Crafting Inclusive Marketing Campaigns: Insights and Influential Factors in the Indian Context

Abstract

With increasing diversity of consumers in the marketplace, marketers have begun to embrace inclusive marketing practices. However, there is still a lack of research on the topic, making it difficult for managers to understand how to design and execute effective campaigns. This study aims to fill this gap by identifying the key factors that contribute toward an impactful inclusive marketing campaign. The study used a sequential mixed-methods approach and first conducted interviews with 29 LGBTQIA+ and non-LGBTQ consumers to gain insights into their perceptions of effective inclusive campaigns. In the study’s second phase, ten industry experts provided inputs for the Fuzzy DEMATEL method to identify critical factors for an effective campaign. The findings revealed seven essential factors: social acceptance of the community, use of community-specific symbols, authentic communication about community issues, top management’s approach, inclusive hiring practices, brand history, and legal market structure, which were then grouped into social, communication-related, brand-related, organization-specific, and other macro-level categories. The study fills an important gap in the inclusive marketing literature and can serve as a practical guide for marketers to design and implement inclusive campaigns.