Reframe The Marketplace: The Total Market Approach to Reaching the New Majority

Chapter 11What Happens in 2040 2020 When Minorities Are the Majority?

Do you remember Y2K? There was quite a bit of freaking out, particularly among businesses. Y2K preparedness became a whole industry as enterprises hired Y2K compliance consultants to make sure their computers would survive the end of the 1900s. The clock struck midnight on January 1, 2000, and the world kept moving. I believe we're on the cusp of something similar. Brands and businesses are nervously waiting for the Y2040K phenomenon to happen. Demographers predict minorities will be the majority in the United States by 2040, and businesses are starting to realize that they need to prepare. Unlike Y2K, this change is going to have real impact, and what happens leading up to that year will determine the future of business.

What Happens in 2040 2020?

In 2011, I executive produced a roundtable of distinguished panelists ranging from a CNN anchor to two former U.S. cabinet members, not to mention writers, activists, and business leaders. The panelists discussed where brands were in their trajectory toward tackling a New Majority world. The conclusion: Businesses are not doing enough to address the needs and services of the New Majority. Clearly, I'm not the only one ringing the alarm bells.

What are brands waiting for?

“By around 2020, more than half of the nation's children are expected to be part of a minority race or ethnic group,” says National Public Radio (NPR), quoting the U.S. Census Bureau.¹ Americans ...