Are The Terms 'Urban' & 'Multicultural' Dead?
Posted by anastasia on 01-22-2009As Ypulse readers know, we recently launched an "Urban" channel and are planning a similarly themed pre-conference event at this year's June Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup. Quick aside: one way to be frugal this year is to register for the Ypulse event NOW and save a bunch of money with our early adopter rate, group discounts, etc.
Yesterday, we had our first brainstorm/planning call with some folks who have way more credibility and experience in the "urban" space than me. While I was eager to start listing potential speakers and topics, the group stopped me in my tracks with a really important discussion about whether the descriptor "urban" is still relevant.
Putting aside my instant reaction of, "oh no, if it's not, what will we call this new channel and pre-conference," I found the discussion fascinating and wanted to share some of it with you to get your input. My desire to add this coverage and event to what we're doing at Ypulse stemmed from:
a) wanting our content to be more diverse – more posts about Latino, Asian American, African American and other youth of color from bloggers (like Gynae and hopefully more guest posters) who are authentically tapped into these communities/cultures and
b) knowing that there are agencies, brands and non-profits (our audience and potential Ypulse sponsors) trying to reach these youth.
What I heard on our call is that the terms "urban" and even "multicultural" are both dead or dying. My gut tells me this is definitely true within youth culture but I wonder if it's true for brands or marketers who still read these words as code for African American, Latino, Asian American, etc. The argument is that technology, demographics (minority becoming the majority real soon) and even Obama have shifted our thinking about race and youth culture. Hip hop culture is not only global but suburban. With social networking youth are connecting across all kinds of lines based on interest (i.e. hip hop, sneaker culture, anime, etc.). Or as my friend Mitali Perkins reminded me: Race and culture are still part of the mix but are no longer a defining issue.
But are there still cultural differences and sensitivities we need to be aware of when marketing to youth of color? Is there still racism in our culture and racial stereotypes in our popular culture and advertising? Are there still specific trends being born out of African American, Asian American or Latino youth subcultures within urban areas? Are brands, agencies and non-profits still creating specialized campaigns to reach these audiences? I think the answers to all of these questions are YES.
Ypulse readers: I want to know your thoughts on this topic and…more importantly, what should we call our "channel" and pre-conference? One suggestion was to bust up the channel and just use tags. Makes sense in a way, but we have been successful so far at attracting sponsors to our specific channels like Campus and were hoping to attract some agency or brand sponsors focused on these demographics…or psychographics. Let me know what your thoughts…and suggestions for the pre-conference formerly known as "Urban" speakers and topics!
Categorized under: Urban
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I'm biased b/c I've never liked the tag "urban" to denote African American. It's too broad and eventually broad tags lose any meaning.
However, I certainly hope that Urban and multi-cultural are only dying as monikors b/c the audiences that fall within them are still very much in need of being heard and being catered to.
I think the problem is, as marketers, we feel the need to place the tag so that the audience will "find" the content. There's this need to make sure they know the content "is for them."
That's the paradigm that needs to shift with the youth culture, who is already beyond color-coded marketing. What may appeal to an African American youth may also still be of interest to others.
Perhaps there's something out there that may simply be appealing to all teens, yet has the proper undertone to denote "for all but of special interest to."
I'll certainly think on it and pass whatever passes through my mind (which could produce some scary results).
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Anastasia:
If possible, I would like to talk to you about this. My agency CultureLab specializes in helping companies, government entities and general market ad agencies connect more effectively to diverse young people.
We have a POV on this "urban" thing. We do not use the word in our collateral as many companies interpret urban to mean black only. We also speak to how targeting should be more interest based instead of along racial lines only. So many of the topics you have raised, we have been touting for over 3 years.
Also, it would be great if we could get our blogsite added to your site list:
http://www.culturelabcreative.blogspot.com
Would really love to connect and would love to be on one of the panels at the Mashup in June.
Kevin Walker
Managing Partner
CultureLab
Dallas, Texas
214.428.3900
January 22nd, 2009 at 5:49 pm
A word or two on 'Urban' from the Pres. of Alloy Access: It's worth the read.
The Evolution of Urban
By Tru Pettigrew
I've been getting approached more and more these days by executives and brand managers of Fortune 500 companies about the best way to connect with and market their brands and products to urban consumers. But what I find most interesting is that many of them immediately ask me to define or profile the urban consumer for them AFTER they have indicated that they want to pursue this consumer. Across a wide range of consumer categories, the quest to attract this influential group is clearly growing, but across the boardrooms – they're all seeking a better understanding on who this consumer is. Questions arise – What role does hip hop play? What role does race or ethnicity play, if any at all? These are all worth discussing. But, I think the underlying question I haven't been asked and I greatly suspect they want to ask is -"Do I really need an agency that focuses on African Americans to effectively resonate with an urban lifestyle audience?
