S P O N S O R E D B Y :
How Well Do You Know Your Market?
By Jennifer Millman
September 15, 2006
Technology has transformed the
nature of the communications industry, creating opportunities in new markets.
Today, improved access and affordability give consumers the power of choice. Is
cable prepared for the challenge?
The 20th annual National
Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) Conference kicked off
at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New
York this week with a candid
discussion of the facts:
|
Challenges |
|
• Inertia.
Those in power want to maintain the status quo.
• We
can't find recruits of
color.
• We
don't know our consumer base well enough.
• People
have different concepts of diversity.
• Senior and
middle managers are not engaged. |
1) Diversity-related
progress has stalled
2) Companies could know their
markets better
NAMIC conducted a benchmarking
study in conjunction with DiversityInc to evaluate diversity progress within the
industry, which DiversityInc Partner and Cofounder Luke
Visconti presented at the conference's
opening session. Fourteen NAMIC member companies participated in the survey.
While these multiple-service operators and programming networks have upped
representation of people of color in senior management since 2004, declining
numbers of middle- and entry-level managers of color suggest there's a problem
in the pipeline.
Some panelists expressed
difficulty in finding recruits of color. There's an obvious solution to that
problem. "Set goals,
accomplish them and fire people who can't achieve their goals," said
Visconti.
NAMIC's panel of experts agree
that the business case for diversity is indisputable. So why hasn't the
cable industry, with the exception of companies such as Cox Communications (No.
32), HBO (No. 5) and Turner Broadcasting Systems (No. 7), all in The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50
Companies for Diversity, made good on this commitment?
|
Solutions |
|
• Establish a task force, diversity
council or executive committee focused singularly on advancing diversity.
• Set goals and
enforce accountability for recruiting top diverse talent.
• Use employee-resource groups as a marketing and recruiting tool.
• Create common points of definition
• Communicate relevancy so the purpose of each diversity
initiative is clear. |
"You can be a very good company in
this industry, for now, and not pay that much attention to [diversity],"
acknowledged Insight Communications President and COO Dinni Jain, who was one of
NAMIC's two honorary co-chairs, in a pre-conference interview with DiversityInc.
"One of the great things about this industry is that it's rife with opportunity
and there's a lot of low-hanging fruit. [Our competitors have been] growing and
we're growing."
But the market is changing, and
fast. Companies' long-term viability depends on their ability to connect with
multi-ethnic consumers.
Consider trends in broadband
adoption, for example. Broadband adoption among blacks
grew an astounding 121 percent in the last year alone, according to the Pew
Internet & American Life Project, and Latino usage may surpass that of
whites in the next year. People of color are also more varied in their Internet
use outside information-gathering than whites; they watch more TV, enjoy video
programming most, and prefer bundled services. The Federal Communications
Commission recently announced it will auction off 1,222 new licenses, which will
further intensify competition.
Can traditional cable giants
maintain their market share in today's turf war? Not without a serious
reevaluation of diversity strategy and a plan for execution. "The company that understands their
customers and does something about it almost always wins," said Jain. "There's a
reasonable question out there as to which group understands their customers
better. First we have to recognize that our customers don't trust us very much,
not great at customer service, don't know them well enough."
The NAMIC conference
featured leadership-development, corporate-diversity, digital-media and
multicultural-marketing workshops to address some of the challenges facing cable
companies.
This has "created more awareness
that Latinos are not a monolithic group," NAMIC President Kathy Johnson told
DiversityInc. "We have to continue to create that awareness and make
[consumers'] needs more known."
"One of the best ways to do that is
to bring diversity in," added Jain. "I think it's going to be important for us
to do that as we enter this war for talent--to be actively looking to bring
diverse candidates in when looking for anyone. There is an approach to this; it
doesn't mean other people haven't figured it out. We just haven't done it
yet."
| DiversityInc Webinars 2006-2007 |
|
"Qualified" vs. Capable in Executive Recruiting
Get the Download!
Presenters:
•Debra Langford -Time Warner
• Janet Manzullo- Wachovia
|
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