Marketing and Consumer Identity in Multicultural America

Book excerpt: 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.