AIMM ANNOUNCES THE MOST CULTURALLY INCLUSIVE BRANDS WITH THE HOME DEPOT RANKING AS BEST-IN-CULTURE AND LYSOL AS BEST-IN-AD EFFECTIVENESS

The ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM), in partnership with the Cultural Inclusion Accelerator (CIA), unveiled the Most Culturally Inclusive Brands of 2023. The awards are based on extensive research through the CIA’s industry-leading measurement methodology, the Cultural Insights Impact Measure (CIIM™), a metric that identifies the impact and effectiveness of cultural relevancy and positive DEI reflections in ads and the potential to affect sales lift.

“In the pursuit of growth, brands must recognize that connecting with diverse consumers is imperative,” said Bob Liodice, CEO, ANA. “Marketers should look to this substantial research to better engage diverse consumers and ultimately fuel sustainable brand and business growth.”

Most Culturally Inclusive Brand Winners

The study identified the brands with the highest cultural inclusivity across all consumer segments, noted as best-in-culture. The Home Depot ranked as the most culturally inclusive brand, followed by Dove and the Ad Council. For the second year in a row, Lysol was ranked as the best-in-ad effectiveness, followed by The Home Depot and Tide.

These brands delivered consistent relevance and effectiveness marks in their :15 and :30 advertising creative while featuring cultural celebrations, positive reflections, and authenticity. The study found that the best-in-culture brands saw an increase in key performance indicators, including +69% purchase intent, +67% brand trust, +49% brand affinity, and +43% more brand recommendations.

Brands that are perceived by consumers to authentically portray their culture with positive DEI reflections, achieve superior levels of brand growth, according to the research. This includes five times higher purchase intent and 16 times higher brand trust.

“AIMM and CIA are proud to unveil this distinguished list of brands that have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to portraying diverse consumers authentically, and inspiring the industry to see, understand and celebrate the true identities of all consumers,” said Carlos Santiago, Co-Founder of AIMM and Co-Architect of CIIM and CIA. “We conducted this comprehensive study to provide the industry with a clear and measurable look at how cultural relevance and positive inclusive reflections can be harnessed to create deeper connections with consumers which drive superior growth for brands.”

“This award reflects our commitment to connect with all our customers at Home Depot. We believe that we make meaningful connections by serving our communities, understanding our customers, and reflecting them in everything we do and in all our communications, both inside and outside of our stores,” said Molly Battin, Chief Marketing Officer, The Home Depot.

“At Reckitt, we understand the importance of our ads reflecting the realities of our diverse and multicultural consumers,” said Gary Osifchin, Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager, Reckitt U.S. Hygiene. “Through deepening our understanding of diverse communities and capturing multicultural insights, we are able to deliver culturally relevant messages and products that resonate with our consumer base, while staying true to Lysol’s purpose – keeping your loved ones illness-free.”

Among the top brands that performed well with a specific diverse and inclusive segment, the study discovered that the best performing ads displayed moments that highlighted and celebrated cultural heritage and offered an authentic representation of on-screen characters, framing them as everyday people.

The study found that the Top 3 culturally inclusive brands by consumer segment are (in order):

• Among Asian consumers: McDonald’s ranks as No. 1, winning gold, with TD Bank winning silver at No. 2 and Lexus winning bronze at No. 3.
• Among Black consumers: Dove ranks No. 1, followed by Ulta Beauty and Nissan.
• Among Hispanic English-speaking consumers: AT&T ranks No. 1, followed by Modelo and Expedia.
• Among Hispanic Spanish-speaking consumers: Dish Latino ranks No. 1, followed by Corona and Walmart.
• Among LGBTQ consumers: Converse ranks No. 1, followed by Levi’s and TD Bank.
• Among people with disabilities: Dove ranks No.1, followed by Apple and Kohl’s.
• Among White non-Hispanic consumers: The Home Depot ranks No.1, followed by USAA and JCPenney.
• Among the general population: The Home Depot ranks No.1, followed by Dove and Walt Disney World.

Most Culturally Inclusive Brand Key Findings

CIA’s ongoing industry-wide testing of ads has found that brands’ efforts to be more culturally inclusive are increasing authenticity and consumer trust. According to this year’s research:

• Consumers saw a decrease in stereotypes in ads: 55% of consumers said they saw stereotypical representation in ads compared to 63% of consumers in 2022.
• More consumers believe brands accurately represent their culture: 38% of consumers believe brands authentically represent their culture, compared to 31% in 2022.
• Consumer trust in brands rose: 36% of consumers said they trust all or most brands, compared to 26% of consumers in 2022.

Most Culturally Inclusive Brand Methodology

The study focused on the top 120 advertising spenders in 2023. Throughout last year, CIIM tested more than 1,000 ads that aired from these 120 brands. Respondents were shown an ad followed by a series of CIIM proprietary questions to assess the ad’s cultural relevance, and similarly through the DEI Accelerator™ proprietary questions gauging DEIB reflections, and subsequent ad effectiveness impact.

More than 300,000 ad evaluations were collected from more than 80,000 consumers, including Asian English-speaking, Black, Hispanic English-speaking, Hispanic Spanish-speaking, LGBTQ, People with Disabilities, and White Non-Hispanic consumers. CIIM’s final ranking was then created utilizing only multicultural and inclusive respondents for “overall” as well as segment specific rankings. The ranking was constructed using each brand’s average CIIM, DEI, purchase intent, trust lift, brand opinion, brand recommendation, gather information on brand, and likability scores.