Navigating the Messy Middle: Multicultural Conversations on Handling the Hard Stuff
On Feb. 10, 2021, the second installment of the ARF Cultural Effectiveness Council’s Navigating the Messy Middle series — which focused on the workplace experiences and strategies of mid-career professionals from diverse communities — hosted two successful executives who have developed their careers in the advertising and media industries. View Video & Key Takaways.

Navigating the Messy Middle: Multicultural Conversations on Handling the Hard Stuff
On May 7, 2020  the ARF’s Cultural Effectiveness Council, featured fireside chats with two industry leaders and a lively exchange of ideas among attendees. Download presentation.

Webcasts

Webcast #4 Building Brand Loyalty with Today’s 21st Century Audience –The Pivotal Role of Representation
How do ads avoid shallow tokenism and meaningfully represent cultural values, and identity in the modern world? The ARF Cultural Effectiveness Council will explore this topic to better understand the themes and trends as well examples from today’s top brands to better chart a commercially successful and culturally authentic path forward. We will also touch on representation of communities that are often overlooked, including those within the broader ethnic, LGBTQIA and disabled communities. Find presentation and video here.

Webcast #3: Building Brand Loyalty with Today’s 21st Century Audience: Music as a Cultural Connector 
On July 1, 2020 the third installment of the ARF Cultural Effectiveness Council’s webcast series, on Building Brand Loyalty with Today’s 21st Century Audience focused on the power of music as a universal language and connector in advertising. Find presentation and video here.

Webcast #2: Building Brand Loyalty with Today’s 21st Century Audience – Leveraging the Power of Language
The second installment of the ARF Cultural Effectiveness Council’s webcast series on Building Brand Loyalty with Today’s 21st Century Audience focused on an approach identified by the Council for building relationships with the emerging 21st Century audience – leveraging the Power of Language.
Download presentations and view video

Webcast #1: Building Brand Loyalty with Today’s 21st Century Audience through Leveraging Social Causes
The first installment of the ARF Cultural Effectiveness Council’s webcast series on Building Brand Loyalty with Today’s 21st Century Audience focused on building relationships with the emerging 21st Century audience through leveraging social causes.
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Forum: Avoiding Marketing Missteps: Navigating the Cultural Waters of 21st Century America
Responding to the changing demographics of 21st century America, brands are beginning to recognize the need to communicate with an increasingly diverse population. Yet, all too often companies get their advertising messages wrong when trying to appeal to different ethnic groups. Social media then magnifies the negative reaction.

The range of successes and failures associated with multicultural campaigns — from Nike’s partnership with Colin Kaepernick to H&M’s “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle — underscores the industry’s need for guidelines that will facilitate developing meaningful messaging and minimize the odds of a backlash.

To address this need, the ARF Cultural Effectiveness Council welcomed speakers from an array of disciplines to lead a conversation, examine case studies, and offer guidance on how to navigate and successfully develop creative for this new target: Alexander McMichael, (Associate Art Director, Gravity Media), Adriana Waterston (SVP, Insights and Strategy, Horowitz Research), Lia Silkworth (Senior Vice President, Strategy and Insights, Telemundo Network), Paulita David (Corporate Innovation & Multicultural Expert, PD Strategies). The session was moderated by Council Working Group member Janelle James (Qualitative Research Director, Kantar).
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Research: Presentation at ARF CONSUMERxSCIENCE Conference
Custom research, conducted by the ARF Cultural Effectiveness Council using Google Consumer Surveys and Instapanel and supplemented by proprietary research from Leflein Research, revealed insights regarding brand advertising that incorporates social cause messages, so that marketers can better communicate with multicultural Millennials.
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Develop panels, presentations and webcasts on best practices in representing all groups and segments in samples, panels, marketing, advertising, and the creative process.

Compile and analyze information about culturally targeted ads, including those with a “Total Marketing Approach”. Develop guidelines on tailoring messaging to individual groups and best practices for incorporating multicultural themes and appealing to a diverse 21st century audience.