Captus

Downtown Vancouver is home to Captus Advertising, a multicultural marketing agency founded in 2009 and focused on reaching Canada's diverse communities in their own languages. It calls itself a full-service agency and describes its role as that of a cultural ambassador and consultant as much as a creative and media supplier. The website describes its specialism as communications aimed at Chinese and South Asian audiences.

Why multicultural marketing

The agency cites two figures to explain its focus: that 52 per cent of the population in Greater Vancouver belongs to a visible minority, and that 57 per cent of new immigrants to Canada come from Asia. Its argument is that in some British Columbia cities a multicultural audience is simply the mainstream, so brands that speak only one language leave part of their market unreached.

Six areas of work

Multilingual and multicultural production is the starting point: creative work made for particular cultural and language groups. Alongside it sit design and branding, and a copywriting, transcreation and translation service in which a message is rewritten to read naturally in another language instead of being translated word for word. Strategy and public relations cover how to approach multicultural audiences. Media planning and buying chooses and books the channels that reach target communities, and digital and social marketing covers online campaigns.

Clients and projects

The agency says it serves a mix of sectors, from real estate developers and medical professionals to airlines and the provincial government. It reports hundreds of projects across upward of fifty clients.

Recognition and industry standing

Captus says it has won 30 awards and accolades over ten years. Three entries from 2019 are listed, all for a hearing care client: silver at the Marketing Awards in the print campaign category, bronze at the Summit Creative Awards for a consumer campaign, and bronze at the Strategy Awards for multicultural strategy. It also took a charter seat in the Multicultural Marketing Alliance of Canada, an alliance of top Canadian agencies working on standards and good practice in multicultural marketing.

Working style

The agency says most of its work happens face to face, and it invites visitors to call in at its office or to have the team come to them.