Dale Edwin Murray Freelance illustrator and graphic artist based in London. Get in touch at mail@daleedwinmurray.com or check him out at www.daleedwinmurray.com
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Cross-cultural marketing fails with African-American consumers
The study, conducted in conjunction with Burrell's 40th anniversary and named Burrell: Project 40, delves deep into the lives of African Americans, identifying themes in lifestyles, interests, cultural beliefs and perceptions of African Americans in the media. With more than 500 in-person interviews across 11 major markets, Burrell: Project 40 gives a true portrait of the average African American consumer. Over 80 percent of Burrell's respondents had never participated in a market research project before, so the study gives voice to the unheard and untapped majority of black consumers in a way that's never been done before.
"Most of the research conducted in the African American community is done with upper and middle-class consumers -- who don't necessarily reflect the attitudes, behaviors and opinions of the majority," said Fay Ferguson, co-CEO of Burrell Communications. "Burrell: Project 40 gives a more accurate picture of a population that is often taken for granted."
"Burrell: Project 40 continues Burrell's 40-year legacy of commitment to deeply understanding African American consumers," added McGhee Williams Osse, co-CEO of Burrell Communications. "The clients we work with have made it a priority to speak to African American audiences in a way that's relevant and authentic, and we hope our research will show the greater marketing community why that's important."
Over the course of a year, executives from Burrell Communications and its research partners -- The Recruit, The Futures Company and Breakthrough Marketing Technology -- conducted interviews with 500 African American men and women, identifying key trends prevalent in the community:
1. African Americans interact with many cultures, but remain culturally distinct at the deepest, most important levels.
As many as 63 percent of African Americans are open to other cultures, and enjoy experiencing foreign customs as they relate to food, fashion and music, but those experiences do not change who they are when they are at home. 87 percent of those surveyed are actively attached to African American culture, and make an effort to balance their cultural interests with their own cultural identity.
2. The "game face" is still a part of the African American experience.
African Americans still openly and freely share accounts of occasions in which they needed to act differently among people of other cultures due to fear of judgment, the lessons of history and their desire to succeed, with 36 percent admitting that they experience this cultural suppression often. This includes situations at work and school, as well as in social settings.
3. African Americans continue to seek more positive representations of their culture in the media.
Every respondent could more easily identify negative, inauthentic portrayals of African Americans in the media than positive ones, with 88 percent agreeing that discrimination is still part of their day-to-day lives. This spans across movies and TV, as well as within the advertising and marketing industries. In particular, many expressed the belief that African American characters on TV tend to be one-dimensional, and 75 percent agreed that there should be more TV programs directed toward African Americans.
Burrell Communications is a full-service marketing communications company with offices in Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles. In business for more than 40 years, Burrell is a leader in understanding and motivating consumer behavior in the African-American and Yurban(R) markets. The agency's client roster includes: Procter & Gamble, Toyota, McDonald's, General Mills, Comcast, Walt Disney World Resorts, SuperValu, Lilly, Illinois Lottery and American Airlines. For more information, visitwww.burrell.com.
from tmn
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Report: Black consumers not being courted by hybrid, electric car makers
The hybrid and electric vehicle market is having a tough year in 2011. Sales for hybrid vehicles are down 2.7% through August 2011, despite the fact that U.S. vehicle sales are up 10.5%. While automotive companies would suggest that a sluggish economy and lack of supply are hurting hybrid vehicle sales, a recent report from Mintel suggests instead that there is a lack of desirable product for certain demographics.
"Most believe the profile of the hybrid vehicle owner is a person between the ages of 35-55, with a household income over $75,000, and a college education or higher. While this may be the current owner, the biggest potential in the market is with Black consumers," says George Augustaitis senior automotive analyst at consumer research firm Mintel.
Consumer research shows that nearly 12.5% of the Black demographic owns a hybrid or electric vehicle. Furthermore, 36% would be most interested in buying a hybrid or electric vehicle for their next purchase and 26% are unsure about their next purchase. Black respondents were also the most willing to spend an additional $3,000-5,000 to purchase a hybrid or electric vehicle, and 31% said they would spend an additional $1,000-3,000 on a hybrid or electric version of a vehicle. Black individuals were also the highest respondents who would feel proud to own a hybrid or electric vehicle.
"With the low ownership numbers of hybrid and electric vehicles among Black shoppers, the optimistic statements about pride of ownership and willingness to spend more suggest there is pent-up demand amongst Black consumers for hybrids and electric vehicles," adds George Augustaitis. "However, the sales and ownership numbers do not show the same story. This would suggest that there are no hybrid or electric vehicles on the market that are appealing to the Black population."
Mintel research also found that 26% of Black respondents are very concerned about carbon emissions and 30% agree that new electric engines in cars like the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf are amazing feats of engineering. Hybrid and electric automobile marketers would be wise to go after this under-targeted demographic.
