(The Root) -- In an environment in which many marketers expect their advertising budgets to decrease and some brands are shifting their multicultural advertising to general market agencies, a consortium of media outlets and marketing agencies has formed to tout the spending power and habits of black consumers.

Titling their effort #InTheBlack, the consortium points out that African-American buying power is expected to reach $1.2 trillion by 2015 (according to GfK MRI) and argues that their companies are uniquely positioned to help marketers access those dollars. The campaign, which launched Monday with an advertisement in the business section of the New York Times and coverage by all of the consortium's media outlets, seeks "to encourage increased investments in the African American consumer marketplace while helping companies reach the African American audience more effectively," according to a collective statement.

Spearheaded by BET Networks, the consortium includes many of the largest black-focused media outlets and marketing agencies, including The Root, as well as mainstream companies. The other partners include (in alphabetical order): Black Enterprise, Burrell Communications, Cable Advertising Bureau, Essence Communications, GlobalHue, HuffPost BlackVoices, Inner City Broadcasting Company, Interactive One, Johnson Publishing Company, KJLH Radio, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, National Newspaper Publishers Association, Nielsen, North Star Group, One Solution, Radio One, Reach Media, Steve Harvey Radio, TheGrio, The Africa Channel, TV One, UniWorld Group, Vibe Media and Walton Isaacson.

While efforts to tout the value of the black consumer are nothing new -- last year Nielsen and the National Newspaper Publishers Association published "The State of the African-American Consumer" report about black spending power and buying habits -- the #InTheBlack effort stands out by having so many competing outlets band together under one umbrella. "We are excited to partner with some of the nation's most influential media and marketing groups to highlight the growing economic opportunity of the black marketplace. As a collective, we are better positioned to demonstrate the value of targeting the black consumer audience and partnering with leading brands to help them succeed," explained Debra Lee, chairman and chief executive officer for BET Networks.

Said Donna Byrd, publisher of The Root, "We're proud to be associated with this collaborative and historic effort. We believe that focusing our collective attention on the economic power of the African-American consumer will have a positive impact on the entire industry."

To put the campaign in context, total American buying power is currently $12.2 trillion, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth. While black spending power comprises more than 8 percent of that figure (black people are 12.6 percent of the U.S. population), the growth of that spending power is outpacing the rate of growth in other groups. Meanwhile, national advertising buys in black media (excluding newspaper and online media) totaled just under $2 billion in 2010, according to Nielsen, a year in which $142.5 billion was spent on ad buys overall.