Multicultural Marketing Communication Certificate at FSU

This Spring the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University started offering a Graduate certificate that can be completed online by almost anyone with an undergraduate degree, anywhere in the country or the world. The full description of the Certificate can be read by clicking HERE. The graduate courses that compose the certificate are:

ADV 5415 Hispanic Marketing Communication- This course looks at the largest and fastest growing minority in the US and examines appropriate ways to culturally connect with them. Offered in the Spring Online

ADV 5605 Account Planning- Enables students to obtain cultural insights from consumers across different cultures and segments – Offered online during the Summer

ADV 5416 Multicultural Marketing Communication- Reviews cultural differences and similarities and provides the context for research projects to better understand the consumer communication and behavior of these emerging groups – Offered online in the Fall.

MMC 6469 Diffusion of Innovations- This course is an examination of various theoretical and practical issues pertaining to communication's roles in the diffusion of innovations across cultures- Currently only available in the classroom during the Summer, but since the Certificate allows for a course substitution, remote students can take a course in their own location in the classroom or online from another institution of higher learning upon approval of the administrator of the certificate.

For information about enrolling to the above online courses please contact Charlotte Suffront-Garcia at CSouffrontGarcia@campus.fsu.edu.

This is an exciting development and we invite inquiries and applications to the individual courses and the Certificate program.

We also started an undergraduate version of the certificate for those who have not completed an undergraduate degree.  You can see the description of the Undergraduate Multicultural Marketing Communication by clicking HERE.

Why it is so difficult to do cultural advertising well?

Advertising, almost by definition is cultural. Advertising influences our culture. The culture influences advertising. Now, in a country with so many different cultures producing advertising that is meaningful to these diverse cultures is a challenge. While it is true that in some cases a single message may do well across cultures, many times the message would be more effective if it is customized to the target culture.

Many culturally directed ads are simply a manifestation of stereotypes and relatively trite. That is because the difference between objective and subjective culture is not generally known. That Hispanics have large families and that they are family oriented is true, but definitely overused, and almost stereotypically used in advertising. That Hispanics have an affinity for social gatherings is true, but also overused. These are all manifestations of objective culture. These are the cultural manifestations that we can observe. And because we can observe them we think these are the culture itself. But culture is much more than objective culture.

Subjective culture, however, is what we carry in our heads. These are our values and beliefs, for example, believing that our children will transcend us. That they are more important than us because they represent a step towards infinite eternity. That is subjective culture. When those values and beliefs are inserted in advertising they have a high probability of connecting with the consumer. That is, assuming that the rest of the message is actually honest and the product or service is valuable in itself. Thus making a product or service the one that embodies a feeling of pride, a sense of transcendence, the emotion of celebrating being alive, for example, can be much more powerful than the simple use of objective culture symbols.

So, why there is so much advertising that is sadly empty and simply innocuous? Because many in the advertising industry have not yet understood these issues. Many appear to think that simply convoluting a story and doing something to stand out in the clutter will do the job. Standing out is useful when what stands out is a central part of the message. Making the the story complex for the sake of creativity is not.

Clarity, honesty, directness, and having a good product or service to sell are key to good advertising. Creativity resides in parsimony. Simple elegance that as part of the message makes it emotionally powerful.

After all these years of doing research I have learned that Hispanic consumers are eager to connect with and believe honest advertising messages. So, it is our job to make that connection and believability available. We need to find the insights that make for the cultural occasion, for the cultural emotion that can surround our ideas, products, and services. This requires in-depth research. Research that digs deep into how people feel and think.

The process of account planning is precisely to make the voice of the consumer heard in the advertising context. But it is not necessarily the overt expression of what consumers say, but those subtle beliefs and perceptions that have been ingrained as part of the enculturation process. That which we bring from our childhood. As marketers and advertisers, our duty is to comprehend where the consumer is coming from so we can show we understand him/her. So we can better be of service.

Literature Insights for Hispanic Marketing

I am happy to announce that the Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication released today a paper by Holly McGavock with my collaboration. This paper shows how insights from popular Latin American and US Hispanic literature can inspire marketing and advertising. This is an important first effort at systematizing the link between popular culture and marketing to US Hispanics. The full paper can be found at http://hmc.comm.fsu.edu/.

In McGavock’s words “Marketing messages are designed to travel to the consumer‘s heart and mind. Today, marketing communication is found everywhere, from subway walls to cell phones to internet sites to the television programs and movies we see on a daily basis. Consumers have learned, for the most part, how to tune out messages which don‘t appeal to or connect with them. Marketing, then, is becoming a much more sophisticated practice which requires practitioners to have an intimate knowledge of their consumers in order to connect with them on a deeper level. This is further evidenced by the increased presence of account planners in advertising agencies, whose job it is to find the insights in market research which help creatives make advertising which breaks through the clutter to reach consumers.

The same concept also applies to Hispanic marketing. For many years advertisers were able to sell their products simply by translating ―general market‖1 advertisements into Spanish and advertising on Spanish-language television networks. However, as spending in Hispanic marketing has grown, this market too has grown cluttered with advertisements, leading Hispanics in the US to feel overwhelmed by the number marketing messages and available information sources. Account planners are now popping up in the major Hispanic advertising agencies across the US. Their goal, like the goal of those in the general market, is to understand consumers and translate that understanding into insightful communication with consumers.

Much research has been done regarding the character, values and beliefs of US Hispanics. However, the search for insights requires looking for new and non-traditional sources of information. The culture of a people manifests itself in many different areas, all of which are of interest to marketers looking to understand consumers. Culture manifests itself in, among other things, traditions, clothes, music and literature. A closer examination of the literature of a people can reveal much about its culture. Furthermore, literature has the advantage of allowing the reader to experience the story as if he or she were actually a part of it. “