I’m North American and have worked in multiculturals sales and marketing for over 25 years.

I haven’t worked in an advertising agency. I do have a strong marketing and sales background though.

My ears have picked up all of the “cultural marketing” buzz currently going on in North American.

What I read here, leaves me a little bit perplexe.

Good multicultural skills only come once you have done some work on your own personal attitudes, hangups, prejudices etc…and become quietly confident of where you stand in any cultural melting pot.

Thank you for the insights.

Cindy King
http://www.getinternationalclients.com

Most GMs actually don’t know much about targeting a market that prefers to communicate in its own language. (worked with Leo, Grey, Y&R) It’s different family and cultural values than the general American public. rather, different emotional strings to pull.

And now, I involve myself with allowing people to feel insecure unless they spend $ on a product that has been marked up 80% of its true cost of goods–ultimately convincing them that they aren’t worthy unless they smell designer. love this industry.

Oh yeah…. the hour plus wait time.

Get there early or don’t go.

With that being said, GM can’t be used without having those stereotypes. You truly need to understand the culture and background of the diverse audiences you’re trying to reach. Being relevant, both via culture and language, is vital to connecting. It’s the same as youth marketing- without speaking their language in a way they can connect to, you’ll never build those relationships.

It’s a bit insane to refer to multicultural shops as the new segregationists. Most of these agencies have been relegated to their segregated, oppressed states by an industry whose failure to embrace diversity inspired minorities to launch the separate ventures. Where are these general market shops with best-in-class multicultural units you reference? Remember, the major multicultural shops have already been purchased by holding companies (e.g., Publicis has Burrell, IPG has Globalhue, etc.). Do you believe for a second that Vigilante or Lapiz are best-in-class organizations? Tell it to shops like Grupo Gallegos. Or any major Black shop.

Would love to continue the conversation, but your cultural cluelessness on the topic rivals the arrogance of your White bosses running McCann. Spend some time working in a multicultural shop, dude. To be honest, you probably wouldn’t last a week.