Are the companies you support ‘in the Black’?

August 23, 2012 Filed under COMMENTARIES Posted by admin

Editor’s note: BET Networks recently partnered with several of the country’s largest African-American media outlets to form a media and marketing consortium aimed at encouraging advertisers and marketers to invest more resources in the Black consumer marketplace. The campaign, of which the National Newspaper Publishers Association is a part of, is called #InTheBlack.

Last month, we partnered with some of the country’s leading African-American media outlets to launch the #INTHEBLACK campaign. We wanted to speak with one loud collective voice to educate advertisers and consumers about the power of the African-American consumer and the unique ability the African-American media has in reaching this base directly.

Through our market and audience research we know African-Americans represent over 42 million strong mega-consumers and brand influencers with a buying power of nearly one trillion dollars annually.

Is there enough investment in the strong Black audience from advertisers and key stakeholders?

Just the beginning
This has been a conversation happening in the industry for a long time. At our upfront presentation this year, we tackled the issue head-on, but realized we needed to do more.

We knew we needed to bring together the media entities that are closest to our audience and come up with a unified strategy to address this problem. I couldn’t be more proud of all my peers who have joined this effort.

However, this is just the beginning of an effort with a very long tail. As a next step, we will educate and engage the media buying community.

Buying strength
I grew up reading Jet and Ebony and am so proud to be able to see my daughter, Ava, flip through those same magazines today. It is important that we preserve our historically Black media publications and demand sufficient investments from advertisers as they are the pulse of what is relevant and topical in the African-American community.

As we continue down this road to truly vocalize the depth of African-American spending power, you can visit our website areyoutintheblack.org to keep track of our progress and find out how you can help make sure all our voices are heard.

Debra Lee is chairman and CEO of BET Networks.