In this episode of The New Mainstream podcast, Mario Carrasco and Michael Roca, who currently spearheads the Cross-Cultural Center of Excellence at Omnicom Media Group, delve into the evolving landscape of multicultural marketing and media.

Multicultural has shifted from a niche segment to a central focus for many brands and agencies. This change reflects a growing recognition that diverse audiences are not just a part of the market but key drivers of growth and innovation. Understanding and engaging with these audiences can lead to more effective marketing strategies and expand market share.

Historically, companies housed multicultural marketing expertise in separate units. Over time, these teams were often folded into Total Market efforts. Doing so, however, diluted the specific focus needed to genuinely connect with diverse audiences.

As the U.S. moves towards becoming a multicultural majority, a nuanced understanding of the complex and multifaceted identities of diverse audiences becomes critical. However, many sectors underinvest in multicultural marketing and media despite the clear benefits. Brands must move beyond analysis paralysis and take actionable steps toward inclusivity. By incorporating these perspectives from the beginning, brands can create more authentic and impactful connections.

Tune in to the full episode of The New Mainstream podcast to gain valuable insights into the future of multicultural marketing and media.

Younger generations of workers have fully embraced the "work from anywhere" concept, prompting employers to rethink conventional methods. With the rise of remote and hybrid work models, flexible and adaptive workspaces have become more critical than ever. The pandemic accelerated the shift towards more distributed teams, and organizations are now adjusting their real estate strategies to support this new reality. Inclusive design plays a crucial role in creating environments that foster collaboration, productivity and a sense of belonging, whether employees work from home, in the office or in a hybrid setup.

Inclusive design, which extends beyond the traditional idea of universal design, emphasizes the importance of involving a diverse group of people in the design process to create solutions that cater to a broad range of needs and experiences. This approach is not only about accommodating physical differences but also considering the varied socio-economic backgrounds, gender identities and other factors that influence how individuals interact with their environments.

By creating spaces that cater to diverse needs, companies can enhance employee well-being, foster psychological safety and increase productivity. Doing so is socially responsible and makes good business sense, as it helps attract and retain top talent in a competitive labor market.

In this episode of The New Mainstream podcast, Ryan Anderson, Vice President of Global Research and Insights at MillerKnoll, shares insights into the practical applications of inclusive design and its role in shaping the future workplace.

About Ryan Anderson:

Ryan Anderson serves as Vice President of Global Research and Insights at MillerKnoll. His team leads MillerKnoll’s research, shares insights publicly across the world, and provides workplace strategy and application design services to MillerKnoll customers. With thirty years of industry experience, Ryan’s work has centered on how the places we inhabit can be better designed to support healthy, inclusive, and productive communities. Ryan hosts MillerKnoll’s About Place podcast on the future of the workplace and regularly speaks at public events about MillerKnoll’s historical and current research. Ryan is a contributor to Forbes, and has been featured in a wide variety of additional publications such as The Wall Street Journal, NPR, the BBC, Fortune, Bloomberg, and beyond.

Marketing is both an art and a science, shaped by the experiences and perspectives of its practitioners. Initially, multicultural marketing was considered a niche or specialized area within broader marketing strategies. However, there has been a gradual shift towards integrating multicultural marketing into the core marketing approach. This shift involves incorporating multicultural perspectives into product development, pricing, placement and promotion—the four P's—ensuring these efforts are not isolated but integral to the overall brand strategy.

Market research is critical here. Post-pandemic, marketers have leaned more heavily into qualitative and ethnographic research to understand consumers deeply — not just their product preferences but also their lived experiences and the issues they are trying to navigate – by uncovering insights that traditional surveys might miss. This allows the brand to determine how to solve their problems by connecting the dots for them.

Deeper insights also enable more sophisticated segmentation strategies beyond demographic factors. Evolving from standard acculturation models, which categorize consumers based on their time in the country or language preferences, to more nuanced approaches that consider cultural mindsets and value systems enables marketers to connect more authentically with diverse consumer groups, recognizing that cultural identity is complex and multifaceted.

On this episode of The New Mainstream podcast, Glory Alcántara, Director of Multicultural Marketing at General Mills, discusses the importance of understanding and integrating multicultural perspectives into mainstream marketing strategies.

The marketing landscape is evolving, driven by the rapidly changing demographics in the U.S. Today's consumers are culturally diverse, tech-savvy, and vocal about their needs and wants. Among them, to be represented authentically in advertising. For marketers, this requires a change in the paradigm, a move beyond general marketing strategies to embracing a multicultural marketing approach. Its effectiveness, however, hinges on the quality of the data driving the decisions.

Enter contextual technology. This powerful tool allows marketers to delve into the nuances of cultural identity and consumer consumption habits, including understanding specific media channels, content preferences, and purchasing behaviors of multicultural audiences. This granular data empowers marketers to craft targeted digital advertising campaigns that resonate deeply.

Artificial intelligence has impacted advertising, adding another layer of complexity as marketers navigate its use, contending with hallucinations and exploring unconventional sources of consumer insights, like synthetic data. But AI also brings about opportunities. By leveraging machine learning and rich contextual data, marketers can create hyper-targeted campaigns that speak directly to diverse demographics, such as Hispanic, Black, AAPI or LGBTQ+ communities.

