Let’s Embrace and Drive Cultural Relevance: Insights from Blackweek and the Future of Brand Strategy
As an African American in advertising, attending Blackweek was an eye-opening experience that reinforced the critical importance of cultural relevance for brands in today's marketplace. The insights shared by industry leaders like Delu Jackson from ADT, Dr. Marcus Collins from the University of Michigan, Jonathan Mildenhall from Rocket Cos., Charisse Hughes from Kellogg Co., and Cindy Gallop, CEO of Make Love Not Porn, LLC, highlighted the need for brands to embrace cultural opportunities as a strategic imperative.
One of the key takeaways was the significant spending power and cultural influence of multicultural consumers. With $4 trillion in spending power, as noted by Hughes, brands that fail to engage with diverse segments are missing out on substantial growth opportunities. This reinforces the importance of advertisers' work in helping clients uncover deep cultural insights to inform their brand strategies and connect with diverse audiences.
As a VML employee, it was inspiring to see Jon Cook, CEO of VML, moderate an insightful panel with ADT's DeLu Jackson, TIME's Sadé Muhammad, and Kendo Brands, Inc.'s Sukiana Chancy. The group discussed the power of creativity to drive business growth, and Jackson shared a compelling example of how his team at ADT is leveraging inclusive marketing to connect with diverse audiences. He described the company’s partnership with VML's Inclusion Experience practice to embed representation into their everyday work.
Dr. Marcus Collins' presentation on culture made me think about the future of brand equity measurement and the new imperative to reach audiences in a more ideological way. His insights underscore the need for the industry to evolve our approach to multicultural marketing, moving beyond underserved demographics to capture the nuanced attitudes, values, and behaviours that drive consumer choice. Traditionally, multicultural identification models have relied heavily on demographic segmentation, but as Dr. Collins points out, this approach fails to capture the shared beliefs and experiences that shape diverse consumers' worldviews.
This shift towards ideological targeting has significant implications for my work in brand equity consulting. We need to expand and develop new metrics and methodologies that capture the ideological dimensions of brand equity, leveraging a unique blend of cultural analytics, anthropological research, and more cultural representation across strategic advisory services. This approach will enable our clients to develop more culturally resonant brand positionings, creative campaigns, and innovative product pipelines that reflect the diverse perspectives of their customers.
Another crucial insight at the conference was the role of authentic cultural engagement in driving brand differentiation and relevance. Many speakers during the week emphasised the need for brands to go beyond surface-level representation and truly listen to and understand diverse communities. Jonathan Mildenhall from Rocket Cos. shared a powerful example of an agency's lack of cultural understanding, underscoring the competitive advantage that cultural fluency and diverse talent bring to brands. As marketers, we must be committed to building diverse teams and providing cultural competence training to help clients navigate an increasingly multicultural marketplace.
Cindy Gallop's keynote provided a powerful call-to-action, capturing the importance of taking real action to drive change, not just making empty promises. She highlighted the systemic barriers that diverse groups, particularly Black women, face and the competitive imperative of truly embracing diversity. As marketers, we should always look for opportunities to connect clients with diverse creators, help access capital and community leaders and help identify untapped growth opportunities by engaging more with culturally relevant diverse consumer segments.
Although the Blackweek experience energised me in so many ways, it also made me reflect on how much room we have for improvement. For that reason, I am committed to doing my part as a Black man in a senior position in media and advertising. I am committed to working with my WPP, VML, and BAV Group teams to increase the representation of Hispanic, Asian, African American, LGBTQ+, Native American, and other underserved communities across the 60,000 brands we evaluate and compare across culture in our BAV group Global Syndicated brand and custom databases. By doing so, more WPP marketers and clients will have access to larger sample sizes from underserved communities, which they can incorporated into brand forensics, positioning, white space analysis, or partnership selection for creative campaigns or growth ideation.
As a VML commercial leader, I will be a vocal advocate for increased investment in Black, Brown and women-owned small business insights across all audience evaluation tools. Blackweek reminded us of the disruptive potential of agile, data-driven insurgent brands, and we must help our clients identify and benchmark against these emerging threats. The rise of digitally native vertical brands (DNVBs) and direct-to-consumer (DTC) challengers has demonstrated the power of leveraging data and technology to rapidly scale and capture market share from established players. These insurgent brands often have a deeper understanding of their target audiences and are more adept at creating culturally relevant content and experiences that resonate with diverse consumers.
Through my non-profit, BABCO (The Black and Brown Collective), I will continue to empower Black and Brown entrepreneurs, connecting them with the resources, networks, and opportunities they need to thrive. As Blackweek highlighted, entrepreneurs of colour often face systemic barriers and lack access to the capital, mentorship, and support necessary to scale their businesses. By leveraging my expertise in brand building and growth strategy, as well as my network of industry leaders and investors, I can help bridge this gap and create pathways for diverse founders to succeed.
During VML's recent Foundation Day, a Global Day of Service that brings together the entire VML community, BABCO was invited to participate. Tina Cartwright, an influencer and the founder of a maternal health consultancy named Rebranding Motherhood, was granted access to a day with VML C-level experts, including the CEO of Obviously, a world-class WPP influencer agency. Throughout the day, Tina received access to VML data insights, social strategy expertise, and world-class creative acumen. As a result of this experience, Tina received a roadmap to grow her Instagram following from 75K to 200K, gained access to the Obviously creator network, and secured an external speaking opportunity. This was in one day, with a small group of people with so much to offer.
Imagine if we scaled the big agencies and small business partnership model and created more opportunities for collaboration between established agencies and diverse entrepreneurs? We can unlock the untapped potential of multicultural markets and drive inclusive economic growth. Moreover, by investing in and empowering diverse entrepreneurs, we can help create a more equitable and sustainable business ecosystem.
Thank you to the pioneer founders of Blackweek for this inspiring and transformative experience. We can move ahead, make a difference and drive positive change in our industry and society. We can do more together, and I hope you will join me.
Brian Owens is the managing director, strategy and insights at BAV Group, the world’s leading authority on data-driven brandingTM.