My answer is a resounding – YES! Why? Although the urban lifestyle DOES transcendrace, ethnicity and geography and is characterized by a diverse group seeking the leading edge of trends and culture that city life offers, it is rooted in Black America. Understanding where we (AAs) came from and how we came up I think is key to understanding what drives our attitudes and behaviors and affords brands the ability to make a true connection with the Urban consumer. The apprehension with regards to the answer to this question is "Will adopting an urban strategy make us a "Black Brand"? And to that, my answer is NO – but without an understanding of the root of this Urban audience, you'll miss truly reaching and affecting this "urban" consumer. There is a need to make this connection.
Take a quick look at the history of Black Americans, and you'll understand why they are at the core of urban lifestyle. Born out of necessity, from the time of slavery through present day, Black Americans have created music, language, dance, and style as forms of self expression, communication and survival. As Plato teaches us, "Necessity is the mother of all invention". And because Black Americans have historically been the underprivileged in America, it has been out of necessity to create, innovate and invent for survival. As progress was made over the years, self-esteem issues still lingered from times of slavery and segregation, which led to an ongoing need and desire for respect and affirmation and this, is still at the core of what has driven a lot of the behaviors and identity of Black Americans. And the result of that need and desire, are typically manifest through actions and behaviors that allow them to show off their individual style and to be seen as "hip", "cool" and better than those around them.
And the 'urban' environments in which this audience historically resided is most definitely a factor to what defines this aspirational lifestyle and one of the characteristics of urban that is still part of its appeal Our friend Merriam Webster defines it: Urban is living in a city or characteristic of or accustomed to cities; citified and a landscape that continues to be attractive to many Americans. With city living, Black consumers became more competitive, more open minded, more culturally curious, more entrepreneurial in spirit and even more materialistic to a degree. Close to the energy of successful business, to new trends and styles emanating from the urban environs and the feeling that anything he or she can do I can do better, fueled a "keeping up with the joneses" reality. Now as Hip Hop gained its strength in Black America and thus, inner city communities, it was adopted by others that shared a common interest in Hip Hop lifestyle. Hip Hop was inclusive by nature, so it did notdiscriminate. Although Hip Hop was originated by a culture of Black people, it was based on a lifestyle, and that lifestyle was aspirational and inspirational to a nation of young people and that also begged, borrowed and stole from a diverse range of cultures -so it was influenced as much as it influenced others. And as Hip Hop lifestyle became more prevalent and accepted by popular culture, it then transcended into a more universal urban lifestyle.
It's easy to see how the urban lifestyle trend (by way of Hip Hop, by way of Black culture) has quickly transcended – reaching far across the globe as new media options and high speed connections enable anyone, anywhere with similar aspirations to join the party. But as the audience widens – it's critical to understand what drives the trend, more than the trend itself and what drives the trend is the mindset of the consumer – who at the core, is black. And I say if you want an authentic taste, you go to an authentic place.
Let's go back to the American piece of African American – Blacks were stripped of their cultural connectivity when they were brought to America as slaves. So the cultural connectors that link other ethnic groups to their culture and heritage, for example for Chinese Americans – language, foods, and dress – do not exist for Black Americans. In essence, the culture of generations of Black Americans became deeply rooted in American Culture. So when a trend originates in Black America and becomes popular and adopted by the masses, it easily becomes part of pop culture and no longer appears to be race specific. Given that many trends born out of Black Culture have eventually become popular American Culture – it can be easy to forget the origin and the importance of recognizing the unique "ingredients" that propelled that trend into the mainstream.
Race or culturally appropriate teams are still often the "big pink elephant" in the board room when marketers start talking about their urban strategies. Black culture is a significant link in the DNA of the urban lifestyle and that point must be recognized in order to truly understand what's at the core of the attitudes, opinions and behaviors of this group. I'm here to say that YES -you really need an agency that focuses on African Americans to effectively resonate with an urban lifestyle audience. It matters. Adopting an urban strategy won't make your brand 'Black" but a strategic urban strategy does begin with a smart team that does have African American relevance.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Anastasia,
I am the CEO of a Tween|Green|Latina virtual world called Hip Chicas at http://www.hipchicas.com.
I cannot answer as to whether the specific terms you chose are dead, or if those terms have yet to fully evolve to the point of even being truly defined yet. I would say that the latter is the more likely… that they have yet to be defined fully.
