Media Outlets Unite for #InTheBlack Spending Power Campaign

BET Networks, Radio One, TV One, and Tom Joyner's Reach Media, along with the Steve Harvey Morning Show, Inner City Broadcasting and Stevie Wonder, the owner of L.A.'s urban AC 102.3 KJLH are all on board.


In an environment in which many marketers expect their advertising budgets to decrease and some brands are shifting their multicultural advertising to general market agencies, a consortium of media outlets and marketing agencies has formed to tout the spending power and habits of black consumers.

Titling their effort #InTheBlack, the consortium points out that African-American buying power is expected to reach $1.2 trillion by 2015 (according to GfK MRI) and argues that their companies are uniquely positioned to help marketers access those dollars. The campaign, which launched Monday with an advertisement in the business section of the New York Times and coverage by all of the consortium's media outlets, seeks "to encourage increased investments in the African American consumer marketplace while helping companies reach the African American audience more effectively," according to a collective statement.

Spearheaded by BET Networks, the consortium includes many of the largest black-focused media outlets and marketing agencies, including The Root, as well as mainstream companies. The other partners include (in alphabetical order): Black Enterprise, Burrell Communications, Cable Advertising Bureau, Essence Communications, GlobalHue, HuffPost BlackVoices, Inner City Broadcasting Company, Interactive One, Johnson Publishing Company, KJLH Radio, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, National Newspaper Publishers Association, Nielsen, North Star Group, One Solution, Radio One, Reach Media, Steve Harvey Radio, TheGrio, The Africa Channel, TV One, UniWorld Group, Vibe Media and Walton Isaacson.

Read the rest of this article at The Root website