NEW YORK ? A Kimberly-Clark executive at the third annual Total Market Summit affirmed that casting people of color and minorities is imperative when developing new video advertisements for mobile, online or television platforms.

During the ?Total Market Enterprise Masterly Level III and IV? session, the executive stressed the importance of including representations of all ethnicities in digital advertising, as consumers appreciate the relevance of seeing actors indicative of their backgrounds. Kimberly-Clark, which encompasses brands such as Huggies and Kleenex, also ensures that it has employees manning its Spanish-language social media sites and chat boards so that Hispanic customers can easily converse with company representatives.

?Today, if you are running a business in this country, you are a multicultural marketer no matter what role you have,? said Lizette Williams, senior brand manager at Kimberly-Clark.

Differentiating mobile video
The casting for digital video advertisements has shifted in recent times, especially as major brands such as Kimberly-Clark ramp up to market to ethnic audiences in a more relevant way. Creating videos with Hispanic or African-American actors is one step along the marketer?s journey to adopting a total market approach.

Fifty percent of babies born in the United States are Asian, African-American or Hispanic, meaning that brands must be cognizant of this fact when choosing actors for mobile or online videos.

Additionally, videos on YouTube or other platforms should be inclusive of other demographics that have not been as well-represented in the past. Kleenex recently unveiled a new online spot featuring a same-sex couple getting married, which ended up with the biggest amount of shares across social media out of 20 other vignettes released.

As individuals increasingly consume more mobile video, this channel could be an effective avenue for brands that want to demonstrate that they understand there is more than one type of typical customer.

?The total market conversation has been a blessing and a curse,? Ms. Williams said. ?We as leaders have to be very careful in how this is communicated to the broader industry.?

The total market philosophy encourages brands to use a cohesive strategy to target each available market, therefore eliminating concerns for alienating multicultural customers.

Teaming up with the right agency partners can help marketers achieve this goal, although many agencies are still operating with antiquated approaches of marketing to consumers of color.

One risk of total market strategy is that some agencies or vendors may seek to capitalize on it even though they are not qualified to engage with ethnic audiences, per Ms. Williams.

Social media?s reach
Kimberly-Clark also ensures that it has Spanish-speaking employees at the helm of its social media pages, so that they may respond to Hispanic customers posting questions, concerns or comments.

The sheer reach of mobile enables the company to communicate with all customers in ways that are best-suited to them.

A Kimberly-Clark executive at eTail West 2015 suggested that brands and retailers should leverage data as a currency and work together to optimize consumers? experiences via shared loyalty programs and user-specific customer promotions (see story).

The brand also leverages mobile to help millennial moms through the potty-training process and influence purchase decisions (see story).

Ultimately, success when implementing total market approaches will only come if brands pay attention to the details.

?You can have all the strategy in the world,? Ms. Williams said. ?If you drop the ball on execution, it doesn?t matter what?s in your business plan.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely, staff writer on Mobile Marketer, New York