With an annual disposable income of £32 billion and a population size growing 15 times faster than the White population , the need to understand and communicate with ethnic groups in the UK has never been greater. But this audience of approximately five million people is often ignored and the situation doesn't appear to be getting any better, a new study entitled 'The Multi-Cultural Insight' of 18-35 year olds reveals today.

Key findings of the study are:

• At least one in two of all ethnic groups, including the white population, believe that consumer brands often use ethnic faces in advertising as a token gesture. This perception is particularly strong among the Black African (71%), Chinese (68%) and Indian communities (67%)
  
  
• At least three-quarters of Asian (77%) and Black (78%) people and half (50%) of Chinese people in the UK are worried that marketing by mainstream brands has no relevance to them. Black African and Caribbean audiences in particular expressed that very little of the current marketing and advertising efforts they see relates to them as a consumer
  
  
• 75% of Black, 63% of Asian and 50% of Chinese people believe that consumer brands are not aware of how to market to individuals from ethnically diverse backgrounds, compared to 31% of white people.

The Multi-Cultural Insight Study commissioned by Weber Shandwick's specialist ethnic division MCC, surveyed 535 ethnic (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African, Black Caribbean and Chinese) and 509 White people in the UK, aged between 18 and 35 years. The survey compared brand preferences within the Cosmetics (Skincare, Haircare and Make-up), Automobile, Fashion, Financial and Food & Drink sectors, and explored attitudinal perspectives on representation in the mainstream media.

SPENDING PATTERNS

Black and Asian consumers (69% and 60% respectively) would be more inclined to purchase a product if they noticed it was advertised to multi-cultural consumers. In some sectors, ethnic minority spending per head is significantly higher, for example, Black and Asian consumers spend 44% more on clothing on average per month than White consumers.

ATTITUDINAL INSIGHTS

Findings show that four out of five Black, Asian and Chinese respondents agree that religion and cultural background is important to them. Black consumers in particular are very strongly inclined to admire celebrities in film, TV, music and sport from their own ethnic background (see below for list of most admired personalities). This further highlights the importance for brands to use the right celebrities and spokespeople to front campaigns.

BRAND SECTOR PREFERENCES

The survey reveals that there are major differences in brand preference in certain categories. For example, approximately two-thirds of Black respondents (68%) feel that there are not enough mainstream haircare products available to suit their needs, compared to only 13% of White respondents. As a result, the top brands for Black audiences in the UK are specialist e.g. Dark and Lovely, as opposed to mainstream brands such as L'Oreal.

In the drinks sector however, 55% of Asian respondents stated they do not drink alcohol and thus prefer to spend money on a wide range of soft drinks brands such as Ribena (52%), Tropicana (40%) and leading Asian juice brand Rubicon (35%) which in addition to quickly gaining market share is highly effective in communicating directly with Asian audiences.

Rakhee Vithlani, Head of Multi-Cultural Communications at Weber Shandwick states, "As the UK becomes increasingly diverse, companies are steadily realising the opportunities of communicating to the multi-cultural market, but it is apparent that many still do not fully understand how to effectively tune in.

The spending power of ethnic groups is an increasingly lucrative market. In addition, I believe trends from the United States, where international brands such as Nike integrate ethnic-specific campaigns within their communications strategies and where organisations employ Heads of Multi-Cultural Marketing to specifically capitalise on this market, will increasingly impact and change our UK and European marketing industry as we know it today."