NEW YORK, June 15 /PRNewswire/ — the vox collective, one of the nation’s leading multicultural advertising agencies, and The 85% Niche, a strategic business and marketing consultancy led by renowned women’s marketing expert Miriam Muley, announced today a joint initiative to help brands address the untapped business opportunity among all women of colors–Latina, Black, and Asian, both in and outside the United States. The initiative will gather talent from both entities as well as consultants with specific area expertise in women’s marketing, specific cultural markets, and various industries.
The initiative launches digitally at www.multiinfluentials.com, a destination providing rich insights regarding women of color, including cultural drivers that can serve to forge stronger connections with this segment. Social media will also be a part of the plan including Facebook and Twitter. Supporting the launch will be a conference and workshop tour visiting various Fortune 500 companies whose business is driven by women. “Women are not monolithic and marketing to women does not mean marketing to White women alone,” states Muley. “The ‘multi-influentials'(R) will provide gender, diversity and life stage insights and strategies to corporations interested in taking marketing to women to the next level.” Additional components in this initiative include proprietary research, insights presentations, ideation and action planning sessions, trends reports and videos among others.
The “multi-influentials”(R) refer to women of multicultural background living in the U.S. as well as women in emerging consumer markets throughout Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle-East. In the U.S. alone this group is over fifty million and growing, and controls over $1 trillion in purchasing power. This segment, 35% of the overall women’s market, presents a unique growth potential for brands as its population increase, at 20% annually, surpasses the non-Hispanic White women’s population growth of only 1.1%. Importantly, during the 2000 to 2007 time frame nearly 9 out of 10 of all females born or immigrating to this country were of color. The “multi-influentials”(R) will help corporations navigate the exponential growth and buying power of this market.
“Multicultural women in the U.S. and around the world have great influence in key household buying decisions, what differs are the unique cultural triggers they respond to. Our goal is to expand the dialogue about women’s marketing in a way that naturally and strategically combines gender and cultural marketing,” commented Miriam Muley, CEO of The 85% Niche. “It all begins with listening and understanding our target. And that’s what our services and sessions seek to do, provide a base of departure for a holistic business plan around women of color and their needs.”
“Our goal is to help brand better understand the cultural and lifestyle triggers that influence the decisions of this important and growing segment,” commented Roberto Ramos President and CEO of the vox collective. “Women of color have the added ability to perceive life, both as outsiders and insiders of the mainstream American tapestry, and of their own cultures as well, a perspective of great value to brands poised for growth around global multiculturalism. We want to help these brands craft an engaging story that reflects this new opportunity,” commented Susan Jaramillo, chief creative officer at the vox collective.
The informational nature of the initiative begins with the conference and workshop series which will first focus on industries with a strong women’s market potential including fashion and retail, cosmetics, consumer packaged goods, financial services, and healthcare among others. These sessions, with varying cost levels for brands, will include engaging and interactive content including cultural overviews, consumer insights, ideation sessions and other activities leading up to a plan outline with recommendations detailing how the client can optimize its “multi-influential” (R) potential across business categories.
About the vox collective (www.thevoxcollective.com)
the vox collective is a boutique ideas and marketing agency focused on building campaigns and assets based on culture and values to move both consumers and clients. Clients include Macy’s, Verizon Wireless, Fifth Third Bank, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy among others.
About Miriam Muley and The 85% Niche (www.85percentniche.com)
Miriam Muley is the CEO of The 85% Niche. She is a strategic marketing consultant, diversity expert, and business writer who frequently presents to conferences and Fortune 500 companies. Her new book, The 85% Niche: The Power of Women of All Colors–Latina, Black, and Asian (Paramount Books, 2009) provides a monumental body of work on the subject of multicultural women. She has been EVP of Marketing at Carson Products, a division of L’OREAL and a General Manager at Avon Products, Inc. Most recently, she was Executive Director of the Women’s and Diversity Markets at General Motors Corporation. The 85% Niche clients include Merck, Avon Products, Inc., Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola Company, AOL, Comerica Bank, Morgan Stanley, and others.