What Québec Wants™

"For days like today" when you check things online and buy from bricks and mortar.

Canadian Tire’s website no longer sells merchandise for home delivery.

Wise decision by Canadian Tire to pull out of online selling.

Richard Talbot, president of Talbot Consultants International and quoted in a National Post article , put the challenge of sustaining an online retail business in Canada this way:

“It is expensive to sustain an online retail business in Canada given the country's population relative to its geographic size.” And then he added: "Everybody, I think, knows that with the exception of some categories like CDs and books, most people use the Internet to check prices and product specs, and most of the purchase is done in the stores. I think this will be the first of several as more and more retailers realize that consumers are doing this."

I guess not everyone knew. But Wal-Mart knew.

Wal-Mart Canada developed Web sites to showcase products but does not sell online.

Quebec consumer behaviour on the internet

One of the key findings from the Canadian Internet Project’s 2007 report supports Mr. Talbot’s views: 

Three of every four Internet users (77%) who conduct online shopping product research make their ultimate purchase in-person from a local retailer (i.e. not online).

The study does not provide this data for Quebec compared to the ROC. But given Quebeckers’ lower usage of and familiarity with the Internet overall, we can safely assume that the percentage of Quebeckers who use the Internet to research and then buy from stores is at least as high.

Amanda commented on Rebecca's photos. So what?

What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend? – Ted McConnell, Procter & Gamble

The kids were home for the holidays but they never really left their friends – thanks to Facebook. As I watched them spend hours sending messages, telling others what they’re “doing now”, writing on walls, and commenting on newly posted photos, I kept wondering whether marketers were actually reaching them through their ever-expanding social networks or if they were simply there adding to this growing noise and clutter.

Of course, there’s Sean who became a fan of Canadian Club. And many others like him who will gladly become brand champions online. I don’t question the value of word-of-mouth but I’m skeptical about the ROI and the effectiveness. Which is why I found recent statements by Procter & Gamble’s general manager of interactive marketing and innovation so refreshing at a time when everyone’s gone gaga about the marketing power of social networks. Speaking at a recent Digital Conference, Ted McConnell bluntly declared: “I really don’t want to buy any more banner ads on Facebook.”

He went on to say:“Social networks may never find the ad dollars they’re hunting for because they don’t really have a right to them. What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend? I don’t think everything every consumer says to someone else and writes down is somehow monetizable by the media industry.”

Is the pendulum swinging back?

For data on social networks and Quebeckers, see this previous post.

 

 

Social Networks - When socializing gets you fired.

The use of social networks by corporations as part of their marketing strategies is now fairly common in many sectors. But what can act as a great multiplier of the brand message can cut both ways. As Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have apparently found out the hard way.

An excerpt from a piece in the November 8^th issue of The Economist:

As well as embracing blogs, firms have been exploiting social networks such as Facebook and MySpace to get their messages to a broader audience. But although they have the potential to be useful marketing tools, such networks can also be a source of damaging publicity, as British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic have discovered to their cost.

On October 31st Virgin fired 13 of its cabin crew who had posted derogatory comments about its safety standards and some of its passengers on a Facebook forum. Among other things, crew members joked that some Virgin planes were infested with cockroaches and described customers as “chavs”, a disparaging British term for people with flashy bad taste. On November 3rd BA began investigating the behaviour of several employees who had described some passengers as “smelly” and “annoying” in Facebook postings.

Read the full article article.

Social networks more about “socializing” among English Canadians than among French Canadians.

French-speaking Canadians who visit social networks mention obtaining information (41%) and fun (24%) as motives more often than English-speaking Canadians (22% and 14% respectively). Conversely, socializing is mentioned as a reason for visiting social networking sites by only 19% of French-speaking Canadians, compared to 43% of English-Canadians.

(Source: The Canadian Internet Project, Year Two Report, 2007)

Playing computer games in the nude.

According to a survey by Ipsos Reid, one in five (17%) Canadian men with Internet access have played a computer game in the nude.

I’m not a gamer but I guess this would be the digital evolution of strip poker.

Always curious, I Googled “video games in the nude” and came across this shot from the game Tomb Raider which follows the adventures of Lara Croft after a powerful syndicate hires her.

Now I understand.

The same survey provides further evidence that Quebec is lagging the rest of the country when it comes to computer games.

