Earlier this week I had the privilege of chairing ANA’s annual Masters of Multicultural Marketing Conference. In my opening remarks, I shared with the attendees ten “touch points” from the past year, mostly from current events, that have made me think about multicultural marketing and diversity. I’d love to know what your touch points are, related to multicultural marketing and diversity. Please feel free to share them back.
Touch Point #1: The 300- millionth American: We hit a landmark in the United States in October. The Census Bureau announced the U.S. population hit 300-million. Given the fact that Hispanics account for about half of the U.S. population growth and California has more births than any other state, it was widely speculated that this historic American was likely born in Los Angeles – and was a Chicano boy born to immigrant parents.
Touch Point #2: The Growth of China: Let’s go from 300 million to 1.3 billion. There’s a gold rush into China as China is now one of the top investment opportunities in the world and the new place for global businesses to expand. For the first time in history, Chinese is now the second most prevalent foreign language spoken in U.S. households after Spanish. And, watch out, the next Olympics are in Beijing in 2008.
Touch Point #3: Survivor Segments by Race: Many of us were stunned when Survivor, the granddaddy of reality shows, announced in late August that it would segregate its tribes for the upcoming season by race – the African-American tribe, Hispanic tribe, Asian tribe, and white tribe. According to the show’s producers, this was a response to past criticism that the show was too white.
My initial reaction to this was shock … but then I decided that if this elevated the dialogue in American about race, that perhaps it would be a good thing. Of course, just two weeks into the season, Survivor opted to do away with their four race-warring tribes by blending them into two diverse groups.
Touch Point #4: The Immigration Debate: There are about 12 million immigrants living illegally in the United States. In May there were major rallies across the country in support of immigration. The public is deeply divided Should illegal immigrants be given amnesty and be allowed to stay in this country? Should they be sent home? Recently, Congress passed a bill to authorize a 700 mile long fence along the US/Mexican border.
While this is clearly a political issue, there are marketing implications as well. Consider the explosion in purchasing power that would result if illegal immigrants are allowed to apply for green cards.
Touch Point #5: Rights for Gay Couples: I live in New Jersey. Our former governor, Jim McGreevey, shocked the state and the nation a few years ago when he announced that he is gay. Just a few weeks ago, New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled that gay couples are entitled to the same full legal rights and financial benefits as male/female couples.
Advancing the civil rights of gays and lesbians is a sign of the times and Massachusetts and Vermont are other states that have been ahead of the curve here.
Touch Point #6: Nielsen Integrates Hispanic TV into its National Service: Given the growth of the Hispanic population, Nielsen has integrated its Hispanic population sample into its national sample. This is notable as it puts Hispanic television on the same playing field as CBS, ABC, and NBC. And guess what? Last year Univision was the #1 prime time network for Adults 18-34 on 55 nights, they were number two on another 63 nights. And in LA the Univision affiliate is the number 1 station in the market.
Touch Point #7: Diversity in the Ad Industry: For nearly two years the hiring practices of the advertising industry have been under investigation by the New York City Commission on Human Rights, with a specific focus on the absence of African-Americans, especially those in senior positions—only 2% of agency leadership is black.
In late September, a number of ad agencies reached a voluntary agreement to continue to increase their levels of inclusion and diversity – they will publicly set goals for hiring minority staff and then report on their progress.
An interview of Jerri DeVard, Verizon’s SVP of marketing, will appear in the December issue of The Advertiser magazine. Jerri says, “Having a diverse team is very important. The more diverse the team, the more insight will be provided, and the better understanding you will have of your customer.”
Touch Point #8: Social Networking: Social networking has exploded over the past year. I call this YouTube mania. I encourage everyone to go to YouTube and just play. Community is important for all the multicultural segments covered and social networking is all about community.
Touch Point #9: Baseball: The season may be over, but this there is international fever sweeping Major League Baseball. A major league all-star team just finished a five game series in Japan against Japanese all-stars. Teams are submitting huge bids for a Japanese pitcher – Daisuke Matsuzaka, a free agent South-Korean outfielder has declared himself available to major league teams, and baseball officials are talking about playing in China in the not-too-distant future.
Touch Point #10: Preparing the Next Generation for our Multicultural World: Back in my day, we started studying a second language in 9th grade. That’s too late! I took three years of high school Spanish. My nine-year old triplet daughters began studying Spanish at their elementary school in 3rd grade. They are now in 4th grade and still studying Spanish in school … but this year my wife and I enrolled them in an after school program. One day a week, they go to Language Wizards and study Spanish.
At this rate, hopefully they’ll be studying Mandarin in high school!
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