Dive Brief:

• The shift from "multicultural marketing teams" to a new "Total Market" strategy that makes multicultural marketing the standard was a them at this year's Association of National Advertisers Multicultural Marketing and Diversity Conference.
• McDonald's "I'm lovin' it" campaign is considered the "grandfather" of the shift, as that campaign focused on culturally relevant insights rather than falling back on stereotypes
• Around 54% of all advertisers are currently using a total market approach in some form or another, and 66% surveyed in a Santiago Solutions Group Study for the AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing reported that the approaches were already improving market share and return on investment.

Dive Insight:

Walmart is credited with kickstarting the shift when it announced the elimination of its own multicultural marketing team in favor of a businesswide focus on including everyone while still targeting individual demographics. The shift is certainly a sign of the times. As Davila Multicultural Insights CEO and ANA Multicultural Marketing and Diversity Committee Chairman Gilbert Davila said during opening remarks, "Embedding a multicultural perspective into all of our efforts is not a choice, it's a necessity... In this plan, everyone is included. Everyone is represented. Every single time."