Things to consider when advertising internationally

By: Chrystie Dalzell, Senior Communications Advisor, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada

Most advertising in the Government of Canada is done domestically, with the intention of communicating important information to Canadians about its programs and services. But sometimes the government also needs to reach audiences in other countries, and there can be important nuances to consider when delivering international campaigns.

Whether your department is advertising within Canada or internationally, many of the requirements, processes, and best practices are the same. Ads must be in plain language in English and French; adhere to the Federal Identity Program; consider the language, cultural demographics and psychographics of the target audience; and be accessible. Campaigns must be planned and purchased in accordance with the Directive on the Management of Communications and recorded in the Advertising Management Information System (AdMIS) for reporting. However, there are key considerations to keep in mind when advertising internationally.

Audience

First, determine whether you’re speaking to Canadians abroad or foreign nationals. This will impact media tactics as well as your official language (OL) obligations. At Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), our international campaigns are often directed towards foreign nationals who are interested in coming to Canada to visit, work or study.

Official language (OL) compliance

When advertising internationally to foreign nationals, the OL obligation requires only a minimum of 1% of the media budget be spent on English and French ads. This is critical for markets where the audience’s first language isn’t English or French as it provides the opportunity to reach audiences in their primary language(s). OL obligations are different if your audience is Canadians abroad.

• Consult your Advertising Services Directorate (ASD)  (accessible only on the Government of Canada network) advisor for help understanding your OL obligations.

Working with a foreign partner

The Agency of Record (AOR) may work with an in-market partner agency or media supplier when developing the media strategy, media plan and campaign execution. A local partner often has a better understanding of the target market and media landscape, as well as access to research and relationships with suppliers.

Working with colleagues abroad

You must consult with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) when planning advertisements in foreign markets. GAC colleagues posted abroad in consulates, embassies and high commissions are an invaluable resource for international campaigns. They have insight into the local area and can guide discussions around cultural and political sensitivities, language (e.g., slang, common terms), creative development, web content and media choices. A consideration when engaging with these colleagues is that they generally aren’t communicators or familiar with advertising, and are collaborating with us on top of their already demanding workloads.

Time differences

An important factor when establishing your critical path is accounting for time differences when working with international colleagues and partners. Last fiscal IRCC launched a campaign in India and our agency partner and GAC colleagues were 10 hours ahead. This meant that if we sent a question or product for review at 10 am, we wouldn’t receive a response before the next morning. Whenever we involved our colleagues abroad, we doubled the standard turnaround time to account for the time difference.

Foreign media

Every country has its own restrictions when it comes to advertising, which can impact the media strategy and tactics. Many media plans include Google products, however they’re not available in every country due to United States embargos or because a country has blocked their citizens from accessing it. As we were developing this fiscal’s advertising proposal for a campaign targeting students in India, we discovered that TikTok is banned in India. Instead of including it as a proposed tactic, our proposal outlined the need for the AOR to research Josh, India’s alternative to TikTok.

Setting budget estimates and performance benchmarks during the advertising proposal development can be more difficult with foreign media as we don’t have established cost guides or GC benchmarks.

Share results and reporting

As with domestic campaigns, it’s important to measure and report on the results of your international campaigns. Effective reporting will inform your future campaigns and benefit other departments who may be advertising in these same markets.

Campaign example

Last fiscal, IRCC launched a fraud awareness campaign in India targeting foreign nationals interested in working or studying in Canada. The campaign’s primary advertising objective was to direct audiences to a webpage where they could learn more about work and study permits, the dangers of working with unscrupulous immigration representatives and the consequences of fraud. During our research phase, and in consultation with colleagues abroad, our strategy included these key considerations:

• many applicants will hire unauthorized, and sometimes unscrupulous, immigration representatives, regardless of their age, level of education or income.
• digital literacy varied and segments of our audience didn’t have access to the internet and, in some cases, were not familiar with the concept of what an email address was.
• there was a range of literacy levels, as well as familiarity with English or French.

As a result of these considerations:

• the dangers of hiring unauthorized representatives and the consequences of fraud were at the forefront of our messaging and webpage.
• digital, social and radio tactics directed our audiences online to learn more, however, we also included detailed print ads that contained key information.
  • OL note: radio stations and newspapers wouldn’t accept French ads so we had to ensure OL compliancy through online tactics.
• an information-heavy campaign webpage was developed in Hindi, Punjabi, and Gujarati, as well as English and French. Most Canada.ca web content, including complex immigration information, is only available in English and French. The campaign page offered us the opportunity to have this complex information translated into our audiences’ primary languages.

The campaign exceeded our webpage visit goal by 52% with just under 1 million impressions.

IRCC has advertised in over 40 foreign markets using a variety of tactics. We are happy to share information and lessons learned and welcome opportunities to collaborate with other departments to develop meaningful and effective advertising campaigns. Reach out to Chrystie.Dalzell@cic.gc.ca if this is something your department is interested in.

Want to learn more about Government of Canada advertising? Check out the resources below:

• Government of Canada advertising
• Advertising Services Directorate (accessible only on the Government of Canada network)
• Using Plain Language in Marketing and Advertising