My Code CEO says advertisers are setting floors, not ceilings, for multicultural marketing

In fact, the industry standard is to allocate 5% of advertiser budgets to multicultural marketing, but over the past few years this number has become more of a floor than a ceiling, he said, raising expectations for a rebound in 2024. We will contribute to the growth of this field.

In the latest episode of the Digiday Podcast, Morse explains how My Code is working this year to help marketers realize the value of reaching multicultural and historically underrepresented audiences from a purchasing power perspective. He talked about how he iterates on his market development strategy. But also from a volume perspective. Morse also discussed how My Code has spent the past three years building a portfolio of publications focused on Hispanic readers to build a more inclusive representation of U.S. Latino consumers. It also explains how much you spent on it.

Below are highlights from the conversation, lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

reset floor

If we take a step back and look at how brands are investing their marketing dollars across different consumers, generally speaking, brands are currently investing around 5% of their budgets. [That’s the base amount] Specialized in diverse or multicultural marketing. Multicultural or diverse audiences make up 40% of the US population, and their numbers are outpacing the growth of the general market. Therefore, future growth will come from diverse consumers. These facts therefore provide an opportunity for brands to find growth and reach and resonate with audiences that they have traditionally not marketed to well.

So from a business perspective, there is a huge opportunity to increase investment. We have seen investment increase over the past two to three years. And I believe that all of that movement has created a new floor, not a ceiling, for investment. [how] Diverse marketing is progressing. I think the general economic environment is causing that slowdown in growth. But in the ongoing meetings we’ve had with brands and agencies, that intent hasn’t gone away, hasn’t been reduced from a budget standpoint, and brands are looking to invest deeper.

Building a diverse portfolio

For example, when you look at diverse consumers and Hispanic consumers, they’re not homogeneous, so we’re excited about this portfolio. Not everyone visits her website the same. They are not all the same people. They come from Hispanic perspectives from over 20 countries. There are also Spanish people-[speaking]some are in English -[speaking], 70% speak both Spanish and English. A Hispanic individual living in New York is very different from someone living in Miami or Los Angeles. So what you really need is a portfolio approach to have as many touch points as possible with Hispanic consumers in their daily digital content consumption.

Enter 2024 with a clearer outlook

This year is off to a good start for us.I think the differences I saw between last year’s CES and this year’s CES are: [is that] Both years, the advertisers we met at CES listened, engaged, and engaged. [but] This year, they’ve leaned more into how we enable or implement the information we’re sharing. Diversified marketing and media is a vertical within a broader ecosystem, and this is due to the growth opportunities these audiences represent, and the underinvestment that brands have historically made. I see it as a unique growth area within the broader market.

However, challenges remain from a long-term planning perspective. I think what we’ve really seen since 2020 or since COVID-19 has been more quarterly activity than long-term planning and strategy. However, I feel that I have become more stable this year. So, while the advertising industry may not be seeing strong growth in general, at least the bottom line has been set in the market, and brands have a stable belief that they can improve their prospects going forward. ing.

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