Recognizing Diversity in Multicultural Marketing
Recognizing Diversity in Multicultural Marketing
Golden Gate University
December 16, 2011
At the fictional Sterling Cooper ad agency in "Mad Men," Pete Campbell urges a client to "take a look at the Negro market." In the TV show the year is 1961. Today, it 's a reminder that the push to understand and target consumers on the basis of their ethnic identity goes back decades. When mainstream marketers began to seriously consider focusing on minorities as a consumer market in the middle of the twentieth century, there was very little corporate expertise. Ethnic markets were smaller and pocketed and agencies lacked metrics of evaluation, infrastructure for execution and, there was the issue of discrimination. Surprisingly, some of the issues remain, but to a far lesser degree. In recent decades, changes in demographics, marketing tools and corporate expertise have made marketing to ethnic consumers, multicultural marketing, more relevant than ever.
Multicultural marketing efforts are often directed at three specific demographic segments: Hispanics, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans. However, multicultural marketing segmentation goes beyond race and ethnicity. Ethnic consumers are more complex than their race. Though a vast majority of marketers continue to focus on a monolithic view of race or ethnicity, this sort of conventional multicultural marketing segmentation fails to adequately identify multicultural consumers. I feel there is a real need to recognize the diversity within the Hispanic, African-American, and Asian-American consumer segments, and expand multicultural consumer segmentation into more relevant groups that reflect their true consumer identity.
Minority segments are changing and the American marketplace is evolving as the U.S. approaches a majority-minority nation comprised of more Hispanic, Asian, bi-racial, and multiracial consumers than ever before. Traditional multicultural marketing segmentation must be re-examined to reflect the
Golden Gate University
December 16, 2011
At the fictional Sterling Cooper ad agency in "Mad Men," Pete Campbell urges a client to "take a look at the Negro market." In the TV show the year is 1961. Today, it 's a reminder that the push to understand and target consumers on the basis of their ethnic identity goes back decades. When mainstream marketers began to seriously consider focusing on minorities as a consumer market in the middle of the twentieth century, there was very little corporate expertise. Ethnic markets were smaller and pocketed and agencies lacked metrics of evaluation, infrastructure for execution and, there was the issue of discrimination. Surprisingly, some of the issues remain, but to a far lesser degree. In recent decades, changes in demographics, marketing tools and corporate expertise have made marketing to ethnic consumers, multicultural marketing, more relevant than ever.
Multicultural marketing efforts are often directed at three specific demographic segments: Hispanics, African-Americans, and Asian-Americans. However, multicultural marketing segmentation goes beyond race and ethnicity. Ethnic consumers are more complex than their race. Though a vast majority of marketers continue to focus on a monolithic view of race or ethnicity, this sort of conventional multicultural marketing segmentation fails to adequately identify multicultural consumers. I feel there is a real need to recognize the diversity within the Hispanic, African-American, and Asian-American consumer segments, and expand multicultural consumer segmentation into more relevant groups that reflect their true consumer identity.
Minority segments are changing and the American marketplace is evolving as the U.S. approaches a majority-minority nation comprised of more Hispanic, Asian, bi-racial, and multiracial consumers than ever before. Traditional multicultural marketing segmentation must be re-examined to reflect the
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