The 85% Niche: The Power of Women of All Colors – Latina, Black, and Asian

Citation

El‐Bassiouny, N. (2010), "The 85% Niche: The Power of Women of All Colors – Latina, Black, and Asian", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 394-396. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761011052440

The 85% Niche represents a strong practitioner voice of feminism that lights up the skies of diversity management and anti‐racist practices. On an abstract level, it represents the antecedents and consequences of ethnic consumer segment viability. The USA, as one of the leading multicultural nations in the world, holds vast marketing opportunities to ethnic populations that to‐date remain at the fringes of marketing strategies of most corporations. Muléy advocates a paradigm shift with respect to normative diversity marketing tactics related to women in general and women of color in specific. She highlights that women of color are unnecessarily marginalized both in terms of recruitment and target segmentation, and she consistently breaks down myths related to marketing to women of color. She also stands proudly against perceptual generalizations that emanate from stereotyped images of women and beauty in the media and notes the problems with marketing appeals to women that are based on those stereotypes (a comparison of women of color values and mainstream values is summarized in the book pp. 45‐48).

Muléy's description of the consumer psychology and dynamics of the marginalized women‐of‐color market, both as consumer decision makers and as influencers, is among the main objectives and strengths of the book. An impartial reader who flips carefully through the pages of the book, closes it, and reflects on all the issues raised in the book, would really appreciate the struggling determination to succeed and achieve work‐life balance of all women of color. A manager who goes through the same exercise would not only develop a conviction of the imperative of getting women of color into mainstream marketing activities, but also would develop a sense of connection with women of color. Muléy's writing style not only transmits mental messages (in an effort to perfectly close a rational argument) but also transmits emotional cues that portray the earned respect due to all women of color. These emotional cues come from the author's strong affinity and passion for her cause. Muléy notes proudly that America has come a long way to finally witness a first lady who is indeed a woman of color.

Contrary to popular impressions about women, Muléy firmly believes that “women can have it all” and identifies herself as being “on a journey to make the ‘invisible visible’ (and mentions that her) sole intent is to raise awareness of the unique cultural and ethnic differences apparent among women and to discuss how these differences impact the success of marketing, sales, and recruitment strategies directed to these audiences” (p. xv‐xviii). And again very early on, Muléy rephrases her objective as aiming at challenging “myths about women as one, single monolithic group” (p. xix) and strongly criticizes “a corporate infrastructure that is absent women leaders” (p. 9).

When choosing a segment, companies opt for sustainability and financial gain. Based on that premise, how could the demands of a $1 trillion consumer segment be marginalized? Due to her consulting experience, the author also consistently portrays further the tremendous diversity embedded within the segments of women of color which take managers to sort of a glocalization strategy. The main essence of The 85% Niche is highlighting the marketing implications of this viable segment and giving straight bullet point advice on how companies could hedge against this trend before it is too late. First impressions last when it comes to women of color. Once a prospect is lost, it is very difficult for a company to regain its brand equity (clear on p. 91; see also p. 61, 71, and 84 for Leading Voices Interviews with women of color).

The 85% Niche is first and foremost an easy‐read about the impact of a viable yet marginalized consumer segment (with unique cultural and ethnic heritage) on mainstream strategic management and marketing. There is a clear identified gap in the literature that comprehensively relates diversity to strategic business plan development.

After putting the key definitions in a strong disclaimer that highlights the intricacies of defining segments of (and within) women of color, and identifies clearly the author's intentions of not suggesting superiority/inferiority of “any one group over another” (p. xviii), the book delves into a fact‐based critique of not considering women in general as a core market. This is followed by a rationalization of the opportunity cost of not marketing to women of color as an increasing marketing imperative and a source of sustainable competitive advantage to first‐movers in the important sectors and industries for women of color such as the automotive industry, the food and beverage industry, the healthcare industry, and the financial industry. According to Muléy (p. 19), “women of color are the catalysts of sweeping change across every sector of America”. They assume several consumer roles including gatekeepers, influencers, and decision makers. Muléy also notes the progression of women of color through the chronology of organized efforts in the form of NGO's, coalitions, conferences and journals (see pp. 40‐45).

