Quote:
Originally Posted by Auricle
On and I really doubt Kobo's dominance here in Canada has anything to it being (formerly) a Canadian company. "Buy Canadian" doesn't have anywhere near the pull in Canada as "Buy American" has in America. Most of the time in Canada, buying Canadian is because we don't have any other decent/economica/reasonable options.
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That's the way it used to be, I agree. I own a bicycle shop and we carry mostly Canadian brands (Kona, Devinci, Opus, Arkel, Axiom, Voyager, Mace, etc.). In the 7 years I've worked in the bike industry I've noticed an increasing desire on the part of consumers to "buy Canadian". How much help that gives Kobo, which doesn't really promote itself as Canadian specifically, I'm not sure. My guess is the kind of people who'd bother to find out Kobo is based in Canada are the kind of people who'll also find out they're owned by the Japanese (though as I've said before, Canada got the better half of that bargain; the investmen of hundreds of millions of dollars into Canada, *and* almost all of Kobo's jobs are still based here).
Back to the original topic. It seems to me Canadian nationalism is ascendant, though. Teenagers cover themselves in red and white and get Canadian flag temporary tattoos for Canada Day these days; I certainly don't remember that happening in the '80s and '90s like it is dies days. And corporate Canada is, by and large, embracing Canadian nationalism in a way that I'm not accustomed to them doing too. Though, as I say, Kobo doesn't seem to be on that particular train, their TV ads have focused on things like Father's Day, Mother's Day, and Christmas.
Though they *have* ads on TV, something I think they don't do in the U.S. Which makes sense, as it's focused advertising backed by strong retail partnerships here, and would be a drop in the bucket without the same retail support there.