Welcome to Marketing Chronicles. A monthly dose of strategy and creativity for brands, agencies, and businesses — delivered on the second Wednesday of every month. If you like what you see, join us for free.

Hello Marketing Chroniclers. This month I’ve packed the newsletter with some topics that been subjected to a lot of debate.

• Made in Canada vs Product of Canada

• I ♥ NY Case Study

• Is Canadian Pride At An All-Time High?

• How Marketers Should Approach Their Data Strategy

• The Purpose of Purpose Is Purpose!

• Should I Make The Logo Bigger?

I would love to hear your thoughts about these — just tag me on your LinkedIn post!

TRADE WAR/

Made In Canada vs Product Of Canada

With Canadian businesses pivoting to make their Canadian messaging more prominent in their communications, it's important that we understand some key distinctions.

"Made in Canada" and "Product of Canada" are NOT the same thing.

As Florentina Stancu-Soare explained in her latest Canadian Marketing Association article, those two claims are not interchangeable.

There are percentage thresholds that must be met for it to pass the "Made in Canada" claim, meanwhile "Product of Canada" has an even higher bar to clear.

But, if your product doesn't clear these thresholds, there's still a way to message around the Canadian elements of your operations: broader terms like “produced” or “manufactured” in Canada typically won't get you into trouble - as long as you include a statement that clarifies the origin and content of the product. "Designed in Canada" is also an alternative that would likely not confuse consumers.

🍁 What items have you recently swapped at the grocery store to support Canadian products?

CASE STUDY/

The Impacts of Tourism In The Local Economy

Everyone knows about the I ♥ NY campaign from the 70s (and its failed 'refresh' to We ♥ NYC after 9/11), but the results of it are seldom talked about. In the face of a projected increase in domestic travel in Canada, there are some key learnings that tourism agencies should be thinking about.

Before 1976, NY State was seen primarily as just NYC - and that was not a good thing. The city was on the verge of bankruptcy and was perceived as dangerous and dirty (google "garbage strike 1975") while also being extremely expensive due to inflation at the time. In other words, not the place you wanted to visit for a vacation.

To make matters worse, NY spent less per person on tourism than any other state in the country - so it's not like they were working hard to change those negative perceptions.

When the State's tourism agency approached the late great Mary Wells Lawrence to work on a campaign to boost tourism she first had to help them gain more budget from the legislature. So they ran a research study to benchmark what tourism advertising would produce for the State's coffers in tax income, and eventually convinced the government to fork out $4 million (or $21 million in today's dollars) to produce and run this campaign.

In the research, they also learned that most people had no idea that NY had great outdoors - this was an hidden gem that had to be talked about. Meanwhile, despite most people having visited NYC before, few remembered the feelings of thrill and excitement from their visit to Broadway. And those two occasions served as the anchors for the campaign.

The execution of it was flawless (which I'm not gonna go into it), but the results were even better.

It's difficult to say how much of it was DUE to the campaign vs a combination of several other things (they weren't running MMM studies back then!), so I dug into the NYT's archive to see what they were saying about it back then:

📰: Tourism, Nearing a Record, Fills New York Hotels (June 5, 1979)

• This year, occupancy has averaged 80% in the city's hotels. In the early 1970's, hotel occupancy rates averaged between 62% and 68% a year.

• Much of this spending was in connection with 875 conventions in 1978 (another annual record for the city).

• The Hotel Association of NYC cited an “improvement in the economy; deregulation of airlines, making fares a lot more attractive; and the growth in the packaging of tourism."

• Many credited the bureau's efforts, as well as the state's “I Love New York” promotion campaign.

As you can see from the graphs below, results lag a couple years (brand-building moves slow), but there's a clear demarcation between when the campaign went live (1977) and when things started to boom (1979).

This is such a great case study for tourism agencies to take to their legislatures when competing for budget. When tourism is booming, everyone benefits from it.

OPINION/

Canadian Pride At An All-Time High?

Last month, Canada defeated the USA in the 4 Nations Face-Off finals. With the added layer of a tariffs war taking place between the two countries, a lot of brands have been thinking about how to position themselves to the Canadian market for the foreseeable future.

In recent months, we've seen a drastic 10-pt jump from December 2024 to February 2025 in how proud Canadians are of their national identity (from 34% to 44% "Very Proud" as per the latest Angus Reid Institute Research market pulse).

