These 6 Ads Are the Most Effective Multicultural Marketing Messages in Recent Years

Denny’s, Nationwide and Walmart are among a small group of companies with multicultural advertisements that performed highly with African American, Hispanic and LGBTQ+ audiences.

The cultural relevance of these analyzed ads, which were released over the past couple of years, was measured utilizing an ad metric called the Cultural Insights Impact Measure (CIIM) created by the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing, in partnership with NBCUniversal and alliance member companies.

The CIIM identifies the effectiveness of an ad when it comes to cultural relevance, to show how inclusivity in advertising resonates with a diverse audience and gauge the impact it has on brand loyalty, purchase intent and sales.

During the list’s announcement at the ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference in San Diego on Nov. 8, ANA chairman and Procter & Gamble chief brand officer Marc Pritchard said that “effectively leveraging meaningful and relevant cultural insights should be table stakes for every organization.”

The large study surveyed more than 30,000 individuals across multiple demographics, including Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, LGBTQ+, the disabled and non-Hispanic whites. Respondents were asked to score 150 ads from a range of 0 to 200 in various creative categories.

A score of 100 means consumers find the ad/show indifferent to their culture, 200 means they find it extremely culturally relevant, and scores below 100 mean that the ad/show was not perceived as culturally relevant.

Ads scoring in the top quartile (over 160) demonstrated a 50% higher purchase intent compared to those scoring in the bottom two quartiles.

Carlos Santiago, co-founder of AIMM and president of Santiago Solutions Group, said the results of this study can optimize sales by helping marketers understand what is successfully seizing the “full potential of culture beyond mere inclusion.”

The eight attributes identified as culturally relevant by the study were inclusion, respect, cultural values, authentic portrayals, positive reflections, role models, celebration and cultural pride.

Further results, such as how the CIIM ranked advertisements in the Asian American audience segment, are expected.

Two of the ads ranked as top performers by the CIIM were produced by Lopez Negrete Communications. Agency co-founder Alex López Negrete said that whether “endemic or mass, imbuing cultural insights and elements into an ad or any piece of content is a subtle artform with very powerful results.

“Authenticity comes from articulating a shared perception and a willingness to be seen and recognized accordingly. It simply cannot be faked,” López Negrete continued. “Cultural representation and participation at inception is critical.”

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