The ANA Multicultural Conference concluded yesterday in the JW Marriott Live hotel in Los Angeles. Perhaps the most characteristic statement about multicultural marketing was when Lauventria Robinson, VP Multicultural Marketing at Coca Cola said that “multicultural is in the fabric of Coca-Cola, former Multicultural Managers are now leading entire brands”. Multicultural marketing now needs to be an essential part of the job description of brand managers.
In similar fashion Marc Strachan, VP of Multicultural Marketing at Diageo North America, said that the function of Multicultural Marketing Director should no longer exist once the integration of the multicultural marketing tasks into Diageo’s brand managers work is complete. Strachan gave a presentation on Diageo’s Multicultural Marketing Evolution. “I don’t sell booze, I sell lifestyle accessories” Strachan also pointed out that brand strategies should be inclusive: “The Master Brand Strategy should be singular, and broad enough to speak to a culturally diverse mainstream.”
Hollywood and Multicultural Audiences
Fabian Castro, VP of Multicultural Marketing, Universal Pictures and Rick Ramirez, SVP Targeted Marketing at Warner Brothers participated in the panel on how Hollywood connects with Multicultural Audiences. “Hollywood hits now have a significant Multicultural and Latino component,” Castro said.
“When we release a movie, the positioning and the messaging is global. We add the nuancing. There is a global roll-out. The Multicultural discussion becomes a part of the overall discussion in the room,” Ramirez said. He added that “movie marketing at a core is an emotional connection. At the crux we have to understand how to make that connection with the consumer. Beyond that,cultural insights are brought into the nuances.”
“Our world is multicultural, our films are universal, ” Castro added. One out of every 4 movie tickets in the U.S. are sold to Latinos. “We thrive to build a connection , but more importantly engage a multicultural community,” Castro concluded. Particularly important is to reach out to millennials. Here it is paramount to be at the forefront of the Interactive experience. ” We are always out there to see what is on the horizon on the social media platforms. We then use the attributes of the movie to play into that,” Ramirez pointed out.
Castro and Ramirez said that horror movies are genres that resonate a lot with multicultural audiences. “Experience the fear of the unknown together. Hispanics want to go to movies together and experiencing an emotion together,” Castro said. Ramirez added that Family friendly movies, like “Despicable me” are also great hits among Latinos.
Read the ANA Multicultural -Day 1 Wrap Up: “Lead with ethnic Insights first”