SURPRISING COALITION OF LEADERS SEEKS A MEETING WITH CLEMENT ON THE CENSUS
July 19, 2010 -- July 19, 2010The Hon. Tony Clement
Minister of Industry
Industry Canada
C.D. Howe Building
235 Queen Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H5
Canada
Dear Minister:
We are writing to request an opportunity to meet with you to discuss your Government’s recent decision to discontinue the Census long-form questionnaire and replace it with a new voluntary questionnaire, the National Household Survey.
We are greatly concerned about this decision. Loss of the long-form Census information will cause considerable economic and social costs. The data are a key part of the decision-making processes of businesses, marketers, public service providers, community service providers, and charities. The effectiveness and responsiveness of public policy initiatives of federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments will be compromised. Canada is a vast country with considerable differentiation in the economic and social situations by geographical location. For many purposes the long-form Census questionnaire is the only valid source of data available of a local nature.
We are all users of information derived from the Census long-form questionnaire, and we would appreciate the opportunity to explain to you how the loss of these data would impair our operations. For many of us this would mean a less efficient use of money we collect from Canadians, in some cases via Government grants. For all of us, it means we will be less sure if we are allocating our resources -- be they funds or people – in an effective way, given our respective mandates.
We appreciate that the Government is attempting to broaden the coverage with the replacement to the long-form questionnaire. However, without similar compliance resources and requirements, it will not be possible to achieve reasonable data results with the voluntary form. Many problematic issues can be anticipated with such a move. The very high response rate to the Census provides an unrivalled accuracy and allows many other key sources of data we use from Statistics Canada to be benchmarked and to be drawn from appropriately weighted samples.
It is of course difficult to judge in advance the sort of overall response rate that would be realized for a voluntary survey. Tests of a move from mandatory to voluntary in the U.S. yielded unsatisfactory results and the process was dropped. Past experience indicates that the responses will not be representative of the total population. And in particular the responses from key communities of concern, such as the very poor, Aboriginal communities, recent immigrants and some ethno-racial communities, will likely be quite low. Effective health services would be compromised. Consequently, the impact of these changes will be disproportionately borne by those who are already most vulnerable.
Without the full Census it will be difficult to know how to adjust the responses to correct these imbalances in response rates across socio-economic groups. It will also become more difficult to benchmark other key data series and determine how to effectively target other surveys with relatively smaller samples. Additionally, there will be a great loss in monitoring how various groups are doing over time as there will be a serious break in the data after 2006. This break will render all previous Census results less useful.
We represent a wide spectrum of economic and social interests. But we have a common concern that our ability to function effectively will be seriously harmed by the changes announced to the Census. We hope you will be willing to meet with us to discuss your concerns and ours so that we can find a mutually satisfactory way to preserve the long-form Census so essential to all of us.
We understand that the far-reaching impacts of this decision may not have been fully anticipated and we respectfully request the opportunity to help find a solution that meets the needs of all Canadians.
Al Hatton, President of United Way—Centraide Canada is available to help coordinate a meeting at your earliest convenience.
Signed,
| Craig Alexander – President, Canadian Association for Business Economics and Chief Economist, TD Bank Rachel Bard – CEO, Canadian Nurses Association Ken Battle – President, Caledon Institute of Social Policy Marni Cappe – President, Canadian Institute of Planners Mel Cappe – President and CEO, Institute for Research on Public Policy, and former Clerk of the Privy Council Debbie Douglas – Executive Director, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants Don Drummond – Donald Matthews Fellow and Distinguished Visiting Scholar, School of Policy Studies, Queen's University, former Chief Economist of the TD Bank and former ADM of Finance | Nicholas Gazzard – Executive Director, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada Ken Georgetti – President, Canadian Labour Congress Roger Gibbins – President and CEO, Canada West Foundation Al Hatton – President and CEO, United Way of Canada – Centraide Canada Alex Himelfarb – Director, Glendon School of Public and International Affairs, and former Clerk of the Privy Council Dr. Matthew Hodge – President, National Specialty Society for Community Medicine Jan Kestle – President, Environics Analytics Frances Lankin – President and CEO, United Way Toronto | Roger Martin – Dean, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto Nik Nanos – President and CEO, Nanos Research Dr. Cordell Neudorf – Chair, Canadian Public Health Association Mark Stabile – Director, School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto Penni Stewart – President, Canadian Association of University Teachers Peggy Taillon – Executive Director, Canadian Council on Social Development Mike Veall – President Elect, Canadian Economic Association Carol Wilding – President and CEO, Toronto Board of Trade |
cc. The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister
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CANADIAN INVESTORS TAKING ON MORE RISK: STUDY
Cash holdings climb in the aftermath of the financial crisis
WealthScapes 2010, the latest edition of Environics’ financial database that measures the assets, liabilities and wealth of Canadians, shows that in 2009, investors increased their holdings of stocks and mutual funds, and scaled back their bond and GIC holdings. Environics compiles the data from more than 30 data sources, including the Bank of Canada, Statistics Canada and Canada Revenue Agency.
The data shows that the average Canadian household held $43,936 in stocks in 2009, up from $40,989 in 2008, while mutual fund holdings rose sharply to $68,617 from $57,811 in 2008.
Average bond holdings fell to $9,587 in 2009 from $11,079 in 2008, and GIC holdings dropped to $38,362 from $40,505.
But households also substantially boosted their holdings of cash in 2009, to an average of $35,377, from $28,998 in 2008, indicating a higher degree of caution in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
“Clearly, as the global economic situation continues to stabilize, Canadians will have a sizeable cache of funds to re-invest in longer term savings vehicles -- or simply go on a shopping spree,” Environics says.
Across the country, households in some provinces displayed a greater aversion to risk than others. Ontario households flocked to liquid cash holdings at a particularly high rate in 2009, increasing their average bank account holdings from $35,221 to $44,080 -- the highest level of any province.
Newfoundlanders appear to be playing the markets more conservatively than the rest of the country, with 55.9% of their portfolios in relatively safe bank deposits and bonds, and fewer stocks and mutual funds than any other province, at $12,918 and $22,534, respectively.
Meanwhile, Alberta households favour riskier investment vehicles, the study shows, with stocks and mutual funds comprising 69% of their portfolios.
Saskatchewan investors favoured mutual funds more than the other provinces in 2009, with their holdings of these assets surging to $82,333 from $62,335. Households in the Territories also turned to mutual funds in a big way, boosting their fund holdings to an average of $47,433 from $36,124.
Household net worth climbs in 2009
All provinces enjoyed a boost in average household net worth in 2009, according to Environics’ WealthScapes. The average net worth of Canadians rose by 4.6% to $351,282.
British Columbia still ranks as the wealthiest province, with an average net worth of $489,812, followed by Alberta, at $415,712. But Ontario is rapidly closing in on Alberta’s second-place ranking, according to Environics, with an average household net worth of $403,194 – just 3% below Alberta’s.
“If Ontario maintains its robust growth in net worth -- 4.7% compared to 2.1% in Alberta -- Ontario will surpass Alberta’s number-two ranking by 2011,” Environics says.
Saskatchewan ranks fourth with average net worth of $313,326, up a sharp 6.5% from 2008.
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CENSUS DATA HAVE IMPACT, EXPERT SAYS
Shannon Proudfoot, Postmedia News -- (THE REGINA LEADER-POST) -- July 17, 2010 -- The census can look dull or irrelevant to the average citizen, a twice-a-decade event that only policy wonks, academics and journalists really care about.But like the foundation of a building, census data are largely invisible but crucially important, affecting the lives of any citizen who has a child, drives a car, goes to school, moves here from another country, retires, works -- or loses their job -- shops, gets sick, wants to live in a safe neighbourhood, needs a helping hand from a charity or wants to know the money they donate will be put to good use.
"It really does touch your life, but not until you need it or you see it do you realize it," says Doug Norris, director general of social and demographic statistics at Statistics Canada until 2005 and now chief demographer and senior vice-president with Environics Analytics.
Since the Conservatives announced three weeks ago they're scrapping Canada's long-form census in 2011 and replacing it with a voluntary survey -- a move they say was prompted by privacy complaints -- opposition has been mounting steadily. The short-form census remains mandatory. An array of experts and organizations have panned the decision, insisting it will destroy the statistical backbone of municipalities, social programs, community organizations and private businesses that touch nearly every aspect of the lives of ordinary Canadians.
For one thing, commutes could get a lot uglier and junk mail and telemarketers a lot more pervasive without robust census data.
Municipalities use information gleaned from long-form questions on how people get to work and where they work to plan bridges, roads and public transportation projects and budgets, says Derek Cook, research social planner with the City of Calgary.
"We may never again get neighbourhood level statistical data and what the hell are we going to do if we don't have neighbourhood data? How are we going to plan?" he says. "It's like taking a carpenter's hammer away and asking him to go continue to build the house."
Like Cook, Brent Toderian, director of city planning for Vancouver, said census data so fundamentally underlie everything a city plans for its residents that he struggles to pinpoint a single instance.
"It's literally the starting point of all of our work, so pick a project," he says, mentioning school boards, new transit lines and aging neighbourhoods as a handful of examples. "The tendrils of this work go all the way through every city in the country."
Marketers use census data to target their mail-out advertising to neighbourhoods where, for instance, there are a lot of families with small children who are more likely to be interested in their product, says Norris at Environics. The system isn't perfect, he concedes, but without reliable demographic data, marketers are more likely to try a scattershot approach, meaning mailboxes crammed with more junk mail and an increase in telemarketing calls as researchers and pollsters attempt to fill in the gaps left by the census.
In recent years, big retailers like Walmart and Loblaws have started tailoring their inventory to their customers with the help of census data, offering saris and Bollywood movies in stores next to big South Asian communities, for example, or kosher grocery aisles near Jewish neighbourhoods. Many of the retailers to which Canadians flock located where they did or expanded into Canada because census data told them there was a market, Norris says. Non-profits and community organizations like the YMCA do the same to sort out which programs will appeal to the local population.
Decisions about school programs -- always emotionally fraught for any community -- also rely on census data to get a picture of population trends on the horizon, Norris says.
In Calgary, city officials use long-form census data to head off problems with young people before they start.
City officials had seen the research showing kids left to their own devices between the "critical hours" of 3 p.m. when school ends and 6 p.m. when most parents get home from work are more vulnerable to accidents and injury, alcohol, drugs and criminal activity, but they had no co-ordinated strategy to deal with the issue.
They hauled out city maps and long-form census data, layering them so they could see which neighbourhoods had lots of funding and programming pouring into them already and which ones represented "perfect storms" on the horizon, with low education levels, parents all working full-time and high population density.
Cathie Christenson, program co-ordinator for Calgary After School, says what they found surprised them: the most well-known troubled areas of the city were already inundated with programming, but the census data pointed to neighbourhoods no one expected that were on the verge of problems.
"You could drive into a neighbourhood and know there's vulnerable populations that live here, but there are neighbourhoods that aren't at that tipping point yet, and there are neighbourhoods that when you line up all the variables, you think, 'When those kids get to be teenagers, there's going to be some nasty things happening in this community," she says.
In fact, the census is the only way to track many of Canada's most pressing social trends and problems, says Ivan Fellegi, former chief statistician at the agency until his retirement in 2008.
After the Second World War, it took about 10 years for immigrants to reach the same economic standing as their Canadian-born counterparts, which was "darn good," he says. But in the last 15 or 20 years, that trend has begun to slide and each incoming group of immigrants takes longer than those before them to fully integrate, he says.
Young adults entering the labour market have been on a similar downward trajectory, with each crop of new graduates having a harder time then those before them.
The only reason we know any of that is because of long-form census data, he says, and without comparable data in the future, we won't know if those trends have continued or reversed -- an information gap that's particularly worrying in the wake of a global economic meltdown.
And on the hot-button issue of official languages, the long-form census is the only roadmap showing that the proportion of people who speak French at home is declining in Quebec, Fellegi says.
"It's a fundamental Canadian social issue, in fact almost an existential issue," he says.
The census is also the only source of detailed information about aboriginals, he says, and it reveals that they're increasing their average education levels but not really closing the gaps with other Canadians who are becoming more highly educated, too. With roughly $7 billion in federal funds allotted to the Indian and Northern Affairs budget this year, census data is the only way for taxpayers to know what that money buys and whether it's made an impact, Fellegi says.
"It's a fundamental preoccupation of all of us -- or should be -- to know whether certain very important underlying problems are getting worse or getting better or have stabilized," he says.
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WANT TO BOOST YOUR NET WORTH? LIVE IN A MID-SIZED CITY
Household debt highest in Calgary, survey of Canadian households’ financial statistics finds
Try Quebec City, Winnipeg, Halifax and Saskatoon. Each of these cities saw household net worth jump by nearly 10 per cent in 2009, according to WealthScapes 2010, a national survey of household financial statistics. Residents in these cities are doing the best job at managing their debt loads while continuing to invest, said Catherine Pearson, vice-president of Environics Analytics, the company behind WealthScapes.
Canada’s commercial hubs, on the other hand, posted net worth growth that hovered around or below the national average of 6.7 per cent. Vancouver, with its pricey real estate, managed to hold on to the title of the city with the highest net worth, but this doesn’t seem likely to last long. Its net worth growth rate was among the lowest of the large cities, at 3.1 per cent.
Calgary’s average household income, at $119,681, was $23,000 higher than any other city, but don’t be misled: The average household in Calgary had $184,850 dollars of debt. That’s nearly $25,000 more than Vancouver, and more than double Montreal.
“Last year we saw that [people in Calgary] were continuing to behave as if there was a boom,” Ms. Pearson said.
Yet it seems Calgary is an exception. “They were behaving differently than the rest of the country,” and “continued to carry heavy debt,” with risk-free household savings amounting to a little less than one-third of the amount of assets held in riskier vehicles like stocks and bonds, she said.
In 2009, Canadians for the most part were “definitely more diversified” when it came to managing their financial assets. Coming out of the recession, there was a widespread “change in investment style,” according to Ms. Pearson, as Canadians transferred their riskier assets into “more cautious vehicles.”
Cities where household net worth grew the most maintained the lowest levels of household savings. The level in Saskatoon grew 9.6 per cent in 2009, while each household has managed to save about $35,696 total. Torontonians have saved the most over all, with an average of $118,388 per household.
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WHY MAKING THE CENSUS LONG FORM VOLUNTARY IS BAD FOR CANADIAN BUSINESSES
TORONTO, ON -- (Environics Analytics) -- July 12, 2010 -- Jan Kestle is the President of Environics Analytics. Prior to founding EA in 2003, in partnership with Michael Adams and the Environics Group, she was President of Compusearch and also spent 19 years in the Ontario Statistical Centre where she was responsible for Ontario’s liaison with StatsCan.Background
The federal government recently announced its decision to make completion of the long-form questionnaire voluntary for the 2011 Census. Completing the short form will still be mandatory. The short form collects basic information on the population and households including age, sex, marital status, family structure and mother tongue.
Information previously collected by the mandatory long-form census questionnaire will now be collected as part of a new voluntary National Household Survey (NHS). The NHS will include questions on language, immigration, Aboriginal peoples, mobility, ethnicity, education, labour, income and housing. All of these data variables were previously derived from the census long form that was completed by one in five Canadian households.
Tony Clement, the Minister Responsible for Statistics Canada, argues that this change will “reasonably limit what many Canadians felt was an intrusion of their personal privacy.”
Many organizations have expressed their concern about this decision from a public policy and local government point of view. Local governments, academics, market researchers and business associations are among the many that have expressed opposition to this decision in recent days.
The main problem with a voluntary survey is that there will very likely be a differential level of response from different population groups. It is well known by researchers and statisticians that people who volunteer to fill out a survey are not necessarily representative of the population as a whole. Typically, both high income households and marginalized communities such as Aboriginal peoples and immigrants are underrepresented in voluntary surveys. In the past, organizations (including Statistics Canada) that carry out voluntary surveys have relied on the census, considered the “gold standard,” to evaluate the extent of bias and adjust for biases in reporting.
Unfortunately, the elimination of the mandatory long-form census means that there will no longer be a “gold standard” to use in adjusting voluntary survey data. Statistics Canada will not be able to assess the extent of bias in responding to the NHS and will have no techniques for weighting, balancing, filling in the gaps or correcting this bias since no representative “universe” data will be available for this purpose. This is a technical issue that has been well documented and recently has been addressed most eloquently by Dr. Ivan Fellegi, former Chief Statistician of Canada.
Statistics Canada cannot release data that they cannot stand behind so the result of this decision will very likely be that some data are not available. And it’s likely that the biggest impact will be on detailed data for small areas – data that are crucial for designing and delivering marketing and outreach for both business and social marketers.
How Canadian Businesses Use Small Area Data
Data for neighbourhoods and postal codes are widely used by marketers and real estate departments to:
• Locate stores and branches
• Tailor merchandise mix to local trade areas
• Segment and personify custom segments for marketing
• Plan, promote and deliver social services and healthcare programs
• Select the right media (both on- and offline) to reach customers
• Track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and site location decisions
It is ironic that, in these challenging economic times, a decision that is ostensibly being made for the good of Canadians may very well have a severe impact on the competitiveness of Canadian businesses. Consumer marketers have invested significant resources during the past 15 years to tailor marketing to smaller and smaller segments; one-to-one marketing is on everyone’s agenda. Consumers expect products and services to be tailored to their needs. This decision will make it harder for businesses to meet the needs of the increasingly complex and discriminating consumer marketplace.
The industry in which Environics Analytics operates consists of a small group of companies that provide businesses with data and tools to improve their ability to segment, target and locate customers and customize their offerings and messages. These businesses enter into an agreement with StatsCan enabling us to produce value-added data products for the business community using census data as one of the ingredients. We license privacy-compliant aggregate data under strict rules and pay StatsCan royalties on any information products that we offer or use in projects that include their data. We produce updated demographics between censuses and segmentation products. In many cases, we use our segmentation products together with other data collected including media measurement, psychographics, spending data and other behavioural indicators to give marketers a rich integrated suite of data products to use in their customer insights and market planning decisions.
Our industry uses data from many other sources as well but the detail and accuracy of the dissemination area (DA) long-form census data is the foundation for many of these products and services.
While all of the industry players have methodologists and statisticians who work wonders with numbers (and will continue to produce the best possible products regardless of what happens) there is no doubt that this decision can seriously impact the quality of such data and that will, in turn, have a negative impact on the marketing campaigns of our users.
At Environics Analytics, our Chief Demographer, Dr. Doug Norris was the former Director-General at StatsCan and part of the senior Census Management team for many of his 30 years at StatsCan. Robert Domenico, our Senior Research Associate, worked on demographics at StatsCan for many years. Dr. Tony Lea, our Chief Methodologist, has developed four major Canadian segmentation systems for Canada in his leadership roles at Environics Analytics and Compusearch over the past 25 years. Our team members feel that it is very important for this decision to be revisited and reversed.
Environics Analytics has over 200 customers – including banks, insurance companies, telcos, travel and tourism operators, petroleum companies, retailers, media, auto companies and manufacturers. We also provide small area data to public health organizations, community service providers, charities and all levels of governments for use in planning, marketing and delivering local programs.
Decision is Also Bad for Consumers
The government’s stated objective is to limit an intrusion of the personal privacy of Canadians. In fact it’s very likely that this decision will do the opposite in two ways:
• Consumers will receive offers or be exposed to advertising messages that are not relevant to them
• Businesses will have to collect more information from consumers to make up for the expected loss of data from the long-from census for small areas
In addition, the ability to deliver goods and services locally will be affected and consumers will be inconvenienced. Just think of a young mother trying to find infant formula in a grocery store in a seniors’ neighbourhood to get a picture of how important good, integrated local data are to consumer convenience.
Since the census goes to one-fifth of the population every five years, any household has a statistical probability of getting the long form two or three times in a lifetime. StatsCan’s rules ensure absolute confidentiality – no data about households or individuals are released or can be inferred. The use of the summarized DA-level data by our industry ensures privacy-friendly marketing analytics and in fact helps limit intrusion into the personal privacy of Canadians.
Action is Required
We hope the federal government will reconsider. Since there were no consultations prior to this decision, it’s possible that the implications for the businesses we serve (and their customers) were not taken into account. We are urging marketers and other business people to write to Minister Clement asking him to have the mandatory long form reinstated and preserve the high quality of Canada’s census.
THE GREAT MELTING RINK
Joe Friesen and Les PerreauxToronto and Montreal -- (The Globe and Mail) -- May 21, 2010 --
Wissam Sleiman and his sister, Farah, carry the proof of their
staunch Canadiens fandom in their Montreal backyard on Tuesday.
for The Globe and Mail
Hockey is a ‘uniter’ in the Canadian mosaic, a new study shows, one offering immigrants a very public way to declare their identification with Canadian culture
As a little girl, Farah Sleiman would listen from her bed as her father and brother watched the Montreal Canadiens on television. It was 1991, and the entire family of immigrants from Lebanon were one year into their grand Canadian adventure. Hockey was a key part of the introduction.
“I didn’t understand anything, but I knew we were cheering for the team in white,” said Ms. Sleiman, now 24. She has since shelled out hundreds of dollars to attend Habs games, and often teaches the game to newcomers. She says the appeal of hockey is simple. In a place like Montreal, “The city is hockey. You are either a fan, or you are an outcast.”
Today, Ms. Sleiman and other Arab Canadians rate among the most passionate hockey fans in the country, second only to Italian Canadians. A new survey by Environics Analytics and Research Now looks at the game’s popularity through the prism of Canada’s other national preoccupation, our ethnic and cultural heritage. It also probes concerns about violence in hockey, support for NHL expansion in Canada and building new arenas with public money.
The Globe and Mail - Peter Kalamaris keeps a wide selection of Leafs paraphernalia at his shop, World Famous Peter's Barber Shop, in Toronto.
The survey shows that while roughly half of all Canadians say they are somewhat or very interested in watching professional hockey, the level of interest in several ethnic communities is much higher than the average. The results suggest hockey acts as a kind of glue in the Canadian mosaic. Becoming a hockey fan, for a new immigrant, is a very public way of declaring an identification with Canadian culture.
“Perhaps as they come to Canada, they want to be part of the fabric of Canadian society, and hockey is one of the things they latch on to,” said Doug Norris, chief demographer at Environics Analytics. “The Italians are substantially higher than everybody else. I think probably that goes back to the 1950s and 1960s, when that generation of Italians came to Canada and hockey was really hot in Toronto and Montreal. I think we’re seeing the same thing now with South Asians and other groups.”
The results bode well for hockey’s long-term health, Mr. Norris said. Interest in hockey is “the great uniter” that cuts across all lifestyle groups. It’s only among senior citizens, who are the likeliest to say the game has grown more violent, that interest appears to be waning, according to the poll.
