TransCity

Ten Years ago today, on September 13, 1996, Tupac Shakur died in a Las Vegas hospital after he was gunned down six days earlier. Some argue to have lost someone of the magnitude of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X - they claim Tupac Shakur would have metamorphosed into one of the most powerful black men to ever walk the face of the earth.

Whatever would have happened to Tupac had he still been alive, with over 70 million albums sold worldwide he is the most successful rap star ever. Would Eminem, Ja Rule, The Game and 50 Cent have become as big as they are today without the groundbreaking work of Tupac? Unlikely so. Their mythology of transgression, anger and running with the law would not have been possible without Tupac’s example.

Tupac was the embodiment of black rebellion against a hostile consumer society, a figurehead of gangsta rap, a poet, an artist, an actor, a political agitator and a hellraiser. Many of his fans still refuse to believe that he is really dead. The impact of Tupac on the urban youth worldwide bears resemblance to that of Bob Marley, an icon for different generations. The music of Tupac Shakur is as popular with 12 year old urban youth as it is with the 40-plus generation. He sold more albums after his death, than before. Five of his eight number one records in the U.S. were posthumous. His 1996 song ‘Hit ‘Em Up’ was recently listened as one of the top 10 songs that U.S. soldiers listen to in Iraq.

In recent years Tupac has attracted the attention of academics and cultural critics, who see in him a symbol of his times and a phenomenon who revolutionised popular culture, for both black and white young people, and straddled the boundary of gangsta fantasy and real-life crime in startling and unforgettable ways.

The influence of Tupac Shakur on today’s urban culture is huge, making his legacy extremely relevant for all those in the marketing and communications busines who wish to pursue Urban Marketing strategies.

Sources: various, including Andrew Gumber (The Independent)

Tupac Shakur, October 25, 1994:

Migration is big business. In the United Kingdom, more than 420,000 workers from eight east European countries were approved to work in Britain in the past two years, official data showed last month. Many of those came from Poland. Over 260,000 workers from non-EU countries have also obtained work permits in the past two years, while an estimated 180,000 east Europeans have become self-employed in the UK.

According to Reuters News Agency, Britain’s biggest bank HSBC Holdings plans to ramp up its commercial banking business in Poland at the same time as attracting Polish immigrants in its home market with specially tailored accounts.

Alan Keir, HSBC’s global co-head of commercial banking, said Poland will be at the heart of expansion in central Europe and it plans to have business banking centres in eight Polish cities, from just one centre in Warsaw at present. The bank will target big regional Polish cities in the next 18 months, including centres in Wroclaw, Katowice and Poznan.

HSBC’s commercial banking provides credit, cash management and other services to companies ranging from a one-person start-up to a mid-cap sized firm. It operates in 16 European countries. It is keen to ease the process for companies to open more cross-border bank accounts so that they can pay in euros and dollars as easily as pounds.

The business is strongest in the UK, France and Turkey, and Keir told Reuters he saw good opportunities to tap into accelerating economic growth in Czech Republic, Slovakia and Russia in addition to Poland.

Expansion in Poland could also leverage moves by HSBC and other banks to attract the influx of Polish immigrants in Britain by making it easier for them to open accounts and transfer money.

HSBC have recently introduced the Passport account, aimed at immigrants coming to the UK. The Passport account offers basic bank products and discounts on international money transfers, but no overdraft facility and a small monthly fee. The account can be opened online before arriving and the bank said it had signed 2,500 customers. Although eastern Europeans are a major target group, the Passport account is targeting all recent immigrants in the UK, both from within and outside the EU.

Other banks are also targeting east European immigrants. Barclays said it had hired Polish speakers for some branches, mainly in west London, and held education events on UK banking products and how to buy a house.

Main source: Reuters

Rupert Murdoch-owned Star TV is trying hard to attract UK subscribers with a South Asian background. Over a year ago, Star secured slots for Star News and the entertainment channel Star Plus in Sky Digital’s family package, taken by the bulk of the broadcaster’s 7.6 million subscribers. Of these, more than 350,000 are South Asian - but despite this advantage, competition for these households is tough and looks likely to get even harder.

Zee TV - Star TV’s major rival in the UK and India - already broadcasts Zee TV, Zee Cinema, Zee Music and Alpha Punjabi. Last year, it launched the Alpha Gujarati channel and the international channel South Asia Network. Another broadcaster, Vectone, added Vectone World to its existing channels Vectone Tamil, Vectone Urdu, Vectone Bangla and Vectone Bolly at the beginning of this year.

Meanwhile ZMTV, a sales house that oversees Sony Entertainment Television Asia, B4U Music and other ethnic interest channels such as Phoenix Chinese News and Entertainment (PCNE), has signed up Channel S, aimed at Sylheti-speaking Bangladeshis in the UK.