It's important to note that this Canadian Pride sentiment spike we're seeing right now is nothing new - back in the late 90s and early 2000s, we've seen something very similar happen, though for different reasons:

🍁 We had just narrowly survived the Quebec Referendum in 1995, which ended up reinforcing national unity

🍁 The NAFTA Agreement had just recently been signed in 1994 which contributed to increased prosperity domestically

🍁 Culturally, those were Gretzky's "final years", the Canadiens had just won a Stanley Cup, Margaret Atwood was at the height of her powers, Céline Dion, Shania Twain, and Alanis Morissette were dominating global charts, and much more

All of this reached its apex when Molson Canadian released its iconic "I Am Canadian" spot in 2000, further epitomizing our national sense of pride in the Maple Leaf.

So, when a mix of geopolitical forces overlap with sports, arts and music, it's inevitable that national unity strengthens.

Therefore, I caution brands today not to let this moment pass them by by simply slapping a maple leaf or a "Made in Canada" stamp on their communications.

Canadian identity is tied to MUCH more than just its geography - in Environics Analytics' "The Evolution of the Canadian Identity" study from 2022, Canadians believe that their identity is tied to something much greater (and to many folks' surprise, "sorry"-type stereotypes don't make the list).

Finding innovative and creative angles to bring these to life is what will make your Canadian-centric comms standout in the midst of a sea of sameness.

SPEAKING/

How Marketers Approach Data Strategy

How should marketers approach their research projects? This was the lens I used to unpack how to devise a 'data strategy' for marketing projects at YYC DataCon earlier this month.

If strategy is the art and science of making choices, then any project you're tackling that involves data (likely, most of them!), you should have a clear idea of what you'll do versus not do.

Here are some tips on how to get started:

1. Start with Market Understanding: Every project should begin with understanding the market and category. Data can help identify high-value segments worth over-investing in.

2. Data Manipulation & Limitations: While data is crucial, it can be manipulated to fit a narrative. To balance this, qualitative methods like focus groups and ethnography help gain deeper insights.

3. Limitations of Qualitative Research: Qualitative research, such as focus groups, doesn’t provide statistically representative samples. Insights from a small group (e.g., 10 people) cannot be extrapolated to a broader population reliably.

4. Statistical Confidence in Marketing: A statistically representative sample typically requires a 95% confidence level. For large populations (e.g., 40 million people), a sample size of around 400 is often sufficient. However, when segmenting into regions, additional samples are needed.

5. Data Strategy Approach: Rather than diving blindly into data, marketers should approach research with a clear hypothesis to test. Without this, efforts can become inefficient and costly.

6. Effective Research Techniques: Entering research with an open mind is critical. One useful technique in qualitative research is “playing dumb,” which encourages participants to explain concepts more thoroughly, revealing unexpected insights.

7. Balanced Marketing Approach: Successful marketing strategies integrate both quantitative (data-driven) and qualitative (human insights) research to make informed decisions.

OPINION/

The Purpose Of Purpose Is Purpose

Recently I've started to see many marketers waking up from their fever dreams about brand purpose. Not so surprisingly, all those years of investing into positioning their brands as moral arbiters of society has placed an unbearable weight on their shoulders that they no longer can carry around.

For starters, this idea of brand purpose come into existence after a few deeply flawed analyses of brand performances which gave CMOs the hopes that they could now play a bigger role in society beyond growing their brands.

I never understood what's so shameful about growing a business - particularly if your company is compensating their employees fairly, paying their taxes, and abiding by the rules of the game.

This is the very purpose of a for-profit business - those taxes they pay go back into their communities in the form of funding for schools, public transit, support for the elderly, and much more.

Meanwhile, generating wealth for their employees is what enables them to pursue purposes of their own - supporting a social cause, coaching their local hockey team, spending money on things that matter to them, ...

And finally, for-profit businesses have the liberating gift of limited liability. Meaning, they can take risks without compromising their individual personal life-savings. This is an imperative element in this whole equation, because the moment businesses begin overstepping into social and political issues, they are effectively attempting to shape the society that should be shaping them. There's an obvious conflict of interest here - the privileges of limited liability come with the conditions that they should stay in their lane.

Not to mention the self-aggrandizing illusion that these businesses end up getting that they're moral actors whose very success has intrinsic value, rather than a profit-driven enterprise for which law and ethics should be a constraint, not an opportunity.

This has led to serious collateral damage in societies because of the trillions of dollars that were poured into pushing certain agendas for which no one voted for - regardless of whether or not you agreed with them.

In parallel, the very institutions that had social purpose as their core modus operandi ended up getting pushed to the sidelines by the behemoths of the for-profit world.

