Collage Cultural Fluency Summit: Reimagining Inclusive Marketing to Drive Growth

On October 9th, Collage is hosting its annual Cultural Fluency Summit where it will unveil new America Now: Reimagining Inclusive Marketing to Drive Growth trended research about the environment consumers live in and the cultural transformation that is accelerating. 

Our principal finding for 2024 indicates that consumers from every diverse cultural background want brands to evolve how they embrace inclusivity in marketing.  Consumers are now less focused on diverse representation as an ends, than on the specific attributes they see as the benefits of inclusive marketing, including: spotlighting their real-life experiences, uniting around shared struggles, and emphasizing cultural co-creation.  And yet we find this appreciation must always be grounded in the specific life experiences associated with different demographic groups across race ethnicity, gender, generation and sexual orientation. 

What’s new is consumer emphasis on the intersectionality of these backgrounds and the foregrounding of lived experience, rather than on identity per se.  We call this next frontier “Representation 3.0” – which reveals a clear roadmap for marketers to win and grow with the next evolution of inclusive marketing. 

A sneak peak of this new content includes:     

• New Research Unveiling: The “America Now: Reimagining Inclusive Marketing to Drive Growth” study will be presented, focusing on evolving consumer expectations.
• Consumer Engagement Shift: It’s time to move beyond mere representation in advertising and emphasize the power of everyday experiences and struggles.  Since 2020, satisfaction with portrayals of their race & ethnicity has grown significantly from 55% to 65% in 2023. But, now that satisfaction appears to have hit a ceiling and has decreased for the first time since 2020 (down 2pp to 63%).
• Generational Trust Gap: Only 36% of Gen Z believe the U.S. is a trustworthy country aligned with their values, compared to 60% of Boomers. There is also a gap with values that match their own (Gen Z: 36% vs Boomers: 55%).  
• Slowed National Momentum: Just 19% of Americans feel the country is “on the rise,” reflecting a widespread sense of stagnation. In 2024, the top issues American consumers want to hear brands address are Protecting Data Privacy and Fighting Inflation.  
• Shared Cultural Experiences: There is a desire to have more shared cultural experience again and take a break from the niche content era. 79% of Americans either like or are indifferent to brands participating in cultural moments, indicating a demand for authentic brand engagement. This is even higher among younger Americans, multicultural Americans, and LGBTQ+.

At the heart of this summit is the increasingly urgent need for brands to develop cultural fluency by evolving their inclusive marketing practices to break the cycle of backlash and tap into unrealized growth in 2025.  Collage’s Cultural Fluency summit will serve as a platform to explore how brands can respond to these consumer expectations effectively, learn best practices from the CMO panel, and foster networking with peers across different industries, 

Stay tuned for more details on the agenda and speakers as we countdown to this pivotal event. Together, let’s unlock the potential of cultural fluency and pave the way for a more inclusive future.