Monthly Archive for October, 2006

KPN and Ahold pursue new ethnic marketing strategies in the Netherlands

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on October 25, 2006
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KPN Turkish 2.JPG The Netherlands has recently seen a growing number of brands implementing ethnic marketing strategies. Albert Heijn, the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands owned by Ahold, has started to offer Halal meat in 45 stores throughout the country. A trial has proven the opportunities for selling Halal meat in a nation with a million Muslims.

KPN Telecom has launched a sim card for the Turkish-Dutch target audience. The brand Ay Yildiz, said to be successful in Germany, has been introduced for the 365,000 strong Turkish population. Low costs phone calls can be made to Turkey, Germany and Belgium. Turkish is the major language in all communications.

After Agis Health Insurance has started ethnic marketing campaigns a few years ago, this year their competitor Zilveren Kruis Achmea is implementing an ethnic marketing strategy, initially focussing on the Turkish community. Bila-Riba Islamic Finance, launched last month, is a new bank for islamic banking products and mortgages, while major banks in the Netherlands, like Rabobank, are also considering introducing islamic banking products.

In the art sector we can also find interesting initiatives. The National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden and De Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam activively seek to attract ethnic minorities to its exhibitions on ‘Food – traditions, taboos and delicacies’ and ‘Istanbul.’

When pursueing ethnic marketing strategies in the Netherlands, businesses have to be realistic when projecting their possible return on investment. In the highly competitive telecommunication market, it won’t be easy for the KPN brand Ay Yildiz to get a market share within the Turkish population of, for example, 15%. Whether a future client base of maximum 50,000 will justify the implementation of a relatively expensive long term ethnic communication and loyalty programme remains to be seen. If not, cross cultural or urban marketing strategies could be great alternatives for KPN to target the Turkish consumer.

When it comes to islamic banking, realistic projections have to be made as well. It is probably unrealistic to claim that the consumer market for islamic banking products is one million strong. Many Turkish consumers, for example, are more keen on the highest interest rates than on islamic investments. For most Iranians in the Netherlands, islamic banking is also not top of mind. To the contrary, some Iranians have put their money in banks in Iran because of the high interest rates some Iranian banks have offered in recent years. Islamic banking certainly does have a market potential in the Netherlands, but whether this is a potenial among a majority or a minority of Muslims in the country remains to be seen.

Sony goes Latino

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on October 13, 2006
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featured_worldcup[1].jpgSony Electronics in the U.S. has announced specific plans to widen its reach within the U.S. Hispanic market.

It is launching a five-month mobile lifestyle tour through Southern California, called La Experiencia Sony (the Sony Experience). With a focus on education via immersion, the lifestyle tour will make stops at independent retailers and at events where people can try out and learn about Sony personal electronics products such as TVs, Vaio laptops, camcorders and personal-audio products.

In a tie-in with Time Inc.’s People en Espanol magazine, people can take photos of each other with Sony Cyber-shot cameras and get pictures of themselves on the magazine’s cover. Later this year, Sony will launch a Spanish-language website and distribute a bilingual shopping guide at retailers and to homes.

“We’re working on creating lifestyle imagery that is culturally relevant,” said Tanya Diggs, Sony Electronics’ director-corporate marketing. “It’s not just putting brown faces [in pictures]; it’s capturing moments.” Ms. Diggs said the images, which will be used by Sony and shared with retailers who can create their own point-of-sale materials, advertising templates and other merchandising efforts, capture special events in the lives of Hispanic families.

Sony is also finding insights in its multicultural focus groups. Members of the focus groups kept asking, for instance, whether the Sony Reader, a paperback-size device for downloading and reading books that is due out this month, can be used to download the Bible. That hadn’t occurred to Sony, Ms. Diggs said. “The only way to know that is to be part of the [multicultural] market,” she said.

Source: Advertising Age

Does Spain need more immigrants?

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on October 7, 2006
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El Pais.jpgIn 2020 Spain needs 4 million immigrants to keep the economy running, a study by the University of Barcelona suggests.

According to Spain’s leading daily El Pais, the study says that Spain can not do without new immigrants as a result of Spain’s ageing population and low birth rates.

With an average 1.3 children per woman, the country has the lowest birth rate in Europe.

‘We need immigrants’, says Josep Oliver of the University of Barcelona. ‘It is important to take measures now for integrating immigrants into our society.’

Pioneering new research on ethnic diversity in UK

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on October 7, 2006
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Mixed children 2.JPGBrent in north west London is the most ethnically diverse area in England and Wales, reveals pioneering new research published today. Easington in the north east of England is the least ethnically diverse area, while Harrow in north west London is the most religiously diverse area.

In Brent, the likelihood that two randomly selected people are from different ethnic groups is 85 per cent, while in Easington it is just two per cent. Brent’s predominant ethnic groups were white British (29 per cent), Indian (18 per cent), black Caribbean (10 per cent), other white (nine per cent), and black African (eight per cent). In Harrow, there is a nearly two-in-three chance (62 per cent) that two people will be from different religious groups, with the dominant groups being Christian (47 per cent), Hindu (20 per cent), Muslim (seven per cent) and Jewish (six per cent).

Few areas had high ethnic or religious diversity, with less than one-in-10 local authorities having a high level of ethnic diversity, and just three per cent with a high religious diversity. Across England and Wales, 87 per cent of the population were white British and 72 per cent were Christian.

