Timely research into culture and language, and in particular how to effectively target and engage with ethnic minorities, has resulted in an international award and a prize of €2,500 for <link people anne-sophie-lenoir>Anne-Sophie Lenoir, who is a PhD candidate at ERIM.

Anne-Sophie Lenoir received the ESOMAR Young Researcher of the Year award 2013 for her article "Targeting Ethnic Minorities - Intergenerational differences in consumer response to targeted advertising." The award was handed by Dan Foreman, President of ESOMAR during its annual congress in Istanbul.

ESOMAR is a worldwide organisation that encourages, advances and elevates market research, with the aim of promoting the value of market and opinion research in effective decision-making. Its fifth annual competition puts a spotlight on new and innovative market research projects from young researchers in industry whose work addresses pressing and challenging global issues.

Lenoir was among the finalists who presented their submissions in Istanbul on 24 September at the ESOMAR Congress. The finalists were chosen for their innovative and unique research projects that significantly improved understanding of one of three global issues in the 2013 competition: Resolving the repercussions of recession; Moving and shaking - people on the move; and Where are we going? The journey of the market research industry.

During her presentation, Lenoir argued that generational status – whether someone relocated to the host country, or was born in the country their parents had relocated to – affects the effectiveness of advertisers' strategies in targeting minorities. In particular, activating ethnic identity has a more positive impact on responses to advertisements among second-generation ethnic minority consumers, whereas showing ethnic models or spokespersons has a more positive impact among the first generation.

The jury said Lenoir’s research showed "careful design and analysis resulting in specific actionable insights relevant to the topic” and commented that her study was “interesting, well-executed, and had widely-relevant conclusions”. They praised her method and approach calling it a “very good and scientific paper”.

Lenoir’s PhD supervisor, Dr Stefano Puntoni said: “This great honour testifies to her talent and commitment as well as to the substantive importance of her work. Her research in the areas of culture and language is timely. In our increasingly diverse society, it is becoming of key importance for marketers to understand how to target and engage with ethnic minorities.”

Abstract

In recent decades, as our societies have grown more diverse and multicultural, reaching minority consumers has emerged as a priority for marketing, and specific targeting strategies have appeared. For example, advertisers often attempt to approach minority consumers when their ethnic identity is most salient. Targeted advertisements typically feature spokespeople or models with the same ethnic background as the target, as well as other cultural cues. These strategies presuppose that ethnic groups are homogeneous. Yet, even within a single minority, not all consumers identify with their host and heritage cultures to the same degree. Generational status – whether a person was born in another country and relocated to the host country, or was born in the country their parents had relocated to – is one factor likely to affect the effectiveness of these targeting approaches.

Lenoir finds that the activation of ethnic identity has a more positive impact on responses to ethnic advertisements among second-generation than first-generation minority consumers, whereas featuring ethnic spokespersons has a more positive impact on first-generation consumers than second-generation ethnic minority consumers. Second-generation ethnic consumers are more likely to identify as ‘bi-culturals’, meaning their ethnic identity can change depending on the context in which they find themselves. Because of this, the effect of attempts to activate ethnic identity is stronger in these consumers than in first-generation minority consumers, whose ethnic identity is chronically accessible. In addition, because of the relative weakness of ethnic identity in second-generation consumers, spokespeople with the same heritage have less of a positive impact on them than on first-generation consumers.

About Anne-Sophie Lenoir

<link people anne-sophie-lenoir>Anne-Sophie Lenoir (Belgium, 1987) holds a BSc (2008) and MSc (2010) in Business Engineering from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (ULB). She has been a PhD candidate in marketing at ERIM since January 2011; her research focuses on developing a better understanding of bilingual and bicultural consumers.

About the ESOMAR award

Each year, ESOMAR offers young researchers the opportunity to develop innovative research solutions for challenging global issues across cultures, demographics and countries. Such research should contribute to excellence and best practice, should be innovative and show a high level of creativity, fresh on broad global issues. ESOMAR asks for proof of actual or potential impact on decision-making, and an indication of how, and under what circumstances, the theory (or the findings) may be best applied. The annual ESOMAR competition is open to all researchers under the age of 30, and carries an ESOMAR-sponsored prize of €2,500.