African American television viewers are traditionally overlooked by Madison Avenue executives and decision makers. Cable Advertising Bureau’s Cynthia Perkins-Roberts has vowed to change that practice. The VP of Diversity is spearheading the launch of a comprehensive, multipronged campaign designed to get advertisers to recognize, respond to, and drive more ad dollars to African American programming and TV stations.
“We decided at CAB it was time for someone to take up the mantle and begin to talk about the black consumer from a business rationale standpoint. We decided to create this project called ReachingBlackConsumers.com,” Perkins-Roberts says. The absence of a real structured agency advocacy group — like AAHA [Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies] and AAAF [Asian American Advertising Federation] — results in African Americans’ needs being consistently dismissed by advertisers. “Without revenue [proportionate] to its high viewership, it’s hard for black programming to thrive,” she continues.
“We can’t seem to have a unified African American marketing group. I believe that the lack of information [and] focus on this segment has contributed to the fact that marketers are consistently trying to marginalize this segment. They say, ‘We don’t need specific marketing for the African American segment. We can reach them in general marketing.’ That hurts our black networks that have started creative programming. They think this segment isn’t a viable one. And, I really think we need to elevate the conversation about the viability of this segment.”
To accomplish this, Perkins-Roberts says reachingblackconsumers.com is designed to answer the following questions:
1. “Who is the black consumer? You click on [reachingblackconsumers.com] and you have different demographic profiles and purchase motivators. And it’s women, it’s men, it’s youth, it’s GLT, it’s the Caribbean marketplace [and] it’s the African marketplace. It’s the black male. It’s the urban youth. Then we go into lifestyle segmentation because we understand that it goes beyond pure demographics.
2. “What makes them tick? What do they think? That’s the psychographics that relate to the black consumer. We’re launching dozens of those with thought leaders who are talking about different things that relate to the black consumer.
3. “Where do they spend their money? It’s beyond buying power. Which brands resonate? There’s going to be a list of every single advertiser and how much they spend on targeting the black market. That’s something that people have been looking for for years. And we finally found a way to get that information.
4. “Why is it important to market to the consumer? One of the things that we’re working on and it’s the last component. Why target marketing works? We’re trying to launch with at least 12 case studies that have reached out to the African American consumer segment. And also we’re trying to get 12 writers and give insiders insight on things you need to know when you’re trying to reach this consumer.”
If everything goes according to plan, Perkins-Robert believes, “More advertisers [will be] taking a fresh look at the African American consumer sect,” which should translate into increased revenue for black programming and a heightened respect for black viewing habits. –terry shropshire
