When it comes to multicultural marketing, the CMO perspective has recently shifted from “everyone’s talking about it but nobody’s doing it,” to “a lot of people are talking about it and some are actually doing it.” That’s positive news, though marketing executives continue to struggle with the demands—and occasionally the guilt—over their multicultural marketing initiatives, or lack thereof.
With tight budgets it’s difficult to support niche markets that are so splintered and small that positive ROI may be elusive, especially when multicultural populations are not well understood. And the guilt stems from the realization that while these fast-growing markets will affect brand health now and in the future, they’re not getting the attention they deserve.
So I’ll pose the question that is undoubtedly on many CMOs’ minds: “Do you have to do something tailored to cultural markets?” I would say the answer is: not necessarily.
If we adopt a data scientist’s point of view, we would think about different consumer attributes that drive the consumption of products. These might be demographic characteristics such as age, number of children, income, urbanity and dwelling type, or psychographic attributes like technology orientation and environmental consciousness. Analytically speaking, cultural identity is just another attribute that could have an impact on consumption. It may have gained importance recently because of Canada’s increasing diversity, but it may not always affect a consumer’s choice.
The challenge is to identify when cultural identity in and of itself actually drives consumption. This could be caused by habits or customs in a cultural market, or an inherent brand affinity within a culture that may have been established halfway around the world, but still impacts behaviour here in Canada. Habits and customs could be religious or social, such as Jews buying Kosher foods or South Asians’ preference for Scotch whisky. And affinity for a brand could be due to the brand’s market position in the native country. For example, consumers in China favour many western luxury brands, including BMW, Coach and Burberry. Affinity for those brands also tends to exist among Chinese Canadians.
If there is no inherent affinity present, a brand may try to create affinity in a cultural market because the market’s other demographics represent an important component of the brand’s target. If the brand can connect with these consumers emotionally, it may be able to beat the competition and establish a lasting affinity and market advantage. Building equity from scratch is much trickier, requiring a brand to break through and connect with consumers in a relevant way. If the brand does not communicate an understanding of the market, its attempt to create affinity could fall flat or even drive some consumers away.
One campaign that connected a cultural market with a brand’s target demographics is IKEA’s efforts to reach South Asians in Canada. A few years ago, IKEA created a TV ad that I thought was a perfect play on language, and the household furnisher’s strategy seemed to be driven by the insight that South Asians are a growing segment of the population that is disproportionately represented among newly minted households—IKEA’s perfect market. The tagline in Hindi was “Yeh kia, woh kia: IKEA,” which translates roughly to “I got everything done at IKEA.” And “kia” in Hindi means “did,” which is a clever play on words with “IKEA.” The ad had all the ingredients necessary to build brand affinity, positioning IKEA for leadership among South Asian consumers.
When does multicultural marketing not matter even if a significant portion of consumption comes from these markets? If other drivers of consumption are paramount (presence of children, income, environmental consciousness, etc.) a multicultural strategy may be unnecessary. If there is no cultural insight that you could use to create an emotional connection to, say, orange juice consumption, mainstream marketing might be just as effective. Culture doesn’t drive product decisions around orange juice, or if it does, the potential return from developing a separate strategy may not be worth the cost.
And even as CMOs wrestle with this challenge, a whole new dynamic is emerging. I recently discussed the merits of multicultural marketing strategies with a marketer whose target is young and hyper-social urban adults—a group that represents the leading edge of change in Canadian society. Among these consumers, multicultural is mostly the norm; his target isn’t multicultural in the sense of South Asians as a bloc or Chinese as a bloc. It’s more about reaching a South Asian socializing with one friend who has an Anglo background and another who is half Vietnamese and half French—all together. So the challenge is how to be relevant to a very new and diverse, fluid mix of cultural identities all at the same time. Success in this world is, of course, an emerging art, but one that can be informed by the insights that analytics offers.
Rupen Seoni, a senior vice-president at Environics Analytics, leads its government, health care and not-for-profit practice.
Dear Mr. Seoni,
My name is Nitin Bagga and I am the COO and Head of Strategy at Barrett & Welsh.
