…Lexus will debut its commercial for the launch of the newly redesigned GX. The commercial features Universal Motown recording artist Ryan Leslie, who has formed a strategic partnership with the luxury automaker. As an emerging artist armed with a Harvard undergraduate degree, Ryan Leslie embodies the style and sophistication of the Lexus brand…

In addition to the television commercial, the campaign will be accompanied by various digital components online including exclusive downloads and contests. This African American marketing program with Ryan Leslie represents a break from the traditional for Lexus, as the innovative use of social/digital media tools such as Twitter and Facebook will serve as the driving force behind the conversation.

via Lexus Celebrates the Life, Work, and Acccomplishments of Inspiring African-Americans – via Lexus – pitchengine.com.

As enterprise-level social media continues to grow, we fully expect to see similar types of innovative campaigns targeting various multicultural groups. You can take a first look at the Lexus commercial below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The site seems is a natural extension of Western Union’s Yes! campaign, a $250 million initiative launched earlier this year that targets international workers:

‘The campaign is based around our customer, people on the move in pursuit of their dream,’ she said. This dream generally includes wiring money back home to family. ‘There are 200 million international migrants, people who left home…North Africans in Europe, Mexicans in the United States…’

via Western Union Says ‘Yes’ to $250 Mil. Effort | Brandweek.

You can take a quick look at the microsite below:

Honda is using social media as part of its ”Battle of the Bands” initiative, a showcase and competition for marching bands from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The prize? Each of the schools of the participating bands receives $1,000; the eight schools whose bands make the finals receive $20,000. Honda uses a social media site, Hondabattleofthebands.com, to provide information, updates, videos, photos and to allow fans to vote for their favorite bands. It’s a very relevant use of social media in the African-American community:

“The Honda Battle of the Bands Invitational Showcase is truly an unforgettable event. It not only helps showcase the amazing musical talents of HBCU students, but it also gives Honda the opportunity to help make a significant monetary contribution to these school’s music programs,” said Marc Burt, senior manager, Office of Inclusion and Diversity for American Honda.”

via Honda Battle of the Bands Marches Toward Eighth Annual Showcase – Honda – Press Releases – Selected Story.

Below is a look at the site:

State Farm, in conjunction with Saavn, a digital distributor of Bollywood content and interTrend, a Asian-American advertising agency, sponsored a competition called “Bollywood Star”, where an online community helped select two singers to be featured in an upcoming Bollywood movie. The social media site, Bollystar2009.com, allowed Bollywood hopefuls to upload videos in hopes of being selected, while others used the blogging and comment/rating systems.

State Farm was pleased with the outcome:

‘We congratulate Vivek [Agrawal] and Vasantha [Shashi] on winning the State Farm BollyStar competition,’ said Mark Gibson, State Farm assistant vice president-advertising. ‘We are very happy to see that this program was fully embraced by the South Asian community and State Farm will continue to be a part of programs that engage people in a natural and relevant way.’

via State Farm is Sending Two Talented Singers to Bollywood | Reuters .

This isn’t State Farm’s first foray into multicultural social media; they have already developed targeted initiatives geared toward African-Americans and Hispanics.

PepsiWeInspire is part of one of Pepsi’s larger campaigns, according to Lauren Scott, senior manager of multicultural marketing:

Scott said the push is a natural offshoot of Pepsi’s overarching optimism message featured in its “Refresh Everything” push. “What we wanted to capture is the strength, joy and wisdom of the African-American market. Particularly in these tough times, this group can look around every day and find optimism,” she said.

via Pepsi Program Targets African-American Moms.

This new site, as well as others from American Airlines and the NBA, highlights a trend among companies to target multicultural segments using social media as part of larger marketing campaigns. This allows multicultural marketing to be operate across media platforms while also remaining adaptable to changes in the marketplace.

A Kodak representative spoke about the initiative to PR Week:

“We’re trying to get the US Hispanic consumer to not only honor their family and friends, but showcase the cultural beauty of the Latin community,” says Vincent Young, the company’s director of brand marketing for the Americas. “Digital seemed to be the perfect platform to do that.”

via Brands focus on social media to target multicultural groups – PRWeek US.

