Why Traditional Ethnic Segmentation Will Not Work In Today's Multicultural Youth Market
By David Morse and Thomas Tseng Cultural Access Group President

They are highly coveted. They are often elusive. Their constituency is known by a plethora of fancy monikers: UrbanYouth, the Hip Hop generation, Gen X, Y, and ñ. They are global, they are technologically sophisticated, and they are extremely media savvy. What seems to confound and humble the most seasoned, practiced marketers is the fact that they are&emdash;more so than any other American generation before them&emdash;truly multicultural.

That the term "general market" is fast becoming obsolete there is no doubt. Since the 1990 Census, the Hispanic market has more than doubled its population, surpassing African Americans as the largest minority group in the United States. The Asian American population grew at a similar rate, while African Americans grew at twice the pace of the "White" market. The figures are even more compelling when one examines the youth population, which is far more diverse than the rest of the nation. According to a study released by Nickelodeon and the National Council of La Raza, one-half of the country’s youth population will be non-White by 2020.

Generation Gaps

The initial urge for many ethnic marketers is to segment this group by ethnicity. There is logic to this approach. Ethnic youth (we will focus on teens for convenience sake) possess unique distinctions. However, they are also significantly different than their immigrant parents’ generation.

Among Latino youth, American-born, bilingual generation ñ teens are embracing an unprecedented wave of pride in their "Latinidad." Unlike their immigrant parents, these individuals maneuver seamlessly and effortlessly between two worlds&emdash;one Latin, one "American"&emdash;adopting the most apropos attitude or behavior for any given situation or context. Similarly, this phenomenon also characterizes the growing throng of 2nd and 3rd generation Asian American youth, who, because of their location in major U.S. metropolitan areas, straddle the balance between the native traditions of their immigrant parents and an increasing pan-Asian American identity.

Much has also been written in the past decade about the growing generational divide in the African American community between a seemingly apolitical, Hip Hop-influenced youth culture on one end, and the politically-active, socially-conscious generation of their parents on the other, who were raised under the Civil Rights movement and nurtured by Soul and R&B.

In order to effectively market to these new ethnic consumers, it is imperative to understand the history, values, lifestyles, and worldviews they adopt. Yet, what traditional ethnic market segmentation misses in today’s multicultural world of teens is that ethnic-based identity as defined by prior generations is increasingly becoming passé, and its rules are being rewritten by ethnic youth themselves.

We are witnessing the genesis of what William Eric Perkins calls the "Youth’s Global Village," which entails an identity born out of common lifestyles and shared cultural sensibilities rather than ethnic affiliation. These new expressions in youth culture are very complex, eclectic, and multiracial&emdash;drawing from a vast pool of influences rather than any single cultural reference. Thus, the use of ethnicity as a segmentation variable becomes increasingly tenuous as a marketing convention when it comes toexamining American yout h of color.

The Hip Hop Diaspora

Hip Hop culture serves as an ideal example to illustrate this trend. With roots in the streets and playgrounds of African American and Puerto Rican neighborhoods in New York City during the 1970’s, Hip Hop has demonstrated powerful and enduring crossover appeal to teen segments of all ethnic backgrounds, nationally and internationally, emerging as a shared culture and cadence for an entire generation. Today, suburban white kids account for 70% of Hip Hop record sales in the U.S. Likewise, most of Hip Hop’s current progeny and leading innovators cut across the entire color spectrum. Many marketers may be surprised to learn, for instance, that the top DJ "turntablists" and producers in Hip Hop culture happen to be Asian Americans.

The influences of grassroots Hip Hop culture&emdash;among both consumers and creators&emdash;are now pervasive across all sectors of American youth and beyond. In the words of Perkins, "the hip hop revolution is just that, an uprooting of the old way in style and culture, and the introduction of a taste of [ethnic] urban authenticity to every corner of the globe."

Hip Hop culture is not unique in its crossover appeal. Other musical genres and movements also reflect the eclectic multiculturalism embraced by the youth of today. Nortec music born out of Tijuana, represents a unique blend of traditional norteño and Tex-Mex sounds with the modern, hypnotic rhythms of electronica.

Familiar names, such as Martin, Iglesias, Estefan, and Aguilar, though perfect symbols of a major cultural phenomenon, are not the only examples of the Latinization" of the American mainstream.

Looking Ahead

Multiculturalism is no longer a catchy phrase embraced by the politically correct, but a tangible reality that marketers must decipher in order to be effective. It is one that is actually being lived out&emdash;in frustratingly complicated ways at times&emdash;by the American youth of today. Traditional ethnic categories, although useful to us as marketers, are increasingly becoming less salient in describing the experiences and identities of young Americans.

Hence, our success depends on our ability to effectively gauge their emerging attitudes, experiences, and lifestyles, and to understand the multiplying, eclectic ways in which they identify themselves. Successful marketers of the future must not only recognize that America is more diverse, but come up with improved approaches in segmenting them and speaking about them.

David Morse is the President of Cultural Access Group, a company that provides in-culture, in-language market research and consulting throughout the United States and Latin America. Full-service capabilities include ethnic market consulting, qualitative research and quantitative studies among others. Thomas Tseng is the Director of Marketing for Cultural Access Group. For more information visit their website, http://www.accesscag.com