Are you part of the “Culture Club?”

By Nancy Tellet – CMC Research Chair

The first rule of “Culture Club” is that we always talk about “Culture Club!” No, we’re not talking about rock bands, music videos or cult movies. “Culture Club” refers to any platform, digital or traditional with in-culture specific content for a multicultural segment. Whether it’s a specific site, app or even  in-culture content in “mainstream” places, it’s this  in-culture digital content that is hitting homeruns out of the park among multicultural consumers! Digital Lives 2018, a study by the Culture Marketing Council: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing (CMC) found that culture drives digital behavior across all multicultural segments, but even authentically diverse ads done correctly in the mainstream can increase engagement with multicultural and some millennial non-Hispanic whites (NHW)!

According to Digital Lives 2018, multicultural consumers are frequent visitors to “Culture Club” sites, whether U.S.-born or foreign born—to the tune of 67 percent of Non-Hispanic African-Americans (NHAA) 13-49 and 74 percent of Hispanics 13-49. Among millennials 18-34, these figures are higher. Hispanics and non-Hispanic African-Americans are members of web sites featuring culture-specific content, and they also are very active on social media about culture, with shares and comments on issues specific to their communities.

The study also found that ads placed on platforms with culture content have more power across ages and languages. Even culture-oriented ads on mainstream sites have power, but Spanish-language ads —even in mainstream sites—create more engagement with Hispanics. While it was no surprise that Spanish remains an important part of their mix, with percentages varying across segments, the study found that even third+ generation Hispanics incorporate time in Spanish as part of their in-culture digital activities.

So where can you go from here?

Learn all you can about the role culture plays not only in digital activation but in all facets of marketing and purchase intent. A great start is downloading the public version of the Digital Lives 2018 study.

Have the right culture marketing specialists on your marketing team. Navigating culture can be complicated—so can integrating cultural cues and nuances into your campaign in an authentic and engaging way!  Avoid costly gaffes by finding the right partners with trusted expertise. The CMC Hispanic Market Guide is a great resource!

We look forward to welcoming you to the “Culture Club!”