For each photo uploaded, Kodak and Yahoo! en Español donated $2 to the Hispanic College Fund (HCF). The effort reportedly raised $20,000 for the HCF.

After weighing the costs of an ad blitz in traditional media, Unilever opted for a stealthy digital campaign to generate buzz, establish the product’s credibility and encourage Chinese women to give Pond’s Age Miracle a try.

via Marketing: Unilever Dips Into Social Media in Asia – Global News – Advertising Age.

With such a sizeable online population in China (Netpop estimates that over 40 million Chinese use social media heavily), Unilever was taking a big risk. They reached out to testers on popular Chinese beauty blogs and waited for the results, knowing (as with all social media) that negative feedback could have a quick and decisive impact on the brand. All this in a market where Pond’s was competing against other global brands like Procter & Gamble’s Olay, as well as L’Oreal, and Clinique.

Unilever’s strategy paid off: Pond’s Age Miracle cream became a big hit, drawing attention from other Unilever offices around Asia. In several of these other Asian countries, Unilever has effectively leveraged social media like Facebook fan pages and YouTube to its advantage—this was reportedly their first social media campaign in China. With some social media marketing already under way, Unilever seems primed to develop successful social media campaigns to reach women in other parts of Asia.

But is Unilever open to leveraging social media to reach multicultural women—women of African, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American descent—here in the United States? Women of color are now 30% of the U.S. female population and spent $1 trillion in 2008. Rather than define women generally for major product rollouts, consumer product companies like Unilever might increase their brand awareness and loyalty by making a relatively small investment into social media campaigns that target multicultural women.

“This new campaign will enable us to further engage current fans and develop new fans by being inclusive and culturally relevant, and by delivering the … game in a way that celebrates their community and the diversity of our sport,” Saskia Sorrosa, the NBA’s senior director of U.S. Hispanic marketing, said in a statement.

via NBA launches bigger push for Hispanic fans | Sports | Reuters .

Entitled enebea (which is the Spanish vocalization of NBA), the campaign features television, radio, online advertising, and sports paraphernalia. The centerpiece of the campaign is an interactive website, Nba.com/enebea, which features league news and information, several global sports bloggers, U.S. and international game schedules, materials of cultural interest, special event information and player interviews. Prominently featured are well-known players like Pau Gasol and Manu Ginobili, and likely future NBA star Ricky Rubio. With twenty-five current NBA players of Spanish heritage—6 players are U.S.-born Latinos, along with 19 from Spain or Latin America—the NBA should have lots of interesting player information for the site.

The enebea campaign was developed by the NBA and Bromley Communications. A picture of the site is below:

While anyone can be a minority when traveling—it all depends on the destination, right?—the reality is that Blacks (of whatever heritage) can encounter a vast array of experiences when traveling because of the perception of people of African descent globally. Sites like Lonely Planet (especially the Thorn Tree forum) and TripAdvisor are a great way to get travel information, while benefitting from the advice and information from seasoned, recent, and even new travelers.

On many travel sites, there are usually a broad range of questions on cultural fit (Thorn Tree has a special forum, called “Like a Sore Thumb”—as in standing out like one). So American Airlines is onto something here: people of all ethnic backgrounds, including African-Americans, want to get a sense of what it’s like to travel to a particular locale where they are visibly different.

The site is loaded with cool features, including YouTube videos (see Barcelona, below), stories from travelers, and of course the ability to create custom itineraries and book flights. One really cool feature: the interactive fare map, in which you enter your departure and destination cities and watch the plane zip around between locations. Once your plane reaches the destination, the site provides links to information about the city’s history, places of interest, dining options, and even places of worship. Numerous domestic and some international cities are already featured, hopefully with more to come.

Finally, if you’re a travel blogger, BlackAtlas.com invites you to submit your own travel stories and become part of their community.

The video below is a sample of what BlackAtlas has to offer. Enjoy a leisurely walk with Nelson George around Barcelona: