Multicultural Marketing News December 2016

In 2017 and beyond, marketers large and small must be very aware that by 2020, more than 50% of all US consumers will be classified as multicultural. So, not only have multicultural and mainstream marketing merged, but we are also looking at a new generation of trend-drivers: Millennials. The Millennials are driving trends, and driving them in ways that seemingly change and evolve daily. So, marketing tactics need to change, as technology continues to alter these important consumers’ buying behaviors. Why not incorporate more music and entertainment into your marketing arsenal, spaces so critical to the millennial markets? Shopping and digital behaviors have become so intertwined, the lines so blurred, it is also critical to connect your advertising to the millennial multicultural populations. It’s becoming more about the vehicles that are driving your marketing. Be present when and where these critically important consumers want you to be. As always, the use of accurate multicultural data, analysis and market identification will be key factors in your success. Multicultural marketing, Research and Ethnic Identification is our passion and we look forward to helping all our clients and partners achieve the results they expect from the Leader in Multicultural Marketing. For more information, please contact Karen Sinisi, Director of Sales, Ethnic Technologies, 866-333-8324 ext.117, karens@ethnictechnologies.com.

2017 will be a breakthrough year for breaking down the language barriers of collecting and analyzing data in multicultural marketing research. Automated translation technology has improved immensely in the last five years, which means researchers no longer have to choose which language to use for their online community studies. So, how does this work? Our insight community platform icanmakeitbetter (www.icanmakeitbetter.com) allows brands to have longitudinal conversations with customers, potential customers or competitor’s customers during a period of anywhere from one month to several years. Imagine having a conversation about any new product or service from ideation to iteration to optimization or actualization.  We built the entire platform to contain native language support and integrated Google translation features. 100+ languages are now available across all community member pages and for all of our integrated survey feedback tools, including discussion, live chat, surveys, ideation sessions and more. Community members can set their own default platform language, allowing brands to easily scale their global communities.  With a certainty, 2017 will be the year that the marketing research industry fully adopts multilingual community platform studies. By Michael Halberstam, Chairman, Interviewing Service of America (ISA), halberstam@isacorp.com, 818-989-1044.

For 2017, we expect more brands to have an increased interest and focus on multicultural consumers and youth, it is no surprise that more of our clients are taking more non-traditional approaches to reaching young multicultural consumers.  C+R Research is home to both CultureBeat and YouthBeat.  This allows us a unique ability to combine our expertise in both multicultural research and youth research.  For example, some of our clients are doing more immersive approaches-recruiting teens to amusement parks and hanging out for the day.  One family even invited us to a Quiceañera.  Next year we’re looking forward to a campfire, high school graduations, and other experiences.  There’s no substitute for the empathy our clients can build when they meet their young multicultural consumers on their own turf. By Mary McIlrath, Senior Vice President, YouthBeat, marym@crresearch.com and Jorge Martinez, Senior Research Director, CultureBeat and LatinoEyes, jorgem@crresearch.com Visit crresearch.com.

In many ways the turmoil created by the 2016 Presidential campaign and election of Donald Trump provides a dynamic backdrop for what promises to be an interesting 2017. The world of Multicultural Marketing isn’t immune to the effects of a controversial campaign and the dawn of the Trump era. The election seemingly ripped the muzzle off the conversation around race in this country and replaced it with a bullhorn.  More so than ever race, culture, and its’ role in daily life is at the forefront of conversations across the country. The critical importance of multicultural consumers on Brand’s business success hasn’t changed, but the intensified focus on issues around race and culture add layers of complexity to the conversation. In this sensitive environment Brands must effectively connect with Multicultural consumers, but also be cognizant of the perceptions or realities around their positions as it relates to various societal issues. While some brands may attempt to “sit it out”, consumers will demand to know where Brands seeking their support stand on the social issues that are important to them. Never before is it more important, but also riskier for Brands to have a voice on the realities facing multicultural communities. What do you stand for?  What do you believe?  Have you chosen a side? All questions Brands will have to effectively navigate in 2017. By Ahmad Islam – Managing Partner/CEO at Ten35, founding member of Titanium Worldwide. Titanium is the world’s first collective of independent, certified-diverse companies operating as a single agency. Clients rely on our broad service offering, category experience across multiple industries and our ability to authentically communicate with any and all audiences. We’ve streamlined our process by offering a full suite of services with one contract and one point of contact, Titanium is the agency built for today’s business. For all inquiries about Titanium and our 17 founding Members (including Ten35) please reach out to Erin Geoghegan, Director of Client Relations, Erin.geoghegan@titaniumww.com, 646-952-8441.

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Multicultural Marketing News (MMRNews), is published by Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc. (MMR). For a free subscription, sign up here.