The New Mainstream Podcast

Multicultural marketing is finally being embraced as a necessity, not a nice-to-have. Marketers have traditionally been interested in marketing to diverse audiences around the release of Census data when they realized the changing demographics of American consumers.

That’s changed within the last two years. Consumers have been more vocal, taking brands to task for cultural insensitivity and stereotypical themes. In response, there has been a more consistent focus on multicultural.

That focus extends beyond just reaching consumers to engaging minority-owned companies, particularly media companies. It's unlikely that a brand can fully engage a diverse group if they are not supporting companies within that group. For example, it would be beneficial for a brand targeting Black consumers to work with a Black-owned media company with access to Black consumers. Understanding that many minority-owned firms may be smaller and unable to deliver the reach necessary makes collaborating with larger firms essential, opening the door for robust supplier diversity programs.

But it’s important to note that building relationships with diverse audiences is a long game. Loyalty comes over time, and engaging multicultural audiences thoughtfully and respectfully builds goodwill. Consumers want brand allies who care about what they value and stand in solidarity with them, not brands that just see them as dollar signs.

With roots in Mexico and Argentina, she has been passionate about communicating with the Latinx community since she first launched her career at Orci, ultimately returning after leading the multicultural division of Heat and client teams at Zubi Advertising and Conexión.

When the pandemic shut down schools and sent students into virtual learning environments, the disparity in access to reliable technology was apparent. Families in underserved and under-resourced communities found themselves at a disadvantage, having limited access to devices and internet services within households, putting students who are already at risk in jeopardy of falling further behind. If education is supposed to be the great equalizer that levels the playing field, then the digital divide tipped the scales.

2020 was a year of highs and lows. For marketers who have always maintained a commitment to diversity and inclusion, the calls for social justice strengthened their resolve. For many others, however, the momentum of acknowledging the problem gave way to frantic, reactive statements that quickly fizzled out or failed. A year later, companies realized their approach to diversity and inclusion couldn’t be summed up in a social media post. Instead, it required a concerted, internal and external effort to fundamentally change who they are and how they present in the world.

Younger and more tech-savvy than their majority counterparts, Hispanic consumers present significant growth opportunities for brands looking to expand their consumer base. Yet, even with larger budgets and bigger teams, many of these brands stumble through their multicultural outreach. Worse case, they ignore them entirely, as is the case with the “hidden generation.”

This consumer cohort uses social media and other digital platforms to discover and drive trends, embrace and share culture, and engage and influence their communities while cultivating friendships and spheres of influence with other demographics.

Despite the benefits of activating this audience, larger companies with decades of red tape find it difficult to convert this segment. Startups, who may be led by members of this community or closely aligned with them, cultivate relationships with this cohort from the onset, giving them an advantage.