“Maybe it’s seniors looking back fondly on the old original six National Hockey League, where you could really relate to the Maurice Richards and the Gordie Howes and Stan Mikitas. Today, with the dilution of 30-odd teams, many of them in the southern U.S., they may not feel as strongly,” Mr. Norris said.
The survey also found that 60 per cent of Canadians believe the NHL should expand in Canada, with only 14 per cent opposed. But using tax dollars to help fund expansion doesn’t have much support. Just 19 per cent of Canadians would be happy to see their taxes go to building new arenas. Young people, aged 13 to 24, are the most amenable to directing public funds to arena building, and senior citizens have the highest rates of opposition.
Morris Mott, a former NHL player who is now a professor of Canadian history at Brandon University, said he’s not surprised that many immigrant groups demonstrate higher than average interest in hockey. Fitting in is made easier by the common language of sport, even if that sport is unfamiliar to one’s parents, he said. New immigrants quickly become fans of the game as televised entertainment, but it may take a few years before they’re wealthy or settled enough to participate, he added.
“Plus, you know, hockey is a demanding game to learn. You have to learn to skate and shoot and stick handle before the game becomes much fun. It is different that way than, say, soccer, in which really all you have to be able to do is run and you can make a contribution to a team,” he said.
Another recent survey for the Association of Canadian Studies found that participation in hockey for 12- to 14-year-olds is much higher among white children than among visible minorities. Among youth of South Asian and Chinese background, only 3 per cent said hockey is the sport they played most often. As a spectator sport, hockey trailed basketball and was roughly even with soccer among those same groups.
Fausto Sacchetti, a self-confessed hockey fanatic, is a product of the generation of Italian immigrants that built Toronto in the 1950s. Born in the Marche region of Italy in 1953, he was 12 years old when he played his first game of shinny on a frozen parking lot in North York. Hockey has been central to his family’s life ever since.
“It wasn’t a matter of choosing. It was a matter of acceptance, it was a matter of blending in, of having something in common with the kid next door who didn’t know a word of Italian but loved your mom’s prosciutto sandwiches,” said Mr. Sacchetti, a 57-year-old realtor. “It was absolutely essential to [integration.] You could have a genuine Canadian, sixth generation, and a first- or second-generation Italian Canadian and they could have a conversation about hockey.”
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BUXTON SIGNS DATA DEAL WITH CANADIAN-BASED ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS
Alliance provides real estate executives with expansion resources in Canada.
"Partnering with EA offers Buxton a strategic advantage, giving us the opportunity to equip our clients with the tools and data they need to successfully grow and develop their services beyond the U.S., into Canada," said Charles Wetzel, president and chief operating officer of Buxton.
More retailers are reassessing their current business strategies and looking for expansion opportunities as they come out of the recession. By partnering with EA, Buxton will be able to help clients make tactical decisions and broaden their development efforts in new areas.
"We are pleased and excited that Buxton chose Environics Analytics to aid with marketing initiatives in the Canadian marketplace," said Jan Kestle, founder and president of EA. "U.S. businesses looking at expansion opportunities in Canada will benefit from this partnership that capitalizes on the strengths of two leading marketing analytics companies."
The relationship will provide Buxton's U.S.-based customers with access to EA's more than 10,000 variables on Canadian consumer demographics and behavior for use in site analysis and other applications. This information will also be available in the Canadian version of the Micromarketer desktop solution, provided by Buxton, allowing U.S. businesses to identify their core customers residing in Canada.
The alliance extends the availability of strategic location intelligence services to all types of retailers, municipalities, healthcare providers and consumer packaged goods companies seeking new business opportunities for existing products and services.
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About BuxtonSince 1994, Buxton has been the industry leader in customer analytics for the retail industry. Its focus now includes healthcare organizations, consumer packaged goods manufacturers and city governments. Buxton draws from its individual- and household-level data to determine lifestyles and buying habits to clearly identify an organization's best customers and find more like them anywhere in the U.S. Among its 1,900 clients are retailers FedEx Office, New Balance Shoes, Sally Beauty Supply and West Marine.
RESEARCH NOW AND ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP LINKING
PRIZM C2 SEGMENTATION TO ONLINE SURVEY PANEL
Agreement Gives Businesses Insight into Canada’s Consumers and Markets Using Popular PRIZM C2 Lifestyle Types
Environics Analytics and Research Now today announced a partnership to code the Research Now online panel of 400,000 Canadians with PRIZM C2, Environics Analytics’ popular PRIZM C2 segmentation system. The agreement marks the union of Canada’s most widely used segmentation system with the largest online survey panel in Canada.
Research Now, a global company specializing in online data collection and panel development, operates 36 panels, with over 2 million panellists worldwide. Its Canadian panel provides research on more than 500 attributes in areas such as demographics, marketplace behaviour, media preferences, finance and health care. Meanwhile, through EA’s partnership with key Canadian providers of media and marketing research, PRIZM C2 offers links to over 11,000 variables to help marketers match their company’s products and services to those most receptive to them.
The agreement resulted from a global partnership between Research Now and Experian, which combines Experian’s numerous segmentation systems with the Research Now worldwide panel. Environics Analytics is Experian’s partner for demographics and segmentation data in Canada.
As a result of the new Environics Analytics-Research Now partnership, companies and not-for-profits will gain detailed insights into targeted audiences based on the 66 PRIZM C2 lifestyle types—whether they’re classified Cosmopolitan Elite (affluent urban families), Young Digerati (younger, upscale singles) or Heartlanders (mature, working-class couples). In addition, Research Now’s PRIZM C2-linked panel offers clients and their researchers a cost-effective way to obtain opinions on a range of issues, activities and products from custom target groups. Through EA’s online micromarketing tool Envision, users also can identify prospects that resemble targeted customers defined by a PRIZM C2-coded Research Now profile.
“This is a great partnership that will allow our clients to get deeper insights into the behaviour and mindset of Canadian consumers,” says Jan Kestle, President and Founder of Environics Analytics. “It allows marketers to augment their customer data with the power of thousands of variables available through Research Now panel participants linked to PRIZM C2. We can provide companies with vivid consumer portraits through our PRIZM C2 Links, and this partnership allows them to ‘talk to their best PRIZM C2 segment’ to enhance their customer data. It’s like having access to a PRIZM C2-selected focus group.”
According to John Visser, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Research Now, “We are very excited about this partnership with Environics Analytics, which we believe will enable organizations to significantly enhance their understanding of key consumer groups. We look forward to working with Environics Analytics to deepen the profiles for each of the PRIZM C2 segments, and we look forward to working with its clients and researchers to help them rapidly and cost-effectively obtain the opinions of consumers within key clusters.”
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About Research Now
Research Now is a leading global online data collection and panel firm specializing in helping our clients to better understand the behaviors and attitudes of consumers. In Canada Research Now is a Gold Seal member of the Market Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA), strictly adhering to industry standards and guidelines for online research. As a pioneer in online survey data collection, Research Now has supported the development of innovative research products and enhanced online consumer access since 1999. In Canada and globally, Research Now is committed to supporting our clients as they pursue a greater understanding of consumers across an ever expanding spectrum of market segments and industry verticals.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS ANNOUNCES CLIENT AND PARTNER AWARDS, CAPPING ITS THIRD ANNUAL USER CONFERENCE
Winners Recognized for Innovation, Measurable Results And Contribution to the Marketing Industry
Environics Analytics (EA) presented its first-ever client and partner awards at its Third Annual User Conference held at 1 King West Hotel in downtown Toronto. EA named BCLC (British Columbia Lottery Corporation) the Client of the Year, while SRC, LLC, the global provider of geographic business intelligence technology, was honoured as Partner of the Year. Both companies were recognized for their innovation—BCLC for its efforts to spread the use of advanced marketing analytics within its organization and SRC for providing EA with a unique way of delivering its expertise to clients in a web-based tool.
“We have many wonderful and innovative clients and partners who are doing work that’s worthy of recognition,” said Jan Kestle, President and Founder of Environics Analytics. “But both of these companies deserve special recognition. BCLC has implemented advanced analytics in both its marketing and site selection initiative. SRC’s unique platform is helping our users to find and keep their customers.”
The awards were given at EA’s annual conference which this year attracted more than 220 representatives from companies and not-for-profits in a range of sectors. With a conference theme of “A Better Bang for Your Marketing Dollar,” the agenda featured a day-long series of case study presentations that highlighted best practices used to solve a variety of marketing challenges. Among the presenters were executives and marketers from Holt Renfrew, Rogers, CTV, Ontario Tourism, Questrade, Carlton Cards, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Canadian Wildlife Federation, comScore Media Metrix, United Church of Canada and the City of Mississauga.
In announcing the Client of the Year Award, Kestle noted BCLC’s use of EA data and services in all areas of the enterprise, including marketing research, IT, casino operations and the Play Now online gaming feature. She singled out Arnaud Granoux, a Senior Business Analyst, for his efforts in identifying the market potential for terminal sales, imaging target groups for lottery games and creating a national users group for EA’s Envision online micromarketing tool—the first of its kind in Canada. Also honoured was Pamela Stracker, an Operations Manager in BCLC’s Retail Stores Group, for her analytics work that customized an EA sales projection tool to help analyze new terminal locations and measure the potential decline in revenue from existing ones.
For the Partner of the Year Award, Kestle recognized California-based SRC for “making the biggest difference in our business this year.” To create its Envision software tool, EA used SRC’s Alteryx® platform as the engine to produce fast and flexible analysis through rapid calculations, formulas and sophisticated methodologies. She praised SRC’s executives and technical support team in helping make Envision a success, and noted that SRC “provided us with not only a powerful tool, but also exceptional support when we needed to replace our lead micromarketing tool on short notice.” Kestle thanked Paul Evans, SRC’s Vice President of Sales, who was on hand to receive the award.
“Environics Analytics is a valued SRC analytics partner, and we’re pleased to see the tremendous value they are providing their clients with the Envision platform,” said Paul Evans. “With their expertise in micromarketing and SRC’s Alteryx technology, Environics Analytics delivers automated best practices that produce immediate results.”
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About BCLC
Since inception over 30 years ago, BCLC has evolved from a lottery company to an organization that conducts, manages and operates lottery, casino, community gaming and eGaming in BC. Its employees, and private sector business partners, are proud of the gaming experience they provide and the resulting net income generated for public, charitable and community programs.
About SRC
SRC software and solutions enable fact-based decision-making by delivering comprehensive data access and analysis with unparalleled performance. SRC's Geographic Business Intelligence® software serves Fortune 500 companies and more than 240,000 users worldwide, delivering specialized consumer and market insight and seamlessly scaling between local, regional and global markets via desktop applications or over the Web.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS UNVEILS ENVISION 2.0 MARKETING TOOL
TORONTO, ON -- October 08, 2009 --Environics Analytics (EA) today announced the release of the second generation of its popular micromarketing tool, Envision 2.0, offering a suite of one-click applications to help companies in any industry better connect with customers and markets. The enhanced online marketing tool offers many new features and reports such as enterprise-wide capabilities and custom benchmarks for trade areas and profiles.
Designed to take advantage of both customer data and a variety of marketing databases, Envision 2.0 delivers our PRIZM C2 segmentation system and its links to all the important Canadian marketing surveys and databases from such sources as BBM RTS Canada, NADbank, PMB, Canadian Financial Monitor and Polk NVR &TVIO. With its point-and-click interface, users can quickly create charts, maps and over 130 different types of reports. Users can perform segmentation analyses of their databases. Advertising agencies, marketing departments and even small businesses will find that Envision 2.0 can help them cost effectively understand their markets, classify their consumers by marketplace and media behaviour, and develop winning marketing strategies.
“The new generation of Envision packs a lot of marketing smarts into an easy-to-use online platform,” says Carlos Moreno, director of product development at Environics Analytics. “Envision 2.0 truly helps users get the right message to the right audience through the right channels.”
To introduce Envision 2.0, Environics Analytics will host two online webinars:
- the first on Tuesday, October 14th, at 1:00 PM
- and the second to occur two weeks later on October 28th, at 1:00 PM
All are invited to attend the hour-long presentations, learn more about Envision 2.0 and experience the new features first hand.
Get more information on Envision 2.0 and PRIZM C2 on our website. For access to an online seminar, please connect to www.environicsanalytics.ca five to ten minutes prior to the start of the session and click on the link to the WebEx session. A phone number will also be provided for audio.
For more information on Envision 2.0 and to schedule a personalized demonstration, call your Environics Analytics team member today.
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About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada. Specializing in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics, the Toronto-based company provides businesses with data-driven market insights to help reach their customers more effectively. It also has the most experienced team of geodemographic experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies, including Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc.
VANCOUVER BUCKS CALGARY ON WEALTH FRONT
Markus Ermisch -- (CALGARY SUN) -- July 21, 2009 --Vancouver has relegated Calgary into second place and took the crown as the city with the highest household net worth in the country, a national survey says.
And chances are that once market research firm Environics Analytics releases its comparison again next year, Calgary could have lost even more ground, said Tony Lea, who helped pen the report.
"There's no statistic we've seen that there is a real turnaround in Calgary or Edmonton," he said. "I'm pretty convinced that Calgary is going in the same direction it was in at the end of 2008. And it's probably already gone a fair distance downhill in the same direction."
Recovering oil prices during the first half this year have given the energy industry some buoyancy, but natural gas prices, which are of even greater importance to the province's economy, have so far refused to rise.
During 2008, the report says, the net worth of an average Calgary household has slid by 12.3% to $569,926, the greatest percentage and dollar loss of any major Canadian city. In Vancouver, meanwhile, household net worth dipped by only 3.1% to $575,826.
Calgary's slide in net worth has two main reasons.
First, home prices have dropped significantly in 2008. Lea said that in Vancouver, geographic constraints, such as the mountains bordering the north of the city, as well as the Fraser River and protected agricultural land, have ensured land prices remain high.
Secondly, Albertans carry an average consumer debt load of $40,531, or 30% more than the average Canadian.
That high debt, however, is balanced by average household incomes exceeding $100,000, or 20% higher than runner-up Ontario.
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WEALTH SLIPS, DEBT SOARS FOR RISK-TAKING ALBERTANS
Calgary falls twice as hard as Vancouver
In Alberta, we're young, risk-taking trailblazers, according to the mythology.
These days, we're young, debt-laden recessionistas, according to the financial numbers.
New research by Environics Analytics details what many people's credit-card bills and retirement portfolios already suggested: that 2008 stripped tens of thousands of dollars from Albertans' net worth, and sent debt levels soaring.
Calgary households led that downward slide--their average net worth slipping from about $640,000 in December 2007 to $569,926 a year later.
That harder-they-fall thud shifted Calgary to second place among Canadian cities --not because Vancouverites' net worth didn't suffer too, but because ours sank twice as fast.
The analysis of more than 80 different data sources shows why: Albertans are far more likely to play the stock market (and it fell) and rack up credit-card bills or loans (and then their salaries froze or jobs got cut).
"Young and rich people tend to be risk-takers," said Tony Lea, a senior vice-president with Environics Analytics.
And that's more so Calgary's demographic than that of Winnipeg or Victoria, he explained.
"It's not a surprise to us at all that a city like Calgary would have a high level of debt."
Calgarians' consumer debt--excluding mortgages--soared to$42,123 per household, a rate only eclipsed in Oshawa, Ont., the epicentre of Canada's auto sector collapse.
Local investors' high exposure to oil and gas companies contributed massively to 2008 losses, veteran wealth manager Mike Wise said.
"My younger clients, earlier on this year, a lot of them were frothing at the mouth, thinking the stock market was at values they would never see again in the their life," he said.
Some of them took out investment loans to take advantage of the apparent deals.
"Being an older guy, I sort of advised caution," Wise added.
Environics looked at financial data up to 2008. Lea predicted bad news trends continuing in this year's first half, and many indicators would back him up -- rising unemployment, mortgage arrears, personal bankruptcies, along with lower house prices.
Albertans' wealth may have been hit hardest by the recession, but it also remained the strongest, the study shows.
Households in this province had an average $53,237 in discretionary income--money after basic needs --a level 29 per cent higher than in second-ranked Ontario. Albertans' average net worth was more than double that of Quebec and triple the level of bottom-ranked Newfoundland and Labrador.
Consumer debt levels, however, were 30 per cent above the national average, Environics reported.
"One explanation is that their lofty incomes give Albertans the confidence to take on high debt levels," the firms analysts observed.
"Or perhaps they simply haven't realized the fact that the heady boom days are now over."
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ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS LAUNCHES NEW WEALTHSCAPES
Featuring Latest Financial and Investment Data
Environics Analytics, the marketing and analytical services company, today launched a new edition of WealthScapes, its comprehensive financial database that measures the assets, liabilities and wealth of Canadians. Updated to December 2008, the latest version features an expanded database of more than 80 key financial and investment statistics at the census dissemination area (DA) level. Using WealthScapes 2009, financial institutions, charitable organizations, retailers and others can analyze the fiscal health of current and potential customers, identify promising markets and develop solid strategies to increase their market share.
Because the updated WealthScapes also offers historical data from the previous year, companies can undertake trend analyses to better understand the changing financial behaviour of their customers. As with last year’s release, WealthScapes 2009 was built using sophisticated modelling techniques and a wide variety of sources—such as the Bank of Canada, Canada Revenue Agency and Statistics Canada—to create the most reliable financial data available in the industry. In addition, the key variables used in WealthScapes were created to match the best available control totals in Canada so that they will be endorsed by Chief Economists.
“The original WealthScapes was the first balance sheet of assets and liabilities for every neighbourhood in Canada,” says Catherine Pearson, vice president and leader of the financial services practice at Environics Analytics. “The updated version is now the best source available for current financial data and changes in consumer behaviour that have occurred over time. WealthScapes 2009 is just the latest example of our commitment to build and continually enhance the best data products for our clients.”
Among the financial and investments statistics in WealthScapes 2009 are average net worth, income distribution, disposable and discretionary income, savings by type, investments by type (stocks, bonds, GICs and mutual funds), RRSP components of investments, mortgages, loans, lines of credit and credit card accounts. WealthScapes 2009 data are available at all levels of geography—including six-digit postal codes—and in all popular formats, such as XLS, MDB, DBF and CSV.
In the financial marketplace, the WealthScapes dataset helps companies calculate the potential for specific products like mortgages, estimate the wallet share of mutual funds in a trade area and identify consumer segments receptive to term deposits or GICs. The two years of trending data also provide users with valuable insights into how consumers and markets are reacting to the downturn to help marketers develop differentiated strategies, products and messages to suit their changing financial needs.
To ensure the accuracy of WealthScapes 2009, Environics Analytics (EA) partnered with finance expert Colin Deane, the managing director of Analytica Management and Consulting who oversaw the creation of the renowned Ernst & Young Wealth Report. His expertise aided EA’s chief methodologist, Dr. Tony Lea, in selecting and interpreting the most rigorous and authoritative control totals available for Canada and the provinces. EA’s financial estimates were generated not using geodemographic cluster-based rates but rather on each DA’s unique attributes. The data can be used for direct marketing or aggregated to precise estimates for bank and retail trade areas and sales territories.
“Whether you’re a bank, a retailer or a not-for-profit, WealthScapes will help you make smarter marketing decisions,” says Dr. Lea. “These data provide insight into the different ways Canadians are responding to the changing economic situation. With WealthScapes 2009, companies will better understand how to modify their marketing efforts accordingly.”
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Contact: Catherine Pearson, Vice President
Environics Analytics
(416) 969-2835
catherine.pearson@environicsanalytics.ca
USING SEGMENTATION TO FIND UNLIKELY DONORS
Nonprofits should expect the unexpected and be willing to respond accordingly
Conventional fundraising wisdom holds that the average donor is a 65-year-old woman with middle to low income and modest education, according to direct marketing expert Gilles Roy. But when one of his clients, the Cancer Research Society (CRS), analyzed its transactional data of 180,000 donors and classified them using Environics Analytics (EA) PRIZM lifestyle segmentation codes, the nonprofit found three different types of contributors, including an upscale segment whose incomes were nearly $100,000. And when SOS Children’s Villages used PRIZM to analyze its best donors, it discovered a segment consisting of young urban males with upscale jobs, high-rise apartments and trendy lifestyles.
Surprising insights like these are commonplace among users of PRIZM, which classifies Canadian households into 66 distinct lifestyle types—with names like Cosmopolitan Elite, Asian Affluence and Bon Vivants—based on demographics and psychographic social values. Fundraisers use a six-digit postal code to link individuals to a vast array of neighbourhood-level information—from favourite leisure activities and media use, to shopping preferences and donation behaviour, whether they’re eager to help the environment or passionate about the arts. By classifying an entire donor database, charities can determine their most valuable contributors, develop profitable target groups and then, customize marketing and messaging to those most likely to respond to their appeals.
New targets
But often, the first step for not-for-profits is to let go of their preconceived notions of who donates and where they’ll find new contributors.
Such was the case with CRS, which for more than 60 years has funded basic cancer research in Canada with the goal of improving prevention and treatment, and eventually discovering a cure. Among the target groups of active contributors PRIZM identified, analysts uncovered an affluent group, dubbed “Educated Urbanites,” whose donors are middle-aged, have children, own their homes and report six-figure incomes—considerably affluent types. “They were unlike anyone we’d normally mailed to,” recalls Roy.
Based on this analysis, CRS launched a direct marketing campaign using three different letters tailored to its three target groups. And the results were nothing less than impressive. A mail drop of over 600,000 pieces yielded a 19.2 percent increase in revenue per Englishspeaking prospects and generated 13.5 percent more donors. Among French prospects, revenue per name jumped by 68.6 percent and the number of donors increased by nearly 59 percent. “The improvement was tremendous,” emphasizes Roy.
At SOS Children’s Villages (SOS), an international organization that cares for orphaned and abandoned children, marketing managers believed most of their donors were middle-class, middle-aged mothers living in suburbia. But when SOS undertook a marketing project to better understand its best donors and attract similar individuals, the charity discovered an unlikely donor group of young urban males. The reason for this group’s involvement stemmed, in part, from the celebrity spokesperson SOS chose in 2005 to publicize its efforts to build homes for orphaned and abandoned children: Mike Holmes. Holmes is a Canadian contractor known best for his popular home improvement TV show “Holmes on Homes.”
