In the last few years, top brands like Pepsi, H&M and Dove have faced backlash for their tone-deaf advertisements that offended multicultural communities across the world. With many racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States growing faster than whites, brands must be cognizant of the messages targeting various demographics. Recognizing that “multiculturalism” is here to stay, brands should think of cross-cultural marketing not as an option but as a must.

Brands that wish to survive and thrive for years to come should consider cross-cultural marketing as fundamental to a successful marketing campaign. Brands like H&M and Pepsi that don’t fully understand cross-cultural marketing can face backlash. The truth lies in the numbers: the combined buying power of Hispanics, African-Americans and Asians is in the trillions. 

According to Nielsen, 21 of the 25 most populated counties in the United States are already majority multicultural, meaning that they include “numerically significant pluralities of traditionally minority populations, or are already majority-minority.”

So how do brands tap into this spending power and reach multicultural communities?

Brands need to shift their focus from multicultural marketing to cross-cultural marketing. We define cross-cultural marketing as “the ability for one brand to cross over from one culture to another.” Essentially, brands are moving away from traditional, siloed multicultural marketing to “marketing that simulates across ethnic groups, leveraging ethnic insights to reach across multiple ethnic markets, including the general market.” 

Here are two brands that got cross cultural marketing right:

Coca-Cola’s “Share A Coke” campaign was one of the most successful campaigns of the decade. The campaign has made its way to over 70 countries, and its bottles are still on shelves today. The “Share A Coke” campaign enticed customers to search for their names on bottles and share on social media.

Coke made sure the campaign was inclusive, including names that ranged from Jose to Laura to Maya. And if someone’s name could not be found in stores, customers could personalize their own bottle online. Instead of doing siloed multicultural campaigns, Coke was able to target myriad cultures with one campaign.

What other brands have successfully utilized cross-cultural marketing? Let’s continue the conversation in the comments.