Multicultural
Marketing
(Canadian Immigrant magazine February 2012 Issue)
This month I would like to share an experience which
was very exciting for me in my journey in Canada and a real turning point as a
newcomer.
It has been just three years since we landed and there
have been lots of trials and tribulations in my life since coming here but last
week was a great milestone.
Coming from a professional marketing background, I measure
my success in Canada by my acceptance among the marketing fraternity. I am sure
all readers similarly would envisage such acceptance among your fraternity in
Canada.
One of the most prestigious marketing associations here
in Canada strangely is called The AMA or the American Marketing Association.
The AMA was founded in the USA and has over 20,000 members there. The Toronto Chapter
is relatively smaller with about 2000 members but is really the go to place for
all marketing professionals in our city and offers a wide array of learning
opportunities.
In my journey, I reached out to the President of AMA
with the offer of volunteering to be part of the group and what great timing.
They were actively looking at the topic of multicultural marketing and we started
a dialogue. This led to my volunteering to coordinate an event for the AMA on
the subject.
The AMA format is a round table breakfast series and we
dialogued about a session in the New Year and selected 12th of
January 2012. I had to find a co partner and nominated Roxanne Tsui, who runs a
Chinese communications firm in the city. Roxanne and I were then entrusted with
putting the full program together which included deciding the subject,
identifying and inviting panelists, finding an event sponsor and then marketing
the event. Volunteers from AMA joined our team and we saw three months of
dedicated work being put into this.
There were days when we were tense, days when we were
anxious and days when we were nervous, but took each one in our stride.
We opened registration, and then came the December holidays
and we all held our breath as we had only 5 sign ups. Surely a testing time but
we persevered and slowly saw more registrations come in. And a week before the
event, as we turned into the final lap and the last weekend before the show, our
numbers crossed the average number of bookings AMA usually had. They were just
coming in like crazy and there was a time when we seriously considered closing
registrations due to capacity sell out.
The final day was cold and wet but it did not hold back
the audience, such was the interest that at one time, people were lined up into
the street.
The opening was wonderfully handled by Michael Adams,
Chairman of the Environics Group and he took us through a journey on the
evolution of Multiculturism in Canada. After 20 minutes, the panellists were
introduced. Bobby Sahni (Rogers), Camon Mak (RBC), Gautam Nath (Monsoon
Communications), Kamal Baig, (Rubicon Foods) and Robin Brown (Environics
Research Group). The discussion was moderated by Roxanne Tsui (Sensu
Communications). Each one discussed their experiences with multicultural marketing,
the success factors, the challenges and also touched upon some misconceptions
that companies may carry. Then the discussion was rounded off with a vision
about the future of multicultural marketing in Canada.
With over one hundred participants, it was truly a
grand moment for all who were associated. The President of AMA, Craig Lund,
then formally announced that multicultural marketing was here to stay with AMA and
that Roxanne and I were appointed as co chairs for this initiative. Truly a
winning moment in my life and proof of how dedication and hard work always pays
off. This goes to show how volunteering in Canada can showcase your skills and helps
you get recognized.
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Born of Czech and South Asian lineage, Gautam Nath now lives in Toronto. He is
a partner with Monsoon Communications and serves on several Boards and
Committees in the city. Gautam is also one of the Top 25 Canadian Immigrants of
2011.
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