Halal food meets Happy Meal
International In the USA, foreign minorities are the new darling of the markom industry. The multicultural niches of yesteryear are seen as a growth market.
are beginning to target minorities in the USA in their campaigns.
to address. And it's no longer just the Latinos and
African-Americans, the two largest ethnic groups in the country, who are known as
target groups are selected. Increasingly, smaller
Ethnic groups that get attention. A groundbreaking speech on the
topic was recently addressed by Robert Liodice, President of the Association of
National Advertisers (ANA), at the organization's annual conference.
"Multicultural marketing is not about goodwill, but about
about good business," said Liodice, referring to the fact that
the population share of all minorities in the USA in just 20 years
will account for over 50 percent. He recommended that his colleagues
of the most diverse minorities who are in a position to do so,
Establish contacts with the respective groups. "Multicultural
Marketing must be comprehensively integrated into the planning and communication of a
integrated into the company."
One of these groups in the USA
is the Arab-American minority, which includes a large proportion of the
Muslims in the country. The size of the population of Arab origin
is estimated at up to four million. The faith group of the
Muslims, however, which consists not only of Arabs, but above all
African-Americans and Asians, is likely to be as high as 5.8 million.
include people.
With the problem that Arabs and
Muslims from each other and define them differently, also begins
the special feature of marketing products to them. "Arabs in
America come from different countries and speak different languages.
languages," says Saul Gitlin, Vice President for Marketing at the
multicultural agency Kang & Lee. Most of them come from Egypt
and Lebanon, others from Tunisia and Oman. And although many Arabs
Muslims, the majority of those who live in the USA will have the
Christian religion.
"It is quite a challenge to work with such a heterogeneous
population, whose only common ground is perhaps
is that they speak an Arabic language," says Gitlin. "One
must be careful not to offend anyone." To avoid sensitive
To avoid misunderstandings, Gitlin relies on the input of the
customers as well as professionals who are at home in the Arab world.
He advises that when creating an advertisement or commercial
actors and locations with which as many people as possible can identify.
identify potential customers.
More income and young talentThis
Criteria were used, for example, in the design of the advertisements by Kang &
Lee for the credit institutions Bank of America, Western Union and a
AT&T's telephone service. Both companies applied
in Arabic or Turkish-language advertisements specifically
to the customers they wanted to reach: Customers who
regularly transfer money to their home countries or send it there
phone.
Other large corporations are following suit: The
Clothing store Nordstorm recently hosted the fashion seminar
"Trends for veiled and conservative women", where the
Marketing for the wealthy Muslim minority in the suburbs
of Northern Virginia. There, long robes and scarves were made from
brand houses such as Dior, Gucci and Hermés.
The
Arab minority in the USA is considered well educated, high earners
and yet neglected by the advertising industry. How
Throughout the USA, women often make the purchasing decisions for
the family. The average annual income is 47500
dollars, more than white Americans at 42,000 dollars. For the
Muslims, the figure is as high as 54,000 dollars. 38 percent of Arabs have
at least a bachelor's degree, compared to only 24 percent of
Caucasians and 60 percent of Muslims. The increase in the number of young
minority is six percent, while that of the white minority is
Americans has stagnated. "The American corporations have not yet
realized that the Arab community represents a huge market.
represents," says Oussama Jammal. He heads the Fine Media Group, which
distributed the animated Disney film "Mohammed" last year.
Menu for the Muslim CommunityAuch
McDonald's adapted to the Muslim target group. In a
Handful of its restaurants - for example in Dearborn, Michigan - offer the
fast food "halal food": Chicken McNuggets, which are prepared according to
were prepared according to the rules of the Islamic faith. Dearborn is considered
as one of the cities with the highest concentration of Arab
population in the USA. The customer that McDonald's offers halal food,
spread like wildfire in the Muslim community, which
the company sees as the only true marketing method. "We
do not place any advertising, but we rely on the fact that the
message spreads by itself among the people," says one
McDonald's spokeswoman.
In addition to a series of Arabic-language
television stations, radios, newspapers and magazines was published a year ago.
also an English-language TV channel called Bridges TV via satellite
and cable. The founder, Muzzammil Hassan, wants to use the
American Muslims with series and information that can be used to
also the assimilated children of the original immigrants
can identify with. "We want to build bridges of friendship between
mainstream America and American Muslims," says Hassan.
"It's an invitation to America to visit us at home."
"The market for minorities is the market of the future "Michael Lee
President of the Ethnoconnect agency, on right and wrong assimilation in marketing.WW: How should the Arab minority in the USA be addressed?
If you want to advertise, you have to do it in an Arabic language. A
large pizza company sent a consignment in Arabic.
Scripture. When people called to order pizza, he spoke
Nobody spoke their language. Many saw it as an insult. That is
worse than not advertising at all. WW: Do you also have to bear this in mind when creating advertising?
I advised a real estate company. Their ad showed a
Family sitting on the steps of the house with their dog. But dogs
are not as highly regarded in the Arab world as they are in America. The
WW: Have large companies also discovered the Arab minority, or is business mainly done locally?
Companies find it difficult to adapt their business practices to a small
minority. This is often expensive and does not generate enough sales.
Small and medium-sized companies have an advantage here because
they can act more flexibly. But the large corporations will
miss out on a lot of business opportunities in the future if the
does not change. The market for minorities is the market of the future. Gerti Schön
