The Advertising World: How Cultural Diversity Makes its Mark

In all work settings there is bound to be some diversity. Whether it is intended by the organization or not depends, but one thing is for certain. Cultural diversity in advertising can have a wide-ranging impact on both the company itself, and relations with other similar businesses. The goals of these businesses, on the other hand, is not always to make the best advertisements. Some companies use the hiring of more diverse employees as simply a tactic to better their organization's look and "feel".

Cultural diversity is an issue in all fields of business, but in recent years it has become especially important in the advertising world. Firms are starting to make relations with other companies, on the basis of diversity, and the minority population is starting to become more prominent in the field as well.

Aron Rudman, a graduate with a degree in Marketing from the University of Maryland discusses the benefits of hiring a culturally diverse employee in the advertising world:

What are the benefits of a more culturally diverse firm?

It is no surprise that companies have started to hire employees with a more diverse cultural background,  some to benefit business, and some to benefit the company's relations with other advertising firms, and the minority population alike. According to Advertising Age, a website dedicated to the news and current events going on in the advertising world, as of 2011 there has been an upward trend in the hiring of more hispanic employees. Not to get a more diverse point of view in the company, but to win more business from Hispanic firms and companies. Advertising firms are finally figuring out that if a Hispanic company wants to have an ad made, they are going to be more receptive to a Hispanic employee working with them. While this is just one example of how a diverse firm can impact the advertising business itself, the same can be said for many different minority populations and backgrounds.

But do the advertisement consumers actually care how culturally diverse a firm is?

Put yourself in the shoes of a minority viewing an ad that is clearly targeted at your demographic. A good example could be a commercial encouraging applications from diverse students. Would you care who actually made the ad? On the other hand, I started to wonder if a minority team producing the ad made any difference as opposed to a regular team of employees that aren't specially put together for ads such as this one. Mr. Rudman weighs in on the issue:

Firms such as WPP's Group M North America have made new positions in recent years, such as a "full-time diversity recruiter" to find, hire, and eventually lead groups of employees with different ethnic backgrounds. CEO Rob Norman says "Diversity hiring has occupied more of my time then I thought it would since taking the CEO role." Going along with this, it is not only the job of the advertising company to hire a more diverse staff, but it becomes an issue to create a work environment that is suitable and open to different cultural backgrounds. This has always been an issue in the past, and up until recently diversity hiring was not prevalent in the advertising business world. Because of this, big agencies such as Group M trying to make a splash in the "diversity game" really adds a whole new aspect of competition to the business.

Relations with other advertising firms, potential clients, and minority audiences can suffer without the presence of a diverse staff.

The advertising world has greatly changed in the last one hundred years. Obviously with new mediums for advertising popping up every day, the business was going to change. From newspapers, to radio, to television, to online advertising, and even up to social media advertising, everything is constantly changing. This also holds true for the minority population in our country. Every year for the last twenty, the rate of minorities in our country has steadily increased, to the point that soon the US will become a "majority minority" country, where minority populations are just as prevalent as the majority. 

Just like the mediums of advertising changed throughout the years, so did the audience, which lead to this change in advertising firms. Firms, although recently, have finally realized that they are open to criticisms if they do not have diversity within. That being said, if the quality of advertisements don't suffer, and it is possible for them to increase business with other diverse companies, there is no reason for advertising firms to not hire employees of a more diverse background. It is somewhat like the idea of hedging your bet, or covering your back. If you MIGHT receive criticisms for not doing something that can't hurt such as hiring a more diverse team, then why not do it? Advertising firms today have come to this realization, and even the biggest firms have started to succumb to the pressure, as well as learning about the benefits they can reap.

