Authentically Engage Multicultural America Now

In the first part of our session, which included highlights from our “America Now” study, Jack Mackinnon unveiled key changes in Asian, Black and Hispanic consumers’ attitudes and priorities since 2020. Attendees learned what these changes in perspectives mean for their brands, such as how to support the changing landscape of diverse American consumers.

One key takeaway from America Now: when brands that act on social movements, they are more likely to connect with multicultural consumers. However, brands also must accurately portray diverse stories and communities while ensuring that they are being authentic themselves.

Currently, many multicultural Americans are not satisfied with how they are being portrayed by brands. Which means there is an important opportunity for brands to explore how they are portraying multicultural consumers and ensure those representations are authentic. Consumers want brands to portray race and ethnicity accurately, but also want them to include the unique stories that are often not portrayed in advertising. This requires brands dig deeper into multicultural Americans and their stories and develop the diverse advertising campaigns more likely to connect across multicultural consumer groups.

Furthermore, shying away from action on social movements can be harmful for brands, specifically among younger consumer groups, and requires much more than running diverse ad campaigns. In fact, 25% of Black consumers and 21% of Hispanic consumers say they will stop buying from brands that do not take a stance on a social or political issues that are important to them. And for all multicultural consumers, they want to see diversity woven throughout the organization, including internal diversity vs. simply limiting support for a cause to an advertising campaign.