That said, my experience tells me that the market of diverse cultures [pop or ethnic] wants more and better defined niche content that understands them, whatever the group, not less.
That is one of the main reasons that we created the Hip Chicas and one of the reasons that we have been so well received and accepted.
We are defining us and writing our own story and history. We are defining our interests broader than what is currently offered anywhere and that is attractive. [**remember that Dora is a preschool property.] Tween Latina themes and characters in content are really non-existent in any meaningful way after preschool.
Please also keep in mind that the Hip Chicas is not just for Latinas, but for Tween girls. That the characters happen to be Latinas simply allows us to tackle cultural definition creatively, and more importantly, as we see fit for both Latina and non-Latina consumption.
One of the promises of the internet is its ability to democratize the distribution of content, so that no longer is the content being defined by one or two media companies.
Anyone can now in a relatively inexpensive way produce content that is relevant to them and with the use of the internet to distribute that content even compete with large incumbent media companies for the audience's attention.
Too often the content that that we have relied on culturally, as in the case of Latina Tweens for example, can tend to be over simplified or reduced to one of several stale [and I would say 20th Century] stereotypes that are not necessarily acceptable anymore either to Latinas, or their parents for that matter. [which is where I fall, by the way, having three Tween daughters] :)
The Latina Tween needs a more complex positioning than what is currently afforded her – as do many other cultural groups or subgroups.
Simply going from where content is today in the understanding of cultures and moving drectly to a blending, assimilation or mono-culture would seem to run counter to the internets' appeal and utility. Attempts to try to do so I would view as being rooted in either lack of understanding, fear or the worst, insecurity. [an attempt to seek acceptance.]
It doesn't have to be that way and further it is not going to be that way, so long as the net stays neutral.
Assimilation is fine, so long as it is done on your terms and from a sense of inner confidence. That confidence comes from a self definition and a self esteem that the content is only now catching up to and and just realizing, as in the case of the Hip Chicas.
Second, we just arrive to the point where content can begin to have some cultural relevancy [whether any genre of Pop culture or ethnic culture] and now we want to question whether it should be declared dead? Quite opposite.
I would say though that the terms "urban" and "multicultural" – as defined by the traditional big media executives – is definitely dead and that the story of urban and multicultural content is yet to be written. Further, that like the Hip Chicas, it is probably being written as we sit here today and will continue to be written for some time to come by new digital neo-tribes writing their story from their point of view… defining themselves.
Maybe as the common stereotypes in content begin to give way to the newly defined cultural realities of our world, the ideas of "race and culture" will begin to carry less meaning and be less of a defining issue, but we must get there and there is still a long way to go.
Thanks,
Lazaro Fuentes
CEO
Hip Venture Co.
http://www.hipchicas.com
PS – the funny thing about all this is that we had to have digital convergence to reach a healthy point of cultural divergence in content, because without the first we wouldn't be able to afford the second – hence an impetus to keeping the net neutral.
Thanks again.
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:16 am
Hi Anastasia! I think the big thing to think about when considering the word "urban" is who it is you would like to target because I feel like the word is stereotypically used to a fault. I've never liked the idea that the word "urban" is in reference to particular ethnic groups – namely African Americans and Latinos. The word "urban" should be in reference to the CULTURE (the style of dress, food, music, etc…) that is specific to a BROADER group of people.
From a marketing perspective, anyone who participates in that culture would need to be targeted. To focus anything tied to the word "urban" to just a few minority groups is a mistake and would be incomplete because we all know that 1.) that urban areas are not populated with only these few minority groups and 2.) nor are they the only people who participate in urban culture.
In large cities like Los Angeles, you see people of all ethnic backgrounds participating in what we see as "urban" culture. So if your intent in using the term "urban" is to help people understand and better target ALL people participating in the culture then I would say it is fine. But if you are using the term to target just a few minority groups I would think that would be a mistake. You would probably miss many of the people in those minority groups and fail to target people from other groups who actually participate in urban culture.
Urban in the stereotypical sense is not comprehensive enough, nor is it thorough enough to truly help people tap into today's internet-driven, multicultural society. There is too much variation of interest within ethnic groups and too much co-opting across ethnic-groups for us to use terms such as urban in order to describe only a few ethnic groups. We have to think about all ethnicities involved in the culture in order to maximize our reach. So my advice to you is to use the term – but use it to target urban CULTURE instead of using it to try to target the groups who have been stereotypically placed under the term's umbrella. Good luck!
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:28 pm
I am in the same frame of mind as Richard above. Urban is more of a culture thing than a racial or ethnic thing. Different locations lend to things being seen as urban in pop culture, as LA lifestyles or San Fran taggers, or NY street wear or Lundon grime music. All of these can be urban and most of suburban culture is now very transparent and crossing over to urban culture.
