The time is now for Diversity Marketing in the UK
Zena Martin, Managing Director, Acknowledge Communications

For the last 30 years, the US has recognised that the diverse communities which form its melting pot have a tremendous amount of buying power. These groups range from ethnic minorities to gays and lesbians to the disabled to seniors.

The US model
To that end, the majority of Fortune 500 companies, who sell to consumers and small businesses, employ Diversity Directors, whose responsibilities span internal issues, such as ensuring a diverse, employee base, to external issues, such as understanding the demographics of the company's customer base, and then targeting those groups in an appropriate manner, with relevant touchpoints. These Diversity Directors work with specialist diversity PR and advertising agencies to plan and execute impactful campaigns in the media in which the groups consume as well as in their communities, at a grassroots level. The marketing budgets that fund these campaigns are often separate from the ‘mainstream' marketing budgets, and are additional, allocated funds, rather than re-allocations from the mainstream budgets.

Diversity marketing in the UK
In the US, there is an abundance of these specialist agencies, including four, award-winning ones, which are part of WPP as well as a separate, Diversity Practice, within Hill & Knowlton. In the UK, there are only a handful of very small, under-resourced specialist agencies. This is partially due to the large amount and variety of diversity media available in the US.

Also in the UK, the argument has been presented that Diversity Marketing is some form of positive discrimination, but is has been proven on both sides of the Atlantic that recognising these communities' significant contribution to the economy shows a respect that leads to unprecedented, brand loyalty.

Economic potential
Some UK companies have recognised the potential for this brand loyalty and have either recently employed Diversity Directors or have started targeting certain, ‘diverse' communities, due to their existing or potential contribution to a company's customer base.

The ‘Brown Pound' (Blacks and Asians) currently contributes £32bn to the UK economy, the ‘Pink Pound' (Gays and Lesbians) contributes £5bn and the ‘Grey Pound' (Aged 50+) is worth more than £280bn, comprising 80% of the UK's wealth.

It is time for the rest of UK commercial and public sector companies to seriously examine who their customers are and think creatively about what they have to offer the diverse groups within that customer base.

There are a few companies that have started targeting the various sectors with some success, proving that by reaching out to these communities, they have ensured a level of brand loyalty that most companies seek, but never achieve.

However, these efforts are only scratching the surface. Now is the time for Diversity Marketing, but it must be planned and executed sensitively, knowledgeably and correctly, or companies face the risk of achieving the exact opposite of their goals, and losing those diverse customers, by alienating them.

Zena Martin is the Managing Director of Acknowledge Communications Ltd, a London based Diversity Communications Consultancy.