(AdAge) — I have attended every ANA Multicultural Marketing Conference since it started 11 years ago, and the one held this November in Miami Beach was by far the best. In his opening remarks, Gilbert Davila framed the conversation succinctly: “Yesterday’s minorities have evolved into today’s general market, blurring the lines between where one group ends and the other begins. The census will give us the impetus, energy and ammunition we need to no longer have to haggle over dollars allocated to multicultural marketing efforts. Plain and simple, those who do not follow the growth will stay behind.” As a matter of fact, that was the message from the various C-level executives from Procter & Gamble, Fidelity, Time Inc., Coca-Cola and General Mills. Check out this clip from Mark Addicks, CMO of General Mills. Also in attendance were many more senior-level executives from State Farm, McDonald’s, Unilever, the USTA and Best Buy, sharing case studies and best practices on how they put their plans to reach multicultural consumers to work for them. For the first time since 2005, I thought we’d reached that “tipping point” where Corporate America is finally getting it.
