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HISPANIC MARKET OVERVIEW 2019 Powered by HispanicAd.com
As such, “when consumers connect with brands like they connect with people it is critical to align the
brand strategy with a culturally relevant and seamless consumer experience, along with everything grounded in the client’s business and how that fits with a multicultural consumer’s needs and desires,” she says.
Cultural Identity is also stronger than ever among Hispanic Americans. “Cultural identity will continue to be a critical factor in a brand’s marketing and communication,” she says. “Most Gen Y and Gen Z consider themselves Hispanic, Latino or Hispanic/Latino Americans (not Cuban or Mexican), and 90% say they want to belong to ‘their’ Hispanic community.”
Additionally, Castells-Heard shares research showing that 85% of Hispanics polled think that they should be valued by brands and companies more than they are today. Further, some 70% say they do not see themselves portrayed accurately by major brands or pop culture. More than 50% do not see their values reflected.
It’s déjà vu for Hispanic Market Overview, as these same discussions have been had more than once since this annual report’s 2010 inception.
With ever-more targeted multicultural tools and content available for markets, Castells-Heard points to LatinoEyes and, in the African American arena, CultureBeat. Mobile testing with multicultural tastemakers is happening through Gauge.
Castells-Heard concludes her thoughts on “blending” with the following statement: “There will always be the commonalities to leverage across all consumers, but to get to that point, if it’s the best way to impact sales, one must break it down first and be deeply knowledgeable about its Multicultural components.”
AWAKENING THE C-SUITE
There are many clients, Castells-Heard says, that are doing multicultural marketing well, and should be commended. She points to Toyota, McDonald’s, Johnson & Johnson, Target, Wells Fargo and Procter & Gamble Co. That said, “The majority of clients still don’t get it.”
She laments that many “succumb to the regional or Spanish-only” way of reaching Hispanic consumers. Others are sporadic in their activity, entering and leaving the Hispanic space more often than snowbirds in Florida or Arizona packing up and shifting homes every six months.
Worse yet, Castells-Heard says, “Many still function with the obsolete traditional General Market, the blended Total Market Approach/Cross-Cultural Approach or the siloed ‘Spanish agency models’ of the past – none of which I believe are effective anymore.”
On the positive side, some clients who tried the Total Market Approach have come back around to understand the need for multicultural experts who are both well informed and accountable for the diverse segments as they saw their blended strategies become less effective, efforts more vanilla, and business erode, she continues.