Prepare to have your perspective on multicultural marketing forever changed, as we unravel the vast potential and rapid evolution of diverse audiences in the retail marketplace. We're joined by none other than Imani Laners, the VP of Multicultural Partnerships at Zeta Global, who lends her expertise to our discussion, urging marketers to re-evaluate their strategies and seize the growth opportunities presented by the shifting demographics.
We pull back the curtain on how luminaries like Sephora and Ulta Beauty are forging a path for others by aligning their employee demographics with their customer base, and making a conscious effort to feature minority-owned brands. Let's not forget the captivating case study shared by Imani, highlighting how Zeta Global helped a non-profit identify its multicultural donor base, thereby revolutionizing their future marketing campaigns. Join us for this enlightening conversation and gain a clearer understanding of the future of marketing!
For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from Robin Lewis and other retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Prepare to have your perspective on multicultural marketing forever changed, as we unravel the vast potential and rapid evolution of diverse audiences in the retail marketplace. We're joined by none other than Imani Laners, the VP of Multicultural Partnerships at Zeta Global, who lends her expertise to our discussion, urging marketers to re-evaluate their strategies and seize the growth opportunities presented by the shifting demographics.
We pull back the curtain on how luminaries like Sephora and Ulta Beauty are forging a path for others by aligning their employee demographics with their customer base, and making a conscious effort to feature minority-owned brands. Let's not forget the captivating case study shared by Imani, highlighting how Zeta Global helped a non-profit identify its multicultural donor base, thereby revolutionizing their future marketing campaigns. Join us for this enlightening conversation and gain a clearer understanding of the future of marketing!
For more strategic insights and compelling content, visit TheRobinReport.com, where you can read, watch, and listen to content from Robin Lewis and other retail industry experts, and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
We cultivated data cloud of over 40 million first-party identities, within which we've identified 80 million people of either Black, hispanic or Asian ethnicity. So, in my role, I aid marketers in understanding the impact these audiences are going to have on business outcomes.
Robin:Hi everybody and thanks for joining our weekly podcast. I'm Robin Lewis, founder and CEO of the Robin Report and, along with my podcast partner, Shelley Kohan you know, Shelley, I tell you we have such a great guest today and it really is a topic that is really very relevant, particularly right now, as we're going into 2024. And I cannot believe we are already talking about 2024. But you know, if retailers and brands want to forge ahead into another year of uncertainty, today we're going to be addressing something that is most certain. So grab your notebook everybody or your iPad and get ready to learn something that I think is very important and we're very lucky to have Imani Laners. Welcome, Imani.
Imani:Thank you.
Robin:She is a VP of Multicultural Partnerships at Zeta and, shelley, I think you went to their conference recently, right?
Shelley:Actually I did. I went to the marketing event and what's interesting is that the key premise of the event was get this, Robin. Is AI going to take away the marketer's job? But of course, we know the answer to that because you and I address that in our podcast AI the future of retail marketing. But today we're going to go out and step into a new realm of marketing. That is all about the new general market, which we're going to explain in a moment. But before we get to that, Imani, please, please, please, introduce yourself to our audience what you do and explain what is meant by multicultural partnerships.
Imani:Absolutely so. First, thank you to all the listeners. Thank you, Robin and Shelley, for having me. I am so thrilled to be here. So my name is Imani Laners and I am the vice president of multicultural partnerships here at Zeta Global. We are publicly traded company, award-winning marketing technology company, and what we do here is we simplify complicated marketing processes by empowering marketers to leverage our intelligence, enabling them to acquire, grow and retain customers more efficiently, which everybody wants to do.
Shelley:Absolutely.
Imani:I'm excited that we are here to talk about multicultural audiences and specifically how they're going to play a role in 2024 and beyond in terms of targeting. So what we do is we cultivate a data cloud of over 40 million first-party identities, within which we've identified 80 million people of either black, Hispanic or Asian ethnicity. So, in my role, I aid marketers in understanding the impact these audiences are going to have on business outcomes. Now you're probably thinking how exactly do I do that? So I do that by understanding their intent, analyzing demographic, behavioral, locational, transactional, social, household and business insights, and this facilitates the creation of more precise and meaningful connections.
Robin:Yeah, and also Imani. Can you tell us about what you call the new growing general money, the new growing general market, and how would you describe what is happening with that segment?
