Increasingly, companies are striving to embrace multiculturalism in authentic ways as they approach audiences with a renewed recognition of their differences. With slower population growth compounded by increasing numbers of diverse racial and ethnic groups represented among today’s youth, there’s never been a greater time or need to create culturally relevant campaigns that speak to all audiences.

In this episode of the PRovoke Media Podcast, Megan Miller is joined by Ricki Fairley, CEO of TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance and Dina Albanese, vice president and co-chair of the DE&I committee at Coyne PR, to talk about how the PR industry is adapting to multiculturalism.

TOUCH, The Black Cancer Alliance is an example of the shift in models that Alban says are key to reaching and engaging with broader audiences. Fairley, a survivor of breast cancer herself, founded the organization in 2020 to help improve care for Black women through more education, lobbying for meaningful changes and empowering the community.

One of the ways Albanese has seen the most effective campaigns excel is through partnering with people like Ricki and organizations like hers. Campaigns that are co-created succeed when communicators are able to to talk with a group rather than to them, she says. When it comes to this approach, one of the benefits she highlights is that when patients and the advocacy groups that represent them are the center of a campaign, the messaging is reliably more impactful and authentic.

Addressing these differences is not only important from a patient or provider standpoint, she says, but also the right thing to do from a societal perspective. “For example, when talking about Covid we cannot all move on from the pandemic if some of us are left behind,'' she says. “This is [also] true for other acute and chronic conditions in which we’ve traditionally seen so much health disparity and inequity in underserved and underrepresented communities.” 

03:30 We Cannot All Be Healthy If Some Are Not
05:25 Striving for Cultural Humility
06:27 Recruiting for Clinical Trials 
09:56 The Power of Patients as Trusted Voices
10:42 Cultural Humility 
17:52 Brave, Daring Clients Write History
25:38 Using Feedback to Inform 
27:21 Be Where People Live, Work, Play, and Pray 
33:17 Takeaways