In the following months, SOS’s direct response TV (DRTV) campaign featured Holmes discussing the organization’s important work while he renovated a home. Wearing his trademark workmen’s overalls, the rugged celebrity spokesman appeared in two-minute spots aired on cable channels like the Outdoor Life Network and the History Channel. Soon, donations began to pick up and, much to the charity’s surprise, many cheques came from men with city addresses. In fact, a PRIZM analysis indicated contributions were originating with young singles and married couples in clusters like Young Digerati, Electric Avenues and Grads & Pads. (These well-educated professionals pursue active lifestyles—working out, enjoying the arts and going to bars and nightclubs. PRIZM’s values research showed them to be open-minded towards other people and very concerned about health. And a media analysis showed that they favour cable news networks, the technology and sports sections of newspapers and magazines that cover business and finance.)
The findings were undeniable, so SOS adjusted its marketing to better target young, male contributors. The charity rewrote its fundraising appeals to highlight its global reach and mission to build sound homes that protect the health and safety of children. SOS marketers also altered their media buy to include cable channels, like HGTV and CTV Newsnet, which were preferred by the Holmes-inspired group. The revised media campaign resonated with contributors. According to Daniel Loftus, integrated sponsorship program manager for SOS Children’s Villages, donations increased 40 percent annually after the Mike Holmes campaign began. And the group scored a year-over-year retention rate of 90 percent among its new child sponsor donors. “The DRTV campaign floated all boats,” Loftus notes, referring to its impact on a number of SOS donor groups. “But it was especially powerful with young men.”
Expanded horizons
Marketers like Loftus believe that SOS’s experience with young male donors can provide valuable lessons for other not-for-profits and philanthropic groups: If fundraisers can expand traditional ideas of who donates to charities, they may be pleasantly surprised by what segmentation systems reveal. And previously untapped segments can be extremely generous. Because relatively few charities target young males as potential donors, Loftus says, “You can reach them at a reasonable cost per acquisition point. And once they make a commitment, they’re not easily swayed away.”
Just as valuable, he believes, is using marketing analytics to better understand and connect with a group’s donor base. Loftus says that posing survey questions to a donor traditionally results in a dropoff in the amount of the contribution. Not so with PRIZM. “All we need is a donor’s postal code to find out who they are and what they’re interested in,” he adds. Armed with those insights, nonprofits should expect the unexpected when it comes to understanding their donors and be willing to respond accordingly.
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At Environics Analytics, Peter Baker and Rupen Seoni are vice presidents who work with clients in the fundraising sector.
SRC USERS GATHER AT EXTEND THE REACH CONFERENCE
Nora Parker -- (Directions Magazine) -- March 25, 2009 --SRC held its Extend the Reach (Extend 09) conference last week in Broomfield, Colorado. Approximately 150 people attended the event, which was aimed at SRC users and partners. The users with whom I spoke were unanimously enthusiastic about SRC's offerings, especially Alteryx.
I attended presentations by several user organizations and strategic partners including Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions, Buxton, Environics Analytics and Quizno's. Arrow Electronics' Computing Services is a $4.8 billion "middle man" for computer components such as semi-conductors and chipsets, and a reseller of IBM, HP and Sun Microsystems computers. It is a division of Arrow Electronics, a $16 billion Fortune 200 company. The division sells products to a large supply chain of resellers. According to Eliot Arnold, marketing manager of the U.S. Federal Government Division, the company's historic business model of simply moving products from suppliers to resellers, who then moved them to end-users, was in the process of dying. The company needed a new strategy to keep its customer base of resellers.
"We've incubated ideas, and identified that data and intelligence are going to save our business," he said. The company is developing applications using Alteryx, referred to at the meeting as a "geographic business intelligence platform," to leverage historic data about the supply chain and provide actionable information to resellers. "Alteryx has been a really flexible agent to allow us to maneuver off legacy systems and on to new applications," he added. Arnold's colleague, Anthony Borovica, finance manager for the company's IBM division, explained further: "About 18 months ago, we implemented a mid-market strategy to help resellers sell more product. We had 5 million transaction records - four years worth of data. We wanted to link the customer record to a DUNS record [a number issued by Dun & Bradstreet to track information about a company] so we could tell what industry the customer was in [by linking to the Dun & Bradstreet-recorded SIC code]. Without Alteryx, we would have had to do that manually. With Alteryx, we've been able to supply this kind of analytics to many IBM partners." The idea was to retain reseller customers by helping them sell better, and the analytics Arrow supplied allowed them to identify which industry segments were their best customers. "We've got the only database that can do this for our resellers," he concluded. The project is in its early stages, but the company plans to roll out similar applications for its other divisions. Borovica mentioned they haven't even started to work with the spatial analytics in the product yet.
Environics Analytics, a Canadian-based micromarketing services company, has a new solution based on Alteryx (press release), according to its president, Jan Kestle. She described Envision as a Web-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) micromarketing application that will generate sophisticated site analytics reports. Kestle said the tool allows users to access the highly complex mathematical modeling required for some of the outputs in a SaaS environment, something which has not been possible before. "A 15-minute session can generate a lot of reporting - trade areas with distance decay, segmentation profiles, etc. - we can offer just about anything you'd want in a trade area analysis," she said.
I was given an Alteryx demo by SRC's Bill Flanagan, vice president of Professional Services, and my best analogy is that Alteryx is like a "sandbox" with shovels, buckets, little toy flags, jugs of water, scrapers, extra sand, and anything else you might like to play with in and around the sandbox. Instead of building sand castles, you're building applications that link databases and spatial operations. You build an old-fashioned flow-chart as you go, and can check results at any point in the process. Those applications can then be served out over the Internet using Alteryx Connect. Alteryx (free eval) can be used by 1) end-user organizations that have personnel who understand fairly complex spatial analytics; 2) SRC's professional services group; or 3) third-party resellers. feast
I found Alteryx to be one of the more intriguing offerings in the "business geographics space" in recent memory, and the lofty label of "geographic business intelligence platform" does not overstate the case.
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SRC ANNOUNCES CLIENT AND PARTNER AWARDS AT EXTEND 2009 CONFERENCE
Award winners recognized for application innovation, measurable business results
SRC, LLC, the leading provider of Geographic Business Intelligence™ technology, presented its SRC Client and Partner Awards this week at the company’s Extend 2009 global customer and partner conference at the Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield, Colo.
Eight customers and partners were recognized for demonstrating superior results using SRC technology as they relate to Geographic Business Intelligence™ in their specific industries. Award recipients for 2009 include:
- Jones Lang LaSalle – Best Practices, Geographic Business Intelligence: For implementing a seamless, automated site-analysis and advanced labor force modeling process within Alteryx to serve clients worldwide.
- Walmart – Best Practices, Alteryx Spatial: For invention and mastery in the realm of spatial analytics as applied using Alteryx to deliver leading marketing, site-selection and customer loyalty solutions.
- Buxton – Best Practices, Alteryx Enterprise: For leveraging Alteryx as an enterprise-wide workflow and data analysis platform, serving decision makers at every level of the organization.
- AT&T Mobility – Best Practices, Innovation with Alteryx: For harnessing the speed and massive data throughput capabilities of Alteryx to solve network and signal coverage problems beyond the scope of other tools.
- Synergos Technologies – Data Partner of the Year: For bringing unmatched value in advanced data products and projections for each SRC customer, partner, and reseller.
- Quiznos – Best Practices, Alteryx Wizards: For pushing the envelope on innovation in the use and deployment of Alteryx Wizards.
- Environics Analytics – International Partner of the Year: For applying SRC technologies with the precision and knowledge of a best-of-breed partner in the international arena.
- Mapping Analytics – Partner of the Year: For serving a critical role in extending the power and application of SRC technology to worldclass clients and customers.
“SRC’s customers and partners are doing amazing work with geospatial technology, and we are proud to recognize their efforts,” said Dean Stoecker, SRC chief executive officer. “These innovations are helping companies everywhere make the smartest use of their data to cut costs and maximize revenue during this challenging economy.”
The SRC Client and Partner Awards are given annually to the organizations that have most effectively deployed SRC technologies into their business practices or have demonstrated expertise to help SRC continue to provide the best solutions to its customers.
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SCORING POINTS WITH NEWER CANADIANS
Broadcasting hockey in Punjabi is just one way firms are tapping diverse - and lucrative - consumer groups
Watching National Hockey League games used to be known as something only white Canadian guys do. But, it turns out, a lot of newcomers from Karachi and Mumbai tune in too.
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment was amazed to discover that South Asians love hockey. Now, the sports conglomerate is adjusting its marketing strategy to fit the country's rapidly changing demographics, ensuring hockey remains Canada's national game. Tactics include broadcasting NHL games in Punjabi, refurbishing rinks in communities with high concentrations of new Canadians and touring a mobile "Leafs dressing room" that lets fans "touch and feel the experience of the Leafs."
MLSE's reach into new markets reflects a broader trend of multicultural marketing, as everyone from accounting firms and banks to arts organizations and fitness clubs tap into the country's new - and lucrative - consumer groups.
Sixteen per cent of Canada's total population are visible minorities, a proportion that is expected to grow to one-fifth by 2017, according to Statistics Canada. In the Greater Toronto Area, visible minorities already account for 43 per cent of the population, and 42 per cent in Vancouver. Most were born outside Canada.
But there is diversity within diversity. And understanding cultural nuance is key to penetrating these new markets, says Jan Kestle, founder and president of Environics Analytics.
Last month, the Toronto-based marketing company launched a microtargeting tool, called Locate Diversity, that enables companies and organizations to read the consumer habits of ethnic communities. With it, they can pinpoint who is most likely to take a Caribbean cruise, buy a Mercedes-Benz, drink microbrewery beer, shop at Banana Republic and use online dating services.
"The nation's diversity is an old story," Ms. Kestle says. "But the sheer size of Canada's ethnic population means one-size marketing campaigns no longer fit. You need to understand the tastes and needs of different communities."
Locate Diversity uses a sophisticated computer market segmentation program, PRIZM C2, which incorporates government estimates, immigration, economic and psychographic data to classify Statscan's 54,000 neighbourhoods into one of 66 lifestyle types. Category names include "Park Bench Seniors" and "Villes Tranquilles," a working-class Francophone cluster.
Thirteen of these groups are ethnically diverse, with between one-third and-two thirds of residents born outside the country. They are located mostly in Vancouver and Toronto.
MLSE is using the program to leverage Toronto's shifting demographics to its advantage not only with the Leafs, but with the National Basketball Association's Raptors and Toronto FC, Canada's first Major League Soccer team. "A lot of new Canadians really want to be a part of Canadian culture and they can make an emotional connection through sports," company spokeswoman Rajani Kamath says.
One of the programs, Hockey in the Neighbourhood, provides equipment and ice time to first- and second-generation young people who have never played the game. MLSE is also involved in community outreach: Leafs right winger Jamal Mayers dropped by his alma mater this week, Toronto's Holy Name Catholic School, to connect with the diverse student body.
It's not just MLSE tapping into a potential new hockey audience. CBC Sports now broadcasts some NHL games in Punjabi, Cantonese and Italian. The Punjabi broadcasts are so popular they've been picked up by Rogers in Toronto and Shaw in Vancouver, turning hosts Parminder Singh and Harnarayan Singh into celebrities.
Other companies have introduced similar marketing efforts. Vancouver City Savings Credit Union sponsors events such as Vaisakhi, a Sikh festival, in Surrey, B.C., spokeswoman Kelly McNeill-Sproxton says. Vancity also hires people who speak Punjabi, Mandarin, Italian and other languages.
The University of Toronto's alumni association has used the Environics Analytics program to delve into the demographics of its 466,000 graduates. As a result, one recent social event, featuring a gospel singer and Caribbean drum ensemble, was targeted at the Black Alumni Association. An "Obama" panel, to highlight the significance of the new U.S. president, is planned for later this spring. Fifty-nine per cent of students at the university are visible minorities.
The YMCA in Toronto recently hired an ad firm specializing in multicultural marketing to help boost markets for its 250 locations in the GTA. Among the initiatives: an indoor cricket field at the Brampton location; expanded child care to accommodate immigrant entrepreneurs with later hours; and more martial-arts programming. When the Y opened a new location in Markham last year, it recruited 14,000 new members through ads in Chinese-language media and a focus on multigenerational families, says Medhat Mahda, a senior vice-president at the association.
Companies that stay in touch with new audiences will maintain their edge, experts say. "Newcomers and minority groups are a lucrative demographic," says Minelle Mahtani, a University of Toronto geography professor.
"It goes without saying, but of course people of colour also buy beer and purchase sneakers. It makes good business sense."
Who's in the 'hood
Canada's 13 ethnically diverse neighbourhoods, as described by Locate Diversity.
Asian Affluence: Wealthy, suburban Chinese families who immigrated in the 1980s and 1990s. They embrace new technology, love to travel and shop at Holt Renfrew.
Furs and Philanthropy: Upscale, middle-aged and older families. They include first- and second-generation Jews and Russian émigrés, and feature empty nesters, widows and larger families concentrated in big-city neighbourhoods who favour a "leisure-intensive" lifestyle.
Continental Culture: Upper-middle-class first- and second-generation immigrants from Italy, Greece and Portugal. They enjoy opera, gourmet food stores and antique shows.
Cluttered Nests: Upper-middle-class urban couples and multigenerational families from Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. They enjoy horse racing and ski shows.
Asian Up-and-Comers: Successful, middle-aged Asian families who are recent arrivals. They attend ballet and like to shop online and at Smart Set.
South Asian Society: Younger, upper-middle-class South Asian families who are seeking economic prosperity in suburban Canada. They include high numbers of blacks, Filipinos and Latin Americans who enjoy sports, auto shows and video arcades.
Suburban Rows: Younger, thriving immigrant families, many of whom work in service-sector jobs and live in row and semi-detached homes. They shun shopping.
New Italy: Established multiethnic couples who enjoy Old-World lifestyles, attend soccer matches, drink European wine and visit their native countries.
Old-World Style: A mix of ages, housing styles and ethnicities, these newcomers are middle class, but worry about financial uncertainty.
Urban Spice: A cluster of well-educated immigrant gateway communities, including blacks, Arabs and immigrants from Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Rooms with a View: Young ethnic singles in urban high-rises in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, including new immigrants from Latin America, Asia, South Asia and the Middle East.
Newcomers Rising: Recent immigrants from South Asia, Latin America and the Middle East who love basketball and are facing hard economic times.
Big City Blues: A wide mix of ethnicities and races, including Indian, Greek, black and Latino, with low incomes, modest educations and uncertain employment.
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LIBS SHOP FOR 'PSYCHOGRAPHIC' VOTER TARGETING SOFTWARE
Grit Leader Michael Ignatieff wants to buy a Barack Obama U.S. campaign-style voter targeting system
By Harris MacLeod
The federal Liberals are looking to Canada's ethno-cultural communities, as well as at state-of-the-art voter targeting software to sell more memberships and revamp their formerly moribund fundraising efforts.New Liberal Party National Director Rocco Rossi, a longtime confidante of new Leader Michael Ignatieff (Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Ont.) and the former head of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, said the party is hoping to buy software similar to that used by U.S. President Barack Obama's presidential election campaign.
He said Liberals are shopping around in different jurisdictions to find software that is both "best in class" and "affordable."
Mr. Rossi said he would prefer to buy used software from another campaign that the Liberals could then customize to suit their own needs because it would be less costly than creating their own program.
It was recently reported that the Liberal Party bought software at a discount from the U.S. Democratic Party, however, the party says this is incorrect and they are still exploring their options.
"We're looking at lessons learned in the U.K., in Australia, the U.S.," Mr. Rossi told The Hill Times. "We're turning over every rock to give ourselves the best shot at competing in the 21st Century."
Jan Kestle, president of Environics Analytics, a company that provides voter-targeting services in Canada, said the cost of these type of systems can vary greatly depending on the scope and level of complexity and the amount of data inputted into the software.
"You might be able to buy just the software for $20,000, but what you need is a custom implementation of it with data and if you're counting the data charges it depends on which data you purchase to go with it. We have databases that focus just on demographics, others that focus on social values, others that focus on media behaviours, and depending on which of those you add you can get up into the $200,000 range, or you can do something for $50,000. If you buy a whole bunch of extra lists data, it could be even more than $200,000," Ms. Kestle said.
Greg Elmer, who is the Bell Globemedia Research Chair at Ryerson University, said the kind of voter-targeting software that was used by Mr. Obama's election campaigns has a "marketing-like imperative" whereby potential voters are profiled using "psychographic" information. Political parties use these programs to classify people based on their likes and dislikes by tapping into various information databases, such as census and credit card data, to determine the traits of people who are likely to vote for them. Mr. Elmer said these systems also use GIS (geographic information systems) mapping software that can show exactly where such likely voters live.
Mr. Elmer added that the technology is "flexible" in that it can factor in "what if" scenarios to determine how voting intentions might change based on changes to a party's political platform.
"It's quite ironic when parties and leaders proclaim to run 50-state strategies, or 308-seat strategies, like the Liberals now, when in fact they are adopting and deploying profiling systems that tell them what Canadian voters they should ignore," said Mr. Elmer in an email to The Hill Times.
The Liberal Party is still playing catch up in using technology to target voters, however, as the Conservatives have been using these types of software systems for sometime. The Tories even have names for different subgroups of Canadian voters, for instance "Sandra," the affluent small 'l' liberal, and "Gladys," the struggling traditionalist.
The Liberals have had a recent bump in the polls since former leader Stéphane Dion (Saint-Laurent-Cartierville, Que.) was replaced by Mr. Ignatieff, and are now neck-and-neck with Stephen Harper's (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) governing Conservatives. A Strategic Counsel poll conducted between Feb. 5 and Feb. 9 had the Tories, at 32 per cent, and the Grits, at 33 per cent, support nationally.
But the Liberals have lagged astonishingly far behind the Conservatives in fundraising for years, particularly under the new fundraising laws brought in by Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien that eliminated corporate donations. While the Liberals still trail the Conservatives by millions ($6-million versus $21-million in 2008), they were the only party to see a substantial increase in dollars raised in the last quarter of 2008, with donations increasing by 23 per cent to $2.3-million from $1.9-million.
The Liberals' post-election debt is estimated to be between $2-million and $3-million. The party will receive approximately $1.7-million from the per-vote pubic subsidy at the beginning of the new fiscal quarter, on April 1, and the Tories will get $2.5-million.
Mr. Rossi attributed his party's better polling and fundraising numbers to Mr. Ignatieff's leadership, and said that his strategy going forward will be to make contact with more "lapsed" and "potential" Liberals by "mining every list available." He said this would include lists of people who joined Facebook groups and signed petitions in support of the aborted coalition government agreement between the Liberal Party, under Mr. Dion, and the NDP.
The Liberal Party wants to "reconnect" with certain ethno-cultural communities, which have historically been part of their support base but under Mr. Harper's Conservatives have begun to drift towards the Tories. Mr. Rossi said engaging "ambassadors" from within ethnic group would be key to the party's strategy.
"No amount of advertising can compare with the power of one-to-one marketing, when a friend tells a friend, a family member tells a family member, a neighbour tells a neighbour about something," said Mr. Rossi.
This strategy has already been effectively capitalized on by the Conservatives, however, who use a technique known as "FRAN" (Friends, Relatives, Acquaintances, and Neighbours) to not only make contact with potential voters, but also to collect potentially useful information.
British Columbia Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh (Vancouver South, B.C.), a former premier and federal Cabinet minister, who was born in India, said he's been meeting with prominent members of Vancouver's Chinese-Canadian community to try and determine how the party can best connect with the group, which has been aggressively and successfully pursued by the Conservatives.
One example of this is the defeat of former Liberal MP Raymond Chan, the first Chinese-Canadian appointed to cabinet, by Conservative MP Alice Wong (Richmond, B.C.) in the last election.
"The most important thing they've been saying is that Chinese Canadians need to believe, and feel, and see that we care and that means presence in the community, with our leader and otherwise," said Mr. Dosanjh.
Mr. Ignatieff, who briefly taught at the University of British Columbia in the 1970s, has visited B.C. twice since he became leader and will again in March. Mr. Dosanjh has floated the idea in caucus of Liberal MPs participating in clean-up projects in downtown Vancouver to help raise the party's profile in the city, however, he said this is only a proposal and is not "etched in stone."
Mr. Dosanjh, who won his own riding by a razor-thin 20 votes in the last election, acknowledged there is a perception that Chinese-Canadians, particularly recent immigrants, tend to be more Conservative on fiscal and social issues, which could present a problem for the more left-leaning Liberals. He said that economic management is very important to the community, however, and he believes his party can score points in this area.
Mr. Dosanjh said he believes Mr. Dion's carbon tax proposal, as well as questions about his leadership abilities are what held the party back with ethno-cultural communities in B.C., which has its own provincial carbon tax, in the last election. He said that the carbon tax is "gone" from the party's platform, and that Mr. Ignatieff is defining himself as a strong leader.
"It really depends on the fortunes of the party, in general terms. I think with our new leader there is a bit of an up-tick in terms of our numbers and with that increase in support I think our saleability increases in the Chinese community...In the last election [we had] an inability to connect with Canadians generally, particularly with Chinese-Canadians, and I believe that that can be turned around and it's beginning to turn around with the new leadership."
Ms. Kestle cautioned, however, that for political parties there is no "push-button solution" and while voter-targeting systems can be incredibly useful, as demonstrated by the Conservatives, it's not 100 per cent.
"If you say this area is full of people from a certain ethnic background and they tend to vote Liberal and then if you expect to knock on every door and find a Liberal supporter behind that, that's not going to happen."
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NEW MICROMARKETING TOOLS HELP FUNDRAISERS CONNECT WITH DONORS
Peter Baker
But in today’s tight economy, this crowded landscape creates daunting challenges for nonprofits seeking to identify new donors and craft more compelling fundraising appeals. They need to spend their money wisely and not waste direct mail resources on people who are not likely to respond.
Know your prospects even before meeting them
A series of new products from Environics Analytics offers the fundraising community better intelligence about current donors. One product, PRIZM C2, is an update of the company’s segmentation system that classifies all Canadians into one of 66 lifestyle types—with names like Furs & Philanthropy, Grey Pride, Les Chics and Young Digerati. Reflecting the diversity of Canadian society, PRIZM C2 features 15 francophone segments and 13 multicultural ones.
Your donors may not be so typical
One recent beneficiary of a PRIZM-based marketing analysis was the Cancer Research Society. Conventional wisdom in the fundraising business holds that the average donor is a 65-year-old woman with middle to low income and modest education, according to CRS direct marketing senior advisor Gilles Roy. But when the CRS analyzed the transactional data of 180,000 donors and classified them by PRIZM codes, the organization found three types of contributors, including a decidedly upscale segment called Educated Urbanites.Those donors are middle-aged, have children, own their homes and report an average income of nearly $100,000—up in the stratosphere compared to the “typical” donor. And an analysis of this group’s values found that they like connecting with people, believe that all environmental phenomena are interrelated and want to have control over their lives. “They were unlike anyone we’d normally mailed with lists of our typical donors,” Roy recalls.