Imani:So the new growing general market is the multicultural audiences that we talked about earlier black, hispanic and Asian. Those audiences are growing very rapidly. So multicultural audiences, as you know, have continued to increase the numbers throughout the US, and what we're doing is we're not only seeing those populations grow, but we're also seeing Robin. Their cultural influence is growing at an even faster rate. So, me, I foresee that no one group will be a single majority in a decade or so and collectively, the black, hispanic and Asian audiences will represent the larger consumer set.
Shelley:Wow, that is so interesting, but I'm going to give some context here to our listeners. So in traditional marketing terms, historically there's always been kind of two market segments the general market and then there the multicultural market. So the general market of the years past, aka the mainstream market, is the white, not Hispanic, and the multicultural kind of is everybody else. You know, black, hispanic, asian and American listeners. But I think what I hear you saying, amani, which is really fascinating, is actually that the new general market is actually going to be the multicultural market.
Imani:Exactly.
Robin:Yeah, I can see that.
Shelley:So yeah, and here's some data to back that up, and so I'm going to talk about the data and then I'm going to go back to something, Amani, you had said, which I think is more important than the data I'm about to say to our listeners but by the year of 2060, according to the US Census Bureau, it's expected that the distribution of non-Hispanic whites as a percentage of total population is going to fall from 60 percent to 44.3 percent of Americans.
Shelley:So in other words 44 percent of Americans are going to be non-Hispanic white and also going into 2050, which is not that far away the white non-Hispanic is actually going to be the minority in the US. And so what I find more interesting than just that data and those numbers, Amani, is you had said cultural influence is growing at a faster rate than the demographic is growing, which to me, is probably one of the most important pieces here. So this is a big shift for retailers and brands, and some have already been working on this. You look at the big guys that do a lot of the market research the Wal-Mart, the Coca-Cola, the McDonald's. They're already putting a lot of effort into this multicultural market, but what are you doing to reach these audiences and how does this change the marketing strategies?
Imani:Great question and I'm glad you put an emphasis on cultural influence, because that's very important and you're going to hear that a lot. I hope I wasn't the first one to bring it out. Then we can kind of lead that conversation. But, Shelley, really smart marketers have recognized that targeting multicultural audiences is where the growth opportunity is going to lie, since it is the fastest growing segment. So they are one, looking for ways to identify these audiences more accurately and two, to analyze data to help them create stronger, more detailed consumer profiles which are going to allow for more personalized conversations and drive motivation. I'm going to quote around that too, because that's very important when talking to these audiences. So, basically, this level of understanding will have a direct impact on their product or service growth and what I do is I help them with this effort.
Imani:So, let's talk a little bit about what you just said and be providing an example, and I think you're going to love this one, robin and Shelly. An example of how we were able to help with this effort would be a nonprofit came to us and they did a general market campaign, like you were talking about earlier, shelly, just targeting everyone, and we were able to uncover the multicultural makeup of their largest donor. So, again started with a general market message, blanket targeting, and because we have data insights, we were able to uncover who the ethnicity of their largest donor is and also per donor rate, et cetera. We uncovered that Hispanics were their largest donor and they had the largest per contribution rate Very important, because now you're able to then go in and understand what drives that donor rate. Did we advertise around a certain cultural moment or understand why they are interested in that particular nonprofit and have more targeted conversations? So that was a thing that that brand did not know and it informed how they're going to move and the market moving forward.
Robin:Yeah, you know, one thing I've noticed, imani, is that in TV and print advertising and this is just anecdotal, but what I've noticed more and more the participants in the ads are a multicultural mix beyond that most obvious example. So are there new marketing approaches? In other words, can you go a little deeper into how these companies and brands should approach this emerging, quickly emerging transformation? You know, should the product positioning be different, and what about new product development and partnerships?
Imani:That's a lot going on. As you're saying that, I'm thinking, robin, wow, the CMO or anyone in a marketing role has a lot to focus on, but it's an exciting time. So first, you're absolutely right, understanding their audience's cultural composition is crucial. So, a company like Zeta, we enhance first party data by integrating thousands of data insights like demographics, behavior, location, transactions, business information and household attributes. So understanding who you're targeting, or who your audience is, is very important. So once we identify that audience's cultural makeup, robin, the next step is to craft messaging and align products or services that resonate with them, quite frankly. So very important here and I know if marketers are tuning in, they understand this To capture true authenticity, it's vital that the individuals crafting these messages and working on these campaigns represent the cultures they aim to target. So visual representation, like you talked about earlier in your ads, sends a strong signal of intentional inclusivity. Little tongue twister here, but taking it further involves identifying what resonates within that community. So people, events, experiences and integrating messages authentically.
