Ethnic Festivals In The First Quarter

Canada is one of the most culturally diverse nations in the world. By 2017, one in five Canadians could be a member of a visible minority, according to a Canadian Heritage study, and as Canada’s culturally diverse population evolves, so, too, will the colours of brand loyalty.

“Immigrants are getting harder for marketers to ignore,” says Marvi Yap, co-founder and managing partner for client services of AV Communications, an integrated ethnic marketing solutions agency. “The Chinese, South Asians and Hispanics aren’t the only ethnic groups with buying power.”

“A case in point, the Philippine market is the number one consumer of remittance companies and parcel-sending, and the number two consumer of international phone cards,” says Anna Maramba, the agency’s co-founder and managing partner for media services. “This is despite the fact that the Philippine market is just 400,000-strong compared to the more than one million Chinese and more than one million South Asians in Canada.”

AV Communications specialized in the Philippine market when it launched back in 2003. Since then, the firm has evolved into a full-service multicultural agency that offers turnkey solutions to help advertisers reach Chinese, South Asian, Vietnamese, Indochinese, Caribbean and Latin American markets, as well as European.

Maramba says AV Communications’ clients benefit from their strong connections with well-respected leaders of many ethnic groups. “One of our clients for example, was permitted to host a booth in a Cambodian temple during a solemn New Year celebration thanks to our relationship with the temple’s monk,” she says.

With a team that comprises Bosnian and Caribbean graphic designers, a Latin American videographer, a South Asian creative director, Chinese and Filipino account executives, a Russian photographer and a Ukrainian art director, AV Communications is as diverse as the country it serves. “Whatever market we’re handling, we always make sure we have someone on board who feels that culture’s pulse,” says Yap.