Why homogenous approaches to ethnic marketing won’t work

In today’s multicultural societies, understanding how best to develop marketing strategies targeted at ethnic minorities is increasingly important if such campaigns are to be effective.

Standard approaches already exist in the area of so-called ethnic marketing. In terms of media planning, advertisers attempt to reach consumers when their ethnic identity is most salient, and use spokespeople or models with the same heritage as the minority being targeted. These approaches assume a homogenous effect on ethnic groups.

However, a new research paper by a team that includes ERIM researchers <link people anne-sophie-lenoir>Sophie Lenoir and Associate Professor of Marketing, <link people stefano-puntoni>Stefano Puntoni, and which has been published in the influential International Journal of Research in Marketing, shows that taking a homogenous approach does not work.

Instead, the researchers explain, marketers need to understand and take into consideration the generational status (first versus second generation) of the target group, because generational status has important consequences for the level of identification experienced by minority consumers with both ethnic and mainstream culture.

Specifically, they find that the responses of second-generation, ‘bicultural’ consumers – who switch from one identity to the other – tend to be more affected by ethnic identity cues that activate their heritage identity than first-generation consumers. They also show that the strategy of using ethnic spokespeople in advertising is only beneficial among first-generation consumers, and that this approach can have a negative effect on second-generation consumers.

Holding simplistic assumptions about the relative homogeneity of ethnic minorities is therefore ill advised, say the researchers who recommend that marketing practitioners take into account the complexities of today’s ethnic identities.

This paper won Anne-Sophie Lenoir the ESOMAR Young Researcher of the Year award 2013. The ESOMAR 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”. <link news detail>Read more on Anne-Sophie Lenoir winning the ESOMAR Young Researcher of the Year Award.

• Download The Impact of Cultural Symbols and Spokesperson Identity on Attitudes and Intentions from Science Direct.