All Articles Tagged "multicultural advertising"
Crossing Cultures and The Line: Is Multicultural Advertising Effective?
by Makula Dunbar
When thinking about advertising, the process behind showcasing a great product or service to mass consumers seems simple. First off, it helps to actually have a great universal product. Second, it’s strategizing and creating either a funny, identifiable or emotional message. Lastly, it’s placing the ad on TV, radio, print or the World Wide Web. Sound about right? Not exactly.
In actuality, advertising can be complex. Add a cultural approach to the equation, even more so. Unfortunately, a three-part checklist won’t do the trick. If only each and every consumer was one in the same, what an easy task it would be to get messages across. However, with an estimated U.S. Asian population of 15.5 million and a Hispanic population of 48.4 million, there’s no denying ethnicity and culture is a prevalent staple in everyday life—that deserves recognition.
“The number of corporations that do specific ethnic advertising is still relatively small,” says Burrell Communication co-CEO Fay Ferguson. “Making communications programs beamed at these audiences is not only necessary, but critical.”
McDonald’s Corporation —one of Burrell’s long-standing clients — is an example of one that outsources, allowing the agency to create advertisements for the African-American community.
Hard to Reach
With recent studies, advertisements and agencies pushing cross-cultural communications, it’s a blur as to what multicultural tactics are even effective. Should agencies stretch one message or slogan across cultures without alteration? Should advertisers reach out to individual ethnicities tailoring their brand so that’s it’s culturally relevant? Is it absolutely necessary for advertisers to reach out to every market?
“It’s definitely important for companies to understand that the Latino community is growing. The Asian community is growing as well and if they don’t tap into these communities, they’re going to find themselves in a very small segment in the actual market,” said Alfonso Covarrubias, creative director at multicultural advertising agency Maya.
Is Cross-Cultural an Industry Breakthrough or Threat to Ethnic Shops?
(AdAge.com) — One of the latest buzz words to enter the marketing lexicon is “cross-cultural.” It paints an idealistic picture of a color-blind society, one in which consumers’ similarities outweigh their differences regardless of ethnic groups. Whereas multicultural means multiple executions — often from multiple shops — wouldn’t it be simpler to find one truth that reaches across culture? It’s a valid question, but critics at multicultural agencies and ethnic shops are quick to point out that the question — and the concept — seems to be coming from general-market agencies moving into their territory.
African-Americans Are Savvy Consumers
(Epoch Times) — African-Americans not only embrace advertising messages but find these messages useful in making purchase decisions. They are the least likely of all consumers to find advertising messages a waste of time. With spending projected to reach $1.2 trillion by 2013, African-Americans are not only a viable consumer group but are growing in affluence. Salaries for African-Americans grew 1.5 times faster than all U.S. households; according to the U.S. census. This consumer group has made many brands popular and set many trends in music, fashion, and the like.
