Black-ish, Urban-ish, Latino-ish…

In ABC’s new comedy “Black-ish” the lead character is an executive at a high-profile advertising agency.  In the pilot episode, he gets word that he is being promoted—he assumes he will be named the new SVP of the agency only to find out that he is being made SVP of the new “Urban Division.”  Throughout the episode, this event sparks a comical yet relevant dialogue regarding the role of race in the workplace.

Here’s a funny (to me :-P) clip:

http://abc.go.com/shows/blackish/video/VDKA0_97vxh0xf

Sprint appointed the first Latino to spearhead a telecommunications organization, Marcelo Claure, earlier this year.  This announcement comes at a time when more and more companies are developing Latino and Urban divisions to cater advertisements to minorities.

Thanks to the power of geo-targeting and geo-fencing, marketers can reach their desired audiences more effectively than ever.  For example, because of my zip-code in Miami, I constantly hear Spanish language advertisements on my Pandora and local radio stations.

Claure is the star of the latest Sprint commercial that premiered during the Latin Grammys.  According to Bergen (2014), this is not the first time Sprint has given their CEO a leading role.  However this is the first time the organization’s hierarchal configuration is being revamped to include a “new sales division for Hispanic and multicultural business” (Bergen, 2014, para 12).  Is this a desperate attempt to save the organization or a true socially conscious move towards a more balanced marketing platform?

Developments like these make me wonder, are these “Urban, Black, Latino, Multi-Cultural” #whateveracompanydecidestocallit branches necessary?  A part of me feels as though we are moving backwards—separating audiences by race and culture, while the other part of me feels as though it is a valid and just division of forces.    Perhaps it is because spending power is evolving as minorities become more influential in society or because the needs and wants of minorities do in fact tend to be different.

So is this shift in structure we’re seeing in organizations like Sprint more along the lines of one step forward, two steps back? Or more deserving of a big ol’ it’s about time?

References:

Bergen, M. (2014).  In Sprint’s New Hispanic Marketing Drive, CEO Is the Star Marcelo Claure Touts ‘Value’ In Ad During Latin Grammys.  Advertising Age.  Retrieved from: http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/sprint-s-hispanic-marketing-drive-ceo-star/295939/

ABC Black-ish. (2014).  How does a black guy say “good morning”? Retrieved from: http://abc.go.com/shows/blackish/video/VDKA0_97vxh0xf