Brands can’t simply visit another culture. They must live in it.

Envision an intersection.

For most people, the image that comes to mind is some version of two paths crossing each other. But to go a step further, what do those paths look like? For a hiker, it might be two dirt trails, flanked by miles of foliage. For a small-town resident, it could be where the two main roads bring you to the neighborhood’s only stoplight. For a city dweller, it’s the juncture you come to as you wait at the corner of a crosswalk.

It's those perspectives and differences that make society so interesting and complex—they also influence our culture and the way we identify. It’s the combination of everything from gender identity and socioeconomic status to the media we consume that defines how we interact with the world—that includes brand marketing. And with such nuanced detail, the importance of interacting with consumers authentically and earnestly is more important than ever.

When a brand wades into cultural storytelling—whether that be through the use of music, a cultural custom, or the portrayal of someone’s lived experience—they must prioritize authenticity. The experiences and perspectives your customers have should influence your marketing strategy, but to genuinely and authentically reach them, a brand has to be willing to research, learn, support, and live in that culture.

Creating a genuine connection

When brands are considering customers’ cultures and how to best reach those communities, it’s imperative to be more thoughtful than ever, especially considering public sentiment around cultural distance and divisiveness. According to From Ads to Zeitgeist, the recently published research from Amazon Ads, 66% of respondents reported wanting to feel a greater sense of community and belonging, despite 70% also saying that society feels more divided than ever. But a brand can’t simply put a bandage on that cultural disconnect, cherry-pick a cultural touchpoint to reference, and say, “Come on in!” Creating culturally relevant content requires an ongoing conversation between the brand and their customers.

When considering multicultural marketing outreach, for example, one of the most important questions to ask is how committed your brand is to meaningfully reaching your intended audience. Simply put: A brand should be willing to live in the culture, as opposed to being a visitor in it. From Ads to Zeitgeist research shows that 7 in 10 survey respondents want to see more genuine, real stories in the media that reflect different cultures. That authenticity isn’t just about understanding the audience, but it permeates to what the brand stands for, where the brand advertises, and who is making decisions about the brand.

Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab worked with the SIMS and content creators to build a campaign centered on the cultural impact of the long-running game.

Establishing what your brand stands for, and proving that with action, is one way that brands can better connect with diverse audiences in a meaningful way. The Amazon Ads research shows that 72% of respondents believe advertising is a good way for brands to communicate their values—including how and where they advertise. Doing that effectively means starting from within the core of the brand and working outward. According to the 2023 Progress on Inclusion report from Amazon MGM Studios, making sure representation is present at the ideation and leadership stages of creative development is a growth strategy that contributes to making the best content for customers. The report details the progress that Amazon MGM Studios has made in supporting inclusion in front of and behind the camera for its series and films.

“When there is at least one director who is a woman, representation for women in main cast (lead, regular/recurring, and supporting) roles is 50% across titles, compared to 42% when no directors are women,” the report states. “When there is at least one writer who is Black, Black representation in main cast roles is 34% across titles, compared to 11% when no writers are Black. When there is at least one creator who is Latino, Latino representation in main cast roles is 20% across titles, compared to 5% when no creators are Latino.”

Having those perspectives included throughout isn’t about checking a diversity box either—it’s about making sure they’re shaping the direction brands go in. By including diverse points of view in the development and execution of marketing campaigns, your brand is not only helping to change the narrative, break down stereotypes and social stigmas, and speak to audiences in a more effective and authentic way, but it ensures that someone with cultural competency is able to understand the nuance behind each culture.

As the world has turned a more critical eye toward brands and their employment of diversity and representation, the standards of representation and storytelling have been raised. People and their cultures are not things to be trotted out and used in campaigns at will. Consumers are looking for advertisers to create brand identities, public images, and marketing campaigns that capture the heart and authenticity of the communities they’re featuring. That’s where the importance of understanding cultural intersections can help make a campaign more meaningful.

Amazon Ads has continued innovating, developing ways to connect with customers through contextually relevant advertising. Through Prime Video’s live sports offerings, customers can create what is called audience-based creative, serving multiple, customer-centric advertisements to a variety of subgroups using first-party insights at Amazon. For example, a car company could serve a home with a family an advertisement featuring a minivan and a family like theirs, whereas a single man might be served an advertisement from the same company featuring a more compact vehicle, better suited for one. Identifying those nuances and speaking to them directly can help advertisers feel more relevant in customers’ lives.

Above all though, authenticity takes time. There is no cure-all when it comes to your brand finding its place within a community’s culture. That type of connection takes investment, research, and ultimately, a willingness to participate in a two-way conversation with the customer. Kelley Walton, who serves as head of global brand of product and integrated marketing for Amazon Music, recalls her past at Hennessey, working with global superstars whose mainstream success hadn’t taken hold yet.

“One of the things that we really took to heart was our role as a shaper of culture,” she says. “I look back at some of the artists and brands that are globally iconic now. We were partnering with them 10 years ago, before they were even in the cultural zeitgeist—the likes of Shepard Fairey [and] Kendrick Lamar. We were partnering with A$AP Rocky. We were partnering with these artists before they were even folks you might not know about.”

It’s that level of specificity that sets the tone for a brand. If you’re reacting to culture, it’s likely because your brand has waited until a cultural touchpoint has become mainstream—or more specifically, culture that’s been curated and exalted by a majority perspective. It’s reactive. Your brand should decide: Are we willing to live in this community, or are we only interested in visiting?

One way of reaching those customers is to pull them into the creative process. Amazon Ads worked with the Ad Council to create the “Sound It Out: When You Can’t Say It, Play It” campaign. Leveraging the 100 million songs available through Amazon Music, Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab (BIL) worked with the Ad Council to build playlists—with input from a diverse array of teenagers—that help parents connect with their teenage children. By pulling in the desired audience and having them infuse their own preferences, cultures, and perspectives into the playlists, the Ad Council and BIL were able to create authentic playlists developed by teenagers, for adults to use when looking to engage with their own teens.

The reach of Amazon Ads is able to help brands find that niche positioning that feels organic and nuanced, pairing brands alongside programming on Prime Video, Amazon Music, Wondery, and more. But the important work—the kind of connection that sets a strong foundation for a long-term relationship—comes from investment, care, and understanding how to connect with other people’s cultures in a way that is thoughtful. As our world evolves, customers are much more aware of who is reaching out to them and how the culture they love is being used to build connection.

And when your brand wades into that conversation in a meaningful way—a manner that entrenches your brand in the culture, as opposed to merely dipping in for a moment—then the customer isn’t just surprised or delighted. They accept you as part of their culture, too.