"Marketing to ethnic minority communities does not mean reinventing the wheel. The basic principles still apply, but what is critical to success is the sensitivity of the marketer to the salient issues which influence the commercial decisions of ethnic minorities. It's up to agencies to know what these are so we can advise our clients. The most important point to remember is not to stereotype black or Asians or any other ethnic minority group. Whichever sub-segment one goes to, the marketer must present an image that is credible and recognisable to that group itself. Stereotypes tend to occur when people who are not of those backgrounds attempt to create images for those groups."
"Take away the football stars, the celebrities, the sportsmen and the amount of black faces you see in British advertising are few and far between. Yet in London, the area that enjoys the greatest level of advertising communication, 32% of people are of ethnic minority origin. We must embrace this community. Not only as people with cash to spend, but as people interesting enough and appealing enough to appear in the ads themselves. There is too much conservatism in the advertising and marketing community regarding the casting agenda - I hope that this initiative will start to break this down."
| A quote from Ray Barrett, creative director of ad agency Barrett Cernis, and a quote from Jonathan Mildenhall, co-chairman of the ethnic diversity project and managing director of TBWA/London, in John Plunkett's Media Guardian UK article "Advertisers miss out on minority consumers"
posted in articles on September 26, 2003 6:03 PM | t (0)
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