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HISPANIC MARKET OVERVIEW 2019 Powered by HispanicAd.com
THE HMO INTERVIEW
THE POLYCULTURAL SOCIETY PLAY
Here’s another agency executive that takes Hispanic Market Overview to task for suggesting that Latinos
are “blending” into the American mainstream.
Gloria Constanza, a partner and Chief Contact Strategist at New York-based d expósito & Partners, is a 14-year agency veteran.
She says, “On the term ‘blending,’ we would first need to ask who is
blending into whom? The truth is the United States is a polycultural society where cultures are constantly influencing each other. Hispanics are influenced by mainstream culture, but Hispanics are also influencing the mainstream – and we see this across many fronts.”
However, Constanza believes some global agencies may be using this borrowing of cultures to claim reaching Hispanics via mainstream or broad media and messaging.
“Regrettably, there are many advertisers that are not being exposed
to the overall picture and therefore buy into this ‘one-size-fits-all’ or Total Market approach,” she says.
“As a result, this practice has negatively impacted Hispanic agencies as well as Hispanic targeted media.”
On a positive note, recent observations and articles are indicating that, finally, some clients are realizing that the “one-size-fits-all” approach has not been working for them. The result, Constanza says, is that they are going back to having specific targeted efforts to reach the different ethnic groups.
“The lesson here is that finding efficiencies sometimes can lead to loss of effectiveness and brand connection to this audience,” she says. “Many clients lost more than the savings they gained, and this was not only with Hispanics, but across all segments. The end result of the ‘one-size fits-all’ approach is that the message does not resonate or fully engage any segment. As we all know, building deep connections with an audience calls for delivering consumer emotions, and this can only be accomplished when you are authentic and transparent with your storytelling. Rather than going for the promise of Total Market, the wise thing is to go after Total Relevance. Consumers can read when cultural relevancy is forced into the advertising messaging — and that is what we’ve been seeing a lot of in the last five years or so. But we see that the narrative is changing.”
A CLIENT THAT DOES IT RIGHT
Throughout the history of Hispanic marketing there have been many CMOs that are doing a great job in marketing to Latinos in a holistic fashion.
Constanza singles out clients like Toyota, Ford, McDonald’s, AT&T, and Sprint as implementing “total Hispanic marketing,” if you will.