• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, April 10, 2023

There is a three-to-one lag between the interest marketers have in investing more of their budgets with diverse suppliers and the actual increases they have made, according to a survey of diverse suppliers released this morning by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).

The study, which is based on a survey of 89 certified diverse suppliers (agencies, media, consultants, researchers, etc.) in the fourth quarter of 2022, found a net 49-dpoint increase (*difference between those increasing or decreasing) in interest vs. a 17-point increase in actual investment by marketers.

The report, "The Marketing Community's Support of Diverse Suppliers: The Supplier Perspective," is part of an ongoing series of research studies and other initiatives by the ANA to boost its members' investment in diverse suppliers.

According to the ANA's Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM), in partnership with Media Framework and Standard Media Index, only 1.85% of all ad spending currently goes to diverse-owned media, and only 1.2% of it currently goes to diverse-owned and targeted media.

By 2025, AIMM recommends that 6.5% of all ad spending go to diverse-owned media and 4.6% to diverse-owned and targeted media.

“One hypothesis about the gap between interest and investment is that many companies which have interest are still ‘sitting on the sidelines’ and don’t know how (or where) to get started," the diverse supplier perspective report cites as a possible explanation for the gap.

Suppliers participating in the survey cited "lack of feedback," "getting their foot in the door," and "extended payment terms" as the top challenges in working with advertisers and agencies.