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ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 9

upon brand objectives and other variables. While one structure may serve a brand’s needs
during a startup phase, it may be replaced by another structure as Multicultural marketing
initiatives mature. AIMM’s fi ndings should also serve as a reminder that no structure is
without both pros and cons.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” a saying linked to management guru Peter Drucker,
underscores the important role a well-thought-out structure can play in driving a business
forward. Benefi ts include focus, alignment, motivation-building, and cohesion coming from
the power of coordination between teams. The following introduces each structure, provides a
brief defi nition, and shares some distinguishing characteristics that may help you to evaluate
which structure to select and how to best implement it to gain maximum impact.

1. DEDICATED/SEGMENT-SPECIFIC STRUCTURE:

Dedicates human and budgetary resources to focus on one or more Multicultural
marketing segments as stand-alone departments. This department or business unit
may interact with the brand’s overall marketing structure but is not integrated into
said structure.

Sprint provides an ideal example for understanding the Dedicated/Segment-Specifi c structure.
Over four years ago, the telecommunications company identifi ed Hispanic marketing as a
top priority and invested in a dedicated Hispanic segment structure to lead these focused
initiatives. This means Sprint dedicates a full spectrum of resources to specifi cally address
the needs of this vital consumer segment. These resources include senior leadership solely
responsible for Hispanic initiatives, specialized agencies with Hispanic market expertise, and
dedicated budgets allocated to support work being done to connect with Hispanic consumers
of all types, including the bilingual and bicultural segment. Areas include overall marketing
strategy, advertising strategy and production, sponsorships, public relations, digital and social
media strategy and execution, fi eld marketing, direct marketing, and product development.
Sprint has been able to quantify the impact of this structure over time and includes Hispanic
marketing success as an essential component of its turnaround story.

Generally speaking, the Dedicated/Segment-Specifi c structure would include one or more
groups of segment specialists working as stand-alone units and managing the work relevant
to a specifi c segment, be it Hispanic, African-American, Asian, LGBTQ, or any other. These
teams need to be highly skilled in their specifi c segment, possessing insights into consumer
behavior, media usage, trends, community organizations, infl uencers, best practices, and
culturally-related opportunities for innovation.