How many Canadian brands are in the world’s Top 100? Five? Three? 20?
The answer, it turns out, is zero, according to Andrea Mandel-Campbell, author of Why Mexicans Don’t Drink Molson, a hard-hitting critique of Canadian companies which, for multiple reasons, have barely dipped a toe into the global marketplace.
“I’m not talking about beer, I’m talking about ambition,” said Mandel-Campbell, who talked about her book and Canada’s lack of global presence during the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association convention in Winnipeg Aug. 13.
The business journalist based in Toronto and former Mexico bureau chief for London’s Financial Times, told her audience of ranchers and industry representatives that Canadians have failed to exploit their natural resource advantages to build vibrant global companies.
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As an example, she pointed to her book title. She contrasted the success story of Mexico’s Corona beer to Molson’s global failures.
“This brand (Corona) is sold in 150 countries around the world,” Mandel-Campbell said, which is shocking when considering the product’s shaky foundation.
She said Mexico is known for bad water and must import its barley from Canada. Corona is so flavourless that consumers have to add limes to it, she added.
Meanwhile Molson, which has the branding advantages of being the oldest brewery in North America and operating in a country known for pure water and the world’s best barley, is losing market share in Canada and is known in only a few northern U.S. states.
Despite those powerful trump cards, Corona clobbered the Canadian beer because Molson was content to make large profits in Ontario and never invested in its global brand, Mandel-Campbell said.
In an interview with the CBC radio program The Current last year, Mandel-Campbell told the anecdote of how a salesperson made a presentation to Molson executives.
The salesperson said he could sell Molson beer in Russia as a premium brand and the Montreal based brewer would develop millions of new customers.
However, Mandel-Campbell said, the executives nixed the idea because they couldn’t accept the concept that Molson could be marketed as a premium product.
The Molson story, she noted, is symbolic of a problem that plagues most Canadian industries and most Canadians.
“We tend to sell ourselves too cheaply,” she said, and in general look down on countries known for hutzpah and aggression.
“I like to say that nice is a personality trait, but it’s not a personality,” she said.
“For some reason we’ve always associated assertiveness and desire to get out there and be winners to being American …. So to distinguish ourselves … we decided we can’t be any of those things.”
She said Canadians, including those in the agricultural sector, need to move beyond such obstructive attitudes to become players on the world stage.
She pointed to New Zealand, which has jumped into the deep end of the global marketplace and become the world leaders in dairy and lamb exports.
Mandel-Campbell’s message, to go out confidently and conquer, caught the attention of Sherri Grant, a cattle producer from Val Marie, Sask.
“Yes, we create a great product. It’s safe, it tastes good … but we’re missing another big part of marketing,” said Grant, who runs a cow-calf operation.
“It’s like we want to keep it a secret instead of getting out there and saying, ‘guess what? We’ve got the best beef anywhere.’ “
Following her presentation, Mandel-Campbell tried to address several tough questioners, who cited restrictive government policies and government agencies that prevent Canadian cattle producers from succeeding in export markets.
In a later interview, Mandel-Campbell said cattle ranchers underestimate their influence and political power.
“This gentleman said that they can’t seem to fight these agencies, like the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, because they’re up against a brick wall,” she said.
“But when farmers say they need a government bailout, they scream and holler till they get it. It seems to me that when they really want something, they can get it.”
