At a time when some brands and agencies are increasingly emphasizing multicultural marketing efforts in favor of a “total marketing” approach, many disparate voices in the industry say the shift is bypassing BIPOC consumers in favor of BIPOC consumers. ‘General Market’, a euphemism for the predominantly white population that ignores America’s appearance today.
Generation Z is the most diverse demographic group in American history. It is also the largest and most valuable consumer base for marketers. While the latest US census data in 2044 still plans to make us a minority country, the truth is that we are already a multicultural society. And after the social justice movement brought a moment to the advertising industry in 2020, today’s American consumer has forced brands to blame their values or the consequences of risk.
The publicity period is coming: the multicultural marketing conference extends October City Hall’s success into a daily event on Tuesday, June 29th. The virtual conference will bring together industry leaders for roundtables and one-on-one discussions on why multicultural marketing and diversity matter to brands and agencies, both in the creative chain and in the decision-making process behind creation, and why these initiatives ultimately drive business insight.
Media entrepreneurs like Byron Allen and Sean Combs explicitly connect companies with the argument that brands that spend on black media are only a fraction of what black consumers represent in terms of their customer base. The Hispanic Marketing Council sent a letter to 1,000 marketing executives in early May declaring that “many brands” robbing Peter to pay Paul are “shifting Hispanic effort budgets to blacks and Asians without changing the scale of business expansion”. Multicultural advertising agencies such as Aaron Walton of Walton Isaacson argue that the global approach to the market is not only offensive but also dangerous.
So what does it take to change the way the advertising and marketing community reaches out to consumers in underrepresented groups? And how can the industry better understand what inclusive strategies really are?
On June 29, marketers, agency leaders, and media executives will answer these and other questions during Ad Age Next: Multicultural Marketing, a one-day virtual conference.