Commentary
Waking Up To The Word On Multicultural Marketing
- by Kendall Allen , June 1, 2009
It was a line drawn. We always knew who to go to within our agencies to get driving insights, market intelligence, a helping hand with retooling a plan. It always seemed awkwardly compartmentalized.
In fact, through all this, if you were really listening, it seemed like the people who really knew the business of this discipline, early on began dismissing or qualifying the term, the very word "multicultural." The declaration, "All marketing essentially is multicultural" has been thrown down more than once by people who know what time it is. And the really savvy ones had very specific directional advice that the market now seems to be heeding.
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As with so many aspects of our business, this one that we have been calling "multicultural" has been notably maturing over recent years, as marketers and media providers seem to get more serious about getting the nuances right when talking about targeting diverse markets.
We have noticed that conversations about this realm are a little bit more so-then-what?; agency or brand-side organizations around it are not totally getting off the ground; and, on the publisher side, there is a real evolution of the terrain. The stats and trends are dawning on us:
Even as all this becomes obvious and we recognize that "multicultural marketing" does not quite fit the bill, our move away from the construct of "multi-cultural marketing" as a distinct discipline feels resistant and wobbly. So, as I've been focusing on understanding where things are really going, listening to friends, clients and peers, it seems clear to me that there are several market shaping movements that will move us along:
Multicultural Org Redux
We've all worked within agency environments or called on clients where some sort of multicultural structure was in place: resident guru, internal specialty agency; task force; evangelist; appointed strategic planning expert. Just as multicultural seems to be going away as a budget line item or a plan within a tier, these kinds of structures are being restructured and dismantled as companies trade up for a more integrated, intelligence-based approach. We've seen this with CPG brands, at agencies and at large media companies with vast buying power. They're breaking it down and doing something different with the new levels of intelligence that have been developed. So what is the intelligence?
Good Marketing is Multicultural
In tune with the declaration referenced above -- that "all marketing essentially is multicultural" -- savvy marketers seem to be recognizing that understanding the relative diversity of your market and succeeding, doesn't necessarily mean calling out multicultural as a discrete layer and going at it hard. It does mean knowing your target segments inside and out, beyond ethnicity and into lifestyle, geographic, behavioral and linguistic considerations -- so that you may target and message your marketing as thoughtfully as possible. For example:
So, as all of this is given more thought, there is a greater investment in gathering the right intelligence and behavioral analytics to skillfully run integrated marketing efforts and place culturally relevant media within that effort.
An Opening of the Opportunity
As multicultural planning is reorganized, budgets shift, and there is generally greater awareness of the interplay of ethnicity, geography, behavioral, linguistics and so on -- publishers and media companies serving up audience seem to be widening the scope. Rather than delivering narrow slices of specific demographics on the basis of straight ethnicity or even in-language consumerism, there is a "general market" environment emerging. And, that is a much heartier picture. If you could buy general market at greater scale, with better targeting based on a more sophisticated set of cultural considerations across the board, you'd be in a pretty good situation. There's a solid value proposition in that.
Having felt a certain mumbling around the topic of multicultural within agency planning sessions and certainly while facing the client, I've been intrigued by the focus on getting to a more informed vantage point. That is, a more intelligently armed and active stance on what we've been calling "multicultural." I imagine the next few years will see a lot of action in the market, as currencies around this begin to flow, and we free ourselves of these past constraints and limited thinking. As it goes with maturity, it's never just about organization or method or changing your name; it's about deepened perspective.
Great article....unfortunately, we're still many many years off before most agencies start thinking about outlets that have sweet spots of ethnicity to be considered for most general market campaigns ('color' is sometimes a silent evaluator for making a general market consideration list and frequently ranks before other basic demographics). Many organizations still wrap their mind around the thought of "if its ethnic it must come from a budget that is dedicated this way" and disregard other key metrics like age, reach, HHI, education, geography, purchase habits, influence, lifestyle etc. Additionally, it's not good practice for a marketer to think about a large reach vehicle as being 'good enough' for reaching certain sub-groups if they don't have the targeting technologies to pin-point target these groups (also it must be understood that certain sub-groups can regard/notice the same ads much differently on different types of outlets). All of this needs to be factored into the human part of planning.
Marketers that take advantage of the nuances of communication strategies as it relates to a truly diverse consumer target will always prosper (i still believe that you need an in-house specialists to understand these differences because as much as we're aligning in basic human needs via expanded levels of access in the last 30-40 years...there are still psychological/lifestyle differences that you definitely need an expert to help understand)
Multicultural? Strange word and concept to market to. So should a Hispanic male be treated with a different set of marketing concepts by advertisers than a caucasian male? The vehicle to reach them can be different but the message should align with the positioning of the product. Like your article says " a deepened perspective" means treating multicultural at a greater depth, its not about ethnicity its about audience behaviour and needs.
I have seen "multicultural marketing" develop in two segments: Asian American and Hispanic. From the time general market agencies saw these segments in their radar mostly because clients had data that showed their contribution to sales and asked agencies to develop strategies to reach them. The first step was sub-titled or dubbed version of the English language spots. What an insight!
It did not work for obvious reasons. This opened the door for "ethnic agencies" that knew the market inside out. They created successful "in culture" strategies that propelled media outlets like Univision to become the fourth network and in some markets get top 3 placement at prime time. That required a 360 degrees view of the target consumer, just like having a grasp on the urban New Yorkers or Huntington Beach surfers. This understanding of the target is achieved via research in combination with detailed consumer insight. It delivers successful communication strategies.
The importance of the "multicultural" markets, the fact that they are not minority markets (from states - New Mexico:45%, to cities - Los Angeles: 47% Hispanic) and the implications to the bottom line of many corporations (Avon Hispanics: 26% in 2004) requires new leadership at agencies and brands. That leadership must understand the multicultural market implications in the long term, commit the requirements for successful marketing in any segment and provide that support not just for a test or a year but for the time required to gain traction and market share. Just like under any other marketing strategy, there are some immediate results and other long term implications.
The 800-pound gorilla in the room is having a good chuckle.
Just as with corporate marketing departments and traditional ad agencies, many digital shops are devoid of ethnic faces in key places. Consequently, what passes as multicultural advertising is often lacking in the real world insight that would make it effective.
Tracy and Mark:
Absolutely agreed on the staffing and talent landscape. Wouldn't it be nice if the absorption or breaking down of some of the former compartments and "multi-cultural" specialty corners of the room led to broader balancing of these collaborative planning environments -- as far as the minds and hands on the work?
Gorilla is laughing, but watching I'm sure.
Have a good night and thanks for the words, everyone.
K
Nice article. I particularly like your ending "deepened perspective" which as one person has commented on represents what is missing (real world insight) when it comes to some of today's general market ad agencies multicultural advertising efforts.
The problem I see, and we'll have to see what happens from clients on the Madison Ave. Project/Bendick & Egan report, is either the general market agencies will have to no longer be so general (one traditional consumer group perspective) and reflect the current and future multicultural general marketplace or the ethnic agencies need to step up and do today's general market work. It's been time.