Ultimately, embracing multicultural marketing with the support of contextual technology isn't just about driving sales; it's about building a future where everyone feels seen and valued in the media they consume.

On this episode of The New Mainstream podcast, Tony Gonzalez, CEO & Co-Founder at Mundial Media, shares how contextual technology can build deeper connections with diverse audiences to drive brand engagement.

Black Americans, comprising about 14% of the U.S. population, wield significant economic influence, with buying power surpassing $1.5 trillion. Their cultural impact is equally undeniable, shaping everything from music and fashion to cuisine and beyond. Yet, generally, brands fail to invest in the market research needed to truly understand the complexity of this demographic.

Like most multicultural consumers, Black Americans are not a monolith. Within this group are subcultures that extend far beyond skin tones and hair textures to differences in culture, countries of origin, geography and language.

Beyond demographics are psychographics, right? Traumatic events like George Floyd's death deeply affected many Black consumers, prompting shifts in their brand interactions. Despite these challenges, there's a growing interest among brands in understanding and serving Black consumers, particularly Gen Z. Authenticity emerges as a crucial factor, with Black consumers seeking brands that acknowledge them, invest in their communities and empower them.

However, the lack of diversity within the market research industry remains a glaring issue, jeopardizing efforts to engage this consumer group. The failure to build diverse and inclusive teams hinders authentic insights and decision-making processes, leading to tone-deaf marketing campaigns and underwhelming customer experiences. Brands that genuinely understand what Black consumers like and build real connections with them will discover a vast, hidden market just waiting to be explored.

In this episode of The New Mainstream podcast, Dawn V. Carr, CEO and Founder of Mahogany Insights, discusses the importance of increasing diversity within the insights industry and how it can lead to more meaningful connections with Black consumers.

Whether refreshing an existing brand or launching a new one, the fundamentals remain the same— understanding the "why" behind your brand is critical to its long-term success. While logos and color palettes are often seen as the face of a brand, they are merely identifiers, visual representations of a brand’s ideals. But branding goes deeper than that.

Branding is the culmination of all the experiences, values, and perceptions that define a brand. It's the emotional connection customers feel, the stories they tell about you, and the reasons they choose you over competitors. It's essentially your reputation – what people say about you when you're not around.

But building a strong brand isn't just about how you present yourself to the world. It’s also vital to cultivating internal alignment. Engaging your employees, understanding their needs, and empowering them to live the brand's values are essential to brand sustainability. When employees believe in and embody the brand ethos, they serve as ambassadors of it in the marketplace.

Beyond the customer relationship is the synergy between brand strategy and business strategy. A well-defined brand strategy clarifies your market position, informs your marketing efforts, and shapes a cohesive customer experience at every touchpoint.

In this episode of The New Mainstream podcast, Darren Horwitz, Founder of TenTen Group, delves into branding basics and the role brand strategy plays in achieving business success.

Effective market research goes beyond understanding trends to identifying opportunities in the market. But many companies struggle to translate data insights into tangible financial gains. This struggle stems from a tendency to diminish the significance of market research instead of acknowledging its profound potential as a revenue generator. Failing to see the strategic value of research hurts the bottom line and creates distance between the consumer and the brand. Companies need a deep understanding of consumers, and market research is the most effective way to achieve that.

How market research does that is changing, however. Artificial Intelligence is transforming the market research industry. New AI-powered methodologies, like synthetic panels, are creating opportunities for marketers to achieve similar results in less time with fewer budget constraints.

But AI isn't a silver bullet. Though rapidly evolving, the technology is new, and the accuracy of these models is still questionable. These new tools should be seen as complements, not replacements, for proven research methodologies.

One thing is certain – the future of market research lies in effectively integrating data, insights, and human curiosity. By leveraging these elements, researchers can become strategic partners, driving real-world business results and ensuring market research is a true value-add, not just a cost.

In this episode of The New Mainstream podcast, Michael Nevski, Director of Global Insights at Visa, delves into the vital link between market research and revenue growth and explores the potential of AI to reshape the industry.

Diversity isn't just about optics. Today’s consumers prioritize authenticity and base their purchase decisions on how brands show up. But authenticity does not start when the products hit the shelf. It must be woven into every stage of the go-to-market strategy, including market research – from panel recruitment and survey design to selecting moderators who foster open and honest conversations. Understanding diverse consumer perspectives requires more than just surface-level representation.

One crucial aspect of fostering authenticity in market research is the composition of research teams. Selecting moderators, for example, that reflect the demographics of the survey participants helps ensure authenticity in their responses. The psychological safety that the environment presents reduces the need for codeswitching, liberating respondents to be their authentic selves.

Beyond focus groups, greater diversity is needed across the market research industry. Often, diverse teammates doing the work—running the data tables and visualizing the data—aren’t the ones presenting the work, and that needs to change. There’s value in bringing those in the back of the house to the front to create equal opportunity for advancement.

By prioritizing inclusivity and authenticity internally, companies can forge deeper connections with consumers externally and drive meaningful change in the marketplace.

In this episode of The New Mainstream podcast, Kai Fuentes, President and CEO of Ebony Marketing Systems, discusses how the market research industry can benefit from intentionally cultivating and championing diversity and inclusion.