In Australia and New Zealand, where multicultural audiences are increasingly part of the mainstream, savvy marketers have been busy keeping pace. They’re using fresh insights into audiences who trace their origins to other countries — and who are valuable customers — to grow business.
The growth of this multicultural population has been momentous. Aussies born overseas or who have at least one foreign-born parent now make up the majority, or 51% of the country’s population,1 while over 27% of Kiwis2 are born abroad.
This culturally and linguistically diverse group of audiences has seen a significant influx of multicultural newcomers who’ve settled down in Australia and New Zealand within the last five years. In 2023, the number of newcomers grew year on year by 73% to 737,000 in Australia,3 and by 135% to 249,500 in New Zealand.4
Many of these newcomers, who hail from an increasingly diverse range of countries, including India, China, and the Philippines, also have significant purchasing power. Seven in 10 of them are willing to pay more for higher quality products.5
And marketers can do better to engage these audiences. Just 10% of culturally and linguistically diverse consumers agree that brands communicate in ways they can understand and relate to.6
To help brands better understand multicultural communities in Australia and New Zealand, Google and Kantar conducted new research into their preferences, viewing habits, and purchasing behaviours.
Our findings on three key insights into multicultural newcomers can help you hone your marketing strategies for this audience segment, as well as the wider community of culturally and linguistically diverse customers.
1. Newcomers care most about brand reputation
It’s natural for newcomers to stick to what’s familiar when they make purchase decisions; 42% of them say they prefer brands from their home country.7 But they can’t always get products from the countries they left, so they want to know which brands have the best reputation in their new homes, to help them make purchase decisions.
That means you need to focus on raising newcomers’ awareness and trust of your brand, even if it’s already a household name locally. They may not know that McDonald's is referred to as Maccas in Australia, or that The Warehouse is not a storehouse but New Zealand’s go-to retail chain.
One way to help newcomers build meaningful connections with your brand is to show up year-round for them, during the cultural moments they celebrate. In 2023, for instance, queries on Search during the Lunar New Year festive period in Australia soared by 117% from the previous year.8
2. They prefer familiar digital platforms and channels
Just as newcomers prefer familiar brands, they also prefer to view content on a channel they’re familiar with, and YouTube is their top choice.9
Their strong affinity with YouTube started in their countries of origin. In India, for instance, YouTube is the No.1 place for viewers to find what they love.10 And even after they settle down in Australia and New Zealand, they continue to turn to YouTube for content because of what it offers: 74% of newcomers and 65% of multicultural audiences agree that YouTube has high-quality content.11
In fact, half of the newcomer and multicultural communities spend more time watching content on YouTube than on other channels or apps.12 This makes YouTube a key platform for marketers to meaningfully engage that audience, by playing to the strengths of video as a compelling medium to showcase your brand and content.
With 68% of newcomers learning about brands and products through YouTube ads,13 advertisers can tap this tremendous opportunity to win their awareness while they’re researching their purchases.
3. They watch videos that connect them to their cultural, linguistic communities
Multicultural newcomers are significantly more likely to use YouTube to watch videos from different languages and cultures, compared to “acclimated” audiences whose families have lived in Australia and New Zealand for at least three generations.14
They’re also more likely, than acclimated counterparts, to use YouTube for a wider variety of purposes, including learning, watching reviews, and catching up on news to stay connected to their community.15
To reach this audience group through the culturally and linguistically diverse content they consume, here are two ideas:
Tap into YouTube Select: This video content solution lets you choose the most relevant content category and channels on YouTube for your marketing campaign to reach multicultural audiences. That can span content in their mother tongue or cultural interests, such as world music or international news.
Translate ads with AI tools: You can make your ads accessible in multiple languages — more than 190 language pairs — with the translation tools available in Google AI-powered campaigns like Search, Display, App campaigns, and Performance Max. These tools can do everything from translating text assets to localising and dubbing video ads.
By catering to the needs of newcomers and prioritising them in marketing strategies, leading brands in Australia and New Zealand, including HSBC, have successfully engaged the new multicultural mainstream.
HSBC had its sights set on becoming the international bank of choice in Australia for newcomers and expatriates, including the Indian and Chinese communities. So with its agency partner Foundation, the bank created ads that educate and inspire multicultural audiences by featuring global festive moments celebrated in Australia.
To deepen the emotional connection of its ad, HSBC made YouTube, which 68% of newcomers agree has content most relevant to them,16 the heart of its media mix. Together with Search and print ads, it sought to drive trust, consideration, and conversions.
The result: its brand awareness rose 3.2%. That contributed to a record 31% spike in new bank account applications, and a 23% jump in international transfers.17 To top it off, HSBC was crowned No. 1 bank by its key audience and a leader in its industry for international expertise.18
With multiculturalism fast becoming mainstream in Australia and New Zealand, savvy brands that engage with newcomers will find themselves equally embraced by those from this valuable audience group, and the wider community of culturally and linguistically diverse customers that they’re part of.
