The new realities of empowerment are driving some of the most important emerging trends in the multicultural marketplace today.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C., March 17 /PRNewswire/ — For years, consumers in the United States have been described as “empowered” — in control of the marketplace, wielding the power to influence everything from customer service to customized products to pricing. Empowerment also continues to be a goal among Hispanic and African-American consumers. But like many other positive experiences in life, empowerment can be complex and fraught with conflict.
According to a new study from The Futures Company, the new realities of empowerment are a mixed blessing for African Americans and Hispanics and are causing equal amounts of exhilaration and stress among these two ethnic groups. And these new realities can be seen in four key trends: “sustaining a resilient optimism,” “a ‘being the first’ mindset,” “experiencing cultural conflict” and “raising the bar in the marketplace.”
“Today, both Hispanic and African-American consumers are very stretched in all phases of life, and they have added pressure to keep up,” notes Sonya Suarez-Hammond, director of the study and VP of Multicultural Marketing Insights for The Futures Company. “It actually requires a lot of hard work today for Hispanics and African Americans to take advantage of, and enjoy, the positive aspects of becoming empowered.”
The Yankelovich Multicultural Marketing Study (MMS) 2009, to be released to study sponsors on March 27, blends exclusive data and insights to explore this central theme of the new realities of empowerment. There are both rewards and pressures to empowerment for African Americans and Hispanics. Also, some influences enhance empowerment for these ethnic consumers, while other influences hinder empowerment.
On the positive side, African Americans and Hispanics are gaining more status and empowerment than ever before, due in part to the election of our nation’s first African-American President and to the fact that the Hispanic population is poised to nearly triple from 2008 to 2050, from 46.7 million to 132.8 million. In fact, 78% of African Americans, 72% of Hispanics and 77% of Non-Hispanic Whites “believe African Americans as a group have more power today than ever before.” And 74% of Hispanics, 73% of African Americans and 64% of Non- Hispanic Whites believe the same about Hispanic power as a consumer group, according to a February 2009 MMS recontact survey.
But with the up side of empowerment comes the down side. For example, even though President Obama’s election has made both African Americans and Hispanics significantly more optimistic about the country’s future and their own future (see Table 1), that milestone was achieved in the midst of a recession, and these ethnic populations report more economic anxiety than Non-Hispanic Whites (see Table 2).
Table 1
African Non-Hispanic
Americans Hispanics Whites
Barack Obama’s Presidency has
given me more optimism about
the future of this country 93% 82% 62%
Barack Obama’s Presidency has
given me more optimism about
my own personal future 87 79 55
Source: MMS OmniPlus Recontact Study, February 2009
Table 2
Level of Economic Anxiety
African Non-Hispanic
Americans Hispanics Whites
No Anxiety 18% 12% 20%
Low Anxiety 26 21 35
Moderate Anxiety 23 23 23
High Anxiety 31 42 20
Source: Yankelovich Multicultural Marketing Study 2009
These new realities of empowerment are reflected in the cultural pride, passions, desires and needs of these ethnic consumers today and can be seen in many ways, most notably in this year’s four emerging trends:
1. U.S. Hispanics and African Americans are “sustaining a resilient optimism” in their attitudes toward economic uncertainty, partly because they have enhanced access to opportunities and information, along with an extremely strong sense of spirituality. Today, among all high-anxiety consumers, 70% of Hispanics say they are optimistic, compared to 48% of Non-Hispanic Whites.
2. U.S. Hispanics and African Americans have a “being the first” mindset that fuels a need-to-know-before-others attitude, which is often overlooked or underestimated. For these ethnic consumers, this mindset can serve as a pathway to increased feelings of empowerment. Seventy-five percent of both African Americans and Hispanics, compared to 56% of Non-Hispanic Whites, believe that it’s a sign of success to be “among the first to know about new ideas, trends or things that are happening in today’s world.”
