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Report Also Reveals Mainstream Tipping Point, as Multicultural/Diverse Consumers Drive Brand Choices for 57% of the General Population

HOUSTON, April 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Direct Digital Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: DRCT) ("Direct Digital Holdings" or the "Company"), a leading advertising and marketing technology platform operating through its companies Colossus Media, LLC ("Colossus SSP"), Huddled Masses LLC ("Huddled Masses") and Orange 142 ("Orange 142"), today released a new whitepaper, Cracking the Code: How Multicultural & Gen Z Reshape Mainstream Marketing. The paper features exclusive research along with insights from industry leaders and academics.

Direct Digital Holdings' research shows that the outsized influence that multicultural and diverse communities have on the brand choices of mainstream consumers – especially Gen Z – should be viewed as a seismic shift by brand marketers to intentionally and authentically connect with multicultural and diverse consumers to promote broader sales.

For the report, Direct Digital Holdings commissioned Horowitz Research to survey over 2,300 U.S. consumers to understand how Black/African American, Hispanic/Latin, AAPI and LGBTQIA+ consumers' brand perceptions and purchase behaviors affect the general population overall, with a particular focus on Gen Z.

The findings show that 81 percent of Gen Zers – the most diverse generation in history – and 72 percent of Millennials say that multicultural and diverse consumers have a big impact on their brand choices, and surprisingly, 48 percent of Gen Xers, and 32 percent of Boomers report the same.

While younger consumers are at the forefront of this market shift, results reveal that the level of multicultural and diverse peoples' influence on the overall market surpasses their current share of the population – with more than half (57%) of today's mainstream consumers saying that multicultural and diverse communities' tastes and opinions strongly influence their own brand preferences.

When looking at the impact specifically on major brand categories, a very high percentage of Gen Zers said that multicultural/diverse communities have an influence on a wide range of product and service choices. Top categories where Gen Z cite big/some influence, include:

  • Food/Restaurants – 90%
  • Fashion – 89% 
  • Entertainment – 88% 
  • Beauty/Wellness – 87% 
  • Household/Cleaning – 82% 
  • Technology – 76%  

Michael Roca, Executive Director of ELEVATE at Omnicom Media Group, shared his thoughts in the whitepaper on what this means for brands....

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