listen to ‘Difference in minority advertising ’ on Audioboo

Expert Questions

How Cultural Diversity Impacts Advertising Organizations and Relations

In today's society the advertising business has many different faces and backgrounds, that all bring a unique perspective and different creative mind to their respective advertising companies or agencies. The diversity in the workplace can have a heavily impacting effect on communication both in the company/agency, or with other companies. Since advertising is mostly done with a target audience in mind, it is extremely important to hear feedback from members of the organization with diverse backgrounds, as well as to use them as a way to find common ground with people of a different culture.  It is also generally accepted that in American advertising and society as a whole, individualism is valued very highly. So by hiring employees of many different cultural backgrounds advertising companies can show how individualism and diversity are very important to them. Potential business partners as well as individual consumers will notice that, and the company will appeal more to them. Taking all of this into account, one question I would ask an expert is "are these advertising companies hiring more diverse minority talent to actually benefit their company? Or are they simply doing it to try and reverse the trend of a lack of cultural diversity in the advertising world?" Some companies think it's such a tough issue to tackle that they have actually assembled diversity recruitment teams, whose main purpose in the company is to scout and hire more diverse employees. Cultural diversity can be a cornerstone of an advertising agency, a mere afterthought, or a fake priority used to boost reputation and business. The complexity of its impact in organizations, and how it effects relations with other businesses alike cannot be overlooked.  Another question I plan on asking an expert has to do with consumers. Assuming the average audience of  does not know exactly who made an advertisement, would they care either way if it was a typical white male or a culturally diverse minority? Does it make a difference in the advertisement itself?

http://audioboo.fm/boos/1330784-cultural-diversity-impact-in-advertising

GPS Has Orbital Impact

The Global Positioning system also known as GPS is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in any weather condition, anywhere on Earth. It provides necessary capabilities to various groups such as the military and the use of ordinary citizens to get from point a to point b. A GPS receiver calculates its position by precisely timing the signals sent by GPS satellites high above the Earth. Each satellite continually transmits messages that include the time the message was transmitted, and the satellite position at the time of message transmission. The receiver uses the messages it receives to determine the transit times of each message and computes the distance to each satellite using the speed of light. These distances and satellites’ locations are used to compute the location of the receiver using the navigation equations. This location is then displayed on a map most likely with moving latitudes and longitudes. 

In most GPS operation, four or more satellites must be visible to acquire a precise result. Four sphere surfaces generally do not intersect. Therefore, the navigation equations solution gives the position of the receiver along with accurate time, eliminating the need for a very large and expensive clock. 

Even though four satellites are required for normal GPS operations, fewer can be used in some cases. If one variable is already known, a receiver can determine its position using only three satellites. For example, an airplane has a known elevation, so receivers may use additional assumptions such as altitude to give a position when less than four satellites are visible from its location.

Each GPS satellite continuously broadcasts a navigation message on L1 C/A and L2 P/Y frequencies at a rate of 50 bits per second. Each message takes 750 seconds to complete. All satellites broadcasts at the exact same frequencies. Signals are encoded using code division multiple access (CDMA) allowing messages from individual satellites to be distinguished from each other based on distinct encodings for each satellite. Two specific types of CDMA encodings are used: the course/acquisition (C/A) code, which is the encoding used by the general public, and the precise P/Y code, which is encrypted so that it can only be accessed by the United States military. 

GPS satellites fly in medium Earth orbit (MEO) at an altitude of about 20,200 km. Each satellite revolves all the way around the Earth twice a day. Satellites in the GPS constellation are arranged into six evenly spaced orbitals surrounding the Earth, each containing four slots occupied by baseline satellites. This twenty-four slot arrangement guarantees that there are at least four satellites in view from practically any point on Earth. 

The Master Control Station in Colorado is where 2SOPS implements the primary control segment functions, providing command and control to the GPS constellation. The MCS produces and uploads navigation menus and ensures that the satellites are working appropriately and that it has not been damaged or harmed in any way. It receives navigation messages from the monitor stations; they utilize this information to compute the defined locations of the GPS satellites, and then uploads the data to the satellites. 

Monitor stations also track the GPS satellites as they orbit and channel their observations back to the master control station. Monitor stations gather atmospheric data, range/carrier measurements, and navigation signals. 

         Although the distance to satellites can only be roughly estimated at first, a GPS receiver can precisely calculate these distances relative to each other. A GPS receiver knows the location of the satellites, because that information is included in satellite transmissions. By approximating how far away a satellite is, the receiver also recognizes it is located somewhere on the surface of a sphere centered at the satellite. Then, it determines the sizes of several spheres, one for each individual satellite. The receiver is located where these spheres intersect. 

