When WorksafeBC researched its multicultural markets, the crown corporation found that immigrant workers had little understanding of their basic workplace rights or their employers’ responsibilities. Not surprisingly, ads in English just weren’t doing anything to create awareness in the Chinese or Punjabi markets, said Scott McCloy, director of communications at WorksafeBC.
“We not only want to reach these communities with our messages, but reach them in a way that people understand that we respect their needs,” said McCloy.
Two television ads by Response Advertising are running on Omni Television in Mandarin and Punjabi.
Jatinder Rai, Response president and CEO, said that the agency wanted to do more than just run a campaign that talked about injuries and death in the workplace. Rai said that television was the best way to let people know that there are more than 94,000 workplace injuries every year and the strategy is to make the idea that “you might be missing out on some really interesting and cool things that happen in your life,” culturally relevant.
In the Punjabi ad, a woman is laid up on a couch, flipping through e-mailed pictures of her family shopping for a family wedding. In the Mandarin ad, a woman stays at home while her brother goes travelling in Asia.
Rai said they are targeting 25- to 55-year-old, first-generation immigrants.
WorksafeBC has an overall annual marketing budget of around $1.3 million, and McCloy said that about $100,000 will be spent on multicultural messaging this year.
Wasserman + Partners Advertising is the AOR for traditional media.