Shelley:I love how you're emphasizing authentic, authentic, authentic. That is coming out loud and clear. Imani, I want to go back to something you said, because you know I'm not a marketer by trade, but you said something about advertising during a cultural moment. Can you kind of explain what that, what that looks like and what that means?
Imani:Yeah, of course. So I will say consideration of a product positioning and development is very important, as we talked about. So recognizing cultural and cross cultural differences is essential. What I mean by also cross cultural is, you know, let's say we were talking about black, hispanic and Asian audiences, but there's something called a person can be identified as an Afro Latina, so they can be black and they can also be Hispanic heritage as well. So cross cultural is important for us to identify as well.
Imani:So, for instance, let's think about a grocery chain, think about a grocery store that you shop with and they're catering to diverse, diverse cultures. Doing specific holidays, featuring popular food items used in traditional dishes could be a focal point to attract and engage these audiences right there in the store. So that's an example of understanding who's coming in from a cultural perspective, and if you're having Kwanzaa or you're celebrating, you know another culturally rich holiday from these audiences, you can, you know, tailor those products and those services to really represent that. You understand, you are inclusive and you are putting that product intentionally in front of them with the understanding that you've taken their ethnicity and consideration in this entire consumer experience.
Shelley:Wow, that is so fascinating, so I'm going to give some more data here to support your multi cultural work at theory.
Robin:Because that's what I'm good at. I'm going to go to Data Park. Shelly loves data.
Imani:Data rules the world Robin.
Robin:I know it. No, I know it's very important.
Shelley:So here you go. Here's some fun facts. So approximately 44 million people in the US that's about 14% of the US population were born abroad.
Robin:Wow, that's amazing.
Shelley:Millennials are the largest living generation in the US, you know just over 72 million, and in combination with Gen Z and other younger generations, gen Alpha, I guess they are more racially diverse than older generations. With, close to get this 50%, that's 50% identifying as a race, racial or ethnic minority. Amazing 17% of all US marriages are interracial. And here is the most staggering thing is that the only racial ethnic group that's projected to shrink in terms of population in the upcoming decades is the non-Hispanic white population.
Robin:Well, there you go. And you know there was this. You know a little older than both of you, but there was, you know, discussions back in the 80s when I was a VF corporation, about this. You know this is coming and it is and I think it's now been accelerating. And you know this newly emerging consumer base that is obviously more multicultural. You know it seems that companies would be strategically very smart to, you know, match employee hiring right to better match this new, more diverse marketplace. And you know we have seen many companies already beginning and becoming more diverse, more inclusive in employment practices. And also many companies like well, take Sephora and Ulta beauty, you know they're expanding their product assortments to be more inclusive of different skin types, hair textures and cultural beauty needs. Of course that's out of my space, but but you know I noticed that and they are better targeting a multicultural market right.
Imani:And I would like to add to that, robin, that they're also looking at products made or products owned by multicultural individuals black-owned So products are taking up shelf space, with companies like the 10% pledge helping to get more shelf minority-owned for companies that produce said products. So that's very important to note as well.
Shelley:Yeah, that's outstanding. Imani, Ora, James, I think it's now 15%, and so good for companies that are doing that. And, to your point, robin, retailers that are providing these broader assortments also should look to have employees that are better representative of the customer base. So Sathora did a study called Racial Bias in Retail, and so they interviewed both employees and shoppers and, to be honest, shoppers want to see people like them in the store serving them. So, and maybe the other kind of outcome of this changing demographic is, maybe this will finally open up new and better opportunities for previously underrepresented groups to move up the corporate ladder.
Robin:I would bet that better than that, for sure. I mean, it really is amazing when you think about it and what we're talking about right here. So, yeah, I mean it just makes a, I guess, common sense to have an employment demographic that aligns with customer base. So, imani, maybe you could tell us how you are using audience intelligence, like data insights, to better understand and teach these audiences, and maybe give us an example.
