At yesterday’s Multicultural Marketing Conference in Toronto, a panel of experts showed how South Asian pop culture is emerging in Canada as immigration fuels this community’s rapid growth. It provided a glimpse for marketers trying to learn where and how one of Canada’s largest ethnic markets gathers for entertainment and shared culture.
In the “Getting into South Asian pop culture” session, panelists covered the ways marketers can associate themselves with arts festivals and events in Canada to build stronger connections with South Asian consumers.
South Asians’ love of music and film continues to intensify and has even migrated overseas, said Sharifa Khan, president and CEO, Balmoral Marketing, explaining the broad appeal of Bollywood films, which run for several hours and represent a significant yearly investment of time and money for many.
“In history, many suffer political and economic strife,” she said. “In the past, for a few cents, and now a few dollars, [people] escaped for thee hours of joy and hope.”
Khan said watching musical films is a tradition for many South Asian families, bringing generations closer together. “South Asians, after arriving, don’t totally adapt to the adopted homeland movie culture,” she said. “Now is an opportunity for them to embrace their own and reconnect the second and third generation and bring them back to their culture.”
Advertisers can take advantage of South Asians’ preoccupation with pop culture by paying close attention to popular movie and music personalities, said Syerah Virani, CEO of the Toronto-based MyBindi.com, a company that matches brands with popular South Asian pop culture icons.
MyBindi’s online community caters mostly to a younger South Asian demographic that is “upwardly mobile with discretionary income… They have the interest and ability to stay up to date with South Asian film,” she said. “They’re an audience that shells out $300 for a concert ticket.”
Sathish Bala, CEO of Blueband Media said the South Asian pop culture movement is about celebrating today’s story, which is based on past history. “It’s a great opportunity at that moment for a brand to engage.”
But what’s important is to move beyond buttons and banners when sponsoring an event, he said.
“Marketing dollars are important, but you want to make sure activations on site have a investment in overall theme,” he said. “Understand who is coming to the show, figure out why you want to be there.”
Marketing‘s Multicultural Marketing Conference continues today in Montreal and concludes Friday in Vancouver.