CRS launched a direct marketing campaign, targeting lists and locations with its three groups and mailing over 600,000 pieces using three different letters. Among English-speaking prospects, revenue per name increased by 19.2% and generated 13.5% more donors. For French-speaking prospects, revenue per name jumped by 68.6% and the number of donors increased by nearly 59%. “The first thing I found was an improvement in our ability to raise money by selecting better lists and geographic areas for our donor prospecting,” says Roy. “The improvement was tremendous.”
Data show diversity and population shifts
PRIZM C2 includes demographic data from the 2006 Census, newly released Social Values data from Environics Research and EA’s 2009 Demographic Estimates and Projections database. It reflects recent demographic changes that highlight the complexity of the Canadian populace. For instance, the wealthiest segment, Cosmopolitan Elite, has shifted from a traditionally older, urban group to a somewhat younger segment as a result of middle-aged families moving to ritzy neighbourhoods like Rosedale in Toronto and Mount Royal in Calgary. Today there are more Cosmopolitan Elite families in Calgary than Vancouver—a fact worth noting by fundraisers seeking only the wealthiest of Canada’s affluent.The increasing diversity of Canada’s population, now 20% foreign-born, is reflected in PRIZM C2, and the system also illustrates the diversity within ethnic groups. For example, over 1.2 million South Asians live in Canada, their number having increased between the last two censuses at a rate seven times faster than that of the general population.
But not all members of this group live alike. The PRIZM C2 type known as #21 South Asian Society (young, upper-middle-class South Asian families) is home to about a quarter of Canada's South Asian population. Another 50% live in above-average concentrations in 16 other segments—ranging in socioeconomic status from wealthy #3 to downscale #64—with significant concentrations in #11 Pets & PCs (large upscale suburban families) and #46 Newcomers Rising (young, downscale city immigrants). Fundraisers looking to reach South Asians need to understand the diversity within the community in order to develop different messages and strategies to reach their best prospects.
Specialized tools for wealth analysis, smaller charities
Another new product, WealthScapes, helps nonprofits better determine the wealth of prospective donors. Developed from an array of financial, wealth, credit, taxfiler and real estate data, WealthScapes is essentially a balance sheet of assets and liabilities for every neighbourhood in Canada. Fundraisers can use it to help understand the fiscal situation of potential contributors. Those prospects with extensive real estate holdings or hefty stock portfolios may be receptive to appeals that discuss charitable donations of appreciated property or even bequests. In other neighbourhoods, appeals that feature various levels of donations—such as for singles, couples, students or families—may prove more effective.If all of these options sound too advanced for a small fundraising operation, EA has also launched a new, easy-to-use, online micromarketing tool called Envision that makes advanced marketing analytics affordable. Designed to use both client data and a variety of marketing databases, Envision features a suite of “one-click business applications” for donor insights and media strategies. With its simple point-and-click interface, Envision allows users to create custom maps, donor profiles and executive summary reports along with rankings for markets, behaviours and products. Fundraisers and nonprofits can classify their best donors, find the most promising prospects and develop marketing campaigns at the national, regional and local levels.
And because Envision was developed specifically for the Canadian marketplace by veteran research analysts, modelling statisticians and marketing professionals from Canada, it’s designed to help fundraisers speak the language of their prospective donors—both literally and figuratively.
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For further information please contact:
Peter Baker
VP of Business Development
416-969-2784
peter.baker@environicsanalytics.ca
AND THE PERSON WE ADMIRE MOST ...
Who will be the elusive heir of Trudeau and the Canadian cousin of Obama?
If it is a cliché to fawn over Barack Obama's intelligence, charisma and symbolic power, it is by now as great a cliché to remind ourselves of the many serious challenges he faces, and the vast potential for disappointment with his administration. Rationally, both Canadians and Americans know the man is only human – a politician, even! But in the current cultural imagination, there is little room for nuance: Mr. Obama is an icon.
Some public figures become more than the sum of their parts; a combination of their words, deeds and personal histories comes to resonate with other people in a way that exceeds specific achievements or attributes. To say we admire this or that person is to say something about our own personal values and beliefs.
In Environics' last social values survey in the fall of 2008, we asked Canadians to name the person they admired most, living or dead. This being Rick Mercer's Canada, when my colleagues began sifting through the answers, they found that 16 people had answered “living” and two had said “dead.”
In all, of the 2,066 people surveyed, 1,687 people named 443 icons. Since there was no list of names to choose from, the replies were extremely varied – and sometimes personal. Touchingly, “my father” got 22 votes and “my mother” 16.
The survey was fielded before the U.S. election, but even as a presidential candidate Mr. Obama attracted 40 votes. This tally was only good enough to get him into ninth place, but it did place him well ahead of the highest-ranking current Canadian politician: Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who gained 13 votes for 26th place.
A number of Canadians picked their most admired figures from Parliaments past: Tommy Douglas tied Mr. Harper's 13 votes, as did Nobel Prize winner Lester Pearson. John Diefenbaker was only one vote behind. The monarch who presided over all these men's careers, Queen Elizabeth II, outstripped them handily with 21 votes. (The late Diana, Princess of Wales, received 40.)
Some leadership only exerts a force on politics from the outside, by virtue of its moral or spiritual force. Mahatma Gandhi came in third overall with 68 votes. (Winston Churchill might be surprised to learn that this diminutive Indian attracted more votes than his own 63 among citizens of his favourite dominion.)
Another leader whose power was rooted in religion but brought to bear on worldly problems was Mother Teresa, who placed second overall with 87 votes. The woman who became a symbol of ministering to the poorest and most socially marginalized people attracted more than three times as many votes as the official leader of her faith: Pope Benedict XVI was named by 25 Canadians and came in 14th. Indeed, Mother Teresa attracted more votes than that other leader of her faith: Jesus was named by 61 Canadians as the object of their greatest admiration. In this poll, Jesus did prove more popular than the Beatles: John (Imagine No Religion) Lennon was 24th with 13 votes.
Lest anyone imagine that admiration for figures such as Mother Teresa and the Pope is driven primarily by Canada's distinct society with its Roman Catholic heritage, I must report that a secular figure, René Lévesque, topped the list of figures Quebeckers admired. The patriarch of the Quebec independence movement took 59 votes, exceeding all religious figures, including Jesus. Indeed, the 59 votes he attracted in Quebec (he received no votes elsewhere) were enough to put him in sixth place overall.
Careful readers – and those who have not yet fainted at this list that has Gandhi, Jesus and Diana sitting cheek by jowl – will have noted that I have coyly avoided naming the individual cited by the greatest number of Canadians as the person, living or dead, they admire most. First place goes to our own dashing political icon, Pierre Trudeau, named by 121 Canadians.
It seems Mr. Trudeau set the standard of political leadership in Canada (with the exception of Mr. Lévesque in Quebec), and others since – even if they have managed the books better and made momentous decisions such as Jean Chrétien's refusal to participate in the Iraq war (Mr. Chrétien received two votes) – have proved somehow lacking in the intangibles that inspire admiration long after one has departed from the headlines or even the Earth.
The putative heir to the Trudeau legacy is new Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, but his persona has yet to figure in the public mind (no votes in our poll). The member from Harvard has a way to go not just to catch up to Stephen Harper but to beat the top-ranking Canadian who is not a politician: David Suzuki, our homegrown green icon, got 18 mentions and finished just behind the Queen.
This little item is more fun than it is serious social science. But amid a great deal of reflection on leadership in Canada – inspired by Mr. Obama, the competent but unmagnetic Mr. Harper, the ineffable Stéphane Dion, the brilliant but untested Mr. Ignatieff – this exercise provides an unusual window into the values of Canadians as expressed through personified ideals.
In a deeply secular society, for instance, it is interesting to see how many of our most admired figures are religious people. Do those who chose Mother Teresa think of her as a Catholic first or simply as a person of compassion? Do those who chose Gandhi think of him as a Hindu or as the embodiment of non-violence? Leaders are human beings, with all the complexity that entails. Feelings of affinity and admiration for them are rooted in similarly ambiguous allegiances.
Meantime, Canadians will be searching for the elusive heir of Mr. Trudeau and the Canadian cousin of Mr. Obama. Ideally, this person will bear faint traces of Churchill, Diana – oh, and did I mention Oprah Winfrey in 10th place? At the same time, leaders must come across as authentically, easily, uniquely themselves. No wonder it's so hard to get ahead in politics.
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Michael Adams is president of the Environics group of companies and the author of Unlikely Utopia: The Surprising Triumph of Canadian Pluralism.Go to this article
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS LAUNCHES NEW MICROTARGETING TOOL
Envision Combines Advanced Capabilities with Easy Online Interface
The release of Envision comes at a time when businesses and not-for-profits are struggling with challenges brought on by the global economic downturn. A recent Business Week survey of executives found that more than half believe that sophisticated analytics are critical to ensuring that their marketing dollars are well spent. Recognizing these needs, Environics Analytics has created an advanced but easy-to-use analytics tool to help marketers better reach their customers and prospects.
“This is the time for marketers to be smarter about how they spend their money,” says Jan Kestle, president of Environics Analytics. “Our Envision tool can help users efficiently find their best customers, whether the targeting is based on their lifestage, their assets, what language they speak at home or their views towards green products.”
At the heart of the new micromarketing tool is SRC’s Alteryx geographic business intelligence platform that produces fast and flexible analysis through rapid calculations, formulas and methodologies. With its simple point-and-click interface, Envision allows users to create custom maps, customer profiles and executive summary reports along with rankings for markets, behaviours and product consumption. Companies and not-for-profits can classify their best customers, find the most promising prospects and develop marketing campaigns at the national, regional and local levels.
Envision also draws on Canada’s most comprehensive set of demographic, marketing and media databases, offering EA’s newly updated segmentation system, PRIZM C2, just released Social Values from Environics Research and EA’s 2009 Demographic Estimates and Projections (DEP) database. It brings together key Canadian media and marketing databases through PRIZM C2 links to data from Statistics Canada*, PMB, BBM Canada, infoCanada, Polk, NADBank, TeleAtlas and Canadian Financial Monitor. Envision was developed specifically for the Canadian marketplace by veteran research analysts, modelling statisticians and marketing professionals.
“Envision leverages our years of experience in the field, including the lessons we learned regarding which variables Canadians want in a demographic report and how to choose the target clusters from a customer profile,” says developer Gary Wood, Vice President of Software Development for Environics Analytics. “The result is a powerful online platform that’s fast, affordable and easy to use. Everybody’s got a Web browser so there’s nothing to install. The average entry-level marketing analyst could learn how to use the system and be productive in about 15 minutes.” But Envision also addresses the needs of the company CEO: One of the unique features is that it produces an automated, 20-page high-level summary report that combines insightful text, maps and graphics as well as more traditional tables and charts.
Envision represents a significant improvement over traditional micromarketing systems, which are often complex and require highly trained technicians to operate. Envision was designed especially for marketers who want to quickly create maps and reports that help them understand the impact of specific variables such as daytime population, disposable income and distance travelled. Wood, a veteran developer of micromarketing software systems, saw a need for a web-based tool that, with a few clicks of the mouse, could produce multiple marketing reports and maps about a client’s customers and trade areas—and then archive them for later use.
“With typical desktop systems, you run a report, print it out and then it disappears,” says Wood. “But Envision archives the output so it’s always available—like the old mainframe computers. You can run eight reports, three maps and an executive summary, and then come back later to find them waiting for you. Envision can geocode thousands of records over the Internet in minutes.”
According to Jan Kestle, the new product represents an advance in information accessibility and application. “With Envision, we can customize both the data components and the functionality by industry, even for each client, helping our customers be more productive at a lower cost,” Kestle continues. “This is what businesses need in the best of times and even more so in our current economy. And this new software captures analytical methods that we’ve developed over decades from working with hundreds of customers in dozens of industries. So it’s exciting for us to put our expertise at our clients’ fingertips.”
* No confidential information about individuals, households or businesses have been provided by Statistics Canada.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS LAUNCHES NEW PRODUCTS TO HELP BUSINESSES TARGET THEIR CUSTOMERS
PRIZM C2 Updated to Include Latest Demographics and Social Values; Envision Promises Cost-Effective Online Micromarketing
The release of Envision comes at a time when businesses and not-for-profits are struggling with challenges brought on by the global economic downturn. A recent Business Week survey of executives found that more than half believe that sophisticated analytics are critical to ensuring that their marketing dollars are well spent. Recognizing these needs, Environics Analytics has created an advanced but easy-to-use analytics tool to help marketers better reach their customers and prospects.
“This is the time for marketers to be smarter about how they spend their money,” says Jan Kestle, president of Environics Analytics. “Our new products can help users efficiently find their best customers, whether the targeting is based on their lifestage, their assets, what language they speak at home or their views towards green products.”
Like its earlier version, PRIZM C2 classifies all Canadians into one of 66 lifestyle types—with names like Cosmopolitan Elite, Electric Avenues, Les Chics and Lunch at Tim’s—based on their demographics, lifestyles and Social Values. But this second-generation model reflects demographic and values shifts that have occurred between 2001 and 2006 and, thanks to 2009 DEP, includes accurate current-year demographics.
While the overall segmentation schema has not changed dramatically, PRIZM C2 captures subtle differences that are important to understanding the complexity of the Canadian populace. Many clusters have evolved. Cosmopolitan Elite, a traditionally older and wealthy lifestyle type, has grown somewhat younger as a result of the increase of well-off, middle-aged families in Alberta and upscale neighbourhoods like Toronto’s Rosedale. Pets & PCs, an upscale suburban group, has expanded in size and, now 5.2 percent of the population, is the largest cluster as a result of the growth in the suburbs of many major cities.
According to Kestle, PRIZM C2 is essential to the success of diversity marketing campaigns. Over 1.2 million South Asians live in Canada, their number having increased between the last two censuses at a rate seven times faster than that of the general population. PRIZM C2 identifies those neighbourhoods that are most South Asian: Cluster 21 South Asian Society is almost half South Asian and is home to about a quarter of Canada's South Asian population. But where do the rest live? PRIZM C2 shows that another 50 percent live in above-average concentrations in 16 other segments—ranging in socioeconomic status from number 3 (out of 66) to number 64. After South Asian Society, the largest concentrations are in suburban Cluster 11 Pets and PCs and downscale urban Cluster 46 Newcomers Rising. For marketers seeking to reach South Asian consumers, they need to understand the distinctive lifestyles in Clusters 11, 21 and 46.
"Within Canada’s large ethnocultural groups there is as much diversity as between the groups", explains Michael Adams, author of Unlikely Utopia and President and Founder of the Environics group. "Generational status, family structure, employment and, yes, even mindset, vary widely. The values and attitudes that we have been studying for over twenty-five years in Canada have helped us see this from an altitude of thirty-five thousand feet. With PRIZM C2, we can help marketers and policy advisors use these insights to better design their messages and programs on the ground."
As Adams continues, "While South Asian families in PRIZM C2’s Pets and PCs and South Asian Society segments will tighten their belts along with most Canadians in this economy, our findings suggest that these two groups do not exhibit the same degree of financial concern about the future as their compatriots living downtown, and downscale, in Newcomers Rising. Those highly educated newcomers have fallen thirteen rungs of sixty-six on the socioeconomic ladder. This is important information for consumer marketers but equally important for those in government and NGOs who need to know in which neighbourhoods to make those critical investments in these hard times.”
Envision, the company’s new microtargeting tool, uses a point-and-click interface to allow users to create custom maps, customer profiles and executive summary reports along with rankings for markets, behaviours and product consumption. Companies and not-for-profits can classify their best customers, and most important target segments, and thereby find the most promising prospects to develop marketing campaigns at the national, regional and local levels.
Envision also draws on Canada’s most comprehensive set of demographic, marketing and media databases, offering EA’s newly updated segmentation system, PRIZM C2, just-released Social Values from Environics Research and EA’s 2009 Demographic Estimates and Projections (DEP) database. It brings together key Canadian media and marketing databases through PRIZM C2 links to data from Statistics Canada*, PMB, BBM Canada, infoCanada, Polk, NADBank, TeleAtlas and Canadian Financial Monitor. Envision was developed specifically for the Canadian marketplace by veteran research analysts, modelling statisticians and marketing pros.
“Envision leverages our years of experience in the field, including the lessons we learned regarding which variables Canadians want in a demographic report and how to choose the target clusters from a customer profile,” says developer Gary Wood, Vice President of Software Development for Environics Analytics. “The result is a powerful online platform that’s fast, affordable and easy to use. Everybody’s got a web browser so there’s nothing to install. The average entry-level marketing analyst could learn how to use the system and be productive in about 15 minutes.” But Envision also addresses the needs of the company CEO: One of the unique features is that it produces an automated, 20-page high-level summary report that combines insightful text, maps and graphics as well as more traditional tables and charts.
According to Jan Kestle, the new product represents an advance in information accessibility and application. “With Envision, we can customize both the data components and the functionality by industry, even for each client, helping our customers be more productive at a lower cost,” Kestle continues. “This is what businesses need in the best of times and even more so in our current economy. And this new software captures analytical methods that we’ve developed over decades from working with hundreds of customers in dozens of industries. So it’s exciting for us to put our expertise at our clients’ fingertips.”
* No confidential information about individuals, households or businesses have been provided by Statistics Canada.
Among some of the many notable PRIZM C2 lifestyle types:
Upper-middle-class homeowners with school-aged children—that’s the brief on Upward Bound, an enviable lifestyle of large families and couples in metro areas across Canada. With almost equal numbers of university and high school graduates, this cluster is home to white-collar and service workers in management, government and technical fields. These child-filled households like to spend their leisure time getting exercise; jogging, skiing, doing aerobics and playing football are all popular. The middle-aged adults enjoy going out to community theatres, casinos, sporting events and rock concerts. But these admitted homebodies would rather spend a quiet evening at home than go out to a party.
Canada’s original wave of immigrants from Europe has given way to new populations arriving from Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. South Asian Society reflects this trend, consisting of younger, recent immigrants—45 percent are from South Asia—seeking economic prosperity in suburban Canada. Cluster households are characterized by mixed educations, skilled blue-collar and service jobs, upper-middle-class incomes and child-centred lifestyles. In neighbourhoods filled with semis, duplexes and low-rise apartments, families enjoy outdoor sports like basketball, baseball and soccer, as well as going to theme parks, video arcades and auto shows. Still making their way in Canadian popular culture—40 percent speak a non-official language—these residents have an above-average rate for getting a university degree with the hope of bettering their lives.
A working-class Francophone cluster, Villes Tranquilles can be found in the manufacturing towns of Quebec’s heartland. The middle-aged residents in this group tend to work in blue-collar and service industries, live in small houses and pursue down-to-earth lifestyles that revolve around their families. They take advantage of their rural settings for outdoorsy leisure activities: skiing, snowboarding, canoeing, power boating. Even with their lower-middle-class incomes, they can afford adult toys like ATVs and snowmobiles, and they enjoy going to a variety of shows, including skiing, golf, health and home exhibitions. Around the house, residents like to work out, maintain their cars and watch TV sports. As consumers, they describe themselves as materialists who shop at large malls, outlet malls and mail order outlets.
PARTIES GET SOPHISTICATED IN BID FOR IMMIGRANT VOTE
Voter-profile tool identifies individuals` backgrounds, values and political support, allowing strategists to hone their messages
The tool, developed by Environics, allows political strategists to fine-tune their message for voters at the neighbourhood level, helping candidates win key battleground ridings in Ontario and British Columbia, many of which have large ethnic communities.
“This tool not only gives you the big picture, but goes to a riding level and tells you which percentage of voter groups live in the riding and whether ethnicity is an issue,” said Jan Kestle, president of Environics Analytics.
She said client confidentiality prevented her identifying which three political parties are using her services.
There is a sudden demand for multicultural research tools such as this one, as Canada`s ethnic communities grow in size and political importance. Now that immigrants no longer vote exclusively for the Liberals, all parties are reaching out to them.
A thousand more votes for the Conservatives in Newton-North Delta, where 60 per cent of residents are visible minorities, could help the party win one of the extra 28 seats it needs to form a majority government. In 2006, Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal won the suburban Vancouver riding with 34.3 per cent of the vote, compared with 30.6 for the Tory candidate, and 32 per cent for the NDP.
“It`s a numbers game. The election can turn on a dime. Ethnics play a key role in this and happen to be living in the ridings that are close,” said David Crapper, president of Genesis Public Opinion Research Inc., the Conservatives` official pollster in the 2006 election.
The Conservative Party would not say whether it was using Environics` new tool. But the party is targeting certain ethnic groups, and has assembled a detailed database of voters in battleground ridings, and given fictional names to demographic segments in the electorate.
The Environics program breaks down voters into 18 groups, including suburban upscale ethnic and urban downscale ethnic, and provides a map of where they live in each of the 308 constituencies. Residents are assigned to a group based on their income level, age, job type, family type, ethnicity, and social values. The program then analyzes the 2006 election results through this lens to understand how much support each party received from each voter group, how large each group is, and where each one lives.
For example, in Newton-North Delta, suburban upscale ethnic voters comprised 64 per cent of eligible voters in the 2006 election. However they were 68 per cent of the Liberal vote and only 54 per cent of the Conservative vote in the riding.
Suburban upscale ethnics are described as recent immigrants from China, India, Pakistan and the Philippines, with white-collar and service-sector jobs. They tend to have children who play outdoor sports, own lots of computer electronics and enjoy rock concerts and amusement parks. They aren`t interested in ecology or status recognition, but are global in outlook, tend to be savers, and enjoy trying new products and services.
“This information helps candidates with messaging, how to talk to these people and what their core belief systems are,” said Ms. Kestle. For example, a candidate could emphasize crime, but not environmental issues, when talking to a suburban upscale ethnic audience.
Campaigns already have a good sense about the demographics of their supporters, through their own data bases and polls. But this tool allows them to go deeper, on a street by street level.
In Don Valley West, a highly diverse riding in northeast Toronto, a quarter of the riding`s voters were urban downscale ethnic in the 2006 election. Half of them supported the Liberals, while 21 per cent voted for both the Conservatives and the NDP.
Urban downscale ethnics are defined as young and single, or divorced single parents living in high-rise rental apartments. They are not interested in the environment, and don`t have a keen sense of social responsibility. However they are concerned about crime, have a strong need to escape the stresses of ordinary life and enjoy eating out.
This is just one of many new tools political parties are using to connect with immigrant voters. Parties are also placing ads in ethnic media, conducting Internet surveys aimed at tech-savvy newcomers who prefer to read rather than talk, and running focus groups in Punjabi and Mandarin.
