10588: ANA Survey Is 100 Percent Bullshit.

Advertising Age reported on a survey from the Association of National Advertisers that exposed the obvious once again. For example, 60 percent of surveyed marketers claimed they spent more on new-media platforms targeting minorities in 2012, recording an average increase of 9 percent. Sounds good until considering the 2010 survey that led Ad Age to write, “Though marketers allocated an average of 6.6% of their 2010 multicultural media budgets to new media, many are still spending almost nothing.” Do the math. An increase of 9 percent of almost nothing is slightly more than almost nothing. Plus, keep in mind that most multicultural marketing budgets amount to crumbs versus the White marketing dollars. So any percentage of appallingly insufficient is still appallingly insufficient. Another revelation uncovered 40 percent of advertisers work with White agencies for multicultural marketing. Given that clients are fully aware of the dearth of diversity on Madison Avenue, using White shops to handle multicultural assignments is like hiring the Ku Klux Klan to create Black History Month campaigns.

ANA Marketers’ Survey: 40% Work With General-Market Shops for Multicultural

In Other Findings, 88% of Respondents Use New Media to Target Hispanics

By Laurel Wentz

Sixty percent of marketers surveyed said they spent more on new-media platforms for multicultural efforts in 2012, according to a survey by the Association of National Advertisers. The average increase was 9% for those that boosted their budgets; 24% of respondents spent the same amount while 16% cut their budgets for new media.

A continuing debate over whether to hire a specialized multicultural agency or tap a general-market shop for multicultural work is clearly set to continue: 52% of respondents said they use a multicultural agency and 40% said they work with a general-market agency for multicultural work.

Highlighting that issue, the finalists for this year’s Multicultural Excellence Awards include McGarryBowen, for Hispanic work on Kraft Real Mayonnaise, and Hispanic shop LatinWorks. for general-market work for General Motors’ Silverado. (The winners will be announced at the ANA’s annual multicultural conference later this month in Miami.)

For many marketers targeting multicultural consumers, new media is one growth areas. A total of 88% of respondents said they are targeting Hispanic consumers through new media, 54% target African-American consumers and 37% Asian-Americans. A Spanish-language website has been created by 59% of the marketers surveyed, and 22% have an Asian-language website.

To fund spending on new media, 56% of respondents said they took money from their general-market budget, 28% said they added new funds, and 22% took the money from elsewhere in their multicultural budget.

The three most popular ways to reach multicultural consumers through new media are the company’s own website (75%), online ads (72%) and search-engine marketing (71%). But other platforms are growing: 32% of respondents said they are using location-based apps in 2012, compared with just 2% in a similar ANA survey in 2010. Use of blogs has grown to 44%, from 27% in 2010, and 64% of respondents said they use mobile marketing, up from 59% two years ago.

Asked what new-media platforms they expect to use for the first time next year to reach multicultural consumers, 18% said they will add mobile and 22% will try video.

Although 69% of marketers surveyed said they have a dedicated internal team for multicultural initiatives, there are clearly some in-house roadblocks to doing better multicultural work, at least in new media. Almost 70% of respondents cited inability to prove return on new media investment as a big concern. And those issues appear to be getting worse. In this year’s survey, 48% of respondents cited their senior management’s push-back or lack of understanding, up from 31% in the 2010 survey.

There were 106 respondents to the ANA survey, conducted online in June and July 2012.

8611: Industry & Social Media Salaries Suck.

Parade magazine published its annual salary survey. While FedEx pilots, plastic surgeons, astrologers, real estate agents, pharmacists and even eBay sellers reported incomes of six-figures and higher, a voiceover actor earned $10,000, a graphic designer collected $12,180, a blogger grossed $24,600 and a social-media manager reeled in $42,000.

8137: New Media Gets Old Miniscule Spending.

Advertising Age reported that a new survey from the Association of National Advertisers showed advertisers targeting minority audiences are increasing spending in new media like mobile marketing and online video. Technically, most advertisers indicated they are shifting dollars from their overall multicultural marketing budgets to new media. This point is significant for a few key reasons. First, the typical multicultural marketing budget is substandard, especially when compared to the gobs of money advertisers dedicate to the efforts of their White agencies. As the Ad Age story admitted, “Though marketers allocated an average of 6.6% of their 2010 multicultural media budgets to new media, many are still spending almost nothing.” Second, another recent ANA survey revealed the majority of the organization’s members do not engage multicultural marketing specialists at all. So why does increasing the miniscule share of substandard budgets among a teeny-tiny number of enlightened advertisers even warrant publishing a story?

Multicultural Marketing Dollars Flowing to Mobile, Online Video

Although Budgets Are Still Small, Bigger Share of Spending Going to New-Media Platforms Than in General Market

By Laurel Wentz

NEW YORK -- Marketers are more likely to use mobile marketing, online video and gaming when targeting multicultural consumers than in the general market, according to a new survey by the Association of National Advertisers. But don’t take that as a huge boon for new media in the segment: Though marketers allocated an average of 6.6% of their 2010 multicultural media budgets to new media, many are still spending almost nothing. Twenty-five percent of respondents said they are dedicating less than 1% of their multicultural budgets to new media this year, and 32% are spending 5% or less.

The most excitement seems to center around mobile marketing; 59% of respondents said they use or plan to use mobile marketing to reach multicultural customers, compared with 32% of respondents who were asked the same question about the general market in an earlier ANA poll.

Some 55% of multicultural marketers said they use or plan to use online video, compared to 50% in the general market. And 20% said they are considering trying Foursquare next year.

Among the other findings from the online survey of 90 multicultural marketers’ use of media that will be discussed at this week’s annual ANA Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference: Marketers are less likely to target multicultural consumers using webinars (25%, compared to 65% in the general market), e-mail marketing (70%, compared to 94% in the general market) and organic search engine optimization (64%, compared to 86% in the general market).

Where are the dollars coming from? Marketers are tapping multiple budgets to invest in new media. Most are simply shifting money from elsewhere in the multicultural budget — 41% from the media budget and 18% from other areas like direct marketing and events. Even more are moving dollars from their general-market budget — 30% from the media budget and 33% from areas like promotion and events. Just 29% said they found incremental dollars for multicultural new media.

Of the new-media areas they’ve invested in, marketers rated search engines—both paid keyword marketing and organic search engine optimization as the most effective, followed by their own websites and video-on-demand. They were least enthusiastic about Twitter, blogs and podcasts.

Although 92% of respondents said they use their own websites as part of their multicultural marketing efforts, only 63% said they have a Spanish-language website, and 18% have an Asian-language website to reach Asian customers. One-third of the marketers surveyed said they didn’t have a U.S. website in a language other than English.