As multicultural audiences continue to drive cultural influence and market growth, David Queamante, SVP, Client Business Partner at UM Worldwide, plays a central role in redefining how media strategy connects data, culture, and intentionality. In an industry shaped by automation, AI, and programmatic buying, Queamante’s work focuses on building accurate audience identification, improving multicultural media planning, and ensuring diverse communities are approached as the general market they already are. Portada spoke with David Queamante of UM Worldwide to understand how technology, first-party data, and thoughtful investment decisions are reshaping multicultural marketing today.
This interview is presented by Sabio and is part of a series of interviews conducted at the last edition of Portada Live in NYC.
Building a Multicultural Center of Excellence at UM Worldwide
At UM Worldwide, David Queamante operates as a connective force across disciplines, ensuring that multicultural thinking is embedded throughout the media process.
“Currently, I’m the center of excellence, primary point person for all things multicultural. A large part of that is media planning, but I also interact or oversee the investment teams, connect with strategy and analytics as well. I really try to create that multicultural through line so that we’re operating on best practices all the way through.”
This cross-functional role allows Queamante to align planning, investment, strategy, and analytics around a unified multicultural framework—an approach he views as essential for consistent and effective execution.
Fixing the Tech Stack: Accuracy as a Competitive Advantage
One of the most impactful initiatives led by David Queamante at UM Worldwide has been improving the company’s tech stack to better identify diverse audiences. “Since late last year, we were able to claim completion early this year by fixing our tech stack in terms of identifying and classifying diverse people—Hispanic, African American, and Asian in particular. While a lot of tech stacks do a pretty bad job, ours was better than most, but there were gaps.”
Today, UM Worldwide can accurately identify 35 million Black audiences, 47 million Hispanic audiences, and 19 million Asian audiences, using this data for both strategic planning and activation.
“From understanding the audiences to reaching out to them is where I feel like we are leading the industry in terms of our accuracy.”
Growth Audiences Are the General Market
For Queamante, the idea that multicultural or growth audiences sit outside the general market is outdated. “I’ve always had the mindset that you do have to have an intentional and meaningful connection with these audiences, but they are the general market. From a numeric perspective, they may not be the majority, but from a cultural perspective, I think you could argue that they already are.”
UM Worldwide’s proprietary Cultural Dimensions study reinforces this belief, showing that diverse communities exert outsized influence on fashion, entertainment, music, food, and technology—shaping mainstream culture well beyond their population share.
Data Signals, First-Party Strategy, and the Role of AI
David Queamante emphasizes that first-party data sits at the core of UM Worldwide’s audience strategy, supplemented by media partner relationships. “We lean most heavily into our first-party data, where we can incorporate client data. But we also leverage our relationships with media partners, especially when not everything is addressable or one-to-one.”
AI, in his view, represents both opportunity and responsibility: “AI opens us up to really micro-target where humans don’t have the bandwidth. Instead of eight or ten buy lines, we can optimize against hundreds and look for signals a human can’t manage.”
However, Queamante is cautious about overreliance, advocating for smarter, more deliberate use rather than blind automation.
“AI opens us up to really micro-target where humans don’t have the bandwidth. Instead of eight or ten buy lines, we can optimize against hundreds and look for signals a human just can’t manage.”
App Ownership and Partner Data as Cultural Signals
Partner data plays a crucial role in filling gaps where first-party data alone is not feasible. “We’ve partnered with Sabio, and I found that level of targeting really important for us to understand who the end user is and how we bucket and target them. The additional psychographic data layered into that is really powerful.”
App ownership, in particular, offers valuable insights into lifestyle and cultural behavior, helping UM Worldwide refine its understanding of the audience at scale.
The Equity Upfront and Intentional Investment
Another priority for David Queamante at UM Worldwide is the relaunch of the Equity Upfront, initially launched by UM and IPG five years ago. “While we missed the traditional spring window, bringing it back in November gives us a chance to get ahead of 2026 planning. I’m excited to be relaunching that and orchestrating getting it back on the books.”
The initiative underscores Queamante’s belief in intentional investment—especially in diverse-owned media.
Programmatic, Creators, and the Importance of Choice
While acknowledging the power of programmatic buying, Queamante warns against its overuse, particularly in multicultural spaces. “In the multicultural and diversity space, partners are often disadvantaged by programmatic. I always try to reserve a portion of my budget for one-to-one direct partner deals, sponsoring specific content, and knowing exactly what I’m supporting.”
He brings similar nuance to the creator economy. “The ability for someone to tell their story and make a career out of it is powerful. But those same platforms also spread disinformation and division. We need to support creators while being mindful and choiceful about where we invest.”
“The ability for someone to tell their story and make a career out of it is powerful. But those same platforms also spread disinformation and division. We need to support creators while being mindful and choiceful about where we invest..”
Looking Ahead with Measured Optimism
Despite industry challenges, David Queamante remains pragmatic and hopeful: “If you’ve been in this business long enough, every year seems both daunting and amazing. We’ll get through all of this and continue to do successful work for our clients.”
For Queamante, the future of multicultural media lies in balance—between data and culture, automation and intention, scale and authenticity.
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