Prepared for:
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
Contract number: 08170-070471/001/CY
Contract date: December 2, 2007
Environics Research is pleased to submit the following topline summary of findings to Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) regarding a series of focus groups among youth in four cities across Canada to evaluate creative materials to be used in an advertising campaign to promote International Youth Programs (IYP).
Environics conducted a total of eight focus groups with Canadians between the ages of 18 years and 24. Three pairs of sessions were conducted in English in Toronto (Dec. 8), Halifax (Dec. 10) and Vancouver (Dec. 15) and one pair of sessions was conducted in French in Montreal (Dec. 13).
In each city, one session was conducted with students and one session was conducted with non-students. All participants were screened to be at least somewhat interested in living, working or studying abroad. The sessions were each approximately two hours in length and each consisted of 8 to 10 participants.
The vast majority of participants exhibited a lot of enthusiasm about the idea of going abroad to live, work or study or to travel on a longterm basis. Students and those who had had some post-secondary education tended to be somewhat more comfortable with the idea of going abroad than were non-students who had gone directly into the workforce after high school. The latter sometimes felt that they lacked the money or qualifications to live or work abroad.
Most participants had not yet taken any active steps to live abroad. If they were to do so, most said that they would inform themselves through the Internet by doing a search on "google" and typing in key words such as "work and travel" or the name of the country they wanted to live in. "Googling" is now clearly the pre-eminent way in which this segment gets information.
Participants were shown five different possible URLs that would be used in advertising for international youth programs.
The current www.canada123.ca URL elicited very mixed comments. The consensus was that it made people think that it was all about travel WITHIN Canada or that it was a tourist information site for visitors from abroad coming to Canada. It was noted that this was the only URL of the five that were tested that did not include “gc.ca” and therefore it was seen to be less trustworthy.
The www.international.gc.ca URL was quite favourably received. It was regarded as short and easy to remember and it was also seen as clearly being a Canadian government site which gives it enhanced credibility. However, a number of people also felt that it was too “broad” a URL and that just the word “international” on its own was a bit vague. The similar www.international.gc.ca/experience URL was described as being a bit more precise than just “international.gc.ca” and would take people to a site that might be more specifically about Canadians' potential experiences abroad. The URL www.experienceinternational.gc.ca was one that many participants ranked highly both in terms of memorability and in terms of likelihood of visiting. The fact that it is all one word makes it easy to remember and a number of people felt that “it says what it is”.
The fifth URL tested www.mobili-T-international.gc.ca did not test well at all and was frequently described as looking like the URL for a mobile phone company.
The vast majority of participants said they would be more likely to dial 1-800-O Canada when presented with two phone number options. However, it should be noted that very few participants would call a number in the first place. In this age group, going to a website is almost invariably the first thing that anyone would do to seek out information. They would only call a 1-800 number if they had already gone on-line and had a very specific query.
Reaction to the television ad that was shown was extremely positive. Seeing the ad elicited universally positive feelings among the participants and most said that seeing it would make them go to the website to get more information. The messages that participants got from the ad included: that living abroad is fun and exciting, that “this could be you”, that there are opportunities for young Canadians and that the Government of Canada can help people realize their dream of living and working abroad. Virtually all participants felt that the ad was directed at younger people who are at a stage of their lives where going abroad to live and work is still a practical possibility.
Participants were shown a series of eight print ads all designed to promote the International Youth Programs that the Government of Canada participates in. All in all, opinion on the print ads was quite split and there was no clear consensus as to which three of the eight ads would be the best ones to use.
However, it was clear that Ad# 8 depicting an Asian work team in an office and Ad #3 depicting sumo wrestlers did not score well. Ad #1 (sheep rush hour) tested quite well. It was regarded as funny and whimsical and amusing and many said they would remember it because of the humour in it. Ad #2 (power lunch) had somewhat higher ratings than the others. Many participants liked the fact that this ad showed a Canadian interacting with local people at a lunch counter.
Participants were also shown some other versions of Ads 1 and 2 that featured some very slight graphic variations. Overall, the vast majority preferred the version of the ad that had the headline diagonal as opposed to straight and horizontal. They also preferred to have some separation between the URL and the text at the bottom as in version “a” and “b”. There was no consensus as to whether the font size had to be slightly larger as in versions “b” and “c” or if it could be left as is.
The participants were virtually unanimous in stating that they would never click on a website ad if it was only a picture of a man in a café since they would not trust it. They would be afraid that it would lead to spam or to a commercial website or a dating service. If the words “travel and work abroad” appear on the picture, it makes a big difference and many would then be far more likely to click on the picture.
On a similar note, the web 360 banner was shown in three versions, one with no government branding, one with just the Canada word mark and one with the Canada word mark and the DFAIT insignia. The consensus was that people would avoid putting their cursor on the banner if it had no government branding at all. Most people preferred having the website URL explicitly spelled out so that they know where they are going and so they are more likely to remember the URL if they want to go back to it in the future.
The objectives of this research initiative are exploratory and therefore best addressed qualitatively. Such research provides insight into the range of opinions held within a population, rather than the weights of the opinions held, as would be measured in a quantitative study. The results of this type of research should be viewed as indicative and cannot be projected to the general population.