Does Your Brand Speak Canadian?

As a Canadian, I have had the privilege of leading and being involved in businesses in Canada, the US, and China. I was successful in my leadership roles because I convinced the foreign companies I worked for to learn to Compete in Canada, for example, as a Canadian brand.

My job was to train foreign brands to speak Canadian, which meant reaching Canadian consumers and employees. It all came down to leadership.

What I learned is that you can’t simply come to Canada and open a shop and hope to be successful. It’s not that easy. Leaders must be culturally intuitive and able to translate a foreign brand for Canadians to connect with. Target was a great example of what not to do in Canada. Remember Sears Canada? They failed because their financial artists were more interested in the bottom line than continuing with a Canadian brand.

The biggest mistake foreign companies make is that they believe Canada is an extension of the US. We are not; our culture and way of life are very different. We may watch the same TV shows and follow American news, share a similar language, and, as funny as this may sound, we don’t spell the same way or pronounce words the same way.

Even in our shopping choices, such as fashion and automobiles, we spend our money. Many Canadians spend most of their discretionary money on food and housing costs; it’s not new; it’s always been that way. Millennials in Canada differ from their US cousins; we just have a very different view about tolerance as well.

Canadian workers value trust and transparency more than they are likely to get fired up over foreign cultural assimilation with things like cheerleading positivity chants. If a brand’s culture is not made in Canada, its vision and purpose risk failure.

Many foreign brands that have entered Canada since the pandemic should constantly reevaluate how they’ve positioned their brand. However, this doesn’t just apply to retailers but to service providers who want to conduct business with Canadian business leaders. Relationships are important; managing them with care and cultivating the differences into a bond of mutual respect is the key.

The one thing I learned building a brand in China, for example, was to understand that we were guests. As guests, it wasn’t our role to try to train the Chinese consumer or change the country to American or Canadian. It was for us to learn to work in that country.

So, to conduct business in Canada, be prepared to learn to speak Canadian. If it’s the US, UK, or China, learn to speak their language as well. And if I could make it even simpler, learn to conduct business locally; it doesn’t matter if you sell apparel, cars, or services to retailers, learn to be local and speak the language that will reach the hearts and minds of the people you want to sell to.

My name is George Minakakis. I have led multiple retail chains, lived and worked in Canada, the US, and China, and had assignments in Europe and Australia. I also have extensive board experience in the for-profit sector.

Today, I advise companies on how to be successful in business.