The organization of the book is profound and easy to follow. Every few pages, Muléy includes many summaries and snapshot tables that summarize the main points in the subsections within each chapter (pp. 21, 39, and 125 are good examples). The first part (Chapters 1‐3) establishes the basis for diversity strategic marketing management but also the need for The 85% Niche endeavor. The second part (Chapters 4‐6) moves on to highlighting the consumer psychologies and key insights related mainly to Latinas as a major ethnic segment, followed by the African women market, and then the Asian American market. Those three major ethnic groups are analytically‐compared, ranked, and cross‐analyzed in terms of demographics, affluence and purchasing power, consumer behavior, family lifecycle, and cultural heritage, highlighting opportunities and dismantling myths related to every group. The author identifies herself as an Afro Latina (p. xxiii), and notes strongly that “within 20 years, the majority of all US children under age 18 will be Latino, Black, or Asian American”. The third part (Chapters 7 and 8) notes the overlap between diversity, gender, and family lifecycle in terms of motherhood and its consumer implications as well as entrepreneurship trends among powerful and successful women of color. The fourth part (Chapters 9‐12) represents the capstone of the whole message of the book in terms of strategic marketing and recruitment strategies. Specifically, Chapter 9 is the star chapter, which gives key insights on how easily managers, now that they are convinced of the viability of the ethnic women market, could boost diversity management on both recruitment and marketing levels. A key recruitment insight that is recurrent in the book is establishing work‐life balance flexibility programs for ethnic women of color since family coherence is at the core of their culture. Chapters 10‐12 portray three case studies of leading corporations that have really reaped the fruit of properly managing diversity in the fields of automotive, personal care, and financial industry.

Muléy gives detailed advice to all managerial levels, starting off with CEOs all the way to marketing strategists. The broad framework of Muléy key insights is to:

1. 1.

   reach a conviction about the importance of putting women of color in mainstream marketing efforts;

2. 2.

   comprehend the distinct women‐of‐color segment and its demands;

3. 3.

   connect with it through partnering with associations and NGO's that research or deal philanthropically with women of color;

4. 4.

   incorporate the unique segment‐within‐segment demands of women of color in the company's sustainable marketing agenda and capitalize on opportunities proposed (as opposed to just ad hoc diversity management tactics); and, finally

5. 5.

   work for “internal alignment” of workforce with external diversity marketing (p. 164).

A good example of an opportunity proposed is for “pharmaceutical companies that are interested in increasing market share among Caribbean communities should address cultural preferences for natural, holistic healing versus prescription medicine only” (p. 103). This reviewer, thus, holds the view that a failure to capitalize on Muléy's key insights would result in a severe marketing myopia (Levitt, 1960), and in a disadvantaged ethnic group which would thus stand in violation of the basic philosophies of marketing management, and more so of the Societal Marketing Concept advocated by Kotler and Armstrong (2006). Marketing is more often than not substantially confronted with the ethical grounding of its strategies and tactics.

The main research methodology of the book centers around 200 in‐depth qualitative interviews with multiple related stakeholders (360‐degree perspectives) that include consumers, business owners, and consultants in order to obtain the profound analysis especially found in parts two and three of the book as well as develop the case studies of General Motors and others portrayed in part four of the book. She relied heavily on US census reports that reflect the rigorous statistical analysis that aim at conveying the substantial size and power of Latinas, African, and Asian American women. Muléy also strongly recommends ethnographic observations of women of color as a main marketing research method that would generate strong insights (pp. 172‐3).

The present reviewer gets a strong impression about women of color portrayed as struggling survivors who have a unique cultural heritage that needs to be attended to. To add another point, diversity recruitment as well as internal collaborative diversity management is essential for companies to capitalize on the unique entrepreneurial spirit of women of color. This entrepreneurial spirit is evident in one Latina voice, which says, “when I mentor young women, I work to help them understand to be self empowered, take initiative, be smart about what you're doing, ask questions but only after you've really tried to answer them on your own. And be creative; don't let boundaries stop you; never let someone else tell you what your potential is or your capability. You know that in your heart and reach for the stars every time … ” (p. 75).

Despite the existence of a substantial gap in the diversity literature, this book is mainly from practitioners and for practitioners. Managers who realize the importance of marketing to women of color are advised to read the book's introduction and then skip to Chapter Nine onwards. Managers/marketers who are not yet convinced need to read the chapters that relate to their targeted ethnic audiences, whether Asian women, African women, or Latinas, and then also read chapter nine onwards. Marketing executives who need to bolster a strong rationalization of diversity marketing tactics in front of higher management executives can certainly applause and make use of the profound statistical analysis of the women of color segment in The 85% Niche that do not stop at analyzing the current state but that move on to projections and hedging against the future. My final words are Muléy's: “The harsh realities of our economic times demand a parallel strategy of growth among all viable audiences to maximize sales” (p. xxvii).