By Jennifer Mathis, SVP Media Director

While most Americans would say the pandemic has impacted their lives, this is disproportionately true for minority communities. Black and Latino Americans are not only dying at a higher rate, they are seeing greater economic impacts than their white counterparts. Understanding the pandemic impact on minority communities is important for marketers to ensure they are, as C-K is recommending to all clients, leading with empathy in their marketing communications.

The numbers are staggering for the black community and health concerns are top of mind:

We see similar trends in the Latino community, plus economics are a major concern:

Why is this happening?

These communities are more likely to be employed in jobs considered essential services, like transportation and healthcare, that put them on the front lines of the pandemic. . The daily risk they encounter as part of their jobs, combined with disparities in access to healthcare and insurance coverage, can have disastrous circumstances within these communities.

What does this mean for marketers?

We’ve been hearing a lot about new consumer segments being developed as part of the pandemic. In the MRI/Simmons study, consumers fall into two groups, Nervous and Accepting, and they have very different comfort levels and viewpoints on how to “return to normal.” More recently, the EY Future Consumer Index broke consumers into four groups representing spending attitudes which include segments like ‘Cut Deep,’ ‘Stay Calm, Carry On,’ ‘Save and Stockpile’ and ‘Hibernate and Spend.’

It’s important to understand your audience and where they fall within these segments combined with the lens of the overall impact the virus is having within certain communities.

Bottom line, know your target.

The widespread impact of the pandemic makes it even more important than ever to really know your audience and what they’re experiencing right now. To learn more in-depth details about different segments, and gain actionable insights, C-K has been successfully and quickly leveraging a mix of syndicated research tools and custom research. Many of our syndicated data partners are fielding specific COVID-19-related surveys which can prove informative to ensure brands are aware of differences across different segments of the population. This includes important financial changes as well as the emotional impact which are key to developing a strategy that isn’t tone deaf and insensitive during the weeks and months ahead.