Comments on: Blogs by Banks: Back to the Drawing Board?

By: Nick Simard

Nick Simard — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:38:20 +0000

Hey, thanks for the honest opinions. This is Nick, one of the bloggers from RBCp2p. I have to say that I thought the same when I saw who won the competition, that it was 5 males and one female (I didn’t know who won until I arrived at the airport in Toronto, for the training weekend) and there were no visible minorities. But as Michel points out in his blog entry, the original hundred-and-some candidates included a healthy mix and even the final 12 had a decent mix of gender and ethnicity. But in the end, the voting was up to the public (those who knew about the site, which were in large part the friends of the Final 12). So yeah, at first glance it may appear that there is not much diversity but I agree with Michel (because I know all the bloggers) when he says that we are still a diverse bunch despite the mostly male, white make-up of the group. Our experiences, interests and personalities really do vary and I hope as we learn more and receive comments and feedback that we’ll be able to be as inclusive and representative as possible. Thanks again for offering your opinion and saying:

“Don’t get me wrong, I like the writers: good content and well-written and this criticism is not aimed at them”

It’s nice to know that our efforts are not going unnoticed. I think things will only get better as we fine-tune our blogging skills. We are all open to constructive criticism and suggestions on how to make our blogs the best they can be. I’ll be keeping an eye on your blog to see what I (and our readership) can gain from it.

Nick
RBCp2p

By: Gean Oliveira

Gean Oliveira — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:27:46 +0000

Thanks for the info and I’d also agree with you. Being an immigrant, I know how difficult was to me to understand how the market worked in Canada. Once I decided to live in Canada it is my responsibility to take care of this (learn everything I can). Imagine that, after your arrival in Canada as an immigrant (skilled worker class), you’re bringing AT LEAST 10k. I’m not sure, but most immigrants didn’t know what to do. I didn’t, as I opened an account and left my money under my “savings account” for some period of time.

Now, after 5 years living here I decided to create my blog to help those guys planning to live in Canada, too. Regarding your points, I agree with you. Only 1 woman does not represents the majority.

Thanks!

By: Michel Savoie

Michel Savoie — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:37:28 +0000

And thanks again for sharing your view on the site!
Cheers!

By: Michel Savoie

Michel Savoie — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:37:02 +0000

I’ve posted some further information about our diversity on RBC p2p in response to your blog entry.
http://blogs.rbc.com/rbcp2p/2008/04/diversity_comes_in_many_forms_1.html

By: admin

admin — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:16:48 +0000

Thanks for the comment. No implication at all. Studies show that you cannot run the same marketing campaign for different ethnic markets. For example, one of the banks had an ad with two grouchy old men aimed at the “mainstream” market. This ad had no traction in cultural markets where elders are respected members of the community.

The host of the blog has responded as follows:

“There’s a very lengthy background around why we have 5 Caucasian guys and 1 Caucasian girl on our blog… I’m in the process of writing a blog entry in regards to yours to explain a little further, as the reason is no longer on the blog (although it was up until a month ago).”

If they addressed this issue previously, this has obviously touched a nerve somewhere.

By: Samulator

Samulator — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:20:01 +0000

I think you’re making a mistake by lumping the “immigrant” “market” together. You’re implying that an immigrant won’t want to listen to what “some white guy” has to say.