Podcast: The Multicultural Strategist - A Conversation With Matteo Ceurvels

Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Nasser Sahlool, who writes an amazing blog called Octopus Digital Strategy. Every week, Nasser speaks with strategists who have worked in this space and helped shape it with the intent of providing insights to prospective digital strategists who are looking to get started in the industry and chart a road-map for their careers.

My journey to becoming a multicultural digital strategist took many years but started with a love of languages and people--combined over the course of my career with an interest in marketing and communications. From starting my own consulting practice to working in the technology, start-up, and cultural spaces, I never planned my career as a strategist, but rather fell into it.

Living in a globalized world, it is important now more than ever for companies and organizations to create a digital strategy that speaks to a wide variety of audiences. Creating a multicultural strategy allows for brands to reach the desktops and smartphones of users around the world, even though it can be incredibly difficult to plan and execute at times. However, fear not---there are brands that do this exceptionally well.

The key to doing effective multicultural strategy is not only being aware of local culture but also determining the priority audience. For a multicultural organization, it is impossible to target everyone at the same time. This combination will define your strategy beyond the obvious such as catering to religious sensibilities, to deepen understanding and reflecting cultural nuances in ways that truly connect with an audience, for example, the use of Spanglish by Verizon Wireless in marketing to a domestic Hispanic audience in the US.

Interested in hearing more? You can read the full blog post and listen to the podcast here.