The IPA has published a wide-ranging report on ethnic diversity in the advertising industry, which finds that UK business is failing to engage with ethnic minority communities.
The report quotes from 2001 government census figures showing that the white community is falling while ethnic minority communities have grown by 50% since the last census in 1991.
Ethnic minority communities have a younger age profile and now represent 7.9% of the total population -- a figure which rises to 31% in London -- yet agencies are ignoring this market unless they are given a specific brief.
European advertisers lag far behind those in the US, many of which retain specialist advertising agencies to target the Hispanic or African-American markets.
Anjna Raheja, managing director of Media Moguls and author of the economic analysis section of the report, said: "We must ensure that we remain in tune with the changing face of the UK's consumers. We need to understand that the UK is now a truly a multicultural country. In the same way there is a pink pound and a grey pound, there is, without a doubt, a brown pound."
There are signs of change, however, with the government agency COI Communications, the biggest advertiser in the UK, announcing this month that it is setting up a roster of agencies to handle black and minority ethnic communications.
BT is one of the few advertisers cited as getting it right when it comes to reaching ethnic minorities, according to the IPA research. Other brands that have good practice when it comes to casting actors in ads include Budweiser, Halifax and Barclays.
Jonathan Mildenhall, co-chairman of the IPA's ethnic diversity project and managing director of TBWA\London, said that the advertising industry should take a lead in advising clients on targeting minorities.
"The economic contribution that ethic minorities make to the UK's overall performance is huge. That said, few companies even consider the potential incremental value of bespoke marketing programmes targeting ethnic minorities," he said.
The research also found that the advertising industry needs to try much harder to attract employees from minorities, with only 4% of marketing communications staff coming from ethnic minorities and the vast majority of these people, 70%, working in support disciplines such as finance or IT.
Further details of the IPA's findings are available on its .
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