Marketing in Multicultural America: The evidence is there

Marketing in Multicultural America:  the U.S. is a diverse mass market. Six things to know.

1. Successful Brands Will Excel at Marketing to Diverse Consumers at Scale

Call it what you want, But the reality for most brand marketers is that they are marketing in a multicultural country. The facts are apparent: 42.2%  of the total U.S. population belongs to diverse audiences (African American, Hispanic, Asian American, etc)  according to the 2020 U.S. Census. Diverse consumers have larger families and higher birthrates, and their numbers are growing more than the average population in the U.S. That is why, according to the U.S. Census, by 2050, the U.S. population is projected to become majority-diverse.  Moreover, consumer choices of diverse audiences have an enormous influence on the rest of the population, particularly on the growing GenZ segment; “81% of Gen Zers say multicultural/diverse communities greatly shape brand preferences”, states a recent Horowitz Research report.

Diverse audience-targeted advertising will surpass US $16 billion by 2027, according to the Portada Insights Report Marketing in Multicultural America 2023 – 2027. This figure does not include marketing and advertising that are not explicitly targeted to diverse audiences. A substantial amount of messaging in the US$ 300 billion U.S. ad market must engage and reflect the majority of diverse consumers. Successful brands will excel at marketing to the diverse consumers at scale.

“The ad industry illustrates clearly why strategies that include diversity work so well: because the world is diverse. Diverse messaging that includes multicultural groups is a net positive for corporations, as it widens the umbrella of potential customers, employees, and investors,” says Melvin Wilson, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at MokaMoto Worldwide.

2. Marketing in Multicultural America: DE&I is NOT Marketing

Many companies are rolling back DE&I (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion). Yet DE&I has nothing to do with marketing or advertising. As Rebeca Vargas,  Head of Marketing for Diverse Segments, Wells Fargo at the time),  told us in 2022 when DE&I was exploding: “DE&I initiatives in Corporate America are clearly on the rise. In the case of Wells Fargo, there is a very focused and important effort in DE&I . “For us, DE&I means making sure that we attract diverse talent and see opportunities for growth for diverse talent. We work with companies that diverse entrepreneurs own. It also means that we make sure that we support diverse communities in the U.S. and particularly in the places we do business,”Vargas emphasized that marketing to diverse consumers differs from DE&I: “I believe that recently in the U.S., with the growing importance of DE&I, there has been a confusion between multicultural marketing and DE&I efforts.” She explained there is a “whole team that does DE&I, and then there is my marketing team.” “We certainly collaborate, but our team has different objectives that are separate from DE&I. My team is responsible for acquiring diverse customers, deepening relationships, and serving them in the best possible way – e.g., that branches have the right bankers, in-language communications, etc.-. DE&I has more overarching objectives, such as doing the best thing for suppliers, community, and customers,” Vargas maintains.

When Portada asked  Stephen Paez, EVP of Multicultural Investment and Innovation, Publicis Media, about his main objective for 2025, Paez told us: “A key challenge I am focused on addressing is the distinction between corporate diversity efforts and marketing diversity strategies. While both are interconnected, the marketing lens is essential for driving business growth. With 100% of U.S. population growth coming from diverse audiences, our clients must prioritize authentic and strategic engagement with these communities. Elevating this understanding is not just about meeting DE&I objectives—it’s a business imperative for sustainable success in an evolving marketplace.”

3. Use New Methodologies: Marketing to Diverse Audiences is a Business Imperative …

Understanding the opportunity implies incorporating diverse audiences in your marketing and media planning and buying methodology. For a solid example of diverse audience-targeted media optimization, check out UM’s David Queamante’s  7-step approach to planning and buying media for diverse audiences.

Most importantly, in a multicultural America, the words “multicultural,” “diverse, “Hispanic,” or “inclusive” do not need to be part of a brand marketer’s job title. What is critical is that the marketer is aware that for marketing and advertising to be effective, diverse audiences must be front and center of many, if not most,  marketing strategies. For instance, Janina Delloca-Pawlowski worked on essential marketing inclusion strategies when she was Vice President of Customer Inclusion at Fidelity Investments; Pawlowski’s position at the Boston-based financial services giant is now VP of Channel Marketing at Fidelity.

5.  Marketing in Multicultural America: Ad-Tech is Still not Culturally Sensitive

Successful and efficient marketing in a multicultural America requires multicultural programmatic advertising, a substantial part of the overall digital marketing toolkit, to fulfill its potential.  This is far from happening. Algorithms often are culturally inefficient and do not optimize the engagement of diverse audiences. For instance, keywords selected for brand safety usually apply to the general market but not to multicultural audiences. Solutions to these challenges exist, including leaving the inventory curation to supply-side experts and putting guardrails into the media buying optimization system.

6. Marketing in Multicultural America: Brand Purpose and Alignment Will Matter More than Ever

Americans are changing shopping habits in a backlash against corporations that have shifted their public policies to align with Trump. A vivid example that has caused outrage among some consumers is the photo of the CEOs of Meta, Amazon, and Tesla during the Trump inauguration. Millions are pledging to halt discretionary spending for 24 hours on February 28 in protest against major retailers — chiefly Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy — for scaling back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in response to Trump. According to a Harris poll, four out of 10 Americans have shifted their spending over the last few months to be more consistent with their moral views. “It seemed like consumers are just fatigued by all this shifting politics in their brands,” Harris Poll CEO John Gerzema told Axios, comparing the drive to “opt-out” of the economy to “a mental health break.”

As former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich says in his Substack newsletter, calls to boycott Tesla are having an effect. After a disappointing 2024, Tesla sales declined further in January. In California, a key market for Tesla, nearly 12 percent fewer Teslas were registered in January 2025 than in January 2024.