So far this month here in Australia, we’ve seen a TV ad from Meat and Livestock Australia that celebrates Australia’s multiculturalism, a billboard depicting two girls in hijabs celebrating Australia Day has caused an uproar, and Target has included a Muslim family and a young girl with a disability in their latest catalogue.

Marketing Mag reporter Ben Ice joins Nic and Sarah to discuss diversity in marketing.

Here are some key take-outs:

• It’s just good business to represent different minorities (or even majorities, like women) in your marketing because we need to connect with our customers — and our customers aren’t all white, heterosexual, middle-aged men.
• While representing diversity in your marketing might “rock the boat” with some people, a low level of controversy can be good for business.

“We’re starting to see brands get more brave… I think the more we can see a broader range of people, you’re going to start to get a lot of brand loyalty from these segments of the population that may have felt disenfranchised.” — Sarah

• In Marketing’s 2016 diversity survey, disability was found to be the area least represented, with 52 per cent of respondents saying it is very important for advertising to represent diversity in the area, but only 18% said it was represented very well. Some 48 per cent of respondents said ethnicity was important, with 21 per cent saying it was well represented. Thirty-four per cent of respondents listed religious diversity as important, but only 14 per cent said it is well represented in Australian advertising.

“If we never see those people in our entertainment, marketing and advertising, then it becomes much more difficult to approach them in the street, to bring them into our businesses… We have this great opportunity to help in a social justice kind of way.”  — Sarah

• Adding diversity to your marketing adds to your brand story. The public are more and more choosing to consume based on how they feel about a brand and its values.
• You probably can’t make a dozen different ad campaigns to hit different demographics, but you need to come up with creative ways to include diversity in the campaigns that you do put out.

“(Even if it’s controversial) it’s all good publicity. Usually you’ll see trending on social, traffic to websites, and hopefully revenue as well.” — Ben Ice, Marketing Mag

Here are the links you might need:

• Here’s Ben’s original piece on diversity. 
• This is the Volley campaign celebrating freedom of sexual expression Ben mentioned.
• This is the Lush Cosmetics tweet showing a gay couple.
• This is the Ben and Jerry’s ad the team discussed.
• Check out the “Superhumans” ad from the UK Nic spoke about.

On My Desk

• Ben’s recommendation was Slack, an instant messaging tool for business.
• Nic recommended Instagram’s Layout app. 
• Sarah’s recommendation was Sunili Govinnage’s article. She also mentioned a book called 500 Great Books By Women. 

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