Our Canadian Brand Essence

by Andrea Shillington

February 28th, 2010 marked the day of something new, something special, something found in us all. It will be remembered as the day our Canadian pride reached an all time emotional high. All across the world, people gathered, and Canada’s national pride came to life with a “Go Canada”.

I was fortunate to be one of the many people pouring onto the streets of downtown Vancouver, just minutes after Crosby scored the golden goal for Canada. Entranced by the smiles, random hugs, high-fives, cheers and the instant friends gained. I was infected by the natural high of our shared joy.

Looking back on my pictures of Vancouver’s streets, from the opening ceremonies to closing, it’s evident that something changed. What few high fives I gave and received on the first day of the Olympics, became thousands on the last. What streets were once crowded in dark winter wear, turned to a sea of red and white. What Canadian wear was once a memento turned into a patriotic fashion parade: flags as capes and maple leaf makeup. Anything really, as long as it was red and white.

Post gold, I can’t help but wonder what it was? At first, it was our athlete’s perseverance and courage that struck an emotional chord. Then the sunny skies that put a spotlight over our lands picturesque backdrop and throughout it all, moments on the podium turned us all into winners.

But, what piece of the Olympic magic can we hold onto beyond this day? What is it that makes us so proud to be Canadian? What momentum can we continue to build in our great country? What makes us different than any other nation in the world? What binds us at our maple leaf-loving core?

Please share your thoughts with us. Let’s continue to build what we started.

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I came across an interesting article today on CanadaOne.com that I believe we all should read titled 7 things you need to know about why people buy. Although all the points hit home, the two that really struck me from a branding perspective were #5 Framing and #6 Too Many Choices.

The concept of framing deals with how messages get communicated and more importantly, the influence that message can have on our decisions. We constantly get challenged by our clients to help them figure out "what" to say about their company or products, but that's only half the battle—it's equally important to nail how to say it. Once you've figured out "what" you want to say, make it a practice to brainstorm at least 10 ways to say it. Never write without first thinking about the outcome, action or effect on the reader. I've copied the section below form the article that illustrates how much words can matter:

"The way a question is framed can strongly influence how someone responds, especially when there is risk involved, for example the purchase of an expensive item.

Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman pioneered research in this area and are famous for their Asian flu experiment, where two groups were asked to select a program to combat a fictional flu expected to kill 600 people in the U.S.

Group 1 were presented with a choice between two programs:

Program A: "200 people will be saved"
Program B: "there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be saved, and a two-thirds probability that no people will be saved"

72 percent of participants preferred program A.

Group 2 were presented with the choice between:

Program C: "400 people will die"
Program D: "there is a one-third probability that nobody will die, and a two-third probability that 600 people will die"

78 percent preferred program D.

Altering the way the two options were phrased did not just change, but actually reversed participant's perception of the two options.

The way that you frame your marketing message can have a powerful impact on its ability to influence your customers, particularly if a decision comes with financial risk."

The concept of offering too many choices (product offerings) to people is also interesting. One of the biggest fears I see in our clients is keeping things simple. I believe you need to be brave to limit your offerings and get off the "if we show them everything, then they're more likely to pick something" mentality. This is true of product placement, your website and even your proposals. Is it clear what you're offering and are you making it easy to buy. Take a look at this excerpt below on the "jam" experiment and see if anything hits home:

A jam experiment conducted by Sheena S. Iyengar and Mark R. Lepper demonstrated that more choices might attract more attention, but fewer choices increased sales.

The researchers set up a tasting booth for exotic jams at a high end grocery store and rotated the display so that either 6 or 24 flavours of jam were on display. All consumers could sample as many of the jams as they wanted and everyone who approached the booth was given a coupon.

Ivengar and Lepper found that having a bigger selection of jams attracted more people to the booth: 60 per cent of the customers who passed the booth stopped when 24 varieties were on display, compared to 40 per cent when 6 jams were out.

Yet when it came to sales, the smaller selection won the day. Thirty per cent of people who stopped by the limited selection actually purchased a jar of jam, compared to just 3 per cent for those who stopped by the table when 24 choices were on display.

"This is kind of the conundrum of too much choice," said Ariely. "It attracts to people but then they end up doing nothing."

If you are trying to sell something you have to understand how complexity is working both for and against you. For example, having too many choices on your website may encourage customers to browse, yet deter them from actually buying.

Reducing the number of choices can not only increase sales, but it may help you save money as well as you will be focused on a small portfolio of products and services.

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Comments

Snoop 2 commented on 02-Mar-2010 07:56 AM

Good perpective on your view from Vancouver we too had the same sense of pride from ontario. the world has never seen so many Canadian flags..

The words lets go Canda are still resinating in my head

Tiffany commented on 02-Mar-2010 08:24 AM

Great article! It's true; the Olympics appears to have been the ultimate internal branding campaign for Canada.

Victoria commented on 02-Mar-2010 06:42 PM

Yes, keep the spirit alive !

Alex commented on 20-Oct-2010 02:47 AM

I am proud to be Canadian!

harryjone commented on 29-Oct-2010 10:53 PM

Wow Gold

Lisa N commented on 26-Nov-2010 10:31 AM

As a Canadian, I was very proud of Canada, to wear our colours and sing the national anthem (5 times in a row when we won in hockey) during the Olympics.

Canada as a 'brand' to Canadians was certainly very strong. Unfortunately, nine months on, and I find that our patriotism, our living the brand, was short-lived.

On July 1st, our national birthday, it was hard to find someone wearing red in Toronto. I also recently attended a graduation ceremony at Ryerson. Here were hundreds of students graduating with BAs, MAs and PhDs, surrounded by their family, friends, mentors. When it came time to sing Oh Canada, I had to strain my ear to hear anyone singing above 10 dBs. Where had the pride gone? Same thing at Toronto's Remembrance Day ceremony outside Old City Hall. I hate to say it, but we're embarrassed to sing the anthem, when months ago, we did so with pride, and abstainers were the ones chided for not participating.

We as individuals need to step up to the plate; defend the anthem, our colours, 'sing up' when we hear our national melody. Sure, our pitch may not be perfect, but that's not what matters; our passion does.

Heather MacIntosh commented on 31-May-2010 01:05 PM

That's interesting. Perhaps, the consumers, being newly introduced to a product, have a low commitment level. The vast number of choices overwhelms the commitment level and no purchase is made. However, when there are fewer choices to make (ie: fewer jams on display), the consumer isn't overwhelmed and is able to focus and commit to trying a product - thus, a sale is made. Just a thought.

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