         The accuracy of a GPS depends on the type of receiver. Most hand-held GPS units have approximately 10-20 meter accuracy. Other more advanced forms of receivers use a method called Differential GPS (DGPS) to obtain a much higher percentage of accuracy. DGPS demands an additional receiver fixed at a known location nearby. Observations made by the stationary receiver are used to correct positions recorded by roving units, producing accuracy greater than 1 meter. When the system was created, timing errors were inserted into GPS transmissions to limit the accuracy of non-military GPS receivers to about 100 meters.  This part of GPS known as Selective Availability was eliminated in 2000. 

Photo Depicts Major Development in Health Industry

Last thursday, a historic breakthrough to the Health Industry came to the national attention. What used to be just a hopeless dream of Americans with impaired eye sight, has now become a reality. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration just recently approved a device created by Second Sight Medical Products called the bionic eye. This new device won't completely restore eyesight for the blind, but will enable these impaired individuals to differentiate between light and dark. The device was created to treat a rare type of blindness called retinitis pigmentosa, which is a genetic eye condition in which cells of the retina gradually deteriorate. The photo posted by CNN depicting this medical breakthrough does an outstanding job of getting through to viewers of this article. When viewers see an article headline about a bionic eye, their initial reactions are skeptical for the most part. The idea of a bionic eye is very futuristic, almost cartoonish in a way as if it were depicting an action figure. However, this image does wonders with sending a positive message about the future for visually impaired people and health care in general. The clarity and purity of the eye in the image does an amazing job of eliminating doubts of the products "realness". It's said that photos can elicit emotions in a way that words can't. This photo can deliver hope and belief to those in need through its qualities. This photo confirms the truth that major developments and progressions in the health industry are well under way and the future is very bright.

Digital Media: In Your Face

I believe that digital media are more likely to go in the direction of open, diversified, democratic media as time progresses. As digital media evolves from what it was just five years ago to today, there continue to be new methods for companies and people to express there product and services. Twitter and Facebook along with Linkedin and other such companies have turned companies from simple black and white advertising into tech savvy business's. Customer loyalty programs have recently become very popular in order to bring customers in and then reward them for coming back. Both the android marketplace and apple app store have become the newest ways for companies to offer there services to the ever expanding markets. By placing there product within peoples smart phones that they have on them all the time they are more likely to see an increase in volume usage due to the convenience. I see this trend continuing to grow for the following years. As google's stock continues to sore to record highs, so does there market presence. Google controls 62% of online advertising while Facebook controls 11% and the rest is controlled by random advertising outlets. Facebook now has 1/7 of the entire world on its website. Business's are committing millions of dollars into growing and maintaining there digital media presence in order to compete in the global market. Companies like Google, Nike, and Gatorade are paying companies hundreds of millions to compete for them for advertising space online, in newspapers, and on television. This picture demonstrates the many different processes that go into the organization and maintenance of advertising.

 Without the many different facets of the organization working tirelessly to build and maintain your market presence you will fall behind in the ever changing digital age. One such area that has seen tremendous growth is in surveillance. Whether a hurricane is about to hit south Florida, or Brett Favre has just admitted to using human growth hormone, digital media follows the story with great diligence. It almost becomes irritating at certain points because be it the TV on every channel or online at every website they are all following the same stories with the same information. Some news companies have been receiving criticism for expanding there stories with lies and false truths to try and grow there ratings. If digital media had gone the opposite direction and was conformed to one company buying up in multiple areas then all advertisements would be uniform. Were this to happen there would be no draw for the consumer to choose product A over product B. This would be bad for not only the consumer, but for the entire market due to its uniformity and lack of actual creativity. The digital media age has been growing expansively for the past few years and will continue to grow for the upcoming years to make every company better in the long term by putting quality over money in order to try and gain market dominance. I truly believe that digital media will become an extensive, wide-reaching, and diverse medium that will inform the world at the touch of a screen.