Despite the growing commercial importance of  ethnic minorities in the UK, the communities are under-represented in a lot of research. Marketers need to undertand how target the communitities.
 
"Given that roughly 10% of the UK population consists of people from ethnic backgrounds, you would expect to see them similarly represented in qualitative group discussions of eight or nine people," says Quaestor Research & Marketing Strategists senior research executive Shazia Ali, quoted in the article.

"But in my experience this is rare and the industry should examine ways to overcome this."

A step in the right direction, she believes, is to recognise the cultural differences and try to factor these into research studies where possible.

A key issue is to raise awareness of what research is, to increase 'buy-in' from all types of consumer groups.

"You do need specific techniques for accessing the ethnic market," says Ethnos managing director Hamid Rehman told Market Research. He set up a specialist market research business three-and-a-half years ago, convinced that many within ethnic minorities feel outside the mainstream and are suspicious when approached to be interviewed.

Ethnos often conducts its research in community centres rather than plush hotels and tries to match the ethnic background of the interviewer to that of the interviewee.

The agency recently worked with Media Reach Advertising, which has also done work for the Royal Navy, on a Department of Health campaign to reduce smoking in UK Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities. Ethnos found executions using strong images of family or religious associations achieved the highest impact.

Building on diversity

Last year, the broadcaster Sky used Ethnic Focus to research the viewing habits of the UK's two million-strong South Asian community. Sky is the UK's largest distributor of Asian broadcasting, with an output of 17 South Asian TV channels and seven Asian-language digital radio stations.

The findings showed 96% of Sky customers within this community considered these channels - among them Zee TV, Star TV and Sony - as essential, while only 87% felt the same way about BBC1 and 54% about ITV1, says the Market Research Bulletin.

Older viewers and first-generation immigrants felt most strongly. Among the 45-plus age group, 18.5% watched only Asian TV, compared with just 2.1% of third-generation viewers. The research also found 75% of this community had home internet access - compared with a UK norm of 50%.

Beyond this, each of the channels appealed to a particular segment of the community for reasons such as language and age. Ethnic Focus director of research Saber Khan says: "These channels reflect the heterogeneity of the Asian community. Marketers have had the will to reach communities. But what they sometimes need assistance with is to capture the diversity. It's more than just Bollywood or Caribbean - it's capturing the fusion."

Pinning down this 'fusion' of cultural influences and attitudes was a central theme in a major research project commissioned by COI Communications last year, the findings of which are being shared across government departments and agencies.

Connect Research and Turnstone Research collaborated on the six-month 'Common Good' work, which researched population samples from the Chinese, Black African, Black Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani,  Bangladeshi and mixed-race communities.

"We are trying to develop ways of thinking about how identity changes in different contexts," says Turnstone director Philly Desai in the article. "At home you may feel part of your ethnic background, but at college or work you may feel part of the mainstream."

It also found that black youngsters feel their contribution to British society and popular culture is often overlooked, especially by the mainstream UK media. "They see themselves as influencing things such as Beckham's hairstyle and Justin Timberlake's music. If brands can understand this and use it in a subtle way, it could put them ahead. One good way for a brand to take the lead would be to use positive, unexpected representations of black or Asian people," says Desai.

Desai cites a TV ad for BT, showing the wedding preparations of Afro-Caribbean and Scottish
families, as an execution that works well and one that has proved universally popular with ethnic focus groups.

Leach argues that more brands should undertake ethnic minority market research since it offers a route map to how the UK will look and think in the future. He says: "Ethnic groups don't just absorb white Anglo-Saxon culture, they actively influence the development of that culture. Most brands have an ignorance of it because most agencies are non-multicultural. If you can get ahead of the curve and be a brand for new Britain, you'll win in five or ten years' time."

An example of this sort of potential was the first London Mela, held by Ealing Council last summer to celebrate Asian culture, which attracted 50,000 people.

Multicultural approach

Media Reach Advertising managing director Saad Saraf says things are improving. "When we started 17 years ago, few people wanted a black or brown guy next to their brand and they made it abundantly clear. Now they are more and more in demand."

Saraf's agency has produced ads for West Bromwich Building Society, which feature a young Asian. West Bromwich has 48 branches and in 2002, after conducting local research, it launched a mortgage specifically for Muslims, as the paying of interest is prohibited by Islamic law.

West Bromwich also decided to involve its staff, says head of relationship marketing Richard Purser. Punjabi language training was given to some, and those already proficient in an Asian language were put on a database so skills could be matched to customer needs. Branches were also sent promotional material in the predominant language of the local community.

If marketers really want to understand consumers in Britain, they must ensure their market research presents a true picture of the target market.

by Don de Silva

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