‘It drives sales’: Amidst DEI dismantling, Hyundai maintains multicultural marketing, spend commitments

Last month, Hyundai put out its latest multicultural marketing campaign, “Play for the Car,” aimed at Black shoppers with paid media across diverse media, including entertainment channels like BET, TV One and Bounce, and publications like Blavity and Ebony Magazine. The campaign, from creative shop Culture Brands, will also have spots in NBA games this year. Culture Brands is the independent, minority and female-owned agency Hyundai selected as its African American marketing agency of record back in 2021. Since 2022, the automotive company has partnered with Lopez Negrete Communications as its Hispanic marketing agency of record.

“In terms of the creative that we’re doing and the work that we’re doing with Culture Brands, it’s born from a recognition that it drives sales, drives the bottom line for the company,” said Thomas. It’s unclear how much Hyundai has dedicated to its multicultural marketing budget as Thomas declined to disclose budget figures. That said, the multicultural marketing budget commitments remain intact, according to Thomas, even as other multicultural marketers grapple with the DEI fall out and marketers by and large are expected to do more marketing with less.

That’s not to say Thomas’ team is working with an endless budget. The car industry as a whole faces lagging electronic vehicle sales, potential tariffs on things like steel, imported vehicles and more – all facets of the business that must be accounted for when considering marketing budgets, Thomas said. 

“There’s still finite dollars,” he said. “You can have sales, you can have the best year ever, but there’s still finite dollars to spend, whether it be on build, whether it be manufacturing, engineering, design, and also the marketing of the vehicles.” Meaning, that when it comes to multicultural marketing efforts, every dollar must count toward driving business goals. Thus far, Thomas said he’s been able to attribute direct sales to the work he and his team do to maintain that 30% of the automotive brand sales that stems from multicultural shoppers. 

Hyundai joins the likes of Costco, Apple, Delta Airlines and other corporations, who have either maintained or publicly defended their DEI policies as tensions between corporations and shareholders rise. The focus on DEI policies from corporate America was seen as a response to public calls for brands to commit to DEI on the heels of George Floyd’s murder. For the past year, there’s been mounting pressures on corporations from right wing activists to pull back DEI policies and axe any marketing deemed woke. This year, those pressures were supercharged by President Trump’s January executive order, which took aim at DE&I in the federal government. 

Companies like Target, Walmart, Molson Coors and others have seemingly acquiesced, retooling language around diversity, equity and inclusion policies, ending supplier agreements and parting ways with third-party organizations that collect and analyze DEI-related data. Meanwhile, companies like Costco, Apple, Delta Airlines and now, Hyundai, say they remain committed. 

“I’d be hard pressed to find a brand that is going to attract, appeal, and retain multicultural audiences who’s not employing an above standard level of DEI initiatives internally,” said Tracey Busch, head of strategy and operations at Valerie, a cultural strategy and creative agency. 

Even so, as the dismantling of DEI continues, it’s unclear if multicultural marketing budgets will see the same fate as sunsetted supplier commitments and discontinued organizational practices saw, said Busch. 

To be sure, cultural marketers and DEI experts have said inclusivity is a business imperative, where decisions around DEI should be guided less on morality and cultural trends, but more on data and sales goals. 

“Data being how we track impact is one of the best things that’s ever happened for DE&I,” said Tope Ajala, global head of diversity equity and inclusion at Ogilvy, and cultural strategist, on the topic of DE&I as a critical business need. (Ajala declined to comment on Hyundai specifically as Ogilvy works with Ford Motor Company, a Hyundai competitor.)  

She added, “It’s about actually including everyone, so you can get the maximum profit if we’re thinking about businesses.”