Win in Quebec: Three French words to keep in mind

Quebec is the second largest province in Canada, and it more than carries its economic weight.

22% of Canadians call Quebec home, and yet Quebec over-indexes in key categories like clothing, leisure, skincare, and domestic tourism with the largest margins being in automotive sales, accounting for 24% of the national total, and health and personal care at 28%.

With a population so ready to buy, why --- errr, pourquoi --- do brands fail, and why do campaigns that succeed elsewhere in Canada fall flat in la belle province?

To answer that, let’s learn some of the language. We’ve got three words to add to your vocabulaire.

Let’s start with cliché. Cliché, as in the words you will find as the first hits of a Google search or AI query for “Quebec culture.” We’ll see poutine (fries, cheese, and gravy), depanneur (corner store), manifestations (protests), Osheaga (music fest), Carnivale (winter fest), moving day (on Canada Day), and joie de vivre (basically live, laugh, love). These clichés are not off-putting by themselves; they are, indeed, cultural touchstones and come from truths. However, clichés are easy and might only succeed in giving consumers a sense of déjà vu. If you’re going to use one, make sure it connects authentically with your message. Actually, speaking of clichés, here’s what supposedly goes into a mean poutine: fries (brown is better but golden is fine), gravy (St-Hubert makes a great one that you can buy ready-made at any grocery store, or get their powdered version, it’s just as good and it’s vegetarian), and last but not least, the pièce de resistance, the cheese. Shred as much mozzarella as you can stomach and pile it on. 

Which brings us to that second word, nuance. Can you guess why?  There is a famous scene-turned-meme from the 2009 WW2 film, Inglorious Basterds, in which a British spy (played by Michael Fassbender) masquerades as a German officer and accidentally gives himself away by using the wrong fingers to indicate the number ‘three’. If you are unfamiliar with the scene, Fassbender shows “3” with his index, middle, and ring finger. This was a dead giveaway to the German soldiers who would have shown their thumb, index, and middle finger instead—not their ring finger. The faux pas of this cultural difference cost Fassbender’s character his life. Now, in marketing, the stakes are considerably lower (depending on your media spend, of course), but that poutine recipe stuck its metaphorical ring finger in the cheese, because mozzarella has no place on a poutine. Authentic poutine uses cheese curds, not mozzarella. When the curds are fresh, you can see the humidity in the bag, and when you bite into them, you’ll hear an oddly satisfying squeak that must be experienced for that nuance to be understood.

Finally, for the third word, and it is perhaps more relevant than ever, heritage. The recent surge of Canadian patriotism has not been missing in Quebec. With existential uncertainty from outside of our borders, Quebeckers recognize the moment. The CBC recently reported that between December and February, the number of Quebeckers who said they were “proud” or “very proud” to be Canadian increased by 13 points, from 45% - 58%. This rather rapid increase represents shifting priorities that are not so much from the sudden addition of some patriotic fever but rather revealing a sense of Canadian-ness that is often hidden behind the fleur-de-lys.  Heritage does not only apply to the unique history and cultural evolution of Quebec but of Canada as whole. Quebec is not so alien; its history is Canadian history. Quebec has produced no fewer than seven Prime Ministers, and heck, “O Canada” was written in Quebec. As much as it is wise to recognize Quebec’s uniqueness, it is perhaps now just as wise to recognize what it has in common with the rest of Canada. uniqueness, it is perhaps now just as wise to recognize what it has in common with the rest of Canada.

Extra credit to those who caught that our three French words hold virtually the same meaning in English. Just remember: if you’re going to serve Quebeckers a poutine, the cheese had better squeak.

Ok, one more word: café. Please join Qolab for coffee and a discussion about how to show up authentically and win in Quebec. It’s on April 8, with details to come on the CMA website.