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- Build Amazing Brands
Why advertisers need to lean into specificity if they want to engage a wider audience
Here are some powerful statistics that should set any advertiser’s head spinning:
- While Black, Latine, and Asian-American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) consumers, make up nearly 40% of the US population, they only drew 5.3% of marketing spend in 2023.
- Nearly half (48%) of Gen Z consumers identify as People of Color, and they’ll soon become the wealthiest generation ever—reaching $12 trillion in spending power by 2030.
- 81% of Gen Zers (plus 72% of Millennials, 48% of Gen Xers, and 32% of Boomers) say they follow trends set by diverse consumers when choosing which brands and goods to buy.
In short, ignoring or failing to reach non-white communities is, at best, a major missed opportunity in the world of modern marketing.
But it’s also no longer enough to pay lip service to these underestimated audiences with generic diversity initiatives. Today’s advertisers need to think about how to build tailored media strategies that connect with communities on an individual level and engage with them in a more authentic way.
Putting Principles Into Practice
Let’s talk real-world examples. At the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival, Tubi hosted a live panel entitled, “Multicultural Can’t Come to the Phone Right Now, She’s Dead.”
The event was moderated by Myles Worthington—CEO of the full-service cultural connections agency Worthi—and brought together leading business, marketing, and media voices from a range of different industries. Together, they examined terms that are commonly thrown around marketing boardrooms—like “multicultural,” “diverse,” and “minority”—and found them insufficient.
“In principle, multicultural marketing is a great thing. You’re thinking about these specific audiences, and you want to prioritize them in a smart way that is business impactful. But how that comes to be and how you speak about it is very important, because an inauthentic and shallow approach could be brand damaging”
– Myles Worthington
In response, the panel offered up a few insights and guidelines that marketers can use to develop more effective strategies.
1. There’s power in specificity
CMO advisor and author Lola Bakare pointed out that literally no one identifies as “multicultural” or “diverse.” These are collective adjectives that are not meant to describe individual people, and they can do more harm than good in the wrong context.
“When you describe an individual as ‘diverse,’ you’re comparing them to a perceived norm. We tend to use that word in marketing to avoid other words that might make people in the room uncomfortable.”
– Lola Bakare
Instead, Bakare encourages advertisers to embrace specificity. That starts by calling Black, Latine, AAPI, and other communities what they actually are. The next step is for companies to take responsible steps on specific social issues that make sense for their brand—whether that’s economic security, climate change, food waste, or something else.
In her upcoming book, Responsible Marketing, Bakare explores how this isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s business-critical.
“It’s about brands going out of their way to address brand-relevant societal needs in a way that maximizes business results and brand reputation. This is indisputably the thing that all marketers should be thinking about.”
– Lola Bakare
2. Inclusive marketing is a growth strategy
Lela Coffey, VP of multicultural business acceleration for P&G North America, noted that companies shouldn’t think of inclusive marketing as checking DEIB boxes. They should think of it in terms of driving business outcomes.
Coffey noted that 100% of the growth she sees in top brand categories at P&G comes from Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) consumers. She calls businesses that are seeing results—which often have BIPOC leaders making key decisions—members of the “Three-Plus Club.”
“Brands in the company that are winning across three or more consumer segments are to a tee growing their markets, growing their brands, and gaining share. Brands that are growing with only two, or not at all, are not expanding their markets the way they need to be, and they’re losing share.”
– Lela Coffey
Coffey advised that marketers can follow the “true and truer” principle and look for insights that are true for everybody, but particularly true for some. For example, a feminine products brand could shape a campaign around the fact that all their customers might experience heavy periods, but some communities tend to have consistently heavier flows.
“In winning with the all,” she said, “it’s critically important that we win with the each.”
3. Authenticity means consistency
Finally, panelists Michelle Wong (CMO at Sprinkles) and Edgar Hernandez (CSO at My Code) highlighted the importance of authentic brand storytelling.
Wong talked about collaborating with different communities to share cultural perspectives through food. For example, Sprinkles created a Lunar New Year cupcake with Gold House, worked with Nguyen Coffee Supply on a Vietnamese coffee-themed cupcake, and partnered with chef Claudette Zepeda to base a cupcake off a Mexican candy Zepeda enjoyed as a child. Each of these flavors has been a top seller, demonstrating the mass appeal and impressive business impact of authentic representation.
But, for such projects to be successful, Hernandez emphasized that they need to be part of a larger, sustained effort.
“It can’t just be one campaign or one moment in time like Hispanic Heritage Month. A lot of marketers start to see data on an emerging consumer segment that could be important for them, and they want to test the waters. That’s the wrong approach. It has to be about long-term focus and understanding.”
– Edgar Hernandez
For Hernandez, it comes down to an education problem, as many companies lack the internal time, resources, and dedicated people it takes to keep momentum.
“What I think about now is, how do we get more People of Color into this business?,” he said. “Because I think that’s what is ultimately going to change the numbers.”
Leveraging Inclusive Media
Media advertisers can start by partnering with inclusive media channels—like streaming services that support specific, culturally resonant content and cultivate dedicated audiences.
Tubi, for instance, produces a wealth of original films and series—including Boarders, Dead Hot, Big Mood, Slay, and Shattered Glass: A WNBPA Story—that tell specific cultural stories and/or feature BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ talent in the main cast. It’s an important move, as the latest research shows 73% of Gen Z and Millennial viewers want to see characters who reflect their own identities, and 74% seek out streaming content that showcases a range of different backgrounds.
That’s one reason why Tubi is so successful across a wide range of audience segments, with Black, Latine, and AAPI viewership topping 36 million monthly active users and growing more than 20% year over year.
The bottom line? If advertisers want to win over underestimated communities—and harness their substantial buying power—they need to make specific representation an ongoing part of their day-to-day marketing strategy.
Working with forward-thinking media networks that understand those audiences is a smart way to make it happen.