Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard called a late audible on his Association of National Advertisers speech this year—switching things up after meetings yesterday with chief marketing officers convinced him that so-called “general market” marketers need to hear more about multicultural marketing.

Pritchard devoted his speech at the Masters of Marketing in Orlando to an in-depth “Seven Habits to Drive Multicultural Market Growth” look at the business case for spending more to reach diverse audiences. P&G has set a target of reaching 80% to 90% of Black and other multicultural consumers 52 weeks a year in its media buys, he said.

Pritchard had been prepared to repurpose his speech from Cannes about how economic issues are pressuring creativity, but said one of the most significant issues discussed by marketers yesterday was “multicultural marketing, and the major interventions needed in our industry to accelerate progress.”

So, he instead repurposed a speech he gave last week at the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters meeting. He was going to use it again at the upcoming ANA Multicultural Conference. But then he said he thought “No, that would be like preaching to the choir, because the folks at those conferences know what needs to be done. This topic needs to be discussed here, now, at the Masters, with everyone, so we take action individually and collectively to make systemic and lasting change.”

It is a general market conference, after all, and happens to be the ANA's biggest annual event. But Pritchard said it’s time to “retire the archaic term ‘general market,’” since it’s a diverse country. “The new habit to adopt is to build multicultural marketing into the fabric of everyday marketing.”

Many of Pritchard’s points have been in prior speeches, such as the need for better research to incorporate what multicultural consumers really think, and the need for marketing and media buys that don’t just represent diverse groups but also resonate with people in them.

But Pritchard also made a detailed business case for more spending on Black-owned and targeted media with a very specific example of how it’s succeeded for P&G’s Always brand. 

Pritchard said he’s heard the argument from brands that their general market buys reach Black consumers—by reaching 63% of Black audiences vs. a national average of 60%.

“My question back, then, is why are there market-share gaps if you’re reaching more than the national average?” Pritchard said. “Why is 63% considered good? Why can’t we reach 90% of Black consumers?”

Always has market shares 7.5 points above the national average for Black consumers in part because it meets the 80% to 90% weekly reach target and in some age ranges exceeds it.

“It is the single biggest growth opportunity in the market,” Pritchard said of improving sales with multicultural consumers.