Brands must catch up to their media counterparts on appealing to CALD audiences
If you’re one of the 5 million Australians that speak another language, then the chances are you can find media that speaks to you in the language you wish. Mark Saba, founder of LEXIGO, Australia's leading translation and multicultural communication agency, argues brands need to do more to catch up with their media counterparts. It’s not enough to simply advertise around culturally diverse content, the brand needs to speak the language and immerse itself in the culture.
Media and media production is quick to take opportunities not just to grow a traditional set of content but to expand into new, niche areas such as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) programming.
SBS World Watch speaks to the diaspora with news, programs and radio from hundreds of countries around the world. ABC TV has recently launched the program India Now!, which no longer seems niche as according to the last census 710,000 people living in Australia were born in India. That doesn’t begin to count the millions of second generations of Indian descent or native language speakers.
So, if the media can see it, and broadcasters are doing it, why are brands and businesses so slow on the uptake? If the census results show us anything, it’s that Australia is more diverse and multicultural than we ever have been before.
It is no longer enough to simply advertise around culturally diverse content or retrofit translations to meet a growing market. This is not about subtitles or overdubbed marketing assets – very last century. As the richness of the population deepens, the media follow, as do the creative, technology and services available to meet the challenge.
Despite the clear opportunity at hand, many companies are still ignoring multilingual marketing or throwing it into the too hard basket. Or worse, they think it doesn’t apply to them. It’s a missed opportunity in a fast-paced, globalised world, and a market with millions of other language speakers, cultures and market demands.
Authentic, well-conceived multicultural marketing is surprisingly less expensive than it sounds. Businesses need to know that in order to engage with this diverse and growing audience, there are a few steps to implementing an inclusive marketing strategy that will pay dividends.
Multicultural or intercultural?
Culture doesn’t happen in a vacuum and is a culmination of several things: how people and communities engage with family, intergenerational engagement and generational change, education, religion, language, and national identity. Interculturalism refers to connecting with various cultures. Rather than working in isolation, interculturalism sees brands working with different cultures simultaneously.
These intercultural nuances are important for brands to understand and engage with simultaneously, to meet with a wider diverse audience. Australia is a combination of melting pot and delineated cultural interactions.
Everybody’s culture varies slightly. The philosophy of intercultural communication is to understand those nuances and accept that you may not know everything about your audience, or the missed potential within it.
Content and context
The golden marketing rule of knowing your audiences is slipping of late and still so few brands are engaging in multicultural or intercultural marketing to really understand who they are talking to. Brands frequently apply communications at the language level, and rarely give deep consideration to what lies beyond that.
One example is that more than language or country of origin. Religious affiliation or coming from a minority ethnic background are also important aspects to consider. Communication should be a culmination not just of language, but of context and culture. Translation is more than just words; it’s about finding the best way to understand your audience, its issues, its shifts and growth, and to communicate the message authentically. Transcreation fills this gap.
When communication doesn’t have the right cultural context problems may arise as brands are applying their own viewpoint inappropriately. Most multicultural communication in Australia is done with an individualised emphasis – prioritising the idea of the needs of individuals rather than the group – meritocracy, which tends to be a distinctly western nuance.
Many CALD communities are founded on collectivist cultures, which are all about the family unit or community collaboration. Co-operation, dependency and contributing are all behavioural expectations more prevalent in collectivist cultures. Brands need to embrace the cultural and contextual distinctions, and deliver messaging framed correctly for the cultural background of the audience.
Your greatest resources may be closer than you think
While it may seem complex to hold multicultural principles at the outset, it is often easier and more affordable than you might think.
Firstly, a step often overlooked is to survey your networks and organisation for staff who are fluent in a second language (and willing to contribute towards a broader CALD customer base).
Understand who your audience groups are, what languages they speak, where they live and how they consume messaging. A great deal of data is easily found freely online. You can search by region and other demographics on the ABS website which is a treasure trove of information. The Department of Home Affairs and other agencies also collect and analyse data about language preferences and any local councils have detailed analyses of the languages spoken in their community.
A multilayered cultural awareness is an essential foundation for a brand or business targeting CALD Australians and other nationalities overseas. The better you understand your target audience, the better they’ll understand your message. Investing the time to truly understand and speak with your audience. An approach with intent and authenticity will build trust within communities, and with trust comes their confidence in your brand and your purpose.
Mark Saba is the founder of LEXIGO.
