Race, Ethnicity is the Most Important Part of Identity for Multicultural Consumers
Consumers are expecting more of brands as cultural transformation accelerates in the U.S., with multicultural consumers now representing more than 100 percent of population growth.

December 2, 2020
David Evans – Chief Insights Officer

Replay our webinar featuring these findings,
“New Insights for Authentic Multicultural American Connections.”

As their expectations increase, understanding how consumers define themselves is key to building authentic connections. In our recent research, we found that nearly 3 in 4 multicultural consumers say race and ethnicity is an important part of their identity, outweighing all other factors including personality, being American, gender and more. For Hispanics, this is especially high for unacculturated consumers.

Digging deeper into consumer identity, we asked consumers to select the three aspects they would most likely use to describe themselves.

Race and/or heritage ranks at the top of the list for most multicultural consumers, with the exception of acculturated Hispanics (ranked at 4). Personality and being American are also key factors for identity across all consumer segments.

Given the importance of consumer identity through the lens of race and ethnicity, opportunities are rapidly increasing for brands to deepen cultural connections.

We asked consumers about the actions brands would need to take for them to go out of their way to buy from that brand or company. The top answer across all multicultural consumers: they are most willing to reward brands that support people of their own race or ethnicity. 

You’ll see an increased focus on the three core integrated research streams that feed our platform: the Cultural Fluency of brands and ads, the cultural profiles of diverse segments and their category, shopper, and media needs. This work aims to give you an even more expanded view of your core and target consumers, deeper insights into how your brands and ads stack up to your competitors, and analytics to identify the trends most likely to result in consumption changes in your category.

Amidst challenging economic circumstances, Collage Group is pleased to be a relied-upon resource that enables brands to access necessary insights through one comprehensive platform.

What are brands to do to take action on these insights? Multicultural consumers told us a variety of things. Topping the list: more transparent business practices, diverse representation in advertising, diverse stories in ads and authentic stories of diverse people in ads. 

At Collage Group, we have built a framework to help brands understand your consumers, identify how they connect and relate to your brand, and take the steps needed to improve your brand and ad performance. We call this our Cultural Fluency Roadmap.

Contact us to get started.

Other Multicultural Research Articles and Insights from Collage Group

David Evans

David Evans
Chief Insights Officer

David serves as the Chief Insights Officer responsible for content, data science and innovation. He is passionate about creating the critical insights that can transform the fortunes of our members, informing how we create an unparalleled member experience with our products, and build great places to work.

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