These institutions who paid the price were the non-profits - whose tax exemption point of difference ended up becoming moot in the face of brands' "reason for being" becoming not profit, but societal impact during the purpose years.

We see it every year: social purpose creative industry awards being stolen by washing powers, soap bars, and deodorants - how did no one clue in?

Anyhow, I hope that as a profession we've finally woken up from this fever dream and course-corrected our teams to focus on what we were here for to begin with.

Purpose resides in humans, not companies. Businesses are limited, people aren't.

OPINION/

Should I Make The Logo Bigger?

"Make the logo bigger". That's a super common request from clients in later feedback rounds, particularly in the last few days leading up to the assets going live. While this may annoy creatives, there's some validity to it.

The No.1 job of advertising is to make the connection between the brand and the message being delivered clear. Sounds obvious, but it's worth mentioning as it is often forgotten in the trenches of ad-making.

Now, if you're a big brand, chances are that your "distinctive brand assets" are somewhat well-recognized (take the example of Gatorade below). This is the product of years of gradual consumer exposure to the brand and its various codes, so that whenever someone sees an "orange droplet" most people immediately connect it to Gatorade.

Smaller brands are nowhere near this point though. So, in the earlier years of marketing communications planning, the logo must take center stage.

It ain't pretty, but it's a necessary evil so that neural connections between the brand and its messaging are formed (which ideally are tapping into "category entry points", aka situations that trigger purchase intent, such as "I need to hydrate while playing sports").

The more a brand's assets become familiar, the more attention you can give to the message, and the "smaller" the logo can get (figuratively speaking, because the ideal "size" of the logo on an ad should be big enough so that people can see it).

In the case of Gatorade, because they've achieved such a level of uniqueness and fame across its power icon, orange droplets and tagline, no logo is needed to make it clear that this is a Gatorade commercial, as the image of Caitlin Clark accompanied by the subtler brand codes makes the message even more impactful without compromising attribution to the brand.

If you're a new or smaller brand, remember that in the beginning you will need to focus a bit more on the brand than on the message. While it won't be artistic enough to win you a Lion, it's what will set you up for long-term creative effectiveness.

So, yeah - go make that logo bigger!

INSPIRATION/

Ford Likes Jeeps

Recently you may have noticed that car brands in North America have been leaning into this territory of “choice” when it comes to EVs vs combustion engines.

It’s a smart move due electric vehicles, for significant portions of the market, having turned into a tool for combating climate change.

Since most regular folks are more concerned with making ends meet than with saving the planet, this angle becomes quite an effective “Trojan Horse” for EVs. This is what climate change activists forgot about when attempting to move the cause forward — people don’t like being told what to do.

Selling an EV because it’s a great car is a lot easier than selling it because it will save the planet. That jump is a bit too steep for most consumers who also have to worry about putting food on the table. When money is tight, all altruism goes out the window, unfortunately.

Now, the decision to use Harrison Ford as the spokesperson for a Jeep commercial is a nice tongue-in-cheek choice, but I wonder if it was a smart choice.

Rule number 1 in advertising is that you never give your competitors breathing room in your own ads. Not because people might choose them over you, but because of the potential for misattribution.

Only 16% of advertising is both recalled and correctly attributed to the brand, which is why most brands avoid making a nod to their competitors in any way — unless, of course, the strategy is to contrast the options, which is better suited for smaller, fighter brands.

But, from a purely artistic standpoint, I love this ad. It was beautifully executed, and as a marketer I loved the joke about Ford — but I also happen NOT to be the consumer, so my opinion is irrelevant.

BRAIN FOOD/

Strategist’s Delight (What’s On)

• Book: How Brands Grow Part 2 (Jenni Romaniuk, Byron Sharp)

• Podcast Episode: Rise of the Independents (On strategy Showcase)

• TV Series: Churchill at War (Netflix)

• Film: The Zone of Interest (Prime)

QUOTE/

The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions

More of PPA:

• 🤝 Connect with me on LinkedIn and/or BlueSky

• 🗣 For speaking engagements, you can reach me at [email protected]

• 💌 In case you missed it: Harnessing Attention - navigating the consumer’s mind, evaluating attention, and media archetypes

PPA 

Pedro Porto Alegre is a seasoned marketing professional with in-depth experience building brand and communications strategies for top-tier B2C and B2B organizations across Canada. His repertoire extends from crafting and executing integrated multi-media brand marketing campaigns to the commercialization of performance-driven innovations for multimillion-dollar and nascent brands alike.