3. U.S. Hispanics and African Americans are “experiencing cultural conflict.” Greater empowerment allows these ethnic consumers to express themselves more fully but also causes internal and external tensions. Today, 72% of African Americans and 63% of Bicultural Hispanics “think a lot about how being African American or Hispanic affects them.”
4. Because of their increased empowerment, these ethnic consumers are “raising the bar in the marketplace,” so they have more marketplace expectations and judge marketers on more criteria than Non-Hispanic White consumers do. For example, Hispanics and African Americans are demanding more organic multiculturalism — they want companies to move away from a self-serving multicultural approach to something that is inherently more real and sincere. And 77 percent of African Americans and 71% of Hispanics say, “Because businesses are too concerned about offending the general population, they fail to take a firm stand on issues that are important to minorities,” vs. 54% of Non-Hispanic Whites.
The study points to a huge opportunity for marketers, according to Suarez-Hammond. “The challenges posed by the new realities of empowerment, in the midst of today’s economic climate, provide an opportunity for companies to gain loyal African-American and Hispanic customers,” she says. “About ninety percent of African Americans and Hispanics say that companies that make sincere efforts to be part of the Hispanic or African-American community deserve their loyalty. So it’s definitely worth the effort to try to connect with these ethnic consumers.”
The study was developed in collaboration with Burrell Communications, one of the nation’s leading agencies specializing in African-American and urban markets, and Dr. Felipe Korzenny, professor and director of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University. Since 2003, the study has been the first of its kind to examine ethnic consumer attitudes and cultural values and offer comparative and contrasting views of the African-American, U.S. Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White markets.
About the Study
The Futures Company collected data via a two-phase process: telephone and Web interviews conducted in the respondents’ language of choice (Spanish or English), followed by a self-administered survey returned via mail or the Internet. Both phases of the Yankelovich Multicultural Marketing Study 2009 were conducted from July 7 to October 3, 2008. The total sample size was 3,598 (1,261 African Americans, 1,306 Hispanics and 1,031 Non-Hispanic Whites). A recontact study was conducted in February 2009 to ask follow-up questions following the presidential election. The study includes an African-American identity-expression segmentation model and a Hispanic attitudinal-based acculturation segmentation model.
About The Futures Company
The Futures Company delivers measurable breakthroughs in marketing productivity for Fortune 500 clients. We identify for our clients specific, tangible opportunities for competitive advantage by moving them from simplistic targeting to advanced productivity solutions. The Futures Company was established in 2008 with the merger Yankelovich, Inc., and Henley Centre HeadlightVision, creating an unparalleled global consultancy powered by unique database and segmentation solutions and unparalleled information-based insights into consumer motivations and lifestyles.
About Our Collaborative Partners
Burrell Communications is a leader in understanding and motivating consumer behavior in the African-American and Yurban(R) markets. Yurban(R) marketing is a concept that Burrell formulated to create marketing messages for the youth-oriented, urban market, where new trends in lifestyle areas, from speech and music to fashion and food, commonly originate. Burrell continues to be on the forefront of one of the most important movements in marketing: the move from mass marketing to more effective targeted marketing. Burrell was launched in 1971 and is based in Chicago, with an office in Atlanta and a satellite location in Los Angeles. The full-service marketing communications company has close to $200 million in annual billings, and its client roster includes major Fortune 500 corporations.
Dr. Felipe Korzenny is a professor at Florida State University (FSU) and is the founder and director of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication. He is also a Senior Strategy Consultant to Captura Group, a Digital Hispanic Marketing Company. A social scientist by training, Dr. Korzenny is well-known in the industry for the consumer-experience insights he has helped generate to position successful products in the U.S. Hispanic market and in Latin America. He has a critical academic perspective combined with a strong business practice. Dr. Korzenny holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in communication research from Michigan State University. He has published six books and almost 100 research publications about communication, marketing and culture. His most recent book is Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective.
source: Yankelovich
