• by Sarah Mahoney , Staff Writer @mahoney_sarah, August 8, 2011

It's hard to imagine there's a marketer anywhere who isn't already strategizing about the sweeping changes in America's demographics. But while Marketing to the New Majority: Strategies for a Diverse World (Palgrave MacMillan) trots out many familiar statistics to support the epic implications of this multiculturalism (yes, we do know how fast the Hispanic market is growing, thank you), there's plenty of new insights here, too.

Arguing that brands need help escaping from ethnic silos, authors David Burgos and Ola Mobolade, both from market research company Millward Brown, offer solutions for getting away from marketing to minorities, and instead treating multiculturalism as mainstream.

Just as important as understanding what makes each group different, they say, is what makes them the same. From their research, for example, they have pulled five groups whose distinguishing characteristics are strong enough to trump ethnic identities, including young adult professionals, frustrated youth, the church ladies, regular guys, and liberal moderates.

It's time, they argue, to get away from the simple (ethnic casting, for example) and find deeper meaning, creating marketing messages that include cultural relevance.

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While How to Speak American: Building Brands in the New Heartland (self published), deals with demographic shifts, too, it couldn't be more different. To write it, author Paul Jankowski of Access Brand Strategies in Nashville hopped into his Ford F150 and drove thousands of miles, interviewing hundreds of these "Heartlanders" to make his case: Most marketers are so lost in their bicoastal bias that they have no idea how this important demographic, 177 million strong, or 60% of Americans, thinks, lives, and shops.

It's more than geographical ignorance, he says, although you can't argue his point that plenty of marketers couldn't tell you the difference between Chicago and Sheboygan. And it's even larger than their stereotypes, especially the impression that Heartlanders are basically fat, hairy, wholesome and unhip. The biggest issue, he says, is not understanding just how profoundly this group is motivated by values like faith, family and community.

He is unapologetic about his political incorrectness. While many marketers shy away from anything that treads closely to the issue of faith, he insists it is a core component of the segment. "In the Heartland, faith is a part of our every day lives and we are not afraid to show it," he says. And it's hard to argue his point that just about every country music and BET Award show, not to mention most televised sporting events, prove it.

Hometown heaven is another big part of the equation. Some 40% of people who have never moved away from their hometown, he points out, have more than 10 relatives nearby. And 74% cite family as a primary reason for staying put; 59% also believe their hometown is a great place to raise their families.

Music, food, and the great outdoors also play an important unifying role, and brands like Hasbro, with its Family Game Night Campaign, and Gillette, with its Uncut film series, are building strong Heartland bonds.

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Also check out Power Moms: The New Rules for Engaging Mom Influencers Who Drive Brand Choice, by Maria T. Bailey (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing). In addition to its compelling information on just how much buzz, both on and offline, this segment can build, it also contains a directory of 350 leading mom influencers.