You have to give the Association of National Advertisers credit, it’s not like they’re not trying.

But no matter what they seem to say or do, American advertisers don’t seem to understand the importance of minority markets to their brands’ success or profitability. There seems to be only one answer to sum up the majority of the obstacles cited by ANA members in a recent survey which attempted to divine the rationale for the dearth of marketing initiatives aimed at including minorities.

Ignorance.

Plain and simple ignorance.  That’s the only common thread behind the research findings.  According to the ANA study, here were the barriers and issues frustrating multicutlural marketing efforts:

  • Only 22% of survey respondents said their firm had a high degree of knowledge and disciplined best practices. This includes the inability to consistently integrate MCM programs into the overall marketing mix.
  • 58% cited lack of adequate funding.
  • 45% pointed to insufficient internal support.
  • 34% noted inconsistent top management support.
  • 45% of respondents cited a lack of relevant metrics to measure performance.

Look, it’s obvious.  These folks don’t get multicultural marketing because they don’t understand it and they see no value in it.  Four out of five firms couldn’t say their firm understood what they were even trying to do or where the multicultural marketing effort fit in their “overall marketing mix.”

Here’s a tip: If you’re not including marketing to minorities in your marketing mix, it isn’t an “overall marketing mix.”  Minorities ARE part of the “overall market.”

A matter of making marketing to minorities relevant
The ANA has been trying to get its members to lead the rest of the advertising market by example – and it’s not working.  Too many advertisers consider advertising and promoting to minority markets to be “narrow casting” or a form of corporate social responsibility.  Well, it’s not.

Part of the problem may come from the neo-50′s, segregationist attitude many marketers take when selecting and sequestering agencies with minority market specializations from their “lead” or “mainstream” agency.  Why this is done – and it is still done – is beyond me.  True creative power comes from the collision of ideas and finding the points of congruence where a hot idea can cross-over and catch fire.

But it’s not just about finding a great new creative look or catchphrase.  Here’s what the ANA was saying about the business potential of multicultural marketing programs three years ago:

Multicultural marketing is not about good will, it’s about good business: This market is huge. Within 20 years, the multicultural population will be over 50% — the minority will become the majority. Commit the resources. Hire a diverse set of professionals with a balance of skill sets that can understand the markets and create the natural bonding programs that create lifetime customers. Multicultural marketing is no longer a “one-off” effort – it needs to be integrated into “general” marketing communications efforts. (Read the whole post.)

Demographics aside, there is one other reason why advertisers are stupid not to fully embrace the power of “mainstreaming” their multicultural initiative into their other marketing efforts and what that might do for them.

And it’s the “elephant in the room” that no one seems to be willing to talk about.

In a global marketplace, we’re not the mainstream – we’re the minority.
Why is this hard for people to understand.  It’s not about the color of our skin, our religion, our orientation, age or gender.  Americans only constitute 5% of the world’s population.  If we can’t figure out how to include other cultures, languages, belief systems, traditions, skin colors, etc. into our marketing models, we’re doomed.

There are plenty of American brands who know and understand and value the perspective needed to create effective international marketing campaigns.  After all, we just reported that five of Asia’s top ten brands hail from the USA.  But some of these same companies still profess to see no value in finding ways to market to minority groups in our own country.

Go figure.

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