Procter & Gamble Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard made a case for investing more in Black-owned and targeted media at the Association of National Advertisers’ “Masters of Marketing” event. The influential executive made a late inning change to his planned address to marketing execs gathered in Orlando this week for the annual event.
Meetings with CMOs the day before at the conference convinced him that “general market” marketers needed to learn more about multicultural marketing, Pritchard said. So he ditched his planned remarks and instead reprised a talk he gave last week at the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters conference. Titled “Seven Habits to Drive Multicultural Market Growth,” the speech advocated for spending more to reach diverse audiences. According to Ad Age, the consumer-packaged goods giant has set a target of reaching 80% to 90% of Black and other multicultural consumers 52 weeks a year in its media buys.
“This topic needs to be discussed here, now, at the Masters, with everyone, so we take action individually and collectively to make systemic and lasting change,” Pritchard said.
In light of the nation’s diverse population, Pritchard pressed for retiring the dated term “general market.” “The new habit to adopt is to build multicultural marketing into the fabric of everyday marketing,” he said.
Echoing earlier speeches, Pritchard called for better research to understand what multicultural consumers actually think. He emphasized the need for marketing that doesn’t just represent diverse groups but resonates with them.
Pritchard said brands will argue that their general market buys reach 63% of Black audiences compared to the national average of 60%.
“My question back, then, is why are there market-share gaps if you’re reaching more than the national average?” Pritchard said. “Why is 63% considered good? Why can’t we reach 90% of Black consumers?”
He pointed to P&G’s Always brand which has a market share 7.5 points above the national average for Black consumers, as reported by Ad Age. Pritchard attributed that to a marketing campaign that reaches 80% to 90% of Black audiences. “It is the single biggest growth opportunity in the market,” Pritchard said of improving sales with multicultural consumers.
Comments