Multicultural political polling and research has gone on for years in the United States, where Hispanics form 15 per cent of the population. In Quebec, research firms also ensure pollsters conduct interviews and focus groups not just in French, but in Québécois French, otherwise they get high refusal rates.
In the rest of Canada, it has been more difficult – and expensive – to conduct national surveys of immigrant voters in their mother tongue because of the diversity of languages.
Viewpoints Research, a Winnipeg-based polling firm, conducted focus groups in Punjabi and Cantonese for the NDP in the 2005 provincial B.C. election in Surrey, Burnaby and parts of Vancouver to understand the priorities of new Canadians.
“It helped the party win back a lot of seats in the Lower Mainland that they had lost in 2001,” said Leslie Turnbull, a partner with Viewpoints, the NDP`s official pollster. She found that immigrants from Hong Kong are concerned about access to health care and postsecondary education.
The Liberal Party has conducted polls in other languages at the riding level, says Michael Marzolini, president of Pollara, the Liberal Party`s pollster. “Every market segmentation you can find is important, be it ethnic background, income level, education, gender, home ownership,” he said.
In the past two years, retail giants such as Coca Cola, the Bank of Montreal and Microsoft have also invested in multicultural research and polling to understand the immigrant consumer. “The Chinese community likes to get to know the interviewer, so you have to build in 10 minutes of chit chat,” says John Wright, senior vice-president of Ipsos Reid, which has a division to conduct multilingual polls. “East Indians find face-to-face interviewing more important than phone interviewing.”
Greg Lyle, managing director of Innovative Research Inc., also does multilingual polling on behalf of corporate clients, including the B.C. Securities Commission. “Immigrants may be more reluctant to speak to a stranger about finances or political views than with someone who comes from their culture,” said Mr. Lyle.
“Political parties are becoming more interested in ethnic enclaves as they have grown, and different parties try to break into these groups.”
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POWERFUL VOTER TARGETING TOOL NOW AVAILABLE FOR CANDIDATES
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With insights into the political behaviours and values of each voter group, your campaign can drill down to see how voters behave at a riding or sub-riding level. And there’s still time to take advantage of this precision targeting tool. Order today and receive your profile within two days of our processing your order.
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For more information about the Political Microtargeting Profiles, contact Michael Dubrick at (416) 969-3538 or click here to see sample reports and maps. Political Microtargeting Profiles provides you with all the data necessary to develop campaign strategies that win elections.
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EA DEMOGRAPHER DOUG NORRIS TO PRESENT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2006 CENSUS
Census Expert Will Provide Comentary and Host Web Seminar on Major Findings from Year-Long Canadian Census Releases
Dr. Norris’s analysis will focus on the changing demographic trends, growth rates and geographic shifts of the Canadian population between 2001 and 2006. Among the highlights:
- The population grew by 5.4 percent to 31.6 million people—the fastest growth rate of any member of the G8 group of industrialized nations;
- Immigration fueled two-thirds of Canada’s population growth, with one in five now foreign-born—the highest proportion in the population since 1931;
- Many of these newcomers migrated from Asia and Middle East—as opposed to previous immigrants who came from Europe—and Canada is now home to 5 million visible minorities;
- Women are now more highly educated than men, with 33 percent of women aged 25 to 34 having a university degree compared with 25 percent of their male counterparts;
- Canada’s population is migrating westward and coalescing in four urban centres: the Greater Golden Horseshoe, Montreal, the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor and Vancouver-Victoria; and
- Canada is experiencing increasing income inequality between its older and younger workers as well as its native-born residents and immigrants;
“The highlights of the 2006 Census show that Canada is ageing, becoming increasingly diverse and experiencing increasing income inequality,” says Norris. “All of these trends have important implications for businesses catering to their changing customers and to a government concerned with addressing the needs of its population.”
Dr. Norris will offer more detailed commentary about the Census during a web seminar and online discussion to be held Wednesday, August 13th at 1:00 pm ET. Pre-registration is available online HERE. For access to the seminar, please connect to www.environicsanalytics.ca five to ten minutes prior to session start and click the link to the WebEx session. A phone number will also be provided for audio.
In addition, media representatives interested in interviewing Norris for quotes and insight into the new Census findings should call Emma Flood at (416) 969-2733, or e-mail.
THE PRICE OF CARBON
Reducing emissions in Canada, however laudable, is irrelevant to fighting climate change unless doing so results in creating clean technologies to help power the developing world
Environmentalists around the world have for so long castigated U.S. President George W. Bush for his opposition to Kyoto that many have mistakenly concluded that he is somehow responsible for the fact that the emissions of ratifying nations have gone up, not down. Between 2000 and 2005, emissions in Europe - routinely held up as a paragon of ecological virtue - rose twice as fast as America`s. Canada`s rose five times faster.
Canada is now debating pollution controls and carbon taxes, and British Columbia has already put a carbon tax in place. But establishing a price for carbon will do little to nothing to reduce emissions. To understand why, it`s helpful to take a step back from the high-flying rhetoric about global warming as a "moral issue."
As the human population increases from 6.5 billion today to roughly nine billion in 2050, and as developing nations grow richer, global energy consumption will roughly triple. This, by and large, is a very good thing, for higher levels of energy are strongly correlated with longer life spans, better health outcomes, and higher levels of prosperity.
Indoor plumbing, functional sanitation systems, hospitals, schools, roads, air conditioning and transportation all require using huge quantities of energy.
At the same time, there is a scientific consensus that if we were to triple energy consumption using mostly fossil fuels, global temperatures will rise by two or more degrees, which could worsen food and water shortages, especially in poorer countries, lead to resource wars, and melt polar ice caps enough to flood many coastal parts of the world.
Given this, the relevant question is this: How can we triple global energy consumption without reaching dangerous levels of global warming? This is, notably, a very different question than the one that has been posed by Kyoto boosters, who are narrowly concerned with global warming. The question they ask is: How can we reduce emissions 80 per cent by 2050? It is a question that ignores the need to support the developing world`s aspirations.
Too often nations ask how they can reduce their own emissions without taking into consideration the larger picture of energy modernization and technology innovation. Were Canada to halt all emissions tomorrow it would have zero impact on climate change.
To get a sense of the scale of the challenge, consider that, this year, the increase of China`s emissions will be larger than Canada`s total emissions. Given this, Canada`s focus should be on making clean energy technologies cheap, so that they could be picked up by fast-developing nations such as China.
Unfortunately, most policymakers have lost sight of this larger context. The B.C. government, for instance, has instituted a $10-per-ton carbon tax which will rise to $30 per ton in 2012. At these levels, the tax will do little to nothing to drive either behaviour change (e.g., efficiency and conservation) or technology innovation.
Despite having set a high price for carbon dioxide (about $40 U.S. per ton of CO2), Europe is set to build 50 new coal plants over the next five years. And, rather than invest the revenue in technology, the B.C. measure simply cuts other taxes, which will further blunt its impact.
Both Norway and Denmark established carbon taxes in the 1990s. But while Norway uses its revenues for government spending, Denmark earmarks its carbon tax revenues for clean energy, such as wind power, which has become a vibrant national industry. As a consequence, Norway`s emissions climbed 43 per cent while Denmark`s declined 15 per cent.
Given all of this, what can Canada do? First and foremost, policymakers should keep an eye to the larger global challenge. Reducing emissions in Canada, however laudable, is irrelevant to fighting climate change unless doing so results in technology innovation. Toward this end, Canada should consider becoming a formal partner to the government of Japan, which has recently announced an intelligent "Cool Earth" program to both radically increase the energy efficiency of key industrial sectors while investing heavily in technology development and deployment.
Second, policymakers should recognize that they will never be able to raise energy prices enough to make clean energy cheap.
B.C.`s carbon tax makes gasoline less than three cents a gallon more expensive - hardly enough to notice, much less motivate people to take mass transit or purchase electric cars. No government is going to double or triple the electorate`s energy prices, nor is Ottawa going to constrain its oil, gas, coal, and tar sands industries.
Third, policymakers should establish as their primary goal making technological advances to make clean energy as cheap as possible as quickly as possible. Toward this end, all of the revenues raised from new carbon taxes or auctioning pollution allowances should be dedicated to the research, development and deployment of new technologies that the private energy sector cannot and will not do.
Finally, Parliament should consider creating a blue ribbon commission of independent energy experts that is protected from political pressure to oversee the necessary investments in technology.
The world has wasted 20 years on climate because it too quickly embraced a policy focused on limiting pollution, limiting consumption, and limiting prosperity. Until there is a paradigm shift away from pollution control and toward human development and technology innovation, no serious solution to climate change is even conceivable.
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Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger are Managing Partners of American Environics, co-authors of Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility, and co-founders of the Oakland-based Breakthrough Institute.Reprinted with permission of the authors
DOUG NORRIS ANALYZES FINAL CENSUS RELEASE ON INCOME AND SHELTER COSTS
Census Expert to Provide Commentary and Host a Web Seminar On Household Income, Employment and Housing Concerns
The latest report of the 2006 Census represents the final piece in the statistical portrait that is present day Canada. The new findings will offer various measures of income, including employment earnings, government transfer payments and total family income. The new data is expected to show that Canadians experienced rising incomes during the past five years. “Our older, more experienced and better educated workers are largely driving the higher incomes nationwide,” says Norris. “But the downside may be a growing income gap between high earners and those with less education who are struggling to keep up.”
In addition, the new report is likely to reveal that Alberta has overtaken Ontario as the province with the highest income levels. “Alberta’s impressive natural resources are creating an economic boom that the Census will probably pick up,” says Norris. “In earlier Census releases we saw the impact the boom was having on population growth and I expect to see a similar trend with income.”
Norris will offer more detailed commentary about the latest Census release during a web seminar and online discussion to be held Thursday, May 8th at 1:00 pm ET. Pre-registration is available online at www.environicsanalytics.ca. For access to the seminar, please connect to www.environicsanalytics.ca five to ten minutes prior to session start and click the link to the WebEx session. A phone number will also be provided for audio.
In addition, media representatives interested in interviewing Norris for quotes and insight into the new Census findings should call Emma Flood at (416) 969-2733, or e-mail her at emma.flood@environicsanalytics.ca.
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About Doug Norris
A Senior Vice President and the Chief Demographer of Environics Analytics (EA), Doug Norris, Ph.D., has nearly 30 years of experience in social and demographic analysis at Statistics Canada, most recently as the Director General of Social and Demographic Statistics. At EA, he works with companies, governments, and non-profit organizations in using census and other statistical information for planning and marketing applications. He also serves as a commentator on Canadian social and demographic trends, and is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences across Canada. In 2006, Statistics Canada honoured him with a lifetime achievement Award for Career Excellence.
About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada. Specializing in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics, the Toronto-based company provides businesses with data-driven market insights to help reach their customers more effectively. It also has the most experienced team of geodemographic experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics Group, a unique alliance of companies dedicated to providing intelligent research, analytics and communications.
THE GIS AND DATA SOLUTION FOR ADVANCED BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Introducing ESRI ArcGIS Business Analyst for Canada
ArcGIS Business Analyst for Canada integrates the world's leading GIS software from ESRI with comprehensive data from top Canadian data provider Environics Analytics to create a powerful and flexible business GIS solution. With its robust GIS functionality, user-friendly wizards, and full data complement, it provides business professionals with a highly effective desktop solution for sophisticated demographic, drive-time, and trade area analysis, site selection, customer prospecting, and target marketing.
“The combined power of Environics Analytics data and ESRI Canada's GIS software provides a complete business solution not currently available in the market,” said Alex Miller, President, ESRI Canada. Many organizations are using the ESRI GIS platform, and this data and software package can be easily integrated into their existing corporate GIS platform and extended across the enterprise and over the web. Canadian businesses can now leverage their customer database in conjunction with a wealth of geospatial information including high resolution imagery. ArcGIS Business Analyst for Canada is an out-of-the box solution that can be scaled to meet the needs of any organization.”
The ability to analyze and visualize the geographic component of business data reveals trends, patterns, and opportunities hidden in tabular data. By combining information, such as sales data, customer information, and competitor locations, with geographic data, such as demographics, territories, and store locations, ArcGIS Business Analyst for Canada helps users better understand their market, customers, and competition.
Performing advanced analysis, mapping, reporting, and publishing the results, and easily creating complex models that harness the power of the ESRI software are among the capabilities ArcGIS Business Analyst for Canada offers in one affordable desktop package. Data and analyses produced by ArcGIS Business Analyst for Canada can be shared across departments, reducing redundant research and marketing efforts, speeding the analysis of results, and increasing employee efficiency.
To help clients better understand their markets and customers, Environics Analytics has bundled a variety of data for the product: adjusted census variables, demographic estimates and projections for 2008, household expenditure potential data, shopping centre data, and PRIZMCE segment profiles. With these key marketing databases at their fingertips, users of ArcGIS Business Analyst for Canada will be able to select their best market areas, target the most profitable customer segments, reduce marketing costs and grow their revenue. Environics Analytics is just one of several trusted data sources for this product. These data sources provide a valuable addition to the software package and include comprehensive geographic data from TeleAtlas, nationwide business listings data from infoCanada, and aerial imagery from GlobeXplorer.
“We're delighted to partner with ESRI Canada in the creation and offering of this product,” says Jan Kestle, President of Environics Analytics. “ArcGIS Business Analyst for Canada works for both the trained GIS user who wants access to advanced functionality and the market analyst who has no GIS training at all. We are particularly excited about the sophisticated tools in defining trade areas. And because it's easy to incorporate external data, we are already creating additional data packages to extend the capabilities of the system for our high-power users.”
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About ESRI Canada
Established in 1984, ESRI Canada is a Canadian owned company specializing in geographic information systems (GIS) solutions. ESRI Canada distributes the world's leading GIS software solutions from ESRI Inc., Miner and Miner, and Azteca. In order to provide organizations with complete industry-specific solutions ESRI Canada has established an extensive business partner program that includes more than 125 Canadian organizations. ESRI Canada also provides professional services including consulting, training, technical support, and enterprise GIS implementation. ESRI Canada is a leader in providing world-class enterprise GIS solutions for many industries including local government, utilities, public safety and defence, business demographics, education, natural resources, and transportation. ESRI Canada has fifteen regional offices across the country, with headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. For more information, please visit www.esricanada.com or call 1-800-447-9778.
About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada. Specializing in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics, the Toronto-based company provides businesses with data-driven market insights to help reach their customers more effectively. It also has the most experienced team of marketing experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics Group, a unique alliance of companies dedicated to providing intelligent research, analytics and communications. It is an authorized reseller for Business Analyst for Canada and a licensed distributor of selected Statistics Canada files. To learn more about Environics Analytics, please visit our website at www.environicsanalytics.ca.
EA DEMOGRAPHER DOUG NORRIS TO ANALYZE NEW CENSUS FINDINGS ON 2ND GENERATION CANADIANS AND COMMUTING PATTERNS
Census Expert to Provide Commentary and Host a Web Seminar On Children of Immigrants and the Changing Employment Landscape
Although earlier data from the 2006 Census of Population examined Canada’s immigrant population, the new release analyzes the cultural diversity of the total Canadian population including native-born residents. The latest information will include how Canadians define their ancestry, whether they’re the product of multiple ethnicities or now consider themselves assimilated enough to term their ancestry as “Canadian”. The census data will also consider the economic health of Canada’s ethnic and visible minority groups, an issue of importance to marketers as well as sociologists and policymakers. “There’s a lot of interest in how well the children of immigrants from the 1970s and 1980s are doing,” says Norris. “These are the kids of the wave of immigrants from Asia and other non-European countries, and I suspect the data will show these second generation Canadians to be doing quite well. Many of their parents put a real premium on education.”
The new Census release is also expected to document the continued migration of jobs from cities to suburban communities. Norris expects census data to show a rise in the number of workers who are commuting not from suburb to city, but from city to suburb, and suburb to suburb. “In recent decades, we’ve seen the flow of people from cities to suburbs for affordable housing and quieter lifestyles,” says Norris. “Now, I anticipate the census will indicate that jobs are moving out to suburbia as well. This means that more and more Canadians are commuting across suburbia each day.”
Norris will offer more detailed commentary about the latest Census release during a web seminar and online discussion to be held Wednesday, April 9th at 1:00 pm ET. Pre-registration is available online at www.environicsanalytics.ca. For access to the seminar, please connect to www.environicsanalytics.ca five to ten minutes prior to session start and click the link to the WebEx session. A phone number will also be provided for audio.
In addition, media representatives interested in interviewing Norris for quotes and insight into the new Census findings should call Emma Flood at (416) 969-2733, or e-mail her at emma.flood@environicsanalytics.ca.
# # #
About Doug Norris
A Senior Vice President and the Chief Demographer of Environics Analytics (EA), Doug Norris, Ph.D., has nearly 30 years of experience in social and demographic analysis at Statistics Canada, most recently as the Director General of Social and Demographic Statistics. At EA, he works with companies, governments, and non-profit organizations in using census and other statistical information for planning and marketing applications. He also serves as a commentator on Canadian social and demographic trends, and is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences across Canada. In 2006, Statistics Canada honoured him with a lifetime achievement Award for Career Excellence.
About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada. Specializing in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics, the Toronto-based company provides businesses with data-driven market insights to help reach their customers more effectively. It also has the most experienced team of geodemographic experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies, including Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS FEATURING DEMOGRAPHER DOUG NORRIS TO ANALYZE NEW AND WIDE-RANGING CENSUS FINDINGS
Census Expert to Provide Commentary and Host a Web Seminar On Labour Activity, Education Trends and Commuting Patterns
The latest data from the 2006 Census of Population provides detailed information about factors that shape the nation’s labour force, including the age, education and ethnic makeup of Canada’s workforce. According to Norris, the new findings should show a growing gap between young women and men advancing in higher education; an increasing reliance on skilled immigrants and foreign-trained workers in the labour force; and an aging workforce as the oldest members of the Baby Boom generation enter their early sixties. “Everyone is worried about a future shortage of workers as the Boomers head into retirement,” says Norris. “But I think the new data will show Boomers staying in the workforce longer and helping to address possible shortages.” The addition of skilled immigrants into the workforce should also offset potential shortages, he noted.
“For the first time, the 2006 Census has collected information on where workers got their degrees,” continues Norris. “And this will allow us to see the reliance we have on foreign-trained graduates, both Canadian and foreign-born, in fields like medicine and engineering.”
Norris will offer more detailed commentary about the latest Census release during a web seminar and online discussion to be held Wednesday, March 12th at 1:00 pm ET. Pre-registration is available online at www.environicsanalytics.ca. For access to the seminar, please connect to www.environicsanalytics.ca five to ten minutes prior to the session start and click the link to the WebEx session. A phone number will also be provided for the audio.
In addition, media representatives interested in interviewing Norris for quotes and insight into the new Census findings should call Emma Flood at (416) 969-2733, or e-mail her at emma.flood@environicsanalytics.ca
# # #
About Doug Norris
A Senior Vice President and the Chief Demographer of Environics Analytics (EA), Doug Norris, Ph.D., has nearly 30 years of experience in social and demographic analysis at Statistics Canada, most recently as the Director General of Social and Demographic Statistics. At EA, he works with companies, governments, and non-profit organizations in using census and other statistical information for planning and marketing applications. He also serves as a commentator on Canadian social and demographic trends, and is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences across Canada. In 2006, Statistics Canada honoured him with a lifetime achievement Award for Career Excellence.
About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada. Specializing in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics, the Toronto-based company provides businesses with data-driven market insights to help reach their customers more effectively. It also has the most experienced team of geodemographic experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies, including Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS FEATURING DEMOGRAPHER DOUG NORRIS TO ANALYZE NEW CENSUS DATA ON ABORIGINAL PEOPLES
Census Expert to Provide Commentary and Host a Web Seminar on Canada's Aboriginal Population
Census data in 2001 reported one million Canadians who identified themselves as Aboriginal people belonging to one of three Aboriginal groups—North American Indian, Inuit and Métis. But with the most recent census, Norris expects the Aboriginal population will have grown at double-digit rates and comprise an increasing share of the population, particularly in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the northern territories. In 2001, half the Aboriginal population was under the age of 25 compared to a median age of 38 for non-Aboriginal people. Norris expects to see a continuing contrast between a very young Aboriginal population and an aging non-Aboriginal population, presenting very different policy and program challenges. And while the public often focuses on Aboriginal people living on reserves, the Census is expected to show that three-quarters of the Aboriginal population live off reserves and more than half have settled in urban areas throughout Canada. As Norris observes, “The new census data will provide a much needed update of Canada’s Aboriginal population and how it is changing in many ways.”
Norris will offer more detailed commentary about the numbers during a web seminar and online discussion to be held Tuesday, January 22nd at 1:00 pm ET. For access to the seminar, please connect to www.environicsanalytics.ca five to ten minutes prior to session start and click the link to the WebEx session. A phone number will also be provided for audio.
In addition, media representatives interested in interviewing Norris for quotes and insight into the new Census findings should call Emma Flood at (416) 969-2733, or e-mail her at emma.flood@environicsanalytics.ca
# # #
About Doug Norris
A Senior Vice President and the Chief Demographer of Environics Analytics (EA), Doug Norris, Ph.D., has nearly 30 years of experience in social and demographic analysis at Statistics Canada, most recently as the Director General of Social and Demographic Statistics. At EA, he works with companies, governments, and non-profit organizations in using census and other statistical information for planning and marketing applications. He also serves as a commentator on Canadian social and demographic trends, and is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences across Canada. In 2006, Statistics Canada honoured him with a lifetime achievement Award for Career Excellence.
About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada. Specializing in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics, the Toronto-based company provides businesses with data-driven market insights to help reach their customers more effectively. It also has the most experienced team of geodemographic experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies, including Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS LAUNCHES DIVERSITY MICROMARKETING TOOLKIT
New Data-Based Products and Services to Help Marketers Serve Canada’s Multicultural Audiences
The release of the new toolkit comes at a time when the Canadian population is becoming increasingly diverse. Between 2001 and 2006, close to 1.2 million people migrated to Canada, and nearly one in five Canadians are now foreign-born. Although immigrants tend to settle in Canada’s largest urban areas—Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal—the newcomers are also moving to smaller cities, such as Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa-Gatineau, Quebec and Winnipeg.
While the number of foreign-born Canadians is increasing, the variety of their countries of origin is also rapidly expanding. Before 1961, almost 95 percent of immigrants came from Europe or the United States. Today, the largest groups of immigrants arrive from Asia and the Middle East. As a result, about 6 million Canadians, or 20 percent of the populace, report a mother tongue other than French or English. The third most common language spoken in Canada today is Chinese, surpassing the Italian and German spoken by earlier immigrant groups.
