Nothing will undermine a brand’s creative effectiveness and reputation faster than an inauthentic message.

According to Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer of P&G and former chairman of the ANA board of directors, “Inclusive marketing may be the single biggest source of growth in our industry now, and for the next several years…perhaps even decades.”

The official demise of DEI is irrelevant when it comes to marketers’ need to reach special audiences. Messages must be unique for those from different ethnicities, cultures, genders, sexual orientations, faiths, aging, physical abilities, and diverse opinions. Ignoring the need for inclusivity results in a loss of trust, reputation and consumer purchase. In short, it is simply bad business.

Furthermore, diverse audiences can spot tokenism in brand messaging in a heartbeat. If the advertiser pretends to care about an issue, but really doesn’t, the audience will know.

Critical Elements and Metrics for Successful Inclusive Marketing

For each inclusive marketing issue below, the ads are measured with all 14 ABX KPIs. A few KPIs that are especially effective for each issue are highlighted as well.

Cultural Relevance

Does your ad contain the true ethnic and cultural cues that reflect the experience and expectations of your audience? Effective creative must be in sync with how each group lives, thinks and experiences the world. It must convey understanding and respect for their needs, interests, cultural and societal issues. We capture Cultural Relevance through Demographics, Emotions/Verbatims, the ABX Index™, and the Message, Relevance and Reputation Indices.

Authenticity in Messaging

Know your diverse audiences well before crafting stories, visuals and messages in your ads. And evaluate them for authenticity before airing! The ABX Message Index is highly sensitive to authenticity. For example, an ad featuring a Hispanic couple cuddling their newborn scored low by the Hispanic audience. A remake of the ad that included the whole extended family scored very well since it reflected Hispanic family values.

Social and Cultural Casting

Appropriate casting is critical when targeting special audiences. LGBTQ, Asian, Black, American, European, Hispanic, People with Disabilities, Religious, the Aged, and non-Hispanic White populations care about different issues. Actors must be presented with respect in authentic social and cultural settings. ABX measures this primarily through Demographic, Psychographic, Emotions, Reputation, Relevance and Likeability Indices.

Gender Equality

Presenting actors in an unbiased, respectful and appropriate light correlates directly to Message Effectiveness, Reputation and Purchase Intent. ABX developed the first-ever Gender Equality Index™ (GEI™), which has become the Gold Standard in global gender norms, and which fuels the ANA’s SeeHer GEM® score. In 2017, ABX and ANA SeeHer won the prestigious ESOMAR Research Effectiveness Award. The Award-Winning Case Study  demonstrated the significance of gender bias on reputation and purchase Intent.

Sustainability

Today’s consumers, especially Gen Z, are deeply conscious of protecting the environment. The term “green-wash” refers to brands that appear to be environmentally responsible while their corporate practices are not. Ingenuine messages have lasting impacts on savvy audiences. The more companies show real commitment to producing sustainable products, the more successful they will be. ABX measures the effectiveness of sustainability creative very well through the ABX Index, Custom Questions, Emotions and Verbatims.

Trust

Brands engaging in inclusive marketing must continually monitor consumer trust and confidence.  Social, multicultural and sustainability topics change over time. The ABX Reputation Index, like Net Effect, measures Trust very well. Additional insights are gleaned from measures such as Emotions, Relevance, Verbatims, Global Demographic Norms and Custom Questions.

Inclusive Media and ABX Brand Fit™

Brands that are congruent with media channels and programs tend to generate higher Creative Effectiveness (+13%) and Purchase Intent (+57%). This congruency has been evaluated for years through the ABX Brand Fit™ program. Brands are measured against almost 1,000 TV shows and programs to identify “best fits” for their media dollars. ABX also evaluates TV/Movie concepts where Brand Fit adds additional perspective.

For more information on how to measure Inclusive Marketing success in 24-48 hours, contact us here.