For more information on Mintel, please visit www.mintel.com.
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Retro-Modern Superhero Illustrations
Mookie n 'Nem say…
Oh our Lord above! This is some of the sickest, fricking shiznit we've seen since Jack Kirby ruled the heavenly comic book realms. Simply magnificent! Simply 100! Who's responsible for this? Pray tell whose hands did God work through on these beautifully crafted precious pieces of art?
We know it's been a long time, but SAY WORD!!!
Oh our Lord above! This is some of the sickest, fricking shiznit we've seen since Jack Kirby ruled the heavenly comic book realms. Simply magnificent! Simply 100! Who's responsible for this? Pray tell whose hands did God work through on these beautifully crafted precious pieces of art?
We know it's been a long time, but SAY WORD!!!
All artwork by Greg Guillemin
The State of the African-American Consumer
Nielsen, NNPA release report, 'The State of the African-American Consumer'
African-Americans' buying power is expected to reach $1.1 trillion by 2015, according to The State of the African-American Consumer Report, released September 21, 2011 at a Washington, DC press conference. The document was collaboratively developed by Nielsen, a leading global provider of insights and analytics into what consumers watch and buy, and The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers across the U.S.
This growing economic potential presents an opportunity for Fortune 500 companies to examine and further understand this important, flourishing market segment. Likewise, when consumers are more aware of their buying power, it can help them make informed decisions about the companies they choose to support.
"Too often, companies don't realize the inherent differences of our community, are not aware of the market size impact and have not optimized efforts to develop messages beyond those that coincide with Black History Month," said Cloves Campbell, chairman, NNPA. "It is our hope that by collaborating with Nielsen, we'll be able to tell the African-American consumer story in a manner in which businesses will understand," he said, "and, that this understanding will propel those in the C-Suite to develop stronger, more inclusive strategies that optimize their market growth in Black communities, which would be a win-win for all of us."
The report, the first of annual installments in a three year alliance between Nielsen and NNPA, showcases the buying and media habits and consumer trends of African-Americans.
The 41st Annual Legislative Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Conference week's activities set the backdrop for the announcement. Flanked by civic, business and legislative leaders, Nielsen and NNPA executives spoke about the relevance and importance of the information shared in the report and the fact that it will be distributed in NNPA's 200+ publications, reaching millions of readers and online viewers.
"We see this alliance with NNPA as an opportunity to share valuable insights, unique consumer behavior patterns and purchasing trends with the African-American community," said Susan Whiting, vice chair, Nielsen. "By sharing, for example, that African-Americans over-index in several key areas, including television viewing and mobile phone usage, we've provided a better picture of where the African-American community can leverage that buying power to help their communities," she said. "Likewise, the information points businesses in the right direction for growing market share and developing long range strategies for reaching this important demographic group."
Consumer trends in the report include facts such as:
With a buying power of nearly $1 trillion annually, if African-Americans were a country, they'd be the 16th largest country in the world.
The number of African-American households earning $75,000 or higher grew by almost 64%, a rate close to 12% greater than the change in the overall population's earning between 2000 and 2009. This continued growth in affluence, social influence and household income will continue to impact the community's economic power.
African-Americans make more shopping trips than all other groups, but spend less money per trip. African-Americans in higher income brackets, also spend 300% more in higher-end retail grocers more than any other high income household.
- There were 23.9 million active African-American Internet users in July 2011 -- 76% of whom visited a social networking/blog site.
-33% of all African-Americans own a smart phone.
- African-Americans use more than double the amount of mobile phone voice minutes compared to Whites -- 1,298 minutes a month vs. 606.
- The percentage of African-Americans attending college or earning a degree has increased to 44% for men and 53% for women.
The report is also available at www.nielsen.com and www.nielsen.com/africanamerican -- Nielsen's microsite which highlights tailored information to the African-American community.
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African-Americans' buying power is expected to reach $1.1 trillion by 2015, according to The State of the African-American Consumer Report, released September 21, 2011 at a Washington, DC press conference. The document was collaboratively developed by Nielsen, a leading global provider of insights and analytics into what consumers watch and buy, and The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers across the U.S.
This growing economic potential presents an opportunity for Fortune 500 companies to examine and further understand this important, flourishing market segment. Likewise, when consumers are more aware of their buying power, it can help them make informed decisions about the companies they choose to support.
"Too often, companies don't realize the inherent differences of our community, are not aware of the market size impact and have not optimized efforts to develop messages beyond those that coincide with Black History Month," said Cloves Campbell, chairman, NNPA. "It is our hope that by collaborating with Nielsen, we'll be able to tell the African-American consumer story in a manner in which businesses will understand," he said, "and, that this understanding will propel those in the C-Suite to develop stronger, more inclusive strategies that optimize their market growth in Black communities, which would be a win-win for all of us."