On average, 53% of Canadians have bought a computer game. Residents of Quebec are the least likely to have done so at 40%.

25% of Canadians say they have played a game on Facebook, like Scrabulous. Only 12% of Quebeckers claim to have done so. For more on this, see this previous post

Another revealing stat:

Asked what their earliest memory of using a computer is, “playing Solitaire, Free Cell, Minesweeper or Mah Jong" tops the list among 29% of Canadians and 32% of Quebeckers. But Quebec stands out from other provinces with 25% of Quebeckers saying they first used a computer for email, compared to only 15% of Canadians in the ROC.

One in four Quebeckers connect through Facebook, MySpace, etc.

A follow-up to my previous post about online social networking in Quebec.

Ipsos-Reid recently asked Canadians:

On a typical weekday, how often do you use social networks, such as Facebook or MySpace) for social, non-business purposes?

On average, 45% of Canadians say at least once a week. Only 26% of Quebeckers use social networks at least once a week.

(Source: Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Cadbury from July 7th to July 11th, 2008)

Yahoo! in Québec

Yahoo! Quebec is launching a Quebec-only campaign to promote its services in the province. (Notice the brand visual identity...)

Some ads make specific references to life in Quebec – one poster asks “Are you sure you’re on the 40?” – but it’s nice to see that Yahoo! is also promoted for its ability to connect Quebeckers with the world and matters of interest outside Quebec's borders… (as in “Where is Turkmenistan?).

Quebeckers have very unique destinations on the web when searching for information.

The research firm Ipsos Descarie conducts regular online surveys on the most popular sites used by Quebeckers to find everything from exchange rates, to translations to concert tickets. The results are published regularly in Infopresse. Click here for some of the archived reports

Social networking and marketing

Marketers are full of hope for social networks. But the buzz isn’t always there. Don’t write off traditional advertising yet, particularly in Quebec.

I use two online social networks – Facebook and LinkedIn. I enjoy the benefits of the social networking part but I can’t say that I enjoy the invitations to join brand-sponsored networks (e.g. the beer brand’s network of cottage partygoers).

Not long ago I attended a meeting where a young “director of social media” from an ad agency made a PowerPoint presentation essentially claiming that the old model is dead - that the world of Web 2.0 has changed everything and that consumers now shape your brand’s message. I did not disagree with the growing impact of engaged and interactive consumers but I disagreed with the notion that, as a result, the old ways are dead. It’s not because Apple lets a young guy create an iPhone spot on YouTube that Apple no longer believes in traditional advertising…

An item in last Sunday’s New York Times (Sunday, July 6, 2008) seems to confirm the nuance I was hoping to convey to this social-networker-turned-marketer.

The idea behind viral marketing is irresistible: plant your message in the right place, then sit back and watch people spread it through social networks, email and word of mouth.

It really should work. After all, the viruses that lead to diseases and computer breakdowns spread all too easily – even when we desperately try to stop them. But trying to infuse some positive and constructive energy into metaphorical viruses turns out to be very hard. According to a report by Jupiter Research, “24 percent of marketers have run a viral marketing campaign, but many struggle to get the expected buzz.”

Marketers aren’t giving up the fight. They plan to continue their viral efforts on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace through such tools as fan pages and special videos. But marketers still need to deploy complementary efforts like traditional advertising, Jupiter says.

Otherwise, they face a society that is all too quick to develop natural immunities to their efforts.

Perhaps one reason why “many struggle to get the buzz” is that it’s not as easy as creating a network of cottage partygoers or posting an in-your-face video on YouTube.

I once heard someone express the challenge this way (not sure who originally said it):

“We have to find amazing ideas to ignite conversations that will become contagious.”

For one amazing Dove Evolution spot on YouTube, there are tons of silly ideas that won’t ignite any conversation.

Jupiter Research’s prescription that “marketers still need to deploy complementary efforts like traditional advertising” is likely even more important in Quebec where the appeal of social network has not yet reached the level it has in English Canada.

While 42% of Canadian in English Canada say they have personally conducted activities on social media  networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Windows Live Spaces or online dating sites, only 24% say so in Quebec. And according to April 2008 data from Comscore, only 15.2% of the Quebec population uses Facebook compared to 32.2% in Ontario and as high as 33.6% in the Maritimes.