Targeting People of Caribbean Heritage
Submitted by Taran on Wed, 09/14/2005 - 11:20
Jamaicans.com has an interesting article, '4 Common Errors Marketers Make When Targeting People of Caribbean Heritage'. While it targets marketers, it does highlight a few things that probably everyone should know about our region of the world - the islands floating off the East of South America, and Belize and Guyana. The Caribbean.
In fact, a few people in the Caribbean should read the article.
Going through the article, point by point, I'll flesh it out a little.
1. Stereotyping all Caribbean People as one
The most common mistake many marketers make is assuming that the Caribbean people in North America are homogeneous. Even though most of the Caribbean people in North America are either Jamaican or Haitian descent, the other islands cannot be neglected. The Caribbean community is diverse and each group should be considered a niche. The people from the Caribbean are also very patriotic,adamantly identifying with their country of birth. If your Caribbean marketing campaign doesn't address each island individually chances are it will fail. It may seem as a strategic way to categorize a marketing campain by a region, however in many cases, you may end up offending the target group.
It's not just about islands.
The Caribbean is a diverse melting pot, where the original inhabitants - the Amerindians - are a minority, and in some countries are extinct. So I guess there's not much marketing for the Amerindian market necessary, but I'm not certain that the Amerindians necessarily want anything that a company would want to sell. They are unpeople to marketers because they don't have sufficient buying power for marketers to think that they are worth the time.
Then there are different languages in the Caribbean. In order of majority to minority languages: Spanish, French, English, Dutch. And in case anyone forgot with all the trade embargos, Cuba is geographically a part of the Caribbean. CARICOM is predominantly English speaking, which lends it's own connotations on how the English speaking Caribbean sees itself.
Then there are races - from Amerindian, to descendants from Europe who are also a minority, to descendants from Africa who are the majority, and descendants from India who in the majority of the Caribbean are a minority - and are ultimately a mhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/favorites/
Taran's Flickr Favoritesinority within the region. Then there's the mixing between these races as well.
And then there are cultures. Descendants from Africa can claim their heritage from Africa, though because of slavery, there has been some relearning done - to be robbed of a culture by the slave trade (which included Africans) is an indignity that has, in itself, helped create a new culture within the Caribbean that is based on what was left of the African cultures (slaves did not come from just one tribe, and each tribe had it's own culture) that came here. Those from India brought their own cultures and subcultures, which were maintained within the Caribbean - and include Hindu culture and Islam culture. There are Chinese, and Syrians as well - and other numerous subgroups. The Europeans who ran the colonies added their own way of doing things, and therefore you have Caribbean influence on these cultures. And on each island, the mix is different.
I can't tell you how many times I told people I was from Trinidad and Tobago, and they tried to mimic an accent from Jamaica to speak to me. Some even said that they thought only 'black people' were in the Caribbean. It must be the tourist brochures, the alternate reality in which marketers and their marks live in. The real Caribbean is much better than any tourist brochure I've seen, and it's worth seeing for what it is - not what you believe it is.
2. Pooling Caribbean people with Black Americans
The next most common mistake categorizing the Caribbean market along with Black American Market. I use the term black American because many Caribbean people do not like the term
my reply on targeting people of caribbean hertiage
i agree black american market should not be infused with the caribbena market i am caribbean descent by my dad and black egyptian native american on my mother side id do see why most caribbenas and caribbean desendants would take offense of such uprudeness of putting black american and caribbean in the same category there is a big diffrenti belevie the market period has put to much infeses on the black culture in the caribbeans i know there are not whoe lot of full blooded caribbeans like my self but its mroe than black culture to the caribbeans culture the caribbena culture is diverse and branching off from diffrent races and tribes but we all hold true to the history and orgin of the oringinal caribbean tribe and thus i think the truth about the caribbean culture should be mroe advertised as caribbean when you see a bunch of black advertize not meaning to offend anyone of african desendant it seems like there advertising africa and not the caribbean culture it is diverse culture and rich thus should me advertise as the caribbean culture i do not deny my african hertiage but i think there too much enfusis on just the african culture what about the latin american south american culture dutch eroupean culture the spanish culture indian culture and native american culture jsut to name of few it be good that the caribbean market could get back to that i know money is import to advertisement but so is the caribbean culture and hold true to that
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