As part of our “Go Canadians, Go” project, Marketing asked dozens of Canucks working abroad (or those who’ve returned with a few years of international experience) to give us their impressions of the differences between Canada’s industry and others. Does being Canadian give you a leg up?
After four years of doing technology PR in Israel, I was relieved to discover that stepping off the airplane straight into the busy, diverse and thrilling world of the Canadian public relations and communications scene wasn’t as overwhelming as I had expected.
Indeed, there are the obvious must-haves that come with relocating to a different country from across the ocean, such as mastering a second language, learning the ins and outs of the Canadian media map and becoming familiar with the key players in various industries.
Along with it came some trivial, yet as important pieces of Canadiana I had to acquire such as who is the ‘Great One’ (some Oz-like character behind a curtain?) and the Timmys everyone kept referring to. Also, why beverages are ordered in numbers (double double and two-four) and that you can both speak at and drink a Canadian Club.
Added to the new-to-Canada knowledge gap I worked to overcome were a few other differences between doing public relations and marketing communications in Israel vs. Canada. For those planning on relocating to Israel, keep reading the below, (but only in reverse…) and use the information at your own discretion.
The Road-trip Counts
One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Canada was the value clients place on the process itself, sometimes to the same degree as the end result. A good analogy to illustrate is that for Canadians, the road-trip is as important as the final destination. This is in stark contrast to Israel, where the end-result is the only thing that matters. Clients do not really care or become interested to know how you got them there as long as you delivered.
The Short and the Long
For someone who used to work in a fast-paced environment where elections are held every 18 to 24 months, two new start-ups are founded daily and news breaks every 30 minutes, “long-term” simply meant planning for the next quarter. Flying by the seat of your pants and improvisation were the norm when no one could predict or commit to something beyond this horizon. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that the notion of planning for the next fiscal year in July or pitching for holiday gift guide in May initially came as a shocker to me. I still remember looking in disbelief at some of the Canadian media outlets’ editorial calendars outlining their full annual editorial plans as early as January. This definitely required some mind-set shifting on my end, adjusting to working and planning at a completely different cadence.
Maybe, it’s Not What You Were Thinking
“Maybe”, “Let me think about it,” “We will consider,” “I will review at it later,” “I will keep in on file for next time,” “It is a busy news day” and the list goes on and on. So many high hopes and crushed dreams I encountered at the beginning until it finally downed on me. Canadians are “over polite” to the point where a long list of expressions was developed only to avoid the simple phrase “no thank you”.
This experience and its nuances (which took me a while to decipher), is the complete opposite to the very direct way Israeli media and business community interacts – direct questions, straight answers. If they are interested or not interested in the story you are pitching or the business proposal you developed, you will get a straight answer – for better for worse.
Staying in the Zone
Jumping from operating in one time zone or two at the most, to working in a market that consists of six different time zones can be tricky for a newcomer (not to mention the odd minus half hour in Newfoundland & Labrador).
As a PR and communications consultant, this also required some adjustment to media outreach tactics (going from Eastern Canada to the West) as well as trying to develop some sort of a bullet-proof process to ensure calls and media interviews are timely and correctly scheduled in people’s calendars regardless of where they are based across Canada.
In retrospect, these differences are not real roadblocks that should affect marketers and communicators who come to Canada from succeeding in their job.
True, there is the language (or languages if we include Quebec) barrier as well as some cultural and mentality differences. However, from personal experience I know that these challenges are compensated by the friendliness, welcoming and all-inclusive attitude I received here from colleagues, clients, the media and many other individuals I have met over the past 12 years.
Gal Wilder is Account Group Director, Cohn & Wolfe
