The flat-earth, digitized world described by Unilever CMO Simon Clift is one in which the marketing norms have changed. I don't think anybody will argue about that.
Here are Ad Age's "New Rules" which definitely apply to the multicultural market:
1. Listening to consumers is more important than talking at them. As Mr. Clift said, "We may be ahead of our competitors, but we're most definitely behind consumers." The consumer is not a moron, she's the person defining your brand.
2. You can't hide the corporation behind the brand anymore -- or even fully separate the two. Even this editor's creaking computer only took 0.13 seconds to show that Philip Morris is owned by Altria Group. Welcome to radical transparency, where bad corporate behavior will damage your brands, and vice versa.
3. PR is a primary concern for every CMO and brand manager. If "marketing" and "PR" are not the same department, tear down the wall. Spend time deciding whether PR is underleveraged in your organization.
4. Cause marketing isn't about philanthropy, it's about "enlightened self-interest," as Mr. Clift puts it. That doesn't mean it doesn't count. Don't be ashamed of your profit motive, because great branding and doing good are increasingly one and the same.
5. Social media is not a strategy. You need to understand it, and you'll need to deploy it as a tactic. But remember that the social graph just makes it even more important that you have a good product. Put another way: The volume and quality of your earned media will be directly proportional to the impact and quality of your product and ideas.
I will add one more point:
6. Your consumers are no longer homogeneous. They are a rainbow of colors, with different ethnicity, background, culture, expectations, behavior, language etc. When you listen or talk to them, do it sincerely. Yes, even though they may not be same as you, they are not morons.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Google Multicultural Workforce
According to a recent article on New York Times, Google employees at the Mountain View, Calif., headquarters are extremely diverse. Many foreign workers are recruited to work at Google. Of Google's 20, 000 employees, 2,000 are working on temporary visas and many more are foreign born. Half of the engineers working in Silicon Valley were born overseas.
Check out the slideshow at New York Times:
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Dwindling Digital Divide
The African-American online population is growing, in more ways than one.
The “digital divide,” a phrase describing the gulf between Internet “haves” and “have nots,” is still evident, but shrinking.eMarketer estimates that nearly one-half of the African-American population—over 19 million people—uses the Internet at least once a month, and in four years, 56% will be online.
Trends in African-American Internet usage generally mirror those of the US Internet population as a whole. “Younger black Internet users are most comfortable with all forms of digital communication: visiting social networks, downloading and streaming music and videos, blogging and playing games,” says Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, African-Americans Online.” “Black boomers are online in high numbers, but mostly for e-mail and news. Black seniors ages 61 and older are least likely to go online and are more likely to read magazines and newspapers, as well as watch news on television.”
The “digital divide,” a phrase describing the gulf between Internet “haves” and “have nots,” is still evident, but shrinking.eMarketer estimates that nearly one-half of the African-American population—over 19 million people—uses the Internet at least once a month, and in four years, 56% will be online.
Trends in African-American Internet usage generally mirror those of the US Internet population as a whole. “Younger black Internet users are most comfortable with all forms of digital communication: visiting social networks, downloading and streaming music and videos, blogging and playing games,” says Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, African-Americans Online.” “Black boomers are online in high numbers, but mostly for e-mail and news. Black seniors ages 61 and older are least likely to go online and are more likely to read magazines and newspapers, as well as watch news on television.”
When They Go Online Hispanics Download
More US Hispanics are going online than ever before, and most are using broadband.
According to Scarborough Research, 54% of Hispanics were online in 2008. While that is up slightly over the previous year, it still trails the 69% penetration rate of total US users.
The adoption of broadband by Hispanic consumers, however, was nearly identical to that of the country overall.
And what did Hispanics download on their high-speed connections? Music, video, audio and movies, in that order, were the most popular types of content.
Most amazingly, even though they are slightly less likely to have broadband than the average US adult Internet user, online Hispanics were 211% more likely to download digital content.
