Some programmatic vendors believe that media agencies that approach multiculturalism as a separate or smaller investment almost immediately compromise their marketing strategies and their engagement with communities beyond Gen Z and communities of color. argue that it will have a negative impact on
In a white paper on multicultural trends and Gen Z released this week, programmatic platform Direct Digital Holdings argues that multicultural communities are increasingly influencing consumers’ brand preferences and choices across all brand categories. There is. This trend is especially noticeable among Gen Z viewers. While Digiday was granted early access to the white paper and the agencies Digiday sought response from, it’s no longer enough to sell to the general market and split the rest as just multicultural spending.
“The brands that will be at the forefront and frontrunners in the future are the ones that understand that inclusivity is the key to multicultural and general markets,” says Cherine, media strategy advisor at a consulting firm.・Mr. Patrick says. Group ops shop.
Effectively market to different communities as demographics, generations, and cultures change over time, even as more agencies and brands focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and multicultural marketing efforts. You need to consider the method. First, agencies should prioritize media channels and platforms that resonate with people of color and LGBTQIA+ communities, but they should also expand influencer marketing campaigns that feature underrepresented voices, specific demographics, and ethnic media. said Mark D. Walker, CEO and co-founder of Direct Digital Holdings. .
“Understanding how to connect with this generation is critical to shaping brand choices today and delivering significant returns in the years to come,” Walker said.
Multicultural and brand preference strategies
In a white paper, Direct Digital Holdings found that Gen Z and Millennial consumers are more diverse than older generations of consumers across all levels and brand categories. Gen Z is also the most likely to say their connections are 50% more diverse than theirs. According to the survey, approximately 81% of Gen Z said multicultural and diverse consumers have a significant influence on their brand preferences and choices, while 72% of Millennials said the same (48% of Gen %, compared to 32% of baby boomers). .
Additionally, the survey found that 57% of the general population said that multicultural and diverse people have a significant influence on brand preferences. The study’s U.S. Census data also notes that the country is more diverse than ever, with 34% of Americans identifying as a race or ethnicity other than white and 8% identifying as LGBTQIA+. ing.
As a result, Patrick argues, agents need to overcome common market and multicultural differences if they want to connect with more consumers. The onus is on the agency, but it’s equally on the brand to question assumptions and push the envelope.
“It’s our job as agency reps to educate our clients,” she said. “That’s why they’re paying us. I’m not going to pay a hairdresser to do my hair and then tell them how to do it. That would actually drive me away. ”
Jose Villa, president of minority-focused marketing agency Sensis, agrees that brands can’t do multicultural marketing “just because it feels good or because it’s part of a diversity effort.” did. Rather, this strategy should focus on the audience as a market opportunity. Especially since so many of his Gen Z and Millennials have a strong sense of their culture, which transcends language and race.
“Multicultural marketing has been around for about 50 years. [and used to] We will mainly focus on the Spanish language and advertising on Spanish TV and elsewhere,” Villa said. “Starting with Millennials, there is a shift from language to culture in multicultural marketing. …This is also accelerating the attention of Gen Z.”
Changes in budgets and perceptions
While multicultural marketing and diversity efforts have been around for years, some say that, unfortunately, actual financial investing paints a different picture. Based on her experience at Patrick’s agency, she said multiculturalism is often seen as “expensive” or a “tickbox” in broader media strategies. She recalled that when cutting costs, some part of the budget is always the smallest or the first to be cut.
“We have a budget of $3 million for the general market campaign and $50,000 for multicultural,” Patrick said. “It was considered very disposable.”
However, Villa pointed out that changes in media consumption could attract more multicultural investment in the future. For example, Gen Z and Millennials consume more earned media than paid media, so marketing is now focused on “influencers, social media, events, activations, etc. rather than large-scale paid advertising campaigns.” “We’re focusing on that,” Villa said.
Shifting spending towards multicultural marketing is part of the effort, but changing representation, culture and strategy is another step within agencies that may explain the decline in multicultural budgets. This is an ongoing challenge.
Janice Middleton, Guided by Good’s executive director of inclusion strategy, says that even though she feels the organization’s momentum has slowed nearly four years after George’s murder, He said it is especially important for agencies to hone and further strengthen their DEI and multicultural efforts. Floyd in 2020. With guidance from Good Agency, 22 Squared launched Embrace last March, a client service aimed at supporting brands on inclusivity, culture and education.
“[I want to] “I implore people to stop making headlines that say ‘DEI is dead,'” Middleton said. “If you say we need to rethink our strategy, say so. If we say we need to rethink our team, say so. Let’s do it.”
Middleton said effective multicultural marketing needs to be worked in conjunction with broader DEI initiatives. Without diverse cultures and inclusion in your organization, creating truly multicultural jobs becomes an even greater challenge.
“It’s virtually impossible,” Middleton said. “It’s not just people on the fringes who want diversity. We live in a diverse world, and everyone wants to see that, right?”
No matter how multiculturalism evolves, it is clear that agencies strive internally to think beyond community, language, and age to shape the representation and culture of their organization’s employees.
