The US is more diverse than ever according to recent census data, and around 22% of people in the United States speak a language other than English at home. That means there are countless opportunities to bridge gaps and celebrate this diversity when it comes to your business.
Savvy brands of all sizes can apply this knowledge to design effective multicultural marketing strategies. Bigger brands may use a multicultural approach to reach specific cultural groups within their target audience. Smaller, more niche brands may use it to connect a product inspired by a specific culture to a broader audience.
Here’s what you need to know about multicultural marketing—how it’s changing, and why it’s important—as well as a few successful approaches and examples.
What is multicultural marketing?
Multicultural marketing is an approach that tailors campaigns to diverse demographic groups by tapping into shared values and preferences. Marketing teams often use key cultural indicators like songs, language, clothing, symbols, and diverse representation to convey their message to the intended audience. This approach broadens brand reach by presenting a more relatable, accessible image to consumers.
Multicultural marketing’s relevance today
The term “multicultural marketing” evolved out of earlier terms like “minority marketing” and “ethnic marketing” from the 1970s. During this era, mainstream corporations began creating campaigns specifically tailored to Black consumers. Attitudes around race and representation in marketing have changed dramatically over the decades since.
“Multicultural marketing” is still widely used to describe efforts targeting diverse audiences in 2026. However some marketing professionals—like Callia Hargrove, founder and CEO of Backstory, an inclusive marketing consultancy—prefer the term “inclusive marketing.”
“It isn’t rooted in ’othering’ people from historically minoritized communities,” Callia says.
Other business leaders don’t distinguish between multicultural marketing and marketing—because today’s shoppers are multicultural consumers.
“As the mainstream consumer becomes more diverse, multicultural marketing is increasingly just a facet of good marketing practices,” Callia says.
Multicultural marketing tactics
- Diverse marketing teams
- Research and data
- Partnerships and collaborations
- Multicultural media placement and content marketing
- Larger social missions
There are several ways to approach multicultural marketing—from engaging a diverse marketing team to seeking key media placements to engaging in brand collaborations. Here are top tactics to try:
Diverse marketing teams
To create authentic multicultural marketing campaigns, you first need multicultural representation on your marketing team. People from different cultural backgrounds can help navigate nuances in language and messaging, and they can bring varied perspectives on events and trends. A diverse team with different life experiences can design a more authentic marketing strategy that speaks to specific consumer segments—and even consumers who speak different languages.
Research and data
If your marketing mandate is to reach consumers in a variety of specific cultural or ethnic groups, let research and data be your guide as you develop campaigns. Reports created by trustworthy research groups are a good starting point. These sources can help you identify media consumption habits, average disposable incomes, retail preferences, and more among consumers in different cultural groups.
But remember: No culture is monolithic, and there are often nuanced points of view that you can learn only from speaking to real people. Go beyond stats and third-party studies, conducting focus groups and interviews to hear directly from customers in these groups.
Partnerships and collaborations
Sometimes the best way to reach customers in multicultural groups is by tapping into another brand’s audience via partnerships and collaborations. In this approach, you can leverage another brand’s credibility to introduce products that may be niche or unfamiliar to their target audience. Or, if your products are more general and the partner brand has a multicultural audience, a partnership allows you to reach a specific target group with your product.
For example, in 2024, condiment brand Fly By Jing, known for its Sichuan chili crisp sauce, and tinned fish brand Fishwife collaborated on tins of smoked salmon with chili crisp. This cross-pollination, each with its own fervent niche following, attracted new customers to both companies.
Multicultural media placement and content strategy
Targeted media placement is another approach to reaching multicultural consumers. For example, if a brand wants to reach a Spanish-speaking audience, it might advertise during popular Spanish-language TV shows, radio segments, or podcasts.
Brands can also incorporate a multicultural lens into their owned content strategy. Take olive oil brand Graza, which ventures beyond traditional Mediterranean-rooted dishes in its social media posts. By incorporating global dishes from Korean pork rib stew to Eastern European latkes, it expands its audience.
Larger social missions
Some businesses have a larger social mission beyond profit, like donating a percentage of sales to particular causes, or sourcing ingredients from vendors within certain parameters. Many incorporate their social mission into multicultural marketing materials, as it can often resonate with a cross-section of potential customers.