After having read your article in Marketing Magazine, ‘When Does Culture and Ethnicity Matter in Marketing?’, I was left feeling quite disappointed. While I do not know you personally, I have heard nothing but the highest praise about your work from my colleagues. This makes it even harder for me to comprehend the positioning behind your article.
I have a fundamental disagreement with your proposition that cultural insights may not matter when it comes to purchase decisions. Cultural identities define who we are, which in turn has an impact on everything. Our identities define our rituals, our habits, our values, our ethos – and in turn have a direct impact on the choices we make as consumers. A prime example of cultural identity driving purchase decisions can be found on any given day at the Chalo! FreshCo store in Brampton – a large format South Asian grocery store we recently helped launch for Sobeys/FreshCo. I urge everyone to go and see firsthand how cultural identity drives purchase decisions everyday.
As a marketer, and as a consumer, I believe that cultural identity always drives consumption. The challenge for marketers is not identifying when this happens, because it happens all the time, both consciously and subconsciously. Rather the challenge is to deliver communications that are rooted in deep insights springing from this cultural identity.
If we ignore cultural identity and rely solely on standard demographic measures like presence of children, income, environmental consciousness, etc. it can lead to at best sub-optimal and at worst disastrous results for brands.
Consider for example, selling a mortgage to a consumer. One could argue that cultural knowledge has little value to offer here – that all you need to know is income, presence of children etc. One could argue that a mortgage is a mortgage is a mortgage – everyone wants the best rate possible. Now, let’s assume, like most economists do, that all rates are equal. How might one market a mortgage to the general public vs. the South Asian or Chinese consumer. To the general public one might focus on a “payment vacation feature” – as that is what the general public looks for in their mortgage features. However the insights that spring from their cultural identity tell us that for the fiscally prudent Asian Canadian consumers a “payment vacation feature” isn’t as appealing. To these Asian Canadian consumers, you would highlight the “pay down your mortgage faster feature”.
Same product, same rate, same income level and maybe even the same presence of children in the household – but a cultural inclusion approach produces an entirely different communications strategy. A strategy without cultural identity in the mix would be meh – producing a tepid response from a very large number of home buying Asian Canadians. Adding cultural identity to the mix makes all the difference, and drives results for brands.
As for orange juice, while I don’t personally buy orange juice for dietary reasons, if I did, here are a few ways how my culture is a factor: Do I need to buy the premium brand? What if I just bought the store brand – I do save a few bucks. Oh, the premium brand is good for my kids? Then I must buy it! When can I find it on sale? I wonder if I can get it at Costco? Is there anything that’s even better for my kids? What did my mother say about orange juice? What is the folkloric wisdom around citrus and citrus juices in my food culture, that influences how I think about it?
I would argue that not only does multicultural marketing matter if a significant portion of consumption comes from these markets; it matters even if a significant portion of consumption does not come from these markets. We are all well aware of the Canadian demographics reported in the NHS 2011: 40% of the Toronto and Vancouver markets are already visible minorities, with the number expected to grow to 60% in 2031, when 1/3rd of all Canadians will belong to a visible minority.
In fact, Environics Analytics has reported on the purchasing power of visible minorities and the importance of these segments. I would go further to say that not only does it matter, it is absolutely necessary for a brand’s survival.
Given the changing face of Canada wouldn’t you agree that multicultural marketing is critical if you want to future proof your brand? Wouldn’t you also agree that for the CMOs of today the pressing question is that of survival i.e. what do I have to do to survive, to make sure my brand continues to be a success, when my consumer is no longer who she used to be 20 years ago?
Yes, we are all trying to figure out how to keep our brands relevant when faced with such seismic change in Canadian demographics. Yes, success is an evolving art and I couldn’t agree more on being informed by the insights that analytics offers. I do however ask, and this is difficult for me to say as an engineer, that we try to leave some room for the magic of art in the sea of science and data.
I would like to extend an invitation to you to continue our conversation in person. I would offer beers, but as a Punjabi I prefer a Patiala peg.
Sincerely,
Nitin Bagga
COO and Head of Strategy, Barrett & Welsh
Sunday, August 07 @ 9:39 am |