For marketers, the growing diversity of the populace raises new challenges. Depending on their product, a company may want to define an ethnic audience by language spoken, mother tongue or place of origin. In addition, settlement patterns differ by group—an important fact for direct mailers. In Toronto, where Germans tend to live dispersed throughout the city, a direct mail campaign would have to target 172,415 residents to find 10,000 German Canadians. However, reaching 10,000 Chinese Canadians would require a campaign covering only 31,429 residents because these residents tend to cluster together.
“Marketers need to understand the many ways to define groups when they embrace an ethnic marketing campaign,” says Jan Kestle, president of Environics Analytics (EA). “With the Diversity Micromarketing Toolkit, clients not only get the latest data and software but our expertise in ethnic-based target marketing as well.”
The Diversity Micromarketing Toolkit features three main services:
- OriginsCanada - Based on a breakthrough ethnic name coding system, this service allows clients to assign a heritage to a customer database based on the first and last name of each consumer. With OriginsCanada, clients can acquire lists for addressed mail based on the same name-coding technique. In addition, marketers can create customer profiles based on ethnic origin to target neighbourhoods, media and products.
- PRIZM CE – EA’s signature segmentation system classifies all Canadian neighbourhoods into one of 66 lifestyle types—12 of which are ethnic and represent 15 percent of all households. Because PRIZM CE links to all major media and marketing surveys and databases—including PMB, BBM RTS, NADbank, Polk, CFM, InfoCanada and Cornerstone—marketers can describe the lifestyle activities, media patterns and social values for their ethnic targets. Incorporating proprietary survey data from Environics Research, the system allows organizations to profile customers through such values as Canadian Identity, Cultural Fusion, Early Adoption and Importance of Price. This information further helps marketers reach customers with the best message and channel—whether it’s the Globe and Mail, an ethnic newspaper or both.
- Ethno-cultural census data – With the most experienced geodemographic experts in Canada, EA offers the deepest knowledge in applying different census variables and concepts to help an ethnic marketing campaign succeed. Company analysts can determine the best approach to defining ethnic customers—by characteristics such as mother tongue, place of origin or wave of immigration—and how to find them.
No matter the industry, EA can enhance the appeal of products and services within different ethnic groups or within subgroups of a single ethnic group. Compared to the national average, ethnic Canadians exhibit high rates for attending computer shows, basketball games, film festivals and theme parks. But EA’s data show behavioural differences within ethnic groups. Among PRIZM CE’s ethnic lifestyles, the Asian Affluence segment (40 percent Chinese and 7 percent South Asian) has a taste for theatre and classical music concerts. By contrast, the Newcomers Rising segment (9 percent Chinese and 18 percent South Asian) prefers video gaming, fast-food restaurants and rock concerts.
Because the influx of new immigrants offers forward-thinking companies challenges as well as opportunities, EA’s Diversity Micromarketing Toolkit can help executives and marketers address the ways that growing diversity affects their business. Using OriginsCanada, companies can analyze their customer database to determine if their products and services have an established following among specific ethnic groups and whether an ethnic marketing strategy would be profitable. By tapping the latest census data on settlement patterns, marketers can increase their penetration rates among newly arrived immigrant segments. And PRIZM CE can help companies compare the behaviours, lifestyles and values of the most recent immigrants to those of second- and third-generation ethnic groups. With EA’s Diversity Micromarketing Toolkit, marketers can better understand Canada’s varied population and position their products and services in ways that will best speak to the needs and desires of specific ethnic groups.
“You can’t treat the ethnic market as one group,” says Kestle. “Because PRIZM CE is linked to all the traditional and new media, we can help design marketing campaigns to reach the people most important to any business. We know which language to use, what message will work and which channel they prefer. It’s a very powerful system for reaching ethnic consumers.”
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About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada. Specializing in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics, the Toronto-based company provides businesses with data-driven market insights to help reach their customers more effectively. It also has the most experienced team of geodemographic experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies, including Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc.
10 REASONS TO USE GEODEMOGRAPHY
By Jan Kestle, Founder and President Environics Analytics
Geodemography is a branch of market research that assigns the attributes of small areas – usually neighbourhoods – to the consumers who live within them and, based on this assignment, divides the consumer marketplace into meaningful segments that are locatable and reachable. The discipline leverages spatial and mathematical patterns in how people live and shop to help marketers make inferences about consumer behaviour. These techniques have been widely used since the early ‘70’s to answer the marketing questions: Who are my customers? Where do they live? and How can I best reach them?
During this same 40-year period, technology has put powerful computers on everyone’s desktop. Software systems that deliver modeling algorithms to the non-statistician are affordable and usable.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have gone way beyond simple mapping to bring location intelligence to business databases. And consumer marketers build large databases about their customers and know how to mine the information contained within them.
And yet the number of users and the range of applications for geodemographic cluster systems have grown – not decreased – during this period. Why, with all these new tools and lots of actual consumer information available, do marketers still use geodemography?
Here are 10 good reasons.
- Everyone does not have unit record customer data. While large retailers, financial institutions and charities keep track of their customers and donors, there are still large numbers of businesses that do not collect much personal demographic information. Postal code collection programs in Canada are a popular way to understand how far customers travel. Combined with geodemographic segmentation systems, postal codes are a reliable way to profile customers in terms of demographics and behaviour.
- Even among those businesses that have customer data, the data about individuals are incomplete. Except for businesses that offer financial services, customer income is usually not tracked nor is lifestage, household size or ethnicity. Yet all these variables are well represented in a good multi-dimensional cluster system. Privacy is also a primary concern for businesses and consumers. Geodemographic overlays are a privacy-compliant way to enrich transactional databases. Many analysts use the clusters as well as individual variables in custom models.
- Geodemography leverages the rich survey data that exists in Canada. Government and non-government organizations conduct reliable national sample surveys on spending, media preference, technology adoption, leisure activities, tourism and many other aspects of day to day living. For most surveys, the sample size is sufficient to release data for Canada and the provinces and the larger markets. But these survey-based variables only become usable for trade area analysis and local marketing when they are combined with geodemographic segments – using typological inference. Because Canada has more than 1,500 good-quality census variables at the neighbourhood level, analysts can develop a robust segmentation system built on a broad range of reliable and comprehensive data. This allows an analyst to combine the survey-based measure by segment for a behaviour like “go the movies”, for example, with information on which segments live around a location to determine the viability of a new cinema. Without geodemography the amount of local marketing data would be greatly reduced.
- While mining your in-house database helps grow your business based on cross-sell, up-sell and retention strategies, geodemography is the easiest way to define your best potential customers based on your existing file and find more people with a similar profile.
- Media preferences of a consistent target group defined by geodemography can be determined across multiple channels. Since the popular segmentation systems in Canada are linked to media measurement surveys like PMB, BBM Canada RTS and NADbank, the segmentation system becomes a data integration tool amongst disparate sample surveys. Marketers can use these surveys to determine, for example, that a target group “reads the sports section”, “listens to traffic reports” and “uses the Internet” but “ranks low on TV”.
- The results are executable. While much market research is descriptive and can help with product conceptualization, brand awareness and advertising, only geodemography can effectively link the customer, product and brand profiles to site selection, local marketing (including direct mail or flyer drops), merchandising, category management and media planning.
- Clusters are easy for marketers and executives to understand. Cluster systems feature icons and clever nicknames for a reason. Claritas’ Shotguns & Pickups, MapInfo’s Kindergarten Boom and Environics Analytics’ Lunch at Tim’s conjure up images of groups of consumers much more readily than cumbersome descriptors like “upscale empty nesters in condos”.
- Geodemographic segments are uniquely positioned for “mass” targeting. There are some products for which every consumer is a “target”. By developing cluster profiles of a product’s potential by market, companies can spend against who’s in each market – varying the spend on a market by market basis – but still marketing to all.
- Results are measurable. Because marketers can tie segments back to the ground (stores, postal codes, markets, etc.), to channels and to their own transactional data, campaigns can be measured and modified on an on-going basis.
- Adding the spatial dimension to the customer database means that it can be used for more than direct mail. This includes applications such as crafting advertising messages, defining product mix, selecting store formats or sites and planning media. As a result, large (and, in many organizations, still not justified) expenditures on developing customer relationship management (CRM) can be leveraged. And the fact that geodemography is inexpensive (compared to the database build and maintenance) makes it a good way to increase the return on the whole customer database investment. Some predicted in the late ‘90’s that the move to CRM systems, one-to-one marketing and household level models would mean the end of geo-based cluster analysis. This has turned out not to be true. In fact, what has happened is that the savvy marketers who embraced the “new technologies” continue to incorporate geodemography into their analysis and have developed more sophisticated ways to use it.
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Jan Kestle is founder and president of Environics Analytics and former president of Compusearch. Environics Analytics is a firm engaged in statistical and geodemographic analysis and is a provider of related tools that include its PRIZM CE cluster system. She can be reached at jan.kestle@environicsanalytics.ca. This article appeared in Direct Marketing News, December 2007. Used by permission.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS FEATURING DEMOGRAPHER DOUG NORRIS TO ANALYZE NEW CENSUS DATA ON CANADIANS
Census Expert to Provide Commentary and Host a Web Seminar On Immigration, Language and Mobility Patterns
Census data released earlier this year hinted at the growing role immigrants are playing in shaping Canada’s population, according to Norris. “The new data will allow us to fill in the details on which immigrants are settling where,” he says. “Between 2001 and 2006, close to 1.2 million people moved to Canada. With one in five Canadians now foreign-born, the population is becoming increasingly diverse.” Although immigrants tend to settle in Canada’s largest urban areas—Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal—Norris predicts the upcoming findings will show newcomers migrating in higher numbers to the next largest cities, such as Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa-Gatineau, Quebec and Winnipeg. “There’s also evidence that increasing numbers of immigrants are moving to the suburbs of our large urban areas,” says Norris.
The increasing waves of immigrants also affect the rise in the number of Canadians who speak a language other than French or English. About 6 million Canadians, or 20 percent of the populace, report a different mother tongue than those traditional languages, which are still spoken by 90 percent of Canadians. The third most common language spoken in Canada today is Chinese, surpassing the Italian and German spoken by earlier immigrant groups. “About a million Canadians speak one of the Chinese languages,” says Norris, “and that represents a milestone for the country.”
Norris will offer more detailed commentary about the numbers during a web seminar and online discussion to be held Tuesday, December 11th at 1:00 pm ET. Pre-Registration is available online at www.environicsanalytics.ca A phone number will also be provided for audio.
In addition, media representatives interested in interviewing Norris for quotes and insight on the new Census findings should call Emma Flood at (416) 969-2733, or e-mail her at emma.flood@environicsanalytics.ca
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About Doug Norris
A Senior Vice President and the Chief Demographer of Environics Analytics (EA), Doug Norris, Ph.D., has nearly 30 years of experience in social and demographic analysis at Statistics Canada, most recently as the Director General of Social and Demographic Statistics. At EA, he works with companies, governments, and non-profit organizations in using census and other statistical information for planning and marketing applications. He also serves as a commentator on Canadian social and demographic trends, and is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences across Canada. In 2006, Statistics Canada honoured him with a lifetime achievement Award for Career Excellence.
About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada. Specializing in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics, the Toronto-based company provides businesses with data-driven market insights to help reach their customers more effectively. It also has the most experienced team of geodemographic experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies, including Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc.
MARKETERS EXPLORE DATA-DRIVEN STRATEGIES TO REACH A “CHANGING CANADA”
150 Attendees of Environics Analytics Conference Learn New Techniques in Information-Based Marketing
With that observation, Kestle launched the First Annual Environics Analytics User Conference to explore new ways of marketing to the Canadian population. The daylong conference at Ryerson University attracted more than 150 attendees and speakers from a variety companies and organizations, including Best Buy Canada, Canadian Tourism Commission, United Church of Canada and The Cancer Research Society. In his keynote address, Michael Adams, president of The Environics Group of Companies and a best-selling author, drew on findings revealed in his new book exploring Canada’s increasingly diverse society, Unlikely Utopia: The Surprising Triumph of Canadian Pluralism.
Noting that one in five Canadians is foreign-born—a higher proportion than any country except Australia—Adams urged the executives and managers in the audience to recognize that “Canada is no longer known as a country of geographic immensity but one of ethnic diversity,” he observed. “And our experiment in multiculturalism is going pretty well. We in the marketing community know that there are differences in the people coming to our country. But we need to appreciate their needs and values to leverage that information and reach out to these newcomers. Saying you’re a citizen of Canada today is like saying you’re a citizen of the world.”
With a theme of “Marketing to a Changing Canada,” the conference featured leaders of businesses, government agencies and not-for-profits who discussed innovative strategies to reach diverse audiences. Nicolle Scavuzzo, Senior Manager Customer Centricity, Best Buy Canada described how analyzing behavioural and geodemographic data helped the chain become a “customer-centric retailer. We’ve launched new services at stores depending on whether their markets contain older and affluent or young and trendy consumers. The data helped us understand how we could market to our customers in terms of their lifestyle preferences and media habits.” Robert Dalgleish, development coordinator for local ministries with the United Church of Canada, described employing geodemographic profiles of communities near their churches “to help congregations connect with the neighbourhoods around them. The approach helped us clarify our sense of purpose and calling by giving us a deeper understanding of the people within our congregations,” he said.
The conference marked the first users gathering for Environics Analytics, the research-driven target marketing company founded four years ago this month by Kestle. The firm, which employs more than thirty Toronto-based experts in marketing, analytics and geodemography, celebrated its anniversary by announcing the launch of several new products at the conference:
- HealthScapes - a suite of data, software and services geared to the health care industry;
- WealthScapes - a similar suite of data-based products and services for the financial services sector;
- Diversity Marketing Toolkit - a collection of geodemographic tools to help marketers target their products and services to multi-ethnic audiences;
- Origins Canada - a software product capable of predicting the national origin of consumers based on their name—a boon to ethnic-oriented marketers;
- ePRIZM Targeting - under a partnership with Sympatico / MSN, this application allows clients to select 500,000 Internet users targeted by PRIZM CE segment through a consensual e-marketing list; and
- Business Analyst – with ESRI Canada, an advanced analysis tool combining ESRI's leading GIS technology with demographic and consumer data from Environics Analytics.
As Kestle surveyed the standing-room-only audience at the Ryerson conference room, she remarked, “Obviously there’s a real need for this kind of event to share data-based marketing techniques, analytics and best practices. We’re happy to be part of the research community to share in the discussion of the best and brightest ideas.”
For conference highlights, please visit our website at: http://www.environicsanalytics.ca/user_conference/
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About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada. Specializing in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics, the Toronto-based company provides businesses with data-driven market insights to help reach their customers more effectively. It also has the most experienced team of geodemographic experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies, including Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc.
THE MARKETING SEARCH FOR ANYTOWN, CANADA
Amil Niazi, CBC News
In fact, many of the products we use today, not to mention the countless wannabes that never made it onto shelves, were first marketed in a city that their developers hoped was a lot like yours.
Everything from the recycling blue box — originally tested in Kitchener, Ont., — to the now defunct McDonald's pizza that had its start in Kingston, a few hundred kilometres down the Trans-Canada, had been sampled and rated by a group of residents that were supposed to reflect the national reality.
These mini-markets decide whether products like coloured ketchups will be a hit or a bust (bust in this case) and whether it will be worth the cost to roll out new widgets to the mass market. Because of the power these test markets wield, finding the perfect region is critical.
The ideal test city must be representative of the larger consumer picture, but it should also be relatively isolated from a dense media market so that as objective a test run as possible can be carried out.
For Ipsos Reid marketing group, this means a city that's not too big and not too small. A place that is diverse, but not too diverse and has a well balanced urban to rural ratio. Kind of the Goldilocks theory of marketing.
"We've used Peterborough before because of its relatively large population as well as its realistic ethnic representation of Ontario," says Grace Tong, a public affairs researcher for Ipsos Reid. This, "as opposed to more diverse centres like Toronto, which don't truly reflect the country."
'Lifestyle clusters'
Over at rival Environics Analytics, Danny Heuman, the vice-president of product development, says the search for proxy cities is rigorous and time consuming, but provides Environics with a unique picture of Canadians in general.
For that firm, the census is a goldmine and they comb through the mountain of Canadian statistics to classify the over 53,000 neighbourhoods into 66 "lifestyle clusters."
In this way, communities are divided into categories such as "cosmopolitan elite," (Vancouver's classy Shaughnessy district for example) "urbane villagers" (the Queen Street West area of Toronto) and "suburban gentry " (like Markham, Ont.). The characteristics of these 66 clusters are then run against the national numbers and eventually a cross-section of Canada emerges that can be matched to individual cities.
This work is anything but static because, as the latest census results show, the face of Canada is constantly changing. And as Heuman says, as we change as a country, so do the cities that reflect us.
That's why Peterborough fell off Environics top-10 list. It used to be the place where marketers ran to test such things as the newest Anacin tablets. But it has greyed more than it should have to reflect the nation as a whole.
"We have to look at everything from occupation, income, ethnicity, language and the multi-dimensional labour force when assessing these cities," Heuman says. "And we are constantly adjusting segments to reflect the changing Canadian landscape."
Quintessential Canada
But is there a single city that truly sums up Canada? Well, yes and no.
There are a handful of actual cities that Environics tends to use to find the country's national likes and dislikes. These "any towns" embody the traits of the general population. From age and gender to income and ethnicity, they are small pockets of this vast country that bear a striking statistical resemblance to all of Canada, except of course, for Quebec.
As a French-language market with its own unique set of peculiarities and lifestyles, Quebec requires its own breakdown. But the rest of Canada can still be organized by a few cities that have the same mixed bag of urban/ethnic/rural/upscale/singles/families as the nation as a whole.
For the most part, these are middle-tier cities that reflect the overall nation best, places like Red Deer, Guelph and Maple Ridge, B.C. Large centres like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver do not show up on this list because there is such a thing as too urban, too diverse and too big.
It's not just product developers that are using this list either. Government agencies, non-profit groups, retailers and banks pay close attention to these statistical clones when determining their policies and strategies for the country as a whole.
So whether Grand Prairie, Alta., is a close reflection of your own lifestyle or not, how its residents respond to cherry-flavoured Coke can still have some bearing on your life.
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2006 CENSUS RELEASE REVEALS CONTINUED AGING OF CANADA'S POPULATION
TORONTO, ON -- July 17, 2007 -- New results from the 2006 Census reveal the continued ageing of Canada’s population, according to an Environics Analytics analysis of just released data from Statistics Canada. In 2006, one in seven Canadians (13.7%) was over the age of 65 while 17.7% were under the age of 15. By comparison, 50 years ago less than one in ten Canadians (7.7%) were over 65 years old and nearly one third of the population (32.5%) was under 15.The new census data show all of the recent growth occurring in the over-45 population. During the last decade, the population aged 45-64 increased by 40% as the large Baby Boom cohort moved into this age group. Meanwhile, the seniors’ population grew by 23%, with the oldest seniors, aged 85-and-over, increasing by 55%. In comparison, the child population under 14 years old decreased by 5%, while the population aged 15-44 decreased by 1%.
“This ageing population is the result of sustained low fertility rates combined with maturing Baby Boomers and increases in life expectancy,” says Jan Kestle, President of Environics Analytics. “Together, these changes will have a profound impact on the Canadian marketplace. Many companies will need to target their products and services to over-fifty-year-olds in order to thrive in the future.”
Don’t miss Doug Norris’ commentary on today’s Census release
The new census results will be further discussed in a web seminar to be conducted by Doug Norris, Senior Vice President and Chief Demographer of Environics Analytics.
Dr. Norris is the former Director General of Social and Demographic Statistics at Statistics Canada and earned the title of “Mr. Census” during his 30-year career there. Join him as he discusses the latest findings about the age and sex of Canadians, using new data released today.
When: Tuesday July 24th 2007 @ 1:00PM ET
Where: WebEx Seminar
Who: Dr. Doug Norris, Senior Vice President and Chief Demographer of Environics Analytics
For access to the discussion, please connect to WebEx Seminar 5-10 minutes prior to the start of the session. A phone number will also be provided for audio.
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About Doug Norris
A Senior Vice President and the Chief Demographer of Environics Analytics (EA), Doug Norris, Ph.D., has nearly 30 years of experience in social and demographic analysis at Statistics Canada, most recently as the Director General of Social and Demographic Statistics. At EA, he works with companies, governments, and non-profit organizations in using census and other statistical information for planning and marketing applications. He also serves as a commentator on Canadian social and demographic trends, and is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences across Canada. In 2006, Statistics Canada honoured him with a lifetime achievement Award for Career Excellence.
About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada. Specializing in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics, the Toronto-based company provides businesses with data-driven market insights to help reach their customers more effectively. It also has the most experienced team of geodemographic experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies, including Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS FEATURING DEMOGRAPHER DOUG NORRIS TO ANALYZE NEW CENSUS DATA ON CANADIANS
Census Expert to Provide Commentary on Age and Sex of Population For Web Seminar and Media Interviews
“The new data will reflect the continued aging of Canada’s population as a result of low fertility rates and the leading edge of the Baby Boomers turning 60 last year,” says Norris, who earned the title of “Mr. Census” during his 30-year career with Statistics Canada. The data are also expected to show the maturing of some of the older suburbs around large cities that were settled in the late sixties and early seventies, and may now be undergoing a population turnover. “Many original suburban residents have become empty-nesting couples who are either downsizing to downtown condos or moving to retirement communities in exurban areas,” says Norris. “At the same time, some of the children who grew up in these suburban neighbourhoods are now moving back with their young families.” Among the communities expected to reflect the influx of Boomers: Wasaga Beach, north of Toronto, and Magog and St Sauveur, around Montréal.
Dr. Norris will offer more detailed commentary about the numbers during a web seminar and online discussion to be held Tuesday, July 24th at 1:00pm ET. For access to the discussion, please connect to www.environicsanalytics.ca 5-10 minutes prior to session start and click the link to the WebEx session. A phone number will also be provided for audio.
In addition, media representatives interested in interviewing Dr. Norris for quotes and insight on the new Census should call Emma Flood at (416) 969-2808, or e-mail her at emma.flood@environicsanalytics.ca
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About Doug Norris
A Senior Vice President and the Chief Demographer of Environics Analytics (EA), Doug Norris, Ph.D., has nearly 30 years of experience in social and demographic analysis at Statistics Canada, most recently as the Director General of Social and Demographic Statistics. At EA, he works with companies, governments, and non-profit organizations in using census and other statistical information for planning and marketing applications. He also serves as a commentator on Canadian social and demographic trends, and is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences across Canada. In 2006, Statistics Canada honoured him with a lifetime achievement Award for Career Excellence.