Black African Muslims are the most likely to be unemployed with almost one-in-three adults out of work. Unemployment rates among UK born people from black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups were more than twice as high as among white British. In contrast, unemployment rates among Indian Muslims were lower at 11 per cent.

Workless households with dependent children are prevalent among Bangladeshi and black African groups, with more than a third of households with dependent children workless, compared with 16 per cent of white British households. Muslim households are the most likely to be workless, with 33 per cent with dependent children out of work, compared with just 15 per cent of Christian households.

The report by the Office for National Statistics looked at changes in the census between 1991 and 2001. Between 1991 and 2001 home ownership rates fell most among Indian households (from 82 per cent to 76 per cent), Pakistani households (from 76 per cent to 67 per cent) and Bangladeshi households (from 44 per cent to 37 per cent). Home ownership only increased among white households, from 66 per cent to 69 per cent.

The average household size fell between 1991 and 2001, to 3.3 among Indian households, 4.1 among Pakistani households, 4.5 among Bangladeshi households, and 2.3 among white households. And in 2001, 44 per cent of Bangladeshi and 42 per cent of Black African households were overcrowded, seven times the rate of overcrowding among white British households (six per cent).

Some ethnic groups were found to be more religiously diverse than others. Indians are the most religiously diverse ethnic group, with 45 per cent Hindu, 29 per cent Sikh, 13 per cent Muslim and five per cent Christian. Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are the least religiously diverse, with nine-out-of-10 Muslim. And Muslims are the most ethnically diverse religious group, with 43 per cent Pakistani, eight per cent Indian, seven per cent other white and four per cent white British. Christians and Sikhs are the least ethnically diverse religions, as more than 90 per cent of people from these religions belong to the same ethnic groups.

Tom Linch, a spokesperson for the Office for National Statistics, said: “This is the first time that we’ve done this research, so there’s nothing to compare it to, to say ‘this is really surprising.’”

Copyright © 2006 UK National News

Are Muslim schoolchildren more liberal and tolerant?

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Burnley UK.JPGMuslim pupils in Burnley and Blackburn are more liberal and tolerant than their white counterparts, according to a study in the United Kingdom.

Nearly a third of white youngsters questioned in Burnley, Lancashire, - the scene of race riots in 2001 - believed that one race was superior, compared with 10% of Asians who thought the same. Almost half of the white pupils felt that respecting others regardless of religion was not important and a quarter did not feel it was important to tolerate people with different views.

The research was carried out as part of the Burnley Project, a Home Office-funded investigation in the wake of the riots. More than 400 15-year-olds were surveyed about their attitudes towards race, religion and cultural integration earlier this year. The research was conducted by Lancaster University’s religious studies department. The pupils came from three unnamed non-religious schools, all in deprived areas. One in Burnley, attended mostly by white pupils, and two schools in Blackburn, where one had mostly Indian or Pakistani pupils and the other was ethnically mixed.

Study author Dr Andrew Holden said a “disturbing” finding of the survey was the response to the question of racial superiority. Nearly a third of the white pupils believed one race was superior compared with a tenth in the Asian school and under a fifth in the mixed school. Dr Holden said: “The greater degree of racial tolerance in an overwhelmingly Asian/Muslim populated school again calls into question the common sense assumption that mixed schools represent the most tolerant environments.”

The much higher levels of intolerance at the white school were linked to widespread resentment among white residents over the allocation of public funds to the Asian community, he reported. “It is the cumulative effect of myths and stereotype, negative perceptions of cultural diversity and fundamental fear of difference, that teachers, outreach workers and educational support staff must make every effort to combat,” he concluded.

Dr Holden added that most pupils at the mainly Muslim school were well integrated and loyal to the UK. He said: “The overwhelming majority supported liberal democratic values such as showing respect for others, freedom of speech, being friendly to people from other religious and ethnic groups and tolerating those with different views.”

Source: The Times Educational Supplement

Two conferences on diversity marketing

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Ethnic Media.jpg

At the end of November, two conferences on Diversity Marketing will be held. On November 28 ‘Marketing in demografisch Nieuw Nederland’ will take place in Congress Center ‘t Spant in Bussum, the Netherlands. On November 29, the Ethnic Media Conference 2006 will take place at the London Stock Exchange in the United Kingdom. At both conferences, TransCity will give a presentation.

In the Netherlands, TransCity’s presentation will focus on the different strategies that can be pursued to target ethnic minorities in marketing and communications. The differences between Diversity Marketing, Ethnic Marketing and Urban Marketing will be explained. In the United Kingdom TransCity will focus on the way major brands are introducing new concepts among the culturally diverse city youth with the final objective of targeting the mainstream youth.

The conference in the Netherlands will not only focus on ethnic minorities, but also on Senior Marketing, Marketing to Women and Youth Marketing. Other presenters include Edgar Keehnen (Senior Marketing), Diana Jaffé (Marketing to Women), Ab Kuijer (Youth Marketing) and Adjiedj Bakas.

The conference in London will focus on the way the media landscape is transformed as a result of the growing ethnic cultural diversity in the United Kingdom and how this transformation impacts on major brands. There are keynote addresses by David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party and Dawn Airy of Sky Networks, as well as presentations by Michiel Bakker of MTV UK & Ireland and Jonathan Mildenhall, Strategic Director at Mother Agency, London.

Check here for all details of the London Conference.