Canadian Identity and Ethnic Subcultures - Pearson Canada

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SECTION 4
Consumers and Subcultures
Marketing
Opportunity
✪
Jost Vineyards is in many ways a quintessential
example of special marketing opportunities
unique to Atlantic Canada. Established
in 1970 by a German immigrant family with
300 years of history in wine making, the winery
is located to take advantage of the long
frost-free summers of a unique microclimate
on the Malagash Peninsula in Nova Scotia.
The award-winning winery, which does 50
percent of its sales on its premises, also
offers tours, a deli bar, a licensed patio deck,
U-Barbecue, wine tasting, and an artisan’s
cooperative.
Other Atlantic Canadian wines born out
of opportunities based on unique advantages
in growing conditions—and creativity—
include:
> Domaine de Grand Pré in Nova Scotia
> Rodrigues Winery, which makes Wild
Cloudberry (bakeapple) wine and Wild
Blueberry Wine, in Newfoundland and
Labrador
> Rossignol Estate Winery in Prince
Edward Island
> Chez Les Maury Vignoble St-Edouard
(with Winegarden Estates) and Bourgeois
Farms, which grows cherries, pears, and
apples, in New Brunswick 156
• Eavestroughs keep the rain off the roof in Ontario, but in other parts of Canada
gutters do the trick.
• Fitness enthusiasts in British Columbia and on the Prairies wear runners, central
Canadians wear running shoes, and Atlantic Canadians wear sneakers. 145
Regional identification based on ethnic overtones is tied to some consumer
preferences and purchases and is perhaps most evident in the entertainment area.
Celtic music in its various forms is synonymous with the Atlantic Canadian
culture, 146 and Acadian music and cuisine are also associated with the Maritimes.
Some Acadian locales still host a Mi-Carême festival, which has its roots in medieval
France. 147 The long-running Midnight Sun Film Festival, the Calgary Stampede, the
Natal Day Festival, and the Pacific National Exhibition all bespeak of the attraction
to locals and tourists of regional symbols and lifestyles. Frito-Lay Canada plays on a
number of regional associations with its Tastes of Canada program with flavours
such as Cape Breton Sea Salt and Pepper and Toronto College Street Pizza. 148
Some regions also have unique symbols that provide communication value for
marketers. Inuit art styles are associated with British Columbia and the North, as is
the polar bear. The Sasquatch is used to promote Kokanee beer in British Columbia,
and Bonhomme provides the theme for a winter carnival in Quebec City. 149
Travel Alberta used a five-minute dual projection video in New York, Los Angeles,
and California to create the feeling of stepping into the Rocky Mountains, 150 and
wall-to-wall images in Toronto’s Union Station invited the 250 000 Toronto commuters
to do the same. 151 Coolers are very popular in Ontario (have you heard of the
Black Fly Beverage Company, Ontario’s first microdistillery?), while Quebec is a beer
and wine market, and British Colombia leans strongly toward cider. 152 Regional
print media, outside of newspapers, include Up Here: Life in Canada’s North,
Western Living, Atlantic Progress, Saltscapes, East Coast Living, Prairies North, and
Beautiful British Columbia.
Cuisine and food preferences also have regional connections. Cipaille and poutine
are associated with Quebec (poutine is now exported to Paris); 153 salmon with
British Columbia; beef with Alberta; Oka cheese with Quebec; bakeapple with Newfoundland;
and scallops with Digby, Nova Scotia. New Brunswick has the highest
consumption of sliced white bread per capita, while Alberta leads the rest of the
country in bubblegum sales. Montreal is the undisputed bagel capital of Canada,
while consumption of lobster is most easily enjoyed in Atlantic Canada.
As a segue into the next section, a segment of Hellman’s “Real Food” marketing
campaign invites Canadians to YouTube to ponder the source of their food. The
three-minute mini-documentary opens with a shot of a dinner table and a
voiceover that asks, “Looks like a typical Canadian dinner, but do you know how
much of it is really Canadian?” 154 Interestingly, 32 percent of Canadians chose
health implications as the most pressing food-related issue in a recent poll, followed
by food safety (22 percent) and the rising cost of food (18 percent). 155
Although many Canadians enjoy the country’s
winter weather, FlyHalifax.com knows
that sunny destinations beckon others.
Courtesy of Rapport Communications Inc.