P&G’s 7 Habits to Drive Multicultural Market Growth
January 19th, 2023 | Darren McAlmont, Manager, Communications & Content, Association of Canadian Advertisers
P&G Canada’s SVP of Marketing, Jennifer Seiler, shares why multicultural marketing is key to drive market growth.
In 2022, Canada set a new record of welcoming over 430,000 newcomers to the country in a single year, the majority were of Asian descent.
In observance of Lunar New Year 2023, a holiday celebrated in many Asian cultures, the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) recently interviewed Jennifer Seiler, Senior Vice President of Marketing at P&G Canada to get her perspective on multicultural marketing and the need for greater representation in the advertising industry.
Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations in Chinese culture and is a major event in some other East Asian countries. Not only is the New Year meant to celebrate the start of the new year and ensure good fortune for the coming year, but it is a time for families to be together.
Chinese New Year’s Eve is the most important time as it symbolizes a perfect gathering of the family – a true reunion. Wherever they are, people are expected to be home to celebrate the festival with their families. The Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner is called ‘reunion dinner.’ Big families of several generations sit around round tables and enjoy the food and time together.
When markets grow, everyone benefits
Speaking specifically to Lunar New Year and why a holiday like this is important to P&G, Seiler remarked that “market growth is the strongest driver of sustained business growth, value creation and economic development. With the Canadian population projected to grow to 34% immigrants by 2041 and with Asians representing a significant portion of this growth, newcomers are a key driver of market growth.”
Therefore, she added, “by marketing to Asian Canadians (not only during Lunar New Year but throughout the year) with superior products, packaging, communications, retail executions and value that appeals and resonates with them, we will drive market growth and fuel disproportionate growth for our brands.” Seiler also emphasized, “we recognize we have a lot of work to do in this space but we are committed to deliver superior experiences for ALL Canadians as a force for growth and good.”
Seven habits to drive multicultural market growth
Because there is always room to do better around representation, inclusion, and advertising to multicultural groups, we wanted to learn about the habits P&G employs to ensure they are reaching and speaking to Canada’s diverse population segments. To this question, Seiler outlined a list of seven principles and habits that P&G’s CMO, Marc Pritchard, encourages his team to stand by.
- Change Mindset that multicultural marketing IS mainstream marketing.
- Inclusive Research, from a rep base to a multicultural base.
- Diverse Media Reach, from average reach to maximizing reach to each multicultural consumer group.
- Representation in Ads, reflecting the people the brand is serving.
- Relevance in Ads through accurate portrayals.
- Resonance in Media Programming, placing ads on media programs that resonate with who we’re reaching.
- Accelerate Investment in multiculturally-owned and operated media.
The advertising industry has a responsibility to accurately portray and represent our diverse populations not only with the faces in front of the camera, but also with the multitude of people behind the scenes who contribute to the creative output.
The ACA recognizes that the advertising industry in Canada has some ways to go in reaching and speaking to the people who drive business growth in this country. That’s why we will be interviewing and sharing insights from some of Canada’s leading brands throughout the year on what habits they are putting in place to accelerate market growth by delivering superior experiences for ALL consumers. Click HERE to learn more.
Led by the ACA’s DEI committee, this article is first in the ACA’s new blog series titled Mission Possible: Championing DEI. The series aim is to provide tangible tools and resources to help drive systemic change for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the Canadian marketing landscape.
Darren McAlmont, Digital Marketing Specialist, Association of Canadian Advertisers
Darren is an award-winning writer who focuses his work primarily on matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion. His writings have often trended on social media and have been picked up and reshared by respected figures doing DEI work. Darren holds a master’s degree in Rhetoric and Communication Design from the University of Waterloo and a bachelor’s degree in English and Professional Writing from York University.