In addition, Star has expanded its portfolio of channels in the UK, introducing the movie channel Star Gold and the entertainment channel Star One, launched in India last year, which targets young urban viewers. Both provide content that appeals to second- and third-generation British Asians.

Star, which moved into profit in 2003, is available in more than 53 countries, has more than 50 television services and claims to reach 300 million viewers a week. Three years ago it was one of the first non-state controlled broadcasters to be given limited broadcasting rights in China.

Source: Marketing Week

With Romania and Bulgaria joining the EU in 2007, the debate on the pros and cons of immigration intensifies all over Europe. In the United Kingdom, one of the few European countries to conduct an open door policy for workers from eight eastern European countries that joined the EU two years ago, sharp language is being used.

Newspaper headlines speak for itself: ‘unchecked immigration put Britons out of work’, ‘migrants get Brit’s pay slashed by 50%’, ‘East Europe migrants help take jobless to six-year high’ and even ‘HIV children bringing timebomb to Britain.’ All of this as a result of the grave miscalculation of the British government, predicting an influx of only tens of thousands of migrant workers from eastern Europe after the expansion of the EU two years ago. The actual numbers of eastern European immigrants in the UK are now estimated to be around 600,000, while another 261,000 immigrants from outside the EU have also obtained work permits in the past two years - one of the highest numbers of immigrants in peacetime.

But does this huge movement of population into the United Kingdom indeed have a negative effect on the British economy, as several politicians and newspapers suggest? Not so, according to the British Independent newspaper (see picture). A new study suggests the British government would have missed its key economic goals without the boost of economic activity by the new migrants. The 600,000 eastern Europeans now account to 2 per cent of the UK’s 30 million strong workforce, contributing an estimated £ 2.5bn a year to the economy. Business leaders, according to The Independent, also called for Britain to maintain its open door policy for foreign workers. Business for New Europe, which counts the former Tory minister Leon Brittan as well as chief executives from blue-chip companies including Reuters, Carphone Warehouse, Sainsbury and the London Stock Exchange on its advisory panel, said further migration was a ‘cause for celebration, not cowardice.’ On a larger scale, Ernst & Young reports that immigrants make up 8 percent of the workforce and contribute 10 percent of the UK’s GDP, making migrants net tax contributors.

In the Netherlands, a coalition of populist right-wing politicians and often left-wing trade unions are opposing an open door policy towards eastern European migrant workers, while, just like in the UK, many business leaders actually welcome immigration of skilled workers from abroad. As a result of the Dutch government’s policy of discouraging immigration in recent years, many skilled workers from non-EU countries, such as India, had to wait for up to a year or more for their work permit for the Netherlands. As a consequence, they decided to move to other countries, such as the United Kingdom. Just recently, realizing these setbacks, the Dutch government has adapted its policy, making it easier for skilled workers to obtain work permits.

It is often suggested that the main reason for the United States being the world’s largest economic power are its roots as an immigrant nation. The boost recent immigration has had on the British economy, if true, might now encourage other European countries to look in a more balanced way to the pros and cons of immigration, while the British government might actually give in to popular sentiment and restrict immigration from Romania and Bulgaria when these countries join the European Union next year.

It remains a difficult balance. Views of the electorate sometimes prevent politicians making the right choices for the economy. As marketers would say: rightly so, because the consumer is always in charge. However, in the Netherlands, discussions on ‘who’s going to pay our pensions’ would not have brought Labour leader Wouter Bos to the defensive, had a more balanced immigration policy taken place in recent years, according to some experts. As they claim, with a more active immigration policy, encouraging skilled workers to work for the benefits of both the Netherlands and their home country, migrant workers will partly pay ‘for our pensions’.

The debate continues…

On wednesday morning August 30, TransCity and IRI will present the details of its ‘Diversity in Shopping’ research, to be conducted from September to December 2006. The event will take place in one of Western Europe’s largest mosques, the Mevlana Mosque in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. Until now, over 60 participants have registered to attend the presentation, all of them major fast mover brands as well as retailers.

The extended and unique ‘Diversity in Shopping’ research will focus on the shopping behaviour in the Netherlands of the various ethnic cultural communities in supermarkets and drugstores. IRI and TransCity will give an insight view of the drivers behind the choices made by the ethnic consumer as well as factual data on brands and products bought in areas with a strong culturally diverse population in comparison with areas with a more homogeneous Dutch population. Based on the actual scan results of supermarkets and drugstores in areas with large migrant populations, it will be the first time that actual buying behaviour based on hard data will be analysed.

If you’d like to attend the breakfast meeting of August 30, please get in touch with IRI on + 31 (0) 418 57 08 00 and ask for Carin Stroeken or Henriëtte van Wijk, or get in touch with TransCity on + 31 (0) 10 414 04 64 and ask for René Romer or Nalini Hirasingh.

More information on IRI can be found on their global website and on their local website in the Netherlands.