Imani:Yeah, I would love that I think. First. I want to start with what probably the listeners are asking how am I classifying these audiences as Black Hispanic?
Robin:or Asian.
Imani:I know that's probably the first question, so I want to kind of go through that very quickly and then I'll take that second part. So what we do here at Zeta is we integrate a multitude of data points from a variety of sources and we use a combination of third party, so meaning data that doesn't belong to us but we've gotten from companies like Axiom. We also use our own proprietary data, location and behavioral data and key data points around race of household yeah, we have that information household, country of origin, device location and the most important, which I think, is language of web browser, because we're able to look at that language Of course.
Imani:I love that right being able to look at the language.
Imani:So we're way all of these various data points, and then everybody gets assigned to score, shelly and Robin. So our custom algorithm, built over many years, examines that data, assigns a score and if that score meets a certain threshold, we then classify that individual. So they then become classified as either Black, hispanic or Asian. If we do not have enough data to assign an ethnicity, they aren't classified. They still remain an individual in our data cloud, but we do not classify or assign an ethnicity. So let's go to your second question how am I using this intelligence?
Imani:This is where my job becomes very fun and it's no longer a job, it's a passion. So to better understand the audiences, we apply over 5,000 data attributes to determine activity and validate interest. So think about yourself. Yes, I have 5,000 data attributes on you, Don't worry all of this data is privacy, safe and non-personally identifiable.
Shelley:Well, that's good news, so I don't know it's Shelly, and I don't know it's.
Robin:Robin.
Imani:So I actually go into our marketing platform at any time, guys, and see a group, any group here Black, hispanic or Asian that over indexes for shopping at Target or in the market for Ford vehicle, or I can tell you top five quick service restaurants that Hispanic women love. I can see the grocery chains most popular with Asian men or the top auto brands that Hispanic women are looking at. So this is the power of data. Better audiences equate to stronger campaign performance.
Robin:Wow, yeah, and you know we can thank technology again. And you know, Manny, the timing, I believe, could not be better for your wisdom in this rapidly changing world, which we mentioned before. We got on this thing, and it's multicultural marketplace. I mean, everybody talks about the technological revolution, right? I mean we're well into it and tons of investments in time and tech solutions, you know, are made on almost a daily basis. But what we learned from you about the equally huge transformation taking place in the consumer markets is that retailers and consumer businesses in general really must step up their marketing strategies.
Imani:Agreed.
Robin:You know, and they're going to have to position their goods and services as more diverse and, as you talked, you know they're going to be presented differently in inside the stores and probably online, and as well as positioning, as well as their employee base, to be more inclusive, matching that of their consumers. But, in my opinion, we still have a long way to go. And, manny, one last point it seems to me that now that we have more media channels on more devices and in more ways than ever thousands of them and you take social media on top of all of that, I know it's driving a lot of CMOs crazy because you know their media or their advertising budgets are certainly not going up as fast as the need for this diversity in communications Correct.
Imani:Correct. And you also forgot to mention which I'm sure you were going to in the next breath was measurement. Yes, yes, yes, I'm sorry.
Robin:Yeah, yeah For sure. So, and you were able to give them a lot of you know tools to do all of this, which I think is really going to be helpful. We still, in my opinion, have a long way to go, so I want to thank you so much, manny, really, for sharing your knowledge for all of us, and I'm sure that everybody tuned in has learned a lot.
Shelley:Thank you for having me.
Robin:Well, thank you.
Shelley:So Imani, first of all, how can listeners find you?
Robin:Yeah.
Imani:So you can connect with me, of course, on LinkedIn under Imani Lanners that's, I am A-N-I and last name Lanners L-A-N is a Nancy ERS. Or you can email me at I-Lanners, at ZetaGlobalZ-E-T-A-G-L-O-B-A-Lcom.
Shelley:Awesome. Thank you so much for being here. I love your energy. Oh my gosh, I wish I could bottle up and sell it. Thank, you, thank you, thank you.
Imani:Thank you for having me.
Shelley:For our listeners. You can find more of our podcast on Apple, spotify, buzzsprout and theRomReportcom, and please follow us on social media and link in with us for the latest thoughts about the industry.
Robin:And I want to thank everybody once more, and specifically Imani. And you know, as I say every week, if anybody in the audience has a topic that they would like Shelley and I to cover, just shoot me an email to robin@therobinreport. com and thank you all again.