Though still in its infancy, multicultural healthcare marketing is making great strides in reaching different cultural groups. "In the past, the role of healthcare PR was often undertaken by the
physician as a means of educating the patients, but now we are seeing a blossoming of outreach in the media channels with healthcare messages," observes Lance Longwell, account coordinator at New York,
N.Y.-based Noonan and Russo Communication.
Some companies started several years ago in the Hispanic market, because they recognized the growing demographics and the availability of media. Now the bellwether state of California, for example, is
51 percent non-white, presaging a time when diverse cultural audiences and sub-markets will themselves comprise a major portion of the overall market.
Until recently, few marketers have been focusing on the Asian-American market, observes Larry Moskowitz, director of strategic services for New York-based Kang & Lee Advertising. But last year,
pharmaceutical giant Glaxo launched a successful campaign for the Hepatitis drug, Epivir in the Chinese community. "They took the time to go into the community and speak with front-line physicians who are
treating the Chinese community," he says.
Many companies that get into multicultural marketing do so through grassroots approaches, engaging the community by, for example, giving grants to healthcare advocacy organizations.
No Substitute for Knowledge and Sensitivity
The first thing marketers have to understand is language dependence and media consumption. For example, although only 69 percent of Chinese-Americans are foreign-born, 83 percent of them prefer to
communicate in a Chinese dialect.
Health consultants and marketing professionals also have to overcome myths that certain immigrant groups are poor or uneducated. The financial services market has longed recognized that Asian Americans
are the most educated, wealthy segment of American society.
Commitment and a long-term view are key to successful healthcare messaging, but without sensitivity to the unique needs and preferences of each culture, one can't hope to have a positive impact. How
does each group like to get its information? What motivates them?
In the Hispanic community, for example, marketers need an awareness of the "respecto" for physicians and pharmacists and the attitude of "fatalismo" towards illness.
According to New York-based Bienestar LCG Communications President Shelly Lipton, Hispanic audiences prefer information in both Spanish and English. The reason is simple--many live in a multi-
generation home with each age group having a different preference. But even Spanish-language materials must be created in Spanish and not translated from English.
Lipton cites an award-winning bi-lingual PR campaign coordinated with Pfizer, called "Guia Para la Buena Salud," dealing with diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, to illustrate his
point.
Trust is another important factor. When you target a minority community, you must target the patient and those around them, because health issues involve the entire family.
In the African-American community, you wouldn't consider a program a success if you didn't figure out a way to tap into the clergy and church networks to educate individuals about screenings or set up
support groups.
Pfizer has done a good job in doing this in the African-American and increasingly in Latino communities, according to Lipton.
Proactive Steps Include Outreach
"Community-based outreach is really important for minority audiences," notes Linda Weinberg, VP of Silver-Spring, Md.-based Prospect Associates. In a cervical cancer program aimed at Native American
women, her group involved the leadership of various tribes from the very beginning.
It also developed a relationship with a Native American entertainer who wrote original music for an educational video, which was launched at a huge gathering celebrating Native American women.
Never assume that what motivates one group will motivate another, or that creative images translate from one culture to another. In targeting an Hispanic audience, Prospect Associates used thunder and
lightning imagery to illustrate the point that you may not be able to control weather, but one can control diabetes.
Weinberg said this would be disastrous for Native American audience because thunder and lightning are negative omens in their culture.
(Shelly Lipton, Bienestar LCG Communications 212/730-7230; Lance Longwood, Noonan and Russo 212/697-4455; Larry Moskowitz, Kang & Lee Advertising 212/889-4509; Linda Weinberg, Prospect
Associates 301/592-3336)