Hispanic Internet users were most likely to subscribe to broadband if they resided in major population hubs such as Miami, New York and Los Angeles. Five cities in Texas were also represented as broadband centers.
57% of Hispanic adult Internet users were between the ages of 18 and 34. One-half had household incomes over $50,000 per year, 77% were employed either full- or part-time and 55% were homeowners.
According to Scarborough Research, 54% of Hispanics were online in 2008. While that is up slightly over the previous year, it still trails the 69% penetration rate of total US users.
The adoption of broadband by Hispanic consumers, however, was nearly identical to that of the country overall.
And what did Hispanics download on their high-speed connections? Music, video, audio and movies, in that order, were the most popular types of content.
Most amazingly, even though they are slightly less likely to have broadband than the average US adult Internet user, online Hispanics were 211% more likely to download digital content.
Hispanic Internet users were most likely to subscribe to broadband if they resided in major population hubs such as Miami, New York and Los Angeles. Five cities in Texas were also represented as broadband centers.
57% of Hispanic adult Internet users were between the ages of 18 and 34. One-half had household incomes over $50,000 per year, 77% were employed either full- or part-time and 55% were homeowners.
Why Social Media Is the 'Fabric' of Hispanics Online
65%of Hispanics online are now using social media, according to Manny Miravete, VP, Sales and Strategy, MySpace and MySpace Latino. “You bring what you do in your daily life online and social media is enabling that. You can run a simple banner or create a brand profile,” he said. “You can put your brand in that social arena. Social media has mass reach. It’s the fabric of Hispanics online.” Miravate argued that the difference between MySpace and Facebook is that MySpace is a social portal where users can customize their experience and choose to interact with content. Facebook, he said, is more of a social utility.
Consumers are really savvy and know if they are being advertised to, so marketers should create an ambassador for their brands, Miravate said, pointing out that marketers should also develop the experience and content around passion points.
Most successful campaigns have pushed or pulled from traditional media to the Web. Miravate offered the following advice: “Understand the key driving points for the brand. Connect what your brand can offer and what users want. Pharma has been slow to come to the medium; others like wireless have jumped right in. You need to bring very tangible value to users.”
In Miravate’s view, social media is a great way to use direct response. Some agencies use it just to drive sales and reach 10 million U.S. Hispanic users. It’s low cost and delivers high returns, he said. Branded initiatives are helping to launch new products and drive use and purchase behavior.
He encouraged agencies to come up with ideas and then use social media outlets as a vetting process—what’s possible and practical. “We love to brainstorm the new and coolest ways to connect,” Miravate said. “Keep it simple. Build the digital capabilities within your agencies so you’re able to deliver a broader based communication experience for clients—they are asking for it.”
Consumers are really savvy and know if they are being advertised to, so marketers should create an ambassador for their brands, Miravate said, pointing out that marketers should also develop the experience and content around passion points.
Most successful campaigns have pushed or pulled from traditional media to the Web. Miravate offered the following advice: “Understand the key driving points for the brand. Connect what your brand can offer and what users want. Pharma has been slow to come to the medium; others like wireless have jumped right in. You need to bring very tangible value to users.”
In Miravate’s view, social media is a great way to use direct response. Some agencies use it just to drive sales and reach 10 million U.S. Hispanic users. It’s low cost and delivers high returns, he said. Branded initiatives are helping to launch new products and drive use and purchase behavior.
He encouraged agencies to come up with ideas and then use social media outlets as a vetting process—what’s possible and practical. “We love to brainstorm the new and coolest ways to connect,” Miravate said. “Keep it simple. Build the digital capabilities within your agencies so you’re able to deliver a broader based communication experience for clients—they are asking for it.”
Multicultural Consumers Attitude
The Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University announces the release of an attitudinal report in its Multicultural Marketing Equation series.