About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics is the premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada. Specializing in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics, the Toronto-based company provides businesses with data-driven market insights to help reach their customers more effectively. It also has the most experienced team of geodemographic experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies, including Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc.
ENVIRONICS WINS "BEST IN CLASS" AWARD
COLLINGWOOD, ON -- June 15, 2007 -- Environics Research Group was honoured with the “Best in Class” distinction at the Awards luncheon during the 2007 MRIA annual conference which wrapped up on Friday.The prize was presented for work with the Canadian Tourism Commission on its “Keep Exploring” brand strategy. The project integrated several research methodologies, including focus groups and on-line surveys in Canada, the US, and the UK, a cluster segmentation, and geodemographic profiling by Environics Analytics’ PRIZM system. The research provided a set of segments with direction on the types of products and services each would find most appealing.
Later this year, the CTC will launch a dedicated website where visitors can answer a few questions about their travel values and motivations to find out which of nine EQ segments they belong to, and then view specific travel options and recommendations.
The MRIA award is presented for the research project that best serves as a shining example to research practitioners and users. This is the third time in four years that Environics has brought home one of the annual MRIA awards. Two of the three awards won by Environics have been for projects that involved the application of social values techniques.
The team on this project included David MacDonald, Sally Preiner, Dave Jamieson, Kevin Shanahan, Susan Seto, Phil Straforelli, Catherine Pearson and Rupen Seoni at Environics Analytics, and Barry Watson. Also to be acknowledged are Graham Loughton and his staff at Research House who coordinated the field activities.
The research will continue in the second half of 2007 with Environics conducting additional projects for the Canadian Tourism Commission in France, Germany, Japan, China, Mexico and Australia.
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About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics Group Inc. is a Toronto-based marketing services company that specializes in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics. The company’s flagship product is a segmentation system called PRIZMCE, which helps marketers understand and communicate with 66 distinct types of Canadians reflecting their lifestyles, purchase behaviours and social values. PRIZMCE is also available for use with key Canadian media, marketing and GIS databases and tools — from Environics Research, Statistics Canada, PMB, BBM Analytics, NADbank, Canadian Financial Monitor, Cornerstone, infoCanada, ESRI Canada, Tetrad, TeleAtlas, Rogers Publishing, CSCA and C4SE. In the United States, Claritas Inc. of San Diego, California, is the sales agent for Environics Analytics data. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies that also includes Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc. To learn more about Environics Analytics and its services, visit its website at www.environicsanalytics.ca.
BOOM BEYOND THE 'BURBS
Francine Kopun
Feature Writer
CARLOS OSORIO / TORONTO STAR
Builders at work March 13, 2007 on the Niagara Escarpment overlooking Milton, Canada's fastest growing city.
Don't let those condo towers going up across Toronto fool you – the wave of immigrants driving population growth in Canada is flowing through the Big Smoke to settle in the surrounding suburbs and cities, according to the 2006 Census.
Growth is pushing newcomers even farther out than ever, to formerly sleepy little towns like Milton, which grew 71.4 per cent in five years, making it the fastest-growing municipality in Canada. Barrie grew 24 per cent over the same period. Not even Calgary, in the grips of an oil boom, grew more.
Statistics Canada counted 31,612,897 Canadians in May 2006, an increase of 5.4 per cent since 2001. Two cities joined the exclusive club of metropolitan areas with more than one million people: Calgary and Edmonton. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa-Gatineau are also members. The six cities are home to 45 per cent of Canada's population.
Toronto's population growth flagged, at just under 1 per cent, although it remains by far the largest city in the country, with 2.5 million people. Second is Montreal with 1.6 million.
"The perception was that because of all the condominiums going up we would be having a larger population growth than .9 per cent, but the fact we are on the positive side of the ledger is encouraging," said Toronto deputy mayor Joe Pantalone.
"When you look beyond that statistic, what you see is really that we have a mature community with stable neighbourhoods which are really not being affected by population growth, which is good, which is what the official plan calls for."
Montreal and Vancouver also grew slowly, compared to the burgeoning communities around them. Overall the growth rate of municipalities surrounding Canadian CMAs was double the national average.
Cities and towns along the major arteries of big cities in Canada are filling up and a new outer ring of development is being created, says Pamela White, director of demography division, Statistics Canada.
"We are seeing this emergence of very strong growth in peripheral municipalities. This is really typical of urban spread," said White.
The trend is forcing urban planners and politicians to think not simply in terms of one city and its suburbs, but in terms of a vastly more complicated network of cities and suburbs and towns that need to work together to manage new population growth.
Pantalone says the increases in population in the outlying areas prove the region needs a comprehensive transportation plan.
In fact, one-quarter of Canadians – 8.1 million people – now live in what has come to be called the Greater Golden Horseshoe region along the western edge of Lake Ontario. It includes Toronto, Hamilton, Guelph, Peterborough, Barrie, Orillia, and the regions of Halton, Peel, York, Durham, Waterloo and Niagara.
Last year, the province announced plans to manage growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, which is expected to swell by another 4 million people in the next 25 years.
Canada had a faster rate of growth than any other member of the G-8 group of industrialized nations, according to the census. The U.S. was second at 5 per cent. New immigrants accounted for 1.2 million of the 1.6 million increase in Canada. According to projections, net immigration may become the only source of population growth in Canada by about 2030.
In the U.S., which enjoys one of the highest fertility rates in the developed world, 60 per cent of the population increase was due to births outpacing deaths. Canadian women have an average of 1.5 children; in the U.S. that figure is closer to two.
Growth in Canada's big cities is taking place mostly along major highways and transportation routes, says White, of StatsCan.
In Quebec, the Laurentian Autoroute, the main artery for people travelling to ski resorts in winter and cottage country in summer, is now choked with commuters during the week. In B.C., the SkyTrain has fuelled population growth in municipalities like Surrey.
Here in the Golden Horseshoe, populations are booming in communities along the 400-series highways and Yonge St.
Strong growth brings with it good and bad news for residents like Donna Danielli, a Halton district school board trustee with a business in Milton.
The increase in population has been great for traffic in her appliance store.
But growth took place so quickly that schools had to scramble to make sure there were desks for every student in September.
In Barrie, the Royal Victoria Hospital is seeking funding for an expansion.
About 5,000 people have been moving to the city each year for the past 10 years, says Jim Taylor, director of planning for the city.
"Barrie has all but run out of land," says Taylor.
Doug Norris, chief demographer for Environics Analytics, says there is no cause for concern in the fact that Toronto's growth was .9 per cent.
"It would be very difficult for Toronto, the way it's developed, the way it's built up, to have growth of 5 or 10 per cent these days," he said.
Pantalone said increases in the population living outside the city is good news.
"When you talk about Toronto, you have to remember the city of Toronto is the heart of the organism that is the GTA. The success of areas around the city of Toronto is Toronto's success as well."
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CANADIAN CENSUS SEES CITIES SURGING
Tenille Bonoguore
The first data from the 2006 Census puts Canada's national population at 31.6 million, a rise of 5.4 per cent since the 2001 census.
And most people are living in a metropolis.
Six metropolitan areas now claim more than a million residents. Calgary and Edmonton joined Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa-Gatineau in the “millionaire's club”, which now houses 45 per cent of the Canadians.
Barrie, north of Toronto, was the fastest growing census metropolitan area, notching up a 19.2 per cent population rise to 177,061 for the census region, and a 24 per cent rise for the city itself.
It joins five other metropolitan areas on the densely populated shores of the Great Lakes — known as the Greater Golden Horseshoe — on the list of fastest growing metro areas: Oshawa, Toronto, Kitchener, Guelph and Brantford are all in the nation's top 15.
The figures are no surprise to Barrie Mayor Dave Aspden. Listed as a growth area for decades, the city's main challenge is finding room for the new people arriving year after year. “We're running out of room,” Mr. Aspden says.
“We grow approximately the size of Orillia every five years,” he said. “Barrie needs support, not only in land but funding as well.”
International immigration has played a large role in Barrie's expansion, and indeed is the key to the nation's rising headcount.
Without immigration, the national story would be much less buoyant, says Doug Norris, formerly a Statscan official and now chief demographer at Environics Analytics.
“Births are pretty much matching up with deaths. It's clear that the number of immigrants will drive the growth. For the most part, this is an immigration story,” Mr. Norris said after the census release on Tuesday.
“It will get more interesting when we drill down into different communities.”
Statistics Canada says 1.2 million immigrants have arrived since 2001, and if current trends continue, net immigration may become the only source of population growth by about 2030.
Alberta and Ontario accounted for two-thirds of the population increase, while the North West Territories, Alberta and Nunavut recorded the highest percentage population rises.
Alberta's population rose 10.6 per cent in five years to reach 3.2 million. Nunavut's population rose 10.2 per cent to 29,474 and the Territories increased 11 per cent to 41,464 from 37,360, although Statistics Canada said the result may be tainted by a less accurate 2001 count.
Eight mid-size urban centres had a growth rate of more than 10 per cent, about twice as high as the rate for Canada as a whole. Seven of the eight were in Alberta.
Eastern provinces paid the highest price for the internal migration, but the exodus is slowing. While Newfoundland and Labrador's population dropped 1.5 per cent from 2001 to 2006, that is a vast change from the 7-per-cent drop it experienced in the five years previous to this census period.
Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick all recorded population growth under 1 per cent between 2001 and 2006.
And it seems sitting next door to the nation's hottest economy has few residual benefits when it comes to attracting residents: Saskatchewan's population dropped 1.1 per cent to 968,157.
This is the first time since 1991 that the census-to-census growth rate has accelerated.
The population figures identify growth rates and trends over the past five years, influencing a swathe of areas from federal transfer payments and political representation to bus schedules.
The census cost $567-million to conduct. It was the first to allow Canadians to complete the questionnaire online, an option taken up by 18.5 per cent of households, and allowed Canadians to keep their personal information under wraps beyond the traditional release period of 92 years.
The total response rate of about 97 per cent is similar to 2001 levels. Statscan estimates information for the remaining 3 per cent of Canadians.
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ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS FEATURING DEMOGRAPHER DOUG NORRIS TO MAKE SENSE OF THE NEW CENSUS
Veteran Census Expert Providing Commentary, Web Conference and Media Interviews
“The new numbers show that Canada is experiencing a growing population, a westward expansion and a migration of people to a handful of urban areas,” says Norris, who earned the title of “Mr. Census” during his 30-year career with Statistics Canada. “While some commentators feared a population meltdown, the new Census shows that we grew at a very respectable 5.4 percent over the last five years to 31.6 million people. And thanks to continued immigration, we’re becoming an increasingly more diverse and vibrant society.”
For access to Dr. Norris’ written commentary about the latest Census findings, please click on the following link: First Look at the 2006 Census.
Dr. Norris will be conducting a web seminar on making sense of the new Census
- Wednesday, March 14, 2:00 – 3:00 PM
- Wednesday, March 21, 2:00 – 3:00 PM
For access to the discussion, please connect to environicsanalytics.ca 5-10 minutes prior to session start and click the link to the WebEx session. A phone number will also be provided for audio.
If you’re a media representative interested in interviewing Dr. Norris for comments about the new Census, please call Emma Flood at (416) 969-2808, or e-mail her at emma.flood@environicsanalytics.ca
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About Doug Norris
Doug Norris, Ph.D., is the most recent recipient of Statistics Canada’s Award of Career Excellence, presented in December for his years of service to the government agency. Since joining Environics Analytics a year ago, he has worked with companies, governments, and non-profit organizations in using census and other statistical information for planning and marketing applications. He continues to serve as a speaker and commentator on Canadian social and demographic trends, and is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences across Canada.
About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics provides data-driven market insights to help businesses reach their customers more effectively. We specialize in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics. We have the most experienced team of geodemographic experts in Canada. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies, including Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF NEW DEMOGRAPHIC ESTIMATES AND PROJECTIONS FOR 2007-2017
TORONTO, ON -- January 10, 2007 -- Environics Analytics, the marketing services company, today released its new Demographic Estimates and Projections (DEP) database covering the years 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2017. The new database, created by an innovative methodology, features authoritative estimates for 216 variables, including population and household counts, age, sex and marital status, immigration status, educational attainment, average household income and income distribution.The demographic information helps companies make informed decisions for forecasting new trade areas, site selecting locations, analyzing population and household trends, and performing urban and facilities planning. It also offers insight into major trends in Canadian population changes.
The 2007 DEP release reflects Environics Analytics’ continuing commitment to disseminate the most accurate demographic data available to companies, government agencies and not-for-profits. To produce the estimates, EA analysts supplemented Census demographics provided by Statistics Canada with other data sources—including government estimates, economic data like building permits and immigration reports by research groups. An EA research team, consisting of veteran statisticians and modellers led by Tony Lea, Ph.D., collaborated with Tom McCormack and other economists at the Centre for Spatial Economics to produce proprietary models that project population growth and income changes at all levels of geography down to the 52,993 dissemination areas (representing an average 500 Canadians nationwide). The developers combined traditional demographic methods with cutting-edge macroeconomic modelling, advanced spatial trend analysis and exclusive databases to develop their projections.
“We’re able to score every dissemination area for growth, that is, its probability to attract additional people,” says Dr. Lea, senior vice president and chief methodologist with Environics Analytics. The company utilises an exhaustive research methodology that includes gathering information about a small area’s density, proximity to new subdivisions, and previous growth patterns, and then employs a proprietary geographic model to develop the estimates. “We want to make sure that our projections are as rigorously grounded in reality as possible,” says Robert Dominico, EA’s key research methodologist on population projections. “The result is a methodology that provides the best available estimates and projections of small-area demographics anywhere in Canada.”
The EA data offer a preview of what researchers will see in the new 2006 Census from Statistics Canada, which will release total population figures for 2006 next month but won’t make available all of the detailed 2006 population characteristics until the spring of 2008. In addition, EA’s DEP database provides estimates and projections of extra variables, including household income distributions in $10,000 increments, reported in constant and inflation-adjusted dollars, for all dissemination areas. Such detailed data have proven valuable to banks, utilities and retailers, which depend on the latest geodemographic analysis to better serve their shifting customer base. “A lot of planners use these data to decide where to open a new store or branch,” says Dr. Lea, “or whether they’ll need to build new infrastructure to reflect where people are moving.”
Already, the 2007 DEP statistics indicate what to expect with the release of the new Census. According to EA’s projections, the Canadian population has increased 6 percent in the last five years to 32.7 million, with higher growth rates found in the metro areas of Toronto, Calgary and Oshawa (while declines occurred in two northern areas, Thunder Bay and Saguenay). Immigration accounted for much of that population increase, and foreign-born residents now constitute one in five Canadians. Among the booming immigrant groups are newcomers from China (up 46 percent since 2001), India (up 36 percent) and Pakistan (up 28 percent). Meanwhile, Canada’s population is steadily aging—one-third are over 50 years old—thanks to the leading edge of the Baby Boom generation entering its retirement years.
“Canada has now entered a low-growth period with an aging population,” says Doug Norris, Ph.D., senior vice president and chief demographer with Environics Analytics. “But immigration levels will increasingly determine our demographic future. And in many ways, the country will become increasingly diverse in the future.” Dr. Norris notes that the DEP numbers show relatively modest growth in metropolitan central cities and older suburbs while a population boom is occurring in outlying “exurban” areas. “These trends have important implications for the Canadian workforce, government programs and consumer spending,” says Dr. Norris. “They provide a roadmap of what’s to come in Canada’s future.”
The 2007 Demographic Estimates and Projections database presents census dissemination area-level statistics on a wide range of subjects, such as:
- Population characteristics, sex and age
- Household information
- Marital and common law status
- Family status
- Average household income and income distribution
- Educational attainment
- Labour force activity and occupations
- Mother tongue
- Immigration status
- Visible minority populations
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About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics Group Inc. is a Toronto-based marketing services company that specializes in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics. The company’s flagship product is a segmentation system called PRIZMCE, which helps marketers understand and communicate with 66 distinct types of Canadians reflecting their lifestyles, purchase behaviours and social values. PRIZMCE is also available for use with key Canadian media, marketing and GIS databases and tools — from Environics Research, Statistics Canada, PMB, BBM Analytics, NADbank, Canadian Financial Monitor, Cornerstone, infoCanada, ESRI Canada, Tetrad, TeleAtlas, Rogers Publishing, CSCA and C4SE. In the United States, Claritas Inc. of San Diego, California, is the sales agent for Environics Analytics data. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies that also includes Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc. To learn more about Environics Analytics and its services, visit its website at www.environicsanalytics.ca.
DOUG NORRIS RECEIVES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FROM STATISTICS CANADA
TORONTO, ON -- December 06, 2006 -- Statistics Canada yesterday honoured Doug Norris with its lifetime achievement award for his “exceptional contribution” to the national statistical agency. Norris, who now serves as the senior vice president and chief demographer of marketing services company Environics Analytics, received the Award for Career Excellence during the agency’s annual Awards Day ceremony held at the R.H. Coats Building in Ottawa. During the event, Norris received accolades for his work over the course of his 30-year career with Statistics Canada, most recently as its Director General of Social and Demographic Statistics.“He made a major contribution to Statistics Canada’s public image by helping business and mainstream audiences understand the major forces affecting Canada’s diverse population groups,” said Dr. Ivan Fellegi, Chief Statistician of Canada, in announcing the award. “His series of lectures on social conditions in Canada earned him the title ‘Mr. Social Trends.’ Numerous articles earned him the title of ‘Mr. Demography.’ And as a senior spokesperson for the 2001 Census, he became ‘Mr. Census.’”
During his tenure at Statistics Canada, Norris inaugurated programs in data outreach to help disseminate information to academics, social scientists and the general population. He was also instrumental in updating the design and content of the quinquennial census and other surveys that study immigration and ethnic diversity in Canada. For the 2001 Census, Norris was Statistics Canada’s senior media spokesperson, helping business and mainstream audiences understand the major forces affecting Canada’s diverse population groups.
“I’m very gratified to receive the award, particularly because it reflects work that I think is important,” says Norris, who holds bachelor of science and master of science degrees from McGill University and a Ph.D. in biostatistics and demography from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “Understanding how Canadian society is changing helps people make better decisions about many things in their lives. And to be recognized for contributing to that goal is very rewarding.”
After retiring from Statistics Canada a year ago, Norris joined Environics Analytics, where he works with companies, governments, and non-profit organizations in using census and other statistical information in a variety of planning and marketing applications. He continues to serve as a speaker and commentator on Canadian social and demographic trends, and is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences across Canada. In addition to his management role at Environics Analytics, he is an adjunct professor at Carleton University and the University of Alberta and serves on several steering committees related to the use and development of social data.
The Award for Career Excellence was instituted to honour former employees who, during their careers, made an exceptional contribution that brought lasting credit to Statistics Canada. A plaque highlighting Norris’ accomplishment will be displayed in the bureau’s Gallery of Achievement.
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About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics Group Inc. is a Toronto-based marketing services company that specializes in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics. The company’s flagship product is a segmentation system called PRIZMCE, which helps marketers understand and communicate with 66 distinct types of Canadians reflecting their lifestyles, purchase behaviours and social values. PRIZMCE is also available for use with key Canadian media, marketing and GIS databases and tools — from Environics Research, Statistics Canada, PMB, BBM Analytics, NADbank, Canadian Financial Monitor, Cornerstone, infoCanada, ESRI Canada, Tetrad, TeleAtlas, Rogers Publishing, CSCA and C4SE. In the United States, Claritas Inc. of San Diego, California, is the sales agent for Environics Analytics data. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies that also includes Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc. To learn more about Environics Analytics and its services, visit its website at www.environicsanalytics.ca.
ESRI PARTNERS WITH ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS
TORONTO, ON -- (Direct Marketing News) -- May 01, 2006 -- ESRI Canada, supplier of geographics information systems (GIS), has partnered with geodemographic data provider Environics Analytics so ESRI can offer its Canadian clients Environics Analytics' PRIZMCE data along with current and projected demographics and household spending for 2006. Both companies are based in Toronto.The flagship product of Environics Analytics is the PRIZMCE cluster system, which helps marketers understand and communicate with 66 distinct types of Canadians reflecting their lifestyles, purchase behaviours and social values. Along with ESRI Canada, PRIZMCE is also for use with key Canadian media, marketing and GIS databases and tools from Environics, Statistics Canada, PMB, BBM Canada, NADbank, Canadian Financial Monitor, Polk Canada, InfoCanada, Cornerstone, TeleAtlas, Rogers Publishing, CSCA, C4SE and Canada Post. Environics Analytics is part of the Environics Group of Companies that also includes Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc.
In segmenting consumers into 66 lifestyle types PRIZMCE links geodemographics to psychographics incorporating social values with demographics and product preferences to explain consumer behaviour. The analysis of social values makes it distinct from other cluster systems. PRIZMCE targets Canadian consumers using a cluster analysis of 2001 census demographics and extensive survey data on how Canadians spend their time and money.
PRIZMCE improves customer profiling and acquisition, cross-selling and site selection, strategic planning and media buying. It can be applied in industries such as financial services, packaged goods, retail, telecommunications, government, not-for-profits, media and automotive.
ESRI Canada's GIS tools let organizations integrate, view and analyze geodemographic data. Using this technology, organizations can see the PRIZMCE data in a spatial manner to help make faster and more informed business decisions based on this integrated view of the data.
"We are very excited about the opportunities that exist between ESRI Canada and Environics Analytics", says ESRI Canada President Alex Miller. "By using geodemographic data within a GIS, business and government organizations will have a more accurate way of targeting their products and services to their customers."
"This partnership helps bring our demographic, household spending and segmentation databases to the desktops of GIS analysts across the country", says Environics Analytics President Jan Kestle. "We are pleased to be working with ESRI Canada - not only because of the breadth of their base but also because of the leadership position that ESRI has maintained as innovators in the GIS industry for over 20 years."
In creating and describing the 66 PRIZMCE segments, Environics Analytics also tapped a number of authoritative data resources, apart from Statistics Canada for census data. They include Print Measurement Bureau, and BBM Canada (RTS) for media behaviour and product preferences, Canadian Financial Monitor for financial behaviour, and Environics Research for social values and vehicle ownership data. As well, clients can select names from both InfoCanada and Cornerstone's list of Canadian households, according to their PRIZMCE lifestyle type, for direct marketing campaigns.
PRIZMCE was unveiled in the summer of 2004 by the Environics Analytics Group, a relatively new member of the Environics Group of Companies, that specializes in geodemographics-based cluster analysis, site evaluation modeling and custom analytics. The CE stands for Canadian Edition. It is a companion product to PRIZM, the granddaddy U.S. cluster system from Claritas, San Diego, CA, which has been in existence for longer than 30 years.