For example, Nguyen Coffee’s aim is to bring Vietnamese coffee to American coffee culture, and the brand is built on direct-trade relationships with Vietnamese farmers. According to its mission statement, Nguyen seeks to “change the future of coffee through diversity, sustainability and cultural integrity.”
“Direct trade has been really important and critical to our mission because there was nobody working with Vietnam in this capacity,” founder Sahra Nguyen says in an interview. “The whole industry had relegated Vietnamese coffee to, like, ‘You’re cheap, you’re commodity, you’re commercial, and that’s just where you’re gonna stay.’ For us, being direct trade meant we had to change the system and collaborate with our partners to produce a high-quality Vietnamese coffee.”
Sahra’s work has helped shift misconceptions around Vietnamese coffee, bringing an aspect of Vietnamese culture to kitchens across America.
6 examples of successful multicultural marketing
You can find successful multicultural marketing examples in all sectors, from apparel to home goods. Here are six examples:
1. Our Place
Cookware brand Our Place endeavors to connect its cookware to a variety of cultural groups through cuisine. The brand’s blog has a recipe section that features dishes with global flavors, like suya-crusted fish and a tortilla Española. Its Instagram features dishes ranging from Chinese dumplings to tea cakes.
2. Kulfi
Makeup company Kulfi, named after South Asian ice cream, caters to the South Asian diaspora with classics like pigment-rich kajal eyeliners and concealers available in all skin tones. Kulfi’s website and social media feeds feature a diverse clientele of all ethnicities wearing its products.
3. Loisa
Loisa makes pantry staples like sazón and sofrito, inspired by New York City’s Latin American population. Its marketing materials are tailored to Spanish and English speakers living together in diverse communities. On Instagram, the brand posts everything from memes about Latin music awards show Premio Lo Nuestro to infographics about Caribbean holidays.
4. Sanzo
Sanzo is a sparkling water flavored with traditional Asian fruits. AAPI consumers might have a cultural connection to Sanzo’s flavors, but other customers looking for a healthy sparkling water with low sugar content also connect with the product. According to the brand, 30% to 35% of Sanzo’s customer base is Asian American, and the rest is a cross-section of people, as founder Sandro Roco shares on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast.
5. Graza
Consumers recognize brands that demonstrate cultural sensitivity and inclusivity when they consistently appear in their communities and online spaces. Graza Olive Oil is a New York City–based company selling single origin extra virgin olive oil from Spain. The ubiquitous green bottles sell in mainstream supermarket chains like Whole Foods, as well as in Korean supermarket chain H mart and small specialty markets.
6. De La Calle
Canned beverage brand De La Calle offers a modern twist on the heritage Mexican drink tepache, made from fermented pineapple. De La Calle is marketed as a “modern Mexican soda” rather than a tepache to expand its appeal.
“I think describing it as a Mexican soda unlocks a lot of that existing demand from those second- and third-generation Latinos, but also from other ethnic groups as well,” says cofounder Alex Matthews on an episode of Shopify Masters.
De La Calle has such mainstream appeal that it now sells in Walmart, Whole Foods, and Kroger, among other grocery stores across the US.
Multicultural marketing FAQ
What is the difference between multicultural marketing, cross-cultural marketing, and inclusive marketing?
Many business owners and marketers use these terms interchangeably. They can describe marketing strategies designed to reach a broad group of ethnicities, races, and cultures. They also can apply to targeted campaigns geared toward a particular community.
How can a business ensure its multicultural marketing is not perceived as superficial?
A diverse marketing team can bring alternate viewpoints, opinions, and lived experiences. Research consumer behavior, analyze data, and immerse yourself in consumers’ cultural values and identities. Engaging with target consumer groups—informally or through formal focus groups—can reveal habits, cultural insights, and any challenges faced purchasing products or services.
Is multicultural marketing effective?
When approached respectfully and thoughtfully, a multicultural approach to advertising can help engage consumers. A joint Female Quotient/Google/Ipsos survey found that inclusive ads increase the likelihood of people considering or purchasing a product. This study found that 69% of Black consumers, for instance, are more inclined to buy from brands that positively represent their race or ethnicity.