The results indicate that Hispanics who answered the online questionnaire in Spanish are more likely than anyone else to be Network Oriented, and interestingly, that Non Hispanic Whites are least likely to be Network Oriented. Hispanics who answered the questionnaire in English and Asians are most likely to be Gay Favorable, while Hispanics who answered in Spanish were most negative. Also Hispanics who answered in English and Asians are the most Sports Oriented, while Non-Hispanic Whites are least sports involved. A Brand Lifestyle is more prevalent among African Americans African Americans and least among Hispanics who Answered in Spanish. The most Socio Culturally Sensitive are Hispanics who answered in Spanish, while the least are Non-Hispanic Whites. Asians are the most Marriage Oriented while Hispanics who answered in Spanish and African Americans are the least.
These findings highlight the importance of considering attitudinal orientations when positioning products and services in these diverse cultural communities. The results make it evident that not all members of the different major cultures in the US can be reached with homogeneous messages and ideas.
The results indicate that Hispanics who answered the online questionnaire in Spanish are more likely than anyone else to be Network Oriented, and interestingly, that Non Hispanic Whites are least likely to be Network Oriented. Hispanics who answered the questionnaire in English and Asians are most likely to be Gay Favorable, while Hispanics who answered in Spanish were most negative. Also Hispanics who answered in English and Asians are the most Sports Oriented, while Non-Hispanic Whites are least sports involved. A Brand Lifestyle is more prevalent among African Americans African Americans and least among Hispanics who Answered in Spanish. The most Socio Culturally Sensitive are Hispanics who answered in Spanish, while the least are Non-Hispanic Whites. Asians are the most Marriage Oriented while Hispanics who answered in Spanish and African Americans are the least.
These findings highlight the importance of considering attitudinal orientations when positioning products and services in these diverse cultural communities. The results make it evident that not all members of the different major cultures in the US can be reached with homogeneous messages and ideas.
Immigration Awareness Month
Supposingly, April is the Immigration Awareness Month and Diversity Inc. has put together a fact sheet for easy reference:
Interesting thing is that most people may have the perception that immigrants are less educated but it's totally opposite. Not only are they younger, there are higher percentage of immigrants with a master's degree than the general population.
Another Example Why Diversity And Inclusion Is Still A Far-Reaching Goal
U.S. Rep. Betty Brown of Texas thought she was being helpful by suggesting that Asian Americans to change their names so that it will be "easier for Americans to deal with."
All of this happened when Ramsey Ko of the Organization of Chinese American, a national civil-rights and advocacy organization, testified before the House Elections Committee saying that people of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent (among others) often have difficulty voting because their legal forms of identification often carry their transliterated name as well as a commonly used English name.
Congresswoman Brown went on to say that it would be too difficult to learn a foreign language such as Chinese so it would "behoove [Ko] and [Asian-American] citizens to adopt a name that [poll workers] could deal with more readily here."
Now imagine for a moment if this congresswoman asked Latinos in America to change their names for the convenience of other Americans. Or if we told President Barack Obama that his name was too difficult to pronounce so he should consider changing it to Barry O'Brien.
I wonder what Congresswoman Brown will say if she has to to go to China, India or even Germany for an international diplmatic convention.
This only shows how shallow some of us can be. And you will be surprised to find out how many Congresswoman Brown there are in this country.
All of this happened when Ramsey Ko of the Organization of Chinese American, a national civil-rights and advocacy organization, testified before the House Elections Committee saying that people of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent (among others) often have difficulty voting because their legal forms of identification often carry their transliterated name as well as a commonly used English name.
Congresswoman Brown went on to say that it would be too difficult to learn a foreign language such as Chinese so it would "behoove [Ko] and [Asian-American] citizens to adopt a name that [poll workers] could deal with more readily here."
Now imagine for a moment if this congresswoman asked Latinos in America to change their names for the convenience of other Americans. Or if we told President Barack Obama that his name was too difficult to pronounce so he should consider changing it to Barry O'Brien.
I wonder what Congresswoman Brown will say if she has to to go to China, India or even Germany for an international diplmatic convention.
This only shows how shallow some of us can be. And you will be surprised to find out how many Congresswoman Brown there are in this country.
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