June 11, 2009

Taxi ad agency founder Paul Lavoie thinks Canada needs re-branding.

“We have not managed our brand carefully, or with a shared purpose,” Lavoie told Marketing Magazine. “We’ve allowed our diversity to define us in broken fragments according to short-term tactics, not long-term goals.”

“Our product is beautiful, but our brand impression is uneventful, quiet and ill-defined,” he continues.

While we have rich resources, like lumber, water and oil, other countries have a reputation associated with them; Sweden has Ikea, Japan has Toyota and France has Perrier.

Lavoie is now asking, “Where is the Canadian car? Where is Canadian food?” In effect, why is Canada “invisible?”

If Lavoie is correct, this issue has far-reaching implications for the meetings and incentive travel industry and conference planning companies looking to bring corporate meetings and events to Canada.

For the full article, visit Marketing Magazine’s site