Page 25 - WhitePaper_MC&I Benchmark in Covid19 Era

VII. IMPLICATIONS

AND AIMM ACTIONS

During a time in which MC&I consumers promptly needed to be acknowledged, as they have
been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and made ongoing sacrifi ces on the front
lines, marketers largely abandoned these segments. Marketers were much more likely to have
paused, eliminated, or delayed implementing Response and Relief efforts for MC&I segments
in comparison to General Market efforts.

The signifi cant challenges that businesses and consumers are facing do not entirely explain
why MC&I marketing efforts were cut more severely. It is possible that the signifi cant health and
economic uncertainty experienced by many MC&I segments may have led some marketers to
deprioritize dedicated marketing. It is clear that, despite the contributions of MC&I segments to
overall growth across many categories for years, many marketers shifted their views of MC&I
segments amid the COVID pandemic. Suddenly, the same growth audiences were considered
non-essential or suffi ciently refl ected and reached through General Market efforts.

For the second half of the year, there is a wide variance in how marketers may return MC&I
efforts to their pre-COVID level of funding and priority. The data shows that Hispanic budgets,
followed by African-American budgets, are most likely to revert to their original 2020 plans, but
it seems unlikely that funding behind other segments will be restored to pre-COVID levels in
the near future. This is unfortunate, as these segments were witnessing the lowest investment
levels among all groups in the fi rst place.

Notably, MC&I marketing will be positively affected by the increasing use of social media and
digital, as such media require lower production resources, although marketers may not be
clear to the limitations of MC&I identity accuracy and coverage in digital marketing. However, it
remains unclear whether cultural insights will drive these efforts or whether marketers will be
satisfi ed with one-size-fi ts-all approaches.

As proven by AIMM’s CIIM, marketers should recognize the incremental value created by infusing
genuine cultural refl ections in ads and placing them in a highly culturally relevant context. It
follows that shifting away from endemic media will further undermine the cultural richness and
higher relevance that brands need to connect with consumers. Spending reductions through
efforts like transcreations or a Total Market approach that eliminates cultural focus increase
the risk of being out of touch with nearly half of Americans, who make up MC&I segments.
These uncertain times call for doubling down on authentic empathy and greater brand affi nity
rather than turning away from culturally rich communications.

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