Page 24 - Going for Growth: Targeting Today's Diverse Consumers

GOING FOR GROWTH: TARGETING TODAY’S DIVERSE CONSUMER 23

way that is easy to understand and best captures untranslatable cultural concepts.

D. CONTEXT ALSO MATTERS

Consumers toggle between in-language, in-culture, and mainstream media. This means
that to achieve optimum reach and engagement among these segments, marketers
increasingly must include all three touchpoints. Not all segments relate equally to
mainstream content, and not all mainstream content is developed with cultural insights
that are truly relevant to segments outside of the White Non-Hispanic culture.

Remember that the “General Market” is not a homogeneous consumer block but
rather an amalgam of diverse segments operating in a more unifi ed cultural context.
Work supported by P&G on gender equality has revealed ways in which digital search
engines inadvertently perpetuate stereotypes (shetransforms.us). Type in the word
“engineer,” and the visual response refl ects males. Type in the term “school girl” and
the response delivers overly sexualized images. Similarly, when asiáticas, the Spanish
language word for Asian women, is used in a search, images of sexualized Asian women
is all that appears. This gender-specifi c work has a direct correlation to stereotypes
in the Multicultural and Inclusive communities. The digital examples are just the tip of
the iceberg and an important reminder for marketers to protect their brand’s integrity
by bringing culture to the forefront and cultural expertise into every aspect of their
organization.