ANA debuts measurement for cultural impact of advertising

Dive Brief:

• The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) introduced a way to measure how cultural insights make ads more effective among diverse consumer groups, per an announcement shared with Marketing Dive. The trade group’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) partnered with NBCUniversal and member companies to develop the Cultural Insights Impact Measure (CIIM).
• CIIM evaluates ad creative and aims to pinpoint how cultural insights in ads and programming affect brand perceptions, purchase intent and loyalty. The metric’s survey of 10,000 people in the Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, African-American, Asian, LGTBQ+ and disabled demographic groups found culturally relevant ads are key drivers of brand affinity and purchase intent. Insights from CIIM will support the launch of #SeeALL, a movement to highlight multiculturalism.
• Consumers who see ads as culturally relevant are 1.5 times more likely to learn additional information about the brand, and are 2.7 times more likely to buy from a brand for the first time, per the survey. They’re also 50% more likely to repurchase a brand, 2.8 times more likely to recommend the brand, 2.6 times as likely to find the brand relevant and 3 times more likely to find the ad relevant.

Dive Insight:

The ANA’s development of CIIM to track the cultural relevance of ads and programming is another acknowledgement that the U.S. population is becoming more diverse, pushing marketers to challenge their former assumptions about consumer preferences and brand loyalty.

Generation Z, the most ethnically and racially diverse generation in the U.S., is maturing into adulthood and forming brand associations and loyalties that may last a lifetime. Goya Foods is a prominent example of a company whose recent TV ads have straddled a variety of ethnicities, languages and cultures to reach a broader audience of consumers instead of targeting a single group. One spot dramatizing consumer acceptance of a multicultural America features the slogan, “Life has more than one flavor.”

Among the more recent examples, McDonald’s in March rolled out its most significant campaign aimed at African Americans in 16 years, with a message focused on education, empowerment and entrepreneurship. Papa John’s this month debuted a campaign starring former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal that aims to rehabilitate the brand’s image after a racially charged scandal led to the resignation of founder John Schnatter and the removal of his image from its advertising.

Businesses have a strong incentive to embrace cultural diversity in the managerial ranks. Companies that ranked in the top 25% on a scale of ethnic or cultural diversity among executives were 33% more likely to show industry-leading profitability, consulting firm McKinsey said in a report last year.

Hispanics and Latinos make up 8% of ANA member company CMOs, but are 18% of the general population, according to the ANA’s 2018 diversity report. Multicultural consumers make up almost 40% of the U.S. population, but multicultural media spending is only 5.2% of total advertising and marketing spend, per a study by media researcher PQ Media for AIMM.