Advertisement can be defined as a form of marketing communication that is used to sell or promote a brand. David Morse wrote “Multicultural Intelligence” which explains the 8 rules of multicultural marketing. The rules include boosting your MQ, dividing and conquering, not trusting the experts, don’t allow the joke to be on you, don’t get lost in the translation, make up don’t cover up, market on a wink and prayer, push their buttons (Morse, 2009).
The black community is one of the most influential advertising target in the United States. The last census reported a growing number of black women, for the first time in history, having passed other minority groups in the United States in college entrance. Apart from soaring high in the academic world the black community have also been very much actively involved in various social media platforms. Some hashtags like #BlackTwitter have featured in the recent age of digital communication (McWilliams, 2016).
David Morse eight make or break rules were utilized in this campaign most specifically rule one, boost your MQ. MQ is the short form for Message Queue. The rule was effectively utilized to make sure the message reached every girl in the community. The crafters of the campaign ad took time to reach the black community and understand their cultural heritage. The black community across the United States believes it takes a community to raise a child. SERVE campaign crafter used this concept with the first David Morse eight make or break rules boost your MQ to their advantage (McWilliams, 2016). SERVE partnered with even the local dress shops to display pregnant mannequins in the windows. This served to ensure that the message queue was sufficiently boosted and as such the message was delivered to the target audience.
Among the eight make or break rules, the divide and conquer is very much liked and used in political marketing. Politicians have used this rule for many years to market themselves to different communities. In the United States this rule is very much in use in the recent campaign adverts. Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton for instance condemns her opponents the Republicans for what she claims is imposing voting restrictions (Schneider, 2015). The presidential candidate advocates for system that leads to eventual citizenship to the illegal immigrants. What the candidate is simply doing is trying to show the divide or even create it so as to conquer and emerge victorious from the divide created (Schneider, 2015). The Republicans on the other hand from their campaign ads are using the same concept of divide and conquer. They oppose what they call blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants. They are against same sex marriages. What is been done is dividing the Country and the citizens along some lines so as to utilize those divisions and come up with solutions for the problems they created. This is an effective marketing strategy for candidates in a country that is heavily but closely divided along either Democratic or Republican line (Schneider, 2015). This can be seen from the results of the last about four presidential elections. The winning percentages are between 48 to 53 percent which goes a long way to show a country with almost equal measure of popularity hence the divide and conquer rule.
The two rules divide and conquer in politics and the boost of MQ in Milwaukee, Wisconsin have helped explain the eight rules of make or break published by David Morse in the Book Multicultural Intelligence.
References
McWilliams, T. (2016). The Eight Make or Break Rules of Multicultural Marketing | Tykia McWilliams.Sites.psu.edu. Retrieved 30 April 2016, from http://sites.psu.edu/talkingwithtykia/2016/03/20/the-8-make-or-break-rules-of-multicultural-marketing/
Schneider, B. (2015). The Huffington Post. Retrieved 30 April 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-schneider/divide-and-conquer_b_7548762.html
Morse, D. R. (2009). Multicultural intelligence: Eight make-or-break rules for marketing to race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Ithaca, NY: Paramount Market Publishing.
