IT'S TIME TO BECOME MUCH MORE AWARE OF THE POWER OF THE BLACK DOLLAR

This episode explores the multicultural consumer of today. We learn what drives African Americans, Asian Americans and U.S. Hispanics to spend, what categories they outspend the general population, why they’re such important consumers for brands to pay attention to and how marketers can reach and engage these shoppers. Our guests on this episode include Cheryl Grace, SVP of U.S. Strategic Community Alliances and Consumer Engagement, Nielsen; Mariko Carpenter, VP of Strategic Community Alliances, Nielsen; Stacie de Armas, VP of Strategic Community Alliances, Nielsen; Vanna Tran, Director of Multicultural Growth and Strategy, Nielsen; Andrew Mccaskill, SVP of Communications for Diversity & Inclusion, Nielsen; Gorki Delossantos, Director of U.S. Media Communications, Nielsen; and Wilburt Carpenter, Manager of Events and Industry Partnerships and Co-lead of the SABLE employee resource group, Nielsen.

My day job is a senior media executive within one of the world's largest media agency holding companies.  As part of that job, which I love, I also spend time working to enhance our brand's perspective on brand building and growth.  One of the ways in which this can and does happen is with a focus on making connections with multi-cultural audiences.  Since 2015, Nielsen has also been speaking this same language through it's Diversity Intelligence Series.  This article explores some of their findings as it relates to Black Americans. 

Many of us B Dads may not know but Black Americans represent $1.2 Trillion in spending power within the United States - annually. For categories like dry grains and vegetables we spend $941M or over half of the total spending for that product category.  Baby foods, personal care, and shelf stable juices are other categories that Black Americans essentially carry the load of spending.  More importantly however is that our spending choices come with attachment to causes, connection to our community, and a "cool factor".  Yep - it's not a conspiracy that Black consumers’ brand preferences are increasingly becoming mainstream choices, which illustrates that the investment in connecting with Black consumers can often yield sizeable general market returns. 

If interested in learning more about the power of the Black dollar you can read more here at one of Nielsen's latest reports - .http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2018/black-impact-consumer-categories-where-african-americans-move-markets.html. 

We'll revisit this topic much more on Breakin Dad, but I post this article intentionally.  As we think about the change we want to be made in America as B Dads, from the pay gap, to police brutality, to access to basic human resources - consider how you spend your money.  Are you spending your money with companies that support you and your families?  I can't say that I always am, but this kind of data helps me become more focused on how, if B Dads were largely more conscious of our spending power, that could be leveraged to create real change in the world.  Yes, marches and protests raise awareness, but money moves mountains in this country.  Something to think about on our daily journeys.