• by Karl Greenberg , October 4, 2011

 Auto intelligence firm Polk has partnered with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, led by Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., for a strategic business program to help automotive manufacturers better target their marketing efforts with ethnic audiences, the companies announced today.

The agreement will allow the Rainbow PUSH Coalition to gain insight about vehicle buying habits among African American, Asian and Hispanic consumers.  As part of this agreement, market shares and penetrations among the different ethnic groups will be provided for all automotive brands.

"We are excited about the partnership between the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Polk, the worldwide leader of automotive insight and marketing solutions," said Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., founder and president, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, in a statement. "This relationship will give us access to industry- leading data regarding the economic impact of ethnic buyers in the auto industry.  We look forward to a long-term relationship with the Polk organization."

For Rainbow PUSH, part of the purpose is to better direct messaging to minority consumers.  The organization says it will use ethnic penetration data by brand to change its dialogue with minority auto dealers.

Marc Bland, Polk's head of diversity and inclusion, will participate along with Rainbow PUSH leaders and chief marketing officers from General Motors, Toyota, Ford and Volkswagen in several panel discussions at this week's Rainbow PUSH Automotive Summit in Detroit.  Executives, dealers, suppliers, entrepreneurs, researchers, elected officials and others will discuss minority inclusion of the more than $200 billion automotive procurement spend by manufacturers and the $1 trillion African American buying power.  The Summit is one of America's premier automotive events