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HISPANIC MARKET OVERVIEW 2019 Powered by HispanicAd.com
She points to a factoid: Fortune 500 senior marketers expect 11%–25% of their growth in the next five
years to come from Hispanics, according to Think with Google. This is magnified by Hispanics starting to embrace their own strength and identity as a unified community.
“One can argue that the new mainstream America is ‘Blended’, with the majority either multicultural or highly influenced by multicultural attitudes, products and trends,” Castells-Heard says.
This hierarchy, if you will, has put bilingual, bicultural Hispanics in the driver’s seat. At the same time, diversity and inclusion “is becoming table stakes.” A plethora of paradigm terms such as cross-cultural or polycultural have become popular with marketers and demographers alike.
“This ‘blended’ American identity can be multidimensional, pliable and situational,” Castells-Heard observes. “Today’s youth embraces multiple avatars and is reinventing themselves. Social media allows for cross-cultural connections.”
WITNESS THE ‘CULTUREVOLUTION’
Call it what you want: the American mainstream is as multicultural as ever. But,
do many of the C-Suites of Corporate America fail to see this?
Castells-Heard has a position on this.
“Companies who do not get the need for multicultural proficiency and targeting and are not actively dissecting prospects and customers by opportunity size and culture may not have a future,” she declares.
Why?
She begins with the increase in Personalized Marketing. “Targeting,
whether cultural, gender neutrals, gamers or Pretty Little Liars streamers, has never been as razor sharp as it is today. With unique content, digital and social spaces, C-commerce, and micro-experiences we must use customization on a grand scale for two-way brand connections. This means profoundly understanding multicultural individuals, their background and motivators. Many of those things come from their cultural background, consciously or sub- consciously.
Castells-Heard then rips apart the linear Hispanic acculturation model, as this “has been proven false.” She says, “The reality is that the unique cultural pride and ties and, most importantly, the mindset that binds Hispanics, African Americans and/or Asians is stronger than ever, as is their desire for cultural recognition and a portrayal of who they are, and they have diverse attitudes
and behaviors, product consumption and usage across categories.”
Technological advances allow them to keep close connections to their traditions, people, content and all of the things they love.