Page 4 - Going for Growth: Targeting Today's Diverse Consumers

GOING FOR GROWTH: TARGETING TODAY’S DIVERSE CONSUMER 3

are deployed. For both short- and long-term reasons, it is imperative for modern marketers
to deepen their understanding of and connection to diverse consumers whose varied cultural
backgrounds and lifestyles are a vibrant part of America’s social fabric. While diversity and
inclusion initiatives are often invaluable support for the development of culturally relevant
marketing efforts, they are not one and the same. Multicultural and Inclusive initiatives require
experienced marketers with relevant expertise to be empowered and held accountable for
segment-specifi c business growth and profi tability.

A 2018 ANA/AIMM Multicultural and Inclusive Benchmark Survey provided insight into some
of the obstacles preventing full commitments to segment-specifi c marketing, a modern
marketing approach that leverages distinct cultural insights to their full potential. According to
advertisers, their top four reasons for not targeting Multicultural and Inclusive segments are:

• Not having suffi cient dollars (23 percent)
• Not having the bandwidth or expertise to do the work (15 percent)
• Not needing to segment because the purchase triggers and universal truths for their
brands are the same for all segments (14 percent)
• Believing they do not need to target diverse groups directly because they reach everyone
with their General Market efforts (13 percent)

Consider the fact that over the past three years, there has been a decline in after-tax profi ts
among Fortune 500 companies, a reasonable surrogate for the business community. Also
consider that among these top advertisers, over 60 percent are spending less than 1 percent
of their advertising budget on segment-specifi c targeted media. Because the ANA and AIMM
believe there is a correlation between these two data points, they are prioritizing inclusion and
equality, making this a focal point of the ANA’s 12-point CMO Masters Circle growth agenda.

This playbook provides a road map to marketers seeking direction and best practices for
incorporating Multicultural and Inclusive marketing into their core strategies. The tools found
in the following sections are designed to prompt new ways of looking at cultural segmentation
to avoid pitfalls and uncover paths to growth:

The Growth Opportunity Model

Business Strategy
Marketing Strategy
Marketing Strategy
Media Consider
Media Considerations ations
Media Considerations
Creative Considerations
Creative Considerations
Measurement
Measurement