Developing new marketing approaches and models for the multicultural marketplace

Several major national markets evolved into multicultural environments where marketers, consumers, brands, ideologies and institutions of multiple cultures converge at points of concurrent interaction, while remaining connected to cultures in other localities (Demangeot et, al., 2015). Such transformation calls for a review of extant marketing practices since the use of such traditional models as culture-based ‘segmentation-targeting-positioning’ (STP) to cater for and appeal to prominent ethnocultural groups (in size, buying power, sociocultural leverage) is becoming problematic. In contexts witnessing an increasing diversity and fluidity of consumer cultural identities, and growing porosity of media across regions and cultural groups, the long-term financial sustainability of STP and other traditional practices is uncertain and can present a host of reputational challenges for the firm (e.g. alienation of target groups resulting from culturally-stereotyped narratives and non-target groups’ backlash). Concurrently, some practitioners are calling for a move beyond “segregating ethnic groups to celebrating those common truths whilst understanding and reflecting cultural nuances” (Carlos Saaverda, Director of Culture Marketing, PepsiCo Beverages America, 2013). This session presents studies concerned with emerging models for the new multicultural marketplace.