• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 17, 2012

According to an ANA (Association of National Advertisers) member survey, 87% of marketers are either increasing or maintaining spending on all multicultural media compared to last year. Additionally, 84% of multicultural marketers are growing or maintaining budgets specifically for newer media platforms.

Over the past two years there has been little change in the ranking of newer media platforms utilized to reach multicultural consumers, says the report, indicating that newer media is being integrated into the more traditional marketing mix. The most popular newer media platforms are:

• Company website (75%)
• Online ads on third-party websites (72%)
• Search engine marketing (paid keyword) (71%)
• Search engine optimization (organic) (70%)
• Social media (67%)
• Mobile marketing (64%)
• Email marketing (63%)
• Viral video (e.g., YouTube) (51%)

Bob Liodice, ANA President and CEO, notes that “... marketers... responding to the growing diversification of the U.S. population... (are) increasing their spending to reach multicultural consumers... (who) are younger, more acculturated, and more tech-savvy, making... newer media platforms more important than ever.”

Social media is up 8% points from 2010, mobile marketing up 5% points, and location-based app adoption has jumped 30% points, from just 2% to 32%. Seeing rapid growth in take-up over the past 2 years are wikis, webinars, and blogs (up 17% points to 44%).

The fastest growing multicultural newer media platforms are mobile, viral video, blogs, social networks/social media and location-based apps.  More than a quarter of marketers surveyed started using these platforms to reach multicultural customers in the past year or plan to use them in 2013:

• Mobile (33%)
• Viral video (29%)
• Blogs (28%)
• Social networks/social media (27%)
• Location-based apps (25%)

While newer media platforms usage is on the rise, inability to prove their ROI is a top concern among multicultural marketers, says the report. Overall, respondents’ sentiments were lukewarm regarding the effectiveness of these newer media platforms. Only five out of 18 platforms received a high effectiveness rating from more than half of marketers surveyed:

• Company website (64%)
• Search engine marketing (paid keyword) (60%)
• Mobile (53%)
• Email marketing (52%)
• Search engine optimization (organic) (51%)

Nearly 70% of marketers surveyed said they have a dedicated internal team for multicultural initiatives. Additionally, 52% said they utilize an external multicultural agency for their multicultural initiatives and 40% utilize a general agency for their multicultural initiatives.

Bill Duggan, ANA Group Executive Vice President, noting that only half of survey respondents engage multicultural agencies, says “... at the same time, general market agencies appear to be increasingly involved with communications targeted to multicultural segments... “  

The average expected increase in spend on newer media for multicultural marketing in 2012 is 9.1%. As budgets continue to be under pressure, there is limited incremental budget (28%) for multicultural newer media. Instead, funds are being reallocated either from the general market budget (56%) or the broader multicultural budget (22%).

Since 2010, the average percentage of the multicultural media budget allocated to newer media platforms has increased to 7.7% from 6.6%. When asked what single newer media platform receives the most spend related to marketing to multicultural customers, the top responses were:

• Company website (27%)
• Online ads on third-party sites (18%)
• Email marketing (14%)
• Mobile marketing (14%)

For additional information from the ANA, please visit here.