Kmart Focuses On Multicultural Markets.

Kmart Corporation unveiled its new multicultural marketing program. The campaign will be rolled out in several stages, starting with radio and television advertising, that targets African-American and Hispanic shoppers. Commercials will feature original music performed by legendary Grammy-award winners Chaka Khan, BeBe Winans and Jose Feliciano.

Kmart’s new marketing efforts focus on leveraging one of the company’s key points of differentiation — its vast multicultural shopping population. Currently, multicultural consumers make up 39 percent of the nearly 30 million
people who shop at Kmart each week. African Americans and Hispanics alone account for 32 percent of Kmart’s shoppers. Nationwide, multicultural consumers possess $1.2 trillion in joint purchasing power at a market segment growth rate seven times faster than the general population.

“With our exclusive brands, value pricing and our store locations, no mass discount retailer can match Kmart’s reach and appeal to the multicultural marketplace,” said Steven Feuling, senior vice president of marketing for Kmart Corporation. “We understand the value of these very loyal consumers and know our continued commitment to their shopping needs and their communities is a crucial element in Kmart’s growth and success.”

The first stage of Kmart’s multicultural marketing campaign will be local radio advertising in markets where African-American Kmart consumers have a strong presence. Created by Kmart’s multicultural agency of record, Don Coleman Advertising (DCA), the spots targeting African Americans will feature original soulful music by award-winning recording artists Chaka Khan and BeBe Winans. DCA is a part of GlobalHue, a marketing communications holding
company dedicated to strategically addressing multicultural consumer audiences.

“Music plays such an important role in the lives of the African-American community, and the world in general,” said Chaka Khan, singer of such classics as “I’m Every Woman” and “Ain’t Nobody.” “I am pleased that I can lend my voice to a company like Kmart, who understands and values the role multicultural communities play in today’s America.” The second stage in Kmart’s multicultural advertising campaign — television commercials — will be seen on network and cable outlets that directly reach the Hispanic and African-American consumer within the next several weeks. The Spanish-language spots will feature musical legend Jose Feliciano.

As with the recently unveiled general consumer advertising campaign, the tagline for the radio and television commercials will be “Kmart. The Stuff of Life,” or “Kmart. Las Cosas para La Vida.” Khan, Winans and Feliciano will sing new, original music that mirrors the tagline, bringing it to life in soaring voices and harmonies.