As the internet and social networking has evolved, youth are more open to new groups, trends and lifestyles. I work with kids who one day show up in Sean John one day, Kenneth Cole the next and Diesel or street brands the next and listen to everything from Kayne to Katy Perry to FOB to Metallica.
Youth culture as a whole is diversified, but as a marketer you do need to break groups down in order to present them with the right products in the right places. Having an event for urban youth culture is fine by my standards as long as the topics presented are not solely targeted to one or 2 ethnicities that some major corporations believe this market to be.
Good conversation going here.
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:22 pm
My comments refer to the question: "Is there still racism in our culture and racial stereotypes in our popular culture and advertising?"
I would suggest you watch the video that is linked below. It is a speech given by Tim Wise on January 8, 2009 in Pasadena, CA. Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racism writers and activists in the U.S., having given lectures in 48 different states, and on over 500 college campuses. He has trained a multitude of teachers, corporate employees, non-profit organizations and law enforcement officers in methods for dismantling racism in their institutions.
http://aschu.convio.net/videos/TWise090108City%20Conv.html
There is about 5 minutes of introduction by the hosts of the event but the speech is well worth listening to.
I offer this because regardless of what you think of the words "urban" or "multicultural", race and racism are still issues to be dealt with in the US. I think this is certainly an issue marketers need to wrestle with.
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Go with "suburban" we'll know where to find em!
January 24th, 2009 at 4:25 am
"Urban" is dying in the business marketing world. It has this crazy negative connotation that gives corporate execs anxiety.
The people who LIVE the lifestyle still identify with the term as long as you're talking about urban inspired culture. To them, urban means city and that's exactly where the styles originate.
This CULTURE as Richard accurately describes it transcends race, gender, and geography.
So, as RIchard said… as long as you're targeting those interested in urban culture, you can call it Urban. They'll get it.
Marketers and execs on the other hand may get uneasy, but #s talk. They'll forget all about it if you show them significant viewership.
Most execs like terms like "youth" and "pop(ular)". Ultimately most of them want to appeal to a broader audience that has money. Urban makes them feel like those people are broke.
I think naming the channel "Urban" is fine. You may want to "theme" the Marketing Mashup party "What's Inspiring Youth Today" or "Popular Youth Culture," cuz today, that's what "Urban" culture has become.
Hope that helps. I'm always here if you need me. Peace and good luck.
Omer
January 24th, 2009 at 9:41 am
I really hope so. Both of these words are great examples in obfuscation, because neither are what they would seem to be.
Urban isn't about being centered in the inner city, though the "culture" often is there as well as other areas.
Multicultural seems to be some PC way of saying many races together. I hated this word in my educational classes. The word has nothing to do with culture and everything to do with race.
Apart from using words as nondiscursive symbols, these words are tired, misleading corporate words that I find useless. The people who use them I tend to, at best, wonder about them and, at worst, write them off completely. Sign me up for the abolish both petition.
January 24th, 2009 at 10:03 am
With a self described "Mutt" as our president and the mingling of cultures so prevalent among youth, cultural differences will both fade and become more important. The need to identify ourselves as a unique and as connected to one group or another is a basic human need. One way we have done it is through cultural heritage. Others are race, religion, farmer or city slicker.
The names will change, it is in inevitable.
My concern is that whatever any of us choose to identify with or market to, the core value has to be honoring our core humanities.
Cultural sensitivity efforts have lead to increased tolerance and increased prejudice. The trick is to honor all the good in each culture, not honor the destructive, and move us all to greater tolerance for each other.
I am an old woman and I loved, worked with and cherished our youth for moving us further down the path to peace on earth. Thank those on Ypulse for furthering the quest for informed tolerance.
January 25th, 2009 at 8:53 am
[...] Are The Terms 'Urban' & 'Multicultural' Dead? [...]
January 26th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Interesting thoughts. Great comments.
One note on the posted comments from the Pres of Alloy Access…I agree wholeheartedly with the majority of the article however I fear that it's a slippery slope when painting all African Americans as Urban. That may not have been the intent, however all African Americans are not Urban.
Urban is a mindset…a consumer group that is defined by a psychographic, rather than a demographic. Granted, it has it's roots in African American culture it's arguable that the majority of consumers who define themselves as urban may be predominantly non-black.
Personally, over the past 12 months I've seen urban culture become more and more fragmented which may indicate a gradual shift in mindset or a change in how this segment defines "urban."
Just a thought…
Cheers!
January 28th, 2009 at 7:54 am
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