Panel talks about connecting with Nunavummiut
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Mar 19/01) - Reaching the Nunavut market is "going to take a constant presence at the community level," says Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.'s communications director.
Al Vigoda made the comment during a panel discussion on marketing in Nunavut at the Nunavut Trade Show in Iqaluit earlier this month.
People need to "see the human face of the organization," he said. NTI is responsible for the implementation of the Nunavut land claim.
"In terms of vehicles, what seems to have worked best? We've tried just about everything -- small-scale personal kinds of ideas.
"It has to be community-based," he said.
"We're going to have people in every community -- full-time -- to reach people with what they want, when they want it."
NTI has found that Nunavummiut want to hear information in person, from people they trust, he adds.
NTI is "high-profile" and wants to stay that way, Vigoda also said.
Allison Brewer, the Government of Nunavut's health and social services department of communications advisor, said when it comes to health and reaching people its more about "dispromoting" products than it is about promoting.
"We're up against Philip-Morris and Frito-Lay," she said. "We're trying to reach people's common sense."
The department uses community broadcasting and poster placement to get its health message across, she adds.
"Everybody needs to start with population data," said Laurie-Anne White, economics statistician with Nunavummit Kiglisiniartiit (Nunavut Bureau of Statistics).
The bureau is conducting a Nunavut household survey. Preliminary data from this project should be available this summer, she said.
This will be the first survey of this kind done in Nunavut, she adds.
"Within the next few months, I will be developing a business survey and getting that into the field."
Data from both these surveys could be invaluable to a business or organization looking to reach the Nunavut market.
Currently, data on Nunavut can be difficult to obtain. Statistics Canada has only recently started breaking Nunavut out of NWT numbers.
Just recently, Nunavut got its first-ever gross domestic product numbers.
According to Abraham Tagalik, a communications consultant, marketing will vary, depending on the organization.
"A lot of times people only hear what they want to hear," he said.
"(You need) a strategy based on various media," he said.
"When I worked with QC (Qikiqtaaluk Corp.) it's in the actions you do," he said.
Tagalik said QC helped people with travel costs in times of need.
"Those kinds of actions go a long way," he said.
"To get the message out, you have to have a strategy at the beginning, not as an afterthought."
NorthwesTel's Lila Masters added that when it comes to information gathering, "go to the source."
She also said people don't appreciate being a part of a mass marketing scheme.
