Many marketers are aware of the significant sales opportunity of the $743 billion lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered market. LGBTs over-index in many categories (travel, spirits, automotive, among others) or have unique, often underserved needs (financial services and healthcare, for example) that make them a prime prospect for brand growth.

The notion of marketing to minorities and ethnic groups has an unsavory undertone. Tobacco companies have long used rappers and hip-hop concerts to peddle cigarettes to young African-Americans, and studies have shown more liquor advertising around universities popular among Hispanics. This kind of targeting still occurs as minority groups—mainly Hispanics, blacks, and Asians— keep growing nationwide. But businesses increasingly find it necessary to appeal to them in sophisticated ways that celebrate rather than demean their culture.

As multicultural beings, we understand that culture defines who we are and provides us with a unique lens to view the world, including brands. As multicultural marketers, the core of what we do is to connect brands to consumers through this unique lens of culture. No one would deny that there is an African American culture or a Latino culture or an Asian American culture. Those more enlightened would say that there are actually multiple cultures within each of those broad ethnic categories.

During the years when broadband internet connections were growing rapidly, we began to see a true divergence in how specific target audiences were able to access the internet and consume content. The "digital divide" was defined by social economic status, which dictates whether computers were used privately in the home, or used publicly in libraries and cafes. This also influenced the content being consumed. A divide between multicultural and white audiences became distinct and started to shape the future of the online multicultural channel.

Howard Buford founded Prime Access, a full-service advertising agency specializing in multicultural and digital advertising services. Today, he's president and CEO. Buford earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and has been an Ernst & Young finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year. Buford has a long history of community service. He was recognized in 2005 by the Southern Poverty Law Center for outstanding dedication and commitment to human rights and equal justice. He also has served on the executive board of GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Pharmaceutical marketers have fallen into some bad habits when attempting to appeal to ethnic audiences. With some effort, however, marketers can learn from the common mistakes of multicultural marketing and learn to more effectively tease out the subtleties and communication processes of each community. Marketers can then use what they learn to develop multichannel, culturally conscious, community-specific campaigns.

Economically, it's not efficient to spend money on broad national advertising to reach the 7% to 12% of the population that identify as LGBT. Technology is driving more efficient ways to target the audience. For Hyatt Resorts, our digital planners use specific social-media sites where LGBT customers are sharing their travel experiences, such as gaycities.com and purpleroofs.com. Technology has allowed us to be so fine-tuned that we can advertise only on the pages that are about the specific destinations where Hyatt has resorts...

Say the words "consumer insight" and you might conjure Don Draper by naming his superpower... But the ad world has come a long way since Draper's many-martini lunches. Five contemporary ad creators prove that to survive in today's market, Draper would have to get on Twitter, address increasingly specific minority and youth audiences, throw even sexier parties and — here's the rub — try not to drink so much at work.