The report, the first of annual installments in a three year alliance between Nielsen and NNPA, showcases the buying and media habits and consumer trends of African-Americans.
The 41st Annual Legislative Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Conference week's activities set the backdrop for the announcement. Flanked by civic, business and legislative leaders, Nielsen and NNPA executives spoke about the relevance and importance of the information shared in the report and the fact that it will be distributed in NNPA's 200+ publications, reaching millions of readers and online viewers.
"We see this alliance with NNPA as an opportunity to share valuable insights, unique consumer behavior patterns and purchasing trends with the African-American community," said Susan Whiting, vice chair, Nielsen. "By sharing, for example, that African-Americans over-index in several key areas, including television viewing and mobile phone usage, we've provided a better picture of where the African-American community can leverage that buying power to help their communities," she said. "Likewise, the information points businesses in the right direction for growing market share and developing long range strategies for reaching this important demographic group."
Consumer trends in the report include facts such as:
With a buying power of nearly $1 trillion annually, if African-Americans were a country, they'd be the 16th largest country in the world.
The number of African-American households earning $75,000 or higher grew by almost 64%, a rate close to 12% greater than the change in the overall population's earning between 2000 and 2009. This continued growth in affluence, social influence and household income will continue to impact the community's economic power.
African-Americans make more shopping trips than all other groups, but spend less money per trip. African-Americans in higher income brackets, also spend 300% more in higher-end retail grocers more than any other high income household.
- There were 23.9 million active African-American Internet users in July 2011 -- 76% of whom visited a social networking/blog site.
-33% of all African-Americans own a smart phone.
- African-Americans use more than double the amount of mobile phone voice minutes compared to Whites -- 1,298 minutes a month vs. 606.
- The percentage of African-Americans attending college or earning a degree has increased to 44% for men and 53% for women.
The report is also available at www.nielsen.com and www.nielsen.com/africanamerican -- Nielsen's microsite which highlights tailored information to the African-American community.
Field Notes: Saki Mafundikwa “Time for a new design curriculum”
By Kristy Tillman
Born (1955) and raised in Zimbabwe, Saki Mafundikwa studied fine arts at Indiana University and graphic design at Yale University. At Yale he discovered the existence of sub-Saharan scripts and alphabets designed by Africans themselves - without the influence of the Roman or Arabic alphabets - and this became his life-long passion to revitalize African visual traditions in the form of graphic design, he calls it the “African bauhaus”.
He worked for many years as designer and art director in New York, while also lecturing at such places as Cooper Union, but finally decided in 1997 to return to Zimbabwe to create his country's first graphic design and new media college, the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA) in 1999. "At the heart of ZIVA’s mission is a desire to create a new visual language – a language inspired by history, a language that is informed by but not dictated to or confined by European design, a language that is inspired by all the arts (sculpture, textiles, painting and African religion), a language whose inspiration is African. We are at a crossroads in the history of design right now with the young designers of the Western world rejecting the straitjacket confines of what design is and is not."
As a Black designer trained in America it has always been part of my ‘natural’ curiosity to seek and understand the idea of an African/African Diaspora inspired design traditions. Any such notion pertaining to the existence of the idea was conspicuously absent from my own heavily Euro and American centric design curriculum. So it is refreshing to see this idea addressed by Mafundikwa as he cultivates a whole new breed of designers with the freedom to explore the aesthetic of their own cultural motifs.
“I had never met graphic designers from Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, or Mozambique before, and I had to quickly snap out of the myopia of judging their work by European standards. These were African-trained designers – unlike me, an African trained in the west. Soon I realized that force-feeding Africans design principles born in Europe, principles that were the product of the European experience,
just doesn’t work. Why should the sterile and bloodless corporate “Swiss” style work for a Mozambican designer whose existence and environment will never mimic industrialized Europe? And why on earth should a designer from the Moslem-influenced Sudan produce work that has nothing to do with his experience – struggling, unsuccessfully, to produce work that looks “European”? It is madness. But there we were, with the rest of my team of trainers: donning our western glasses and, like the design elitists we’ve become, trashing these people’s work!” Mafundikwa underwent a conscious effort to challenge the foreign cultural impressions inherent in his design training as a part of his mission to adopt and teach design principles rooted in African visual traditions.
“I decided to dedicate this life to improving the design on my continent, especially from a teaching perspective, where we were dreadfully behind. What I have learned [in] managing Ziva, through
experiences uncomfortable and hard, made me stronger and a person able to replicate the model in other countries of the continent. I have no illusions, many African countries lack the infrastructure we have in
Zimbabwe and the experience will be so complex, but on the other hand I have come a long way from the luxury of my days as an Art Director in New York! Experience is the best teacher ever” Mafundikwa’s insights on the cultural experience of designers being an inherent property of their work begs the question, what does a Black American design aesthetic look like?
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