Marketing and Consumer Identity in Multicultural America

Massive demographic upheavals are changing the societal identities of American consumers and disrupting the effectiveness of traditional marketing techniques. The so-called mass market is dissolving into smaller groups of consumers who express distinctive ethnic, age-related, or lifestyle values by what they buy and how they buy it. Consumers in different subcultures speak different languages, read different magazines, watch different networks on TV, and buy in different places.

The lesson for marketers is clear -- a single marketing campaign may no longer effectively reach a broad spectrum of consumers. Marketers and advertisers hoping to attract large numbers of American consumers must build relationships by mirroring the values and multiple identities of various groups. Marketers need tools to link their efforts to consumers within several subculture communities.

Marketing and Consumer Identity in Multicultural America presents strategies and tools for marketers seeking to reach these emerging subcultures. Chapter 1 introduces the phenomenon of multiculturalism in America and its impact on marketing. Chapter 2 introduces the seven key shifts from traditional thinking that marketers must make to thrive in a multicultural world (e.g., from "market segmentation" to "market identification"). Chapters 3 through 7 profile five key subculture groups -- the elderly, Latinos, African Americans, gays and lesbians, and Asian Americans. Chapter 8 profiles several emerging groups, and chapter 9 is a comprehensive summary of marketing attitudes and techniques that are critical to success in this new multicultural environment.

There are four very important reader benefits to this book that should be stressed in Sage′s cover copy and advertising:

- While this book is highly practical, it rests on a theoretical foundation that is laid in chapter 1 and developed throughout the book. In other words, it is not just a cookbook or a collection of war stories.

- The author intersperses real examples from real marketing campaigns from real companies throughout the book. There′s more than just a lot of demographic information; there′s information on how successful organizations have successfully matched their efforts to different multicultural groups.

- There is a consistent planning framework in each of the "demographic" chapters (3-8) that links consumer values with suggestions for an integrated marketing communications program.

- The book is rich with comprehensive data sources not usually found in books: US Census Bureau, the MSR′s Minority Market Reports, reports in trade publications, academic journals from different disciplines, and the author′s own primary research. Most of this material has never appeared in book form.

". . . One of the most thorough examinations of multicultural marketing research to date. I feel that the book will fill a multicultural marketing communications need of both business practitioners and students." 

Author: Marilyn Roberts

". . .an excellent starting place to understand vital and growing consumer segments in the U.S.A." 

Author: Craig Kelley