I tend to be the first to own new electronic products”

• English Canada 19.7% (102 index)
• French Canada 17.3% (90 index)

“More and more, I feel that I’m being left behind by technology”

• English Canada 16.7% (90 index)
• French Canada 26.1% (140 index)

“I am excited by the new development in technologies”

• English Canada 20.5% (109 index)
• French Canada 12.3% (65 index)

“I like to buy products that offer the latest in new technology”

• English Canada 11.2% (105 index)
• French Canada 8.8% (82 index)

 

Self-expression as a new form of entertainment

I had the opportunity to listen to a talk by Arianna Huffington yesterday. The co-founder of the Huffington Post was in Toronto to give a speech to the communications industry as part of Advertising Week.  

She had much to say in her speech and in interviews about ‘The Brave New World of the New Media” including about what she calls the ‘linked economy’. Here’s an excerpt from an item in the Toronto Star - ironically the lead sponsor of her talk:

The site has raised $30 million (U.S.) in two rounds of financing, the most recent by venture capital firm that valued the site at $100 million.

All this while many traditional U.S. newspapers are struggling with the challenge of new media made worse by an economic downturn that saw advertising dollars shrink.

At least some of that could also be due to sites like The Huffington Post, which freely borrows content from mainstream media sites to enhance their coverage. Huffington calls it the "linked economy. We link to others, they link to us and that's how we see the future."

Self-expression as a new form of entertainment

Huffington asserted that everything from user generated content, to citizen journalism, to blogging, and social networking has become a new form of entertainment.

I guess that's really why I’ve been blogging for the past two years. I just want to have fun.

Disconnect to recharge

She repeatedly encouraged her audience to turn wireless devices off at the end of the day to recharge and get some sleep in order to make the most of what technology enables us to achieve.

I’m going for a nap.

Y2K 10YAG

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since the rollover to the new century when many expected the greatest computer crash in history. Happy New Year.