Developed for the better part of a year by a team of veteran marketers and demographers, many of whom had worked for Compusearch on the Psyte geodemographic system during the 1990s, PRIZMCE was designed with social values from the outset. It is the first cluster system to embed social values.
The social values were gleaned from the surveys on consumer values conducted by sister company Environics Research. It conducts ongoing surveys of the kind that are rooted in social science research.
These links to social values are said to permit marketers to more precisely target and reach to right people with the right message. They can design offers and communicate with them in a way that is based on knowing something about how they think.
For direct marketers, it enhances their ability to polish their messages. Direct mail pieces can be composed to reflect the values of the target groups instead of clashing with those values.
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About ESRI Canada
Established in 1984, ESRI Canada is a Canadian owned GIS specialist. It distributes GIS software from ESRI Inc., NovaLISTechnologies, Miner and Miner, Telcordia, and Azteca. To furnish organizations with complete industry-specific solutions it has established and extensive business partner program that spans more than 100 Canadian organizations.
ESRI Canada also provides professional services including consulting, training, technical support, and enterprise GIS implementations. It supplies GIS offerings for many industries including local government, utilities, public safety and defence, business demographics, education, natural resources, and transportation. It has 13 regional offices across the country.
PROMINENT CANADIAN DEMOGRAPHER DOUG NORRIS JOINS ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS
TORONTO, ON -- January 09, 2006 -- Environics Analytics, the marketing services company, announced today that it has named Doug Norris, Ph.D., as Chief Demographer and a Senior Vice President. Dr. Norris brings to the position nearly 30 years of experience in social and demographic analysis at Statistics Canada, most recently as Director General of Social and Demographic Statistics.“We’re thrilled that Doug will be joining our distinguished team of experts,” says Jan Kestle, president of Environics Analytics. “With the rapid changes in Canadian demographics due to immigration and the aging Baby Boomers, it’s essential that marketers get a good grasp of where our population is headed. And few people in the country better understand the social changes affecting Canada. He brings added power to our growing team of consultants who are not only experts in interpreting data but also in applying the information to reach consumers in the marketplace.”
A nationally known speaker and commentator on Canadian social and demographic trends, Norris is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences across Canada. For the 2001 Census, Norris was Statistics Canada’s senior media spokesperson, helping business and mainstream audiences understand the major forces affecting Canada’s diverse population groups. In addition to his management role at Statistics Canada, he has continued to conduct research and publish articles in areas such as demographics, immigration, ethnicity and the family.
“I’ve spent most of my career inside government getting data out to people and helping them use it,” says Norris. “Now, I’d like to continue that mission from the outside, helping marketers and analysts use geodemographic information to make better decisions. I’m excited about this opportunity to put my knowledge and experience to use for Environics Analytics’ clients across the country.”
Currently an adjunct professor at Carleton University and the University of Alberta, Norris also serves on several steering committees related to the use and development of social data. He holds bachelor of science and master of science degrees from McGill University and a Ph.D. in biostatistics from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. At Environics Analytics, he joins a research team that consists of veteran statisticians and modellers led by Tony Lea, Ph.D., and also includes economist Tom McCormack, executive director of the Centre for Spatial Economics.
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About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics Group Inc. is a Toronto-based marketing services company that specializes in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics. The company’s flagship product is a segmentation system called PRIZMCE, which helps marketers understand and communicate with 66 distinct types of Canadians reflecting their lifestyles, purchase behaviours and social values. PRIZMCE is also available for use with key Canadian media, marketing and GIS databases and tools — from Environics Research, Statistics Canada, PMB, BBM Analytics, NADbank, Canadian Financial Monitor, Cornerstone, infoCanada, ESRI Canada, Tetrad, TeleAtlas, Rogers Publishing, CSCA and C4SE. In the United States, Claritas Inc. of San Diego, California, is the sales agent for Environics Analytics data. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies that also includes Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc. To learn more about Environics Analytics and its services, visit its website at www.environicsanalytics.ca.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS ANNOUNCES RELEASE OF NEW POPULATION, SPENDING AND BUSINESS DATA
TORONTO, ON -- October 11, 2005 -- Environics Analytics, the marketing services company, has released a series of four new data products to provide marketers with current estimates and future projections about the Canadian population and their household spending habits as well as profiles of business activity. The new data, which are available in multiple formats and for all levels of geography, are designed to help companies make informed decisions for their research, planning, site selection and marketing strategies. The projections span the years 2005 through 2015.The new data release reflects Environics Analytics’ commitment to disseminating annual demographic updates based on the 2001 census. An EA research team, consisting of veteran statisticians and modellers led by Tony Lea, Ph.D., collaborated with Tom McCormack and other economists at the Centre for Spatial Economics to produce the current and future estimated demographics. The data are now available as reports, maps in GIS formats and in EA’s flagship segmentation system PRIZMCE.
“Producing estimates for small neighbourhoods requires a special mix of demographic and economic expertise,” says Jan Kestle, president of Environics Analytics. “I’m confident that the new data represent the best available projections of small-area demographics anywhere in Canada.”
The newly released data now available from Environics Analytics are as follows:
1) Demographic Estimates and Projections 2005 (DEP) – This data set enhances statistics from the 2001 Census of Canada by updating the demographics to 2005 and projecting the data to 2008, 2010 and 2015. DEP provides clients with census dissemination area level estimates on a wide range of variables, among them: population and household counts, age, sex and marital status, dwelling type and family status, mother tongue, labour force participation, average household income, immigration status, educational attainment and income distribution.
In producing DEP, EA adjusted for any undercount or overcount variations reported by Statistics Canada to ensure statistically reliable estimates. EA also collaborated with the Centre for Spatial Economics to factor in demographic and macroeconomic growth trends at the census subdivision level.
2) Household Expenditure Potential 2005 (HEP) – These data are based on Statistics Canada's 2003 Survey of Household Spending and EA 2005 DEP and PRIZMCE. Statistics Canada asked detailed questions of more than 24,000 private households across all provinces and territories about their spending patterns. Environics Analytics then contracted Statistics Canada to aggregate and classify all the responses into the 66 PRIZMCE clusters and used the resulting data to create average potential household expenditure figures for nearly 240 categories—everything from mortgage payments, household furnishings and utilities to movies, computer software, footwear and games of chance.
The results of this rigorous methodology allow users to estimate spending behaviour of Canadians at any geographic level—from the entire nation to a local trade area. With HEP, clients can analyze potential expenditures by both total dollars and average dollars.
3) Business Profiles 2005– A joint product of infoCanada and Environics Analytics, this new database provides clients with Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code summaries of businesses and their employee counts in each census dissemination area based on EA’s geographic processing. infoCanada’s data are compiled from a wide range of reliable sources, including telephone directories, annual reports, press releases, city and industry directories, news items and new business listings. The categories range from Eating and Drinking Places to Insurance Carriers and Motion Picture Employees. Clients can access the Business Profiles through database reports, rankings and maps—all available for postal, census and user-defined geographic areas.
4) Daytime Populations 2005 – This database provides measures of the total number of people at work and at home for each dissemination area based on a combination of Environics Analytics’ Demographic Estimates and Projections 2005 and infoCanada's detailed Business Profiles. This data file is critical for planners and marketers who need estimates of daytime demand and population in trade areas or standard geographies, as opposed to census data that captures only nighttime populations. And, of course, it’s valuable for businesses that rely on daytime customer traffic.
All the newly released data, along with PRIZMCE, EA’s lifestyle segmentation system, and EA’s 2001 Adjusted Census are available in many formats including PCensus, Access, Excel and popular GIS mapping software formats.
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About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics Group Inc. is a Toronto-based marketing services company that specializes in geodemographic segmentation, site modelling and custom analytics. The company’s flagship product is a segmentation system called PRIZMCE, which helps marketers understand and communicate with 66 distinct types of Canadians reflecting their lifestyles, purchase behaviours and social values. PRIZMCE is also available for use with key Canadian media, marketing and GIS databases and tools — from Environics Research, Statistics Canada, PMB, BBM Analytics, NADbank, Canadian Financial Monitor, Cornerstone, infoCanada, ESRI Canada, Tetrad, TeleAtlas, Rogers Publishing, CSCA and C4SE. In the United States, Claritas Inc. of San Diego, California, is the sales agent for Environics Analytics data. Environics Analytics is a member of the Environics group of companies that also includes Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc. To learn more about Environics Analytics and its services, visit its website at www.environicsanalytics.ca.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS AND CLARITAS INTRODUCE CONSUMERPOINT CE
SAN DIEGO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- May 23, 2005 -- Claritas Inc., the premier provider of intelligent marketing information and target marketing services, announced today the release of ConsumerPoint® CE, the Canadian edition of Claritas' comprehensive target marketing software system. The new product is being made available through a strategic partnership with Toronto-based Environics Analytics Group, a marketing services company that specializes in geodemographic-based segmentation."Canada is an important market for many U.S.-based companies, and we're delighted that marketers targeting Canadian consumers will now have access to ConsumerPoint's powerful marketing capabilities," said Claritas President and CEO Robert Nascenzi.
Nascenzi said the system combines Claritas' leading-edge, analytical software and data storage technology with proprietary and third-party Canadian databases from Environics Analytics. ConsumerPoint CE features Environics Analytics' geodemographic segmentation system PRIZM CE, the Canadian version of Claritas' signature segmentation system, PRIZM® NE, as well as demographic data, media behavior, buying preferences and lifestyle information. Among the authoritative sources for this information are Print Measurement Bureau, BBM Canada, Canadian Financial Monitor, Statistics Canada and the Environics Group.
"ConsumerPoint CE is a solution our clients have been waiting for," said Jan Kestle, President of Environics Analytics. "The innovative design that Claritas has come up with results in easy access to the latest data. And the software is very intuitive, a kind of marketing intelligence on a chip. As always, we are pleased to be working with Claritas in offering market analysis tools that work for marketers on both sides of the border."
ConsumerPoint CE is powered by PRIZM CE, which Claritas and Environics Analytics introduced last September. Like PRIZM NE, the Canadian system classifies consumers into 66 lifestyle types with catchy names that reflect the demographics of the neighborhood where they live. In the PRIZM CE system, some of those names include Cosmopolitan Elite, Electric Avenues, Les Chics and Lunch at Tim's. Sixteen segments share the same name and similar demographic profile with PRIZM NE segments, such as Money & Brains, Young Digerati and Big Sky Families.
ConsumerPoint, which was first introduced in May 2001, blends what clients uniquely know about their customers with Claritas' marketplace benchmarks, updated demographics and market infrastructure. It provides the essential reports, charts and maps in Claritas' traditional Who, What, Where, How sequence to analyze behavioral profiles, lifestyle correlations, market potential and target concentration and media preferences.
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About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics Group Inc. is a Toronto-based marketing services company that specializes in geodemographics-based segmentation, site evaluation modeling and custom analytics. The company's flagship product is a segmentation system called PRIZM CE, which helps marketers understand and communicate with 66 distinct types of Canadians reflecting their lifestyles, purchase behaviors and social values. PRIZM CE is also available for use with key Canadian media, marketing and GIS databases and tools -- from Environics, Statistics Canada, PMB, BBM Canada, NADbank, Ipsos-Reid, Polk Canada, InfoCanada, ESRI Canada, TeleAtlas, Rogers Publishing, CSCA, C4SE and Canada Post. Environics Analytics is part of the Environics group of companies that also includes Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc. To learn more about Environics Analytics and its services, visit its website at www.environicsanalytics.ca.
About Claritas
San Diego-based Claritas Inc. is regarded as the leading provider of intelligent marketing information and target marketing services aimed at reducing the cost of customer acquisition and growing customer value. Claritas offers over 60 marketing databases, industry leading consumer segmentation systems, consulting services and software applications for site analysis, advertising sales and customer targeting. Since 1971, Claritas has been the pre-eminent source of accurate, up-to-date information about people, households and businesses within any geographic area in the United States. Claritas is a division of VNU, a world-leading information and media company that includes ACNielsen, Nielsen Media Research, Spectra Marketing Systems, and Scarborough Research, among others. To learn more about Claritas and VNU products and services visit their web sites at www.claritas.com and www.VNU.com.
Contacts:
Stephen F. Moore
Claritas Inc.
(858) 677-9634
stmoore@claritas.com
Jan Kestle, President
Environics Analytics
(416) 969-2834
Jan.Kestle@environicsanalytics.ca
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS LAUNCHES NEW SEGMENTATION SYSTEM FOR CANADA
PRIZMCE First to Combine Consumer Behaviour with Social Values For Neighbourhood Marketing Tool
Environics Analytics, founded in November 2003, is a member of the Environics Group of Companies, one of Canada 's leading independent consulting groups, which offers expertise in research, communications, sampling, sales and employee training. Its new segmentation system, called PRIZMCE, was developed by a team of veteran marketing experts led by Jan Kestle, founder and president of Environics Analytics and a former president of Compusearch.
PRIZMCE targets Canadian consumers using a cluster analysis of 2001 census demographics and exhaustive survey data on how Canadians spend their time and their money. The system can be used to improve the execution of many business strategies: customer profiling and acquisition, cross-selling and site selection, strategic planning and media buying. It has wide application for marketers in a variety of industries, including financial services, packaged goods, retail, telecommunications, government agencies, not-for-profits, media and automotive industries.
“Unlike other systems, PRIZMCE helps marketers target customers more effectively based on their mindset as well as their demographics and behaviour,” says Jan Kestle from the company's headquarters in Toronto. “The result is the most advanced geodemographic tool available in Canada today.”
PRIZMCE captures Canada 's mosaic society through 11 ethnic lifestyle types, with three segments dominated by Asian immigrants, one filled with Italians and others consisting of large concentrations of South Asian and European immigrants. The system includes 15 Francophone clusters mostly concentrated in Quebec --segments with names like Les Chics, Mini Van & Vin Rouge and Quebec Rustics.
“This is a very exciting development,” says Michael Adams, author of three best selling books on Canadian social values and president of the Environics Group. “For years, we've been working with clients to help them understand the social values of their customers. My books and articles are written from about 35,000 feet. Environics Research's social values segmentation takes us down to 1,500. PRIZMCE moves to the next step, drilling down to get the right message to the right people where they live.”
Through a strategic partnership with Claritas Inc., which pioneered geodemography in the mid-1970s, Environics Analytics has linked PRIZMCE to PRIZMNE, the best-known segmentation system in the world. Sixteen of the 66 segments in both systems share the same name and similar demographic profile--clusters like Money & Brains, Young Digerati and Big Sky Families. But PRIZMCE (the “CE” stands for Canadian Edition) also confirms the ways in which Canadians are different from Americans. Environics Analytics has appointed Claritas as its sales agent for PRIZMCE in the U.S., allowing marketers from Canada and the U.S. to reach consumers on both sides of the border.
“We're delighted to have our innovative Canadian system share the PRIZM name,” said Jan Kestle. “It's a privilege to have Claritas as our partner in offering a geodemographic segmentation solution that works for marketers throughout North America.”
Environics Analytics also tapped a number of authoritative data resources to create and describe the 66 PRIZMCE segments, including Statistics Canada* for census data, the Print Measurement Bureau and BBM Canada (RTS) for media behaviour and product preferences, Ipsos-Reid for financial behaviour and Environics Research for vehicle ownership data. In addition, clients can select names from InfoCanada's list of 12 million households, according to their PRIZMCE lifestyle type, for direct marketing programs.
Among some of the many notable PRIZMCE lifestyle types:
Cosmopolitan Elite, No. 1 – Canada 's wealthiest lifestyle, this cluster is an urban oasis for both new-money entrepreneurs and the heirs to old-money fortunes. Concentrated in a handful of established neighbourhoods--like West Vancouver, Toronto 's Forest Hill and Montreal 's Westmount --it is home to super-rich, middle-aged families and older couples who live in elegant homes, drive luxury imports and send their kids to private schools.
Young Digerati, No. 5 – One of the clusters shared with Americans in the PRIZMNE system, Young Digerati consists of the nation's tech-savvy singles and couples living in fashionable in-town neighbourhoods in a handful of big cities. Affluent, highly educated and ethnically mixed, this cluster's communities are typically filled with tasteful, high-rise apartments and expensive condos with home offices, fitness clubs, clothing boutiques, casual restaurants and all types of bars--from juice to coffee to microbrew.
Mini Van & Vin Rouge, No.16 – Mini Van & Vin Rouge represents a collection of young and active families who live in new suburban communities beyond Quebec 's big cities. These upper-middle-class households tend to consist of well-educated white-collar professionals with young children engaging in kid-centred lifestyles. Residents score high for outdoor activities like bicycling, ice skating, cross-country skiing and boating.
Lunch at Tim's, No. 46 – Located in industrial towns and cities across southern Ontario, Lunch at Tim's consists of high school-educated blue-collar workers living in older homes and small apartment buildings. They're the kind of tight-knit communities where residents like to socialize at local eateries, explaining the popularity of pizza parlours, Asian restaurants and those distinctly Canadian doughnut shops like Tim Hortons.
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About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics Group Inc. is a Toronto-based marketing services company that specializes in geodemographic-based segmentation, site evaluation modelling and custom analytics. The company's hallmark product is a segmentation system called PRIZMCE, which helps marketers understand and communicate with 66 distinct lifestyle types throughout Canadian society. Through a partnership with San Diego-based Claritas Inc., Environics Analytics offers comparable databases for the U.S. resulting in integrated marketing tools for all of North America. PRIZMCE is also available for use with key Canadian media, marketing and GIS databases and tools - from Environics, Statistics Canada, PMB, BBM Canada, Canadian Financial Monitor, infoCANADA, ESRI Canada, GDT, Rogers Publishing, CSCA, C4SE and Geomedia. Environics Analytics is part of the Environics Group of Companies, which also includes Environics Research and Environics Communications. To learn more about Environics Analytics and its services, visit its website www.environicsanalytics.ca.
* Environics Analytics Group Ltd. is an Authorized User of selected Statistics Canada Computer File(s) and Distributor of derived Information Products under Licensing Agreement 6894. No confidential information about an individual, family, household, organization or business has been obtained from Statistics Canada.
ENVIRONICS ANALYTICS TODAY APPOINTED CLARITAS INC. AS ITS U.S. SALES AGENT FOR PRIZMCE
CLARITAS Introduces New Canadian Segmentation System
Under terms of the partnership, Claritas will serve as the exclusive U.S. distributor of PRIZMCE (“CE” stands for Canadian Edition). “Over time we recognized a need to offer our clients the opportunity to market more effectively to their customers in Canada, and PRIZMCE meets that need,” said Claritas President and CEO Robert Nascenzi.
“We have known and worked with the key personnel at Environics Analytics for over 20 years, and are confident that our clients will receive the same level of quality from PRIZMCE that they are accustomed to receiving with PRIZMNE, ” Nascenzi added.
PRIZMCE allows clients from both the U.S. and Canada to target their products and services to customers anywhere in North America. With PRIZMCE, Claritas and Environics Analytics will help marketers accomplish a variety of business applications — from customer profiling and acquisition, cross-selling and site selection to strategic planning and media buying — to reach consumers in both countries.
“We are delighted to have our innovative Canadian system share the PRIZM name,” said Jan Kestle, President of Environics Analytics and former President of Compusearch.
“It is a privilege to partner with Claritas in offering a geodemographic segmentation solution that works for marketers on both sides of the border.”
Claritas pioneered geodemography in the mid-1970s, basing it on the sociological premise that “birds of a feather flock together, ” and that people with similar demographic traits tend to behave in the same way in the marketplace.
Like PRIZMNE, PRIZMCE is comprised of 66 lifestyle types that classify consumers with catchy names that reflect the makeup of the population where they live. In the PRIZMCE system, some of the names include Cosmopolitan Elite, Electric Avenues, Les Chics and Lunch at Tim's. Sixteen segments in both systems share the same name and similar demographic profiles, such as Money & Brains, Young Digerati and Big Sky Families.
PRIZMCE was created by a team of veteran Canadian geodemographers, led by Tony Lea, Ph.D., the senior vice president and chief methodologist at Environics Analytics, and a world-renowned expert in geodemographics. The system, which confirms the many ways in which Canadians and Americans differ, features 15 distinct segments of French-speaking Canadians who mostly live in Quebec — segments with names like Les Chics, Mini Van & Vin Rouge and Quebec Rustics — where their product preferences are often unlike their English-speaking neighbours.
PRIZMCE also captures Canada 's high concentration of foreign born; more than 18 percent of its residents were born outside the country, making Canada second only to Australia with the highest proportion of immigrants in the world. This mosaic society is reflected through 11 ethnic segments — three of which are dominated by Asian immigrants, one is filled with Italians and the others consist of large concentrations of Jewish, South Asian and European immigrants.
Environics Analytics tapped a number of authoritative data resources to create and describe the PRIZMCE segments, including Statistics Canada for census data, the Print Measurement Bureau (PMB) and Bureau of Broadcast Measurement (BBM) for media behaviour and product preferences, and Social Values data from its sister company, Environics Research. In addition, clients can select PRIZMCE-coded names from InfoCanada's list of 12 million households for direct marketing programs.
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About Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics Group Inc. is a Toronto-based marketing services company that specializes in geodemographics-based segmentation, site evaluation modelling and custom analytics. The company's flagship product is a segmentation system called PRIZMCE, which helps marketers understand and communicate with 66 distinct types of Canadians reflecting their lifestyles, purchase behaviours and social values. PRIZMCE is also available for use with key Canadian media, marketing and GIS databases and tools — from Environics, Statistics Canada, PMB, BBM, IPSOS-Reid, infoCANADA, ESRI Canada, GDT, Rogers Publishing, CSCA, C4SE and Geomedia. Environics Analytics is part of the Environics group of companies that also includes Environics Research and Environics Communications Inc. To learn more about Environics Analytics and its services, visit its website at www.environicsanalytics.ca .
About Claritas
San Diego-based Claritas Inc. is regarded as the leading provider of intelligent marketing information and target marketing services aimed at reducing the cost of customer acquisition and growing customer value. Claritas offers over 60 marketing databases, industry leading consumer segmentation systems, consulting services and software applications for site analysis, advertising sales and customer targeting. Since 1971, Claritas has been the pre-eminent source of accurate, up-to-date information about people, households and businesses within any geographic area in the United States. Claritas is a division of VNU, a world-leading information and media company that includes ACNielsen, Nielsen Media Research, Spectra Marketing Systems, and Scarborough Research, among others. To learn more about Claritas and VNU products and services visit their web sites at www.claritas.com and www.VNU.com.