With the US Hispanic market’s purchasing power continuing to increase, more large enterprises, medium sized companies, and small businesses have similarly increased their allocated budgets for Latino-American campaigns. Corporations that previously started their Hispanic market outreach may also have adjusted their general strategies in their Latino-American ad campaigns, as was the case with Mattel who adapted their US Hispanic ad campaigns* to tailor their advertising to reflect the Latino-American lifestyle as opposed to general English to Spanish translations of their existing promotions. However, even in making this adjustment there are other factors to consider such as:
1. What Hispanic Market nationality are you trying to reach?
Generally, Mexican-Americans, Argentinian-Americans, and Colombian-Americans amongst other Latino nationalities are generally advertised to as a part of the same Hispanic marketing campaigns. This thinking, while not entirely correct, can be attributed to a movement started within the United States during the seventies to provide a political voice for the Hispanic American population as well as an opportunity for marketers to suggest advertising techniques to reach what was a growing demographic.** The reality this created, however, is that while acceptance came from politicians, businesses, and mainstream America to recognize the Hispanic-American demographic as being one with a voice, the individuality that Latinos possessed was not recognized. Eventually, even the terms Latino and Hispanic became interchangeable even though, while being similar, were created with different intentions to reflect grouping based on geography and language, respectively.***
That being said, while US Latinos and Hispanics are banded together by these terms to strengthen their collective voices, ads that reflect the unique culture representing the Heritage countries of each Latino are more likely to resonate within the Hispanic market. This connection to the Heritage country can even be seen in how Latinos refer to themselves as even Hispanics born in the United States will identify themselves with a reference to their native culture and hyphenated American.***
While the hyphenation associated with their culture of their ancestors and the culture of their new home creates a cultural duality for Hispanic Americans, the same duality is what helps ads with Latino cultural relevance create greater impact within the US Hispanic communities, as Latino-Americans look to maintain the traditions their parents and grandparents had passed down.
For national, regional, and local advertisers often looking at each location will help to determine the campaign that will be placed, as well as the verbiage and/or appearance for each ad. For instance, while Chicago’s largest Hispanic population is 79.2% Mexican-American****, whereas Mexican-Americans only account for 1.01% of Miami’s population while Cuban’s account for 34.14%.*****
In certain areas, such as New York, companies can further segment locations based on Burroughs and other local targeted areas, which only further helps companies in their ability to offer campaigns that will resonate with the different Hispanics based on their culture and the influence their heritage plays in their daily lives and purchase cycle processes.
Read Part 2: How to Reach Niche Hispanic Markets
Read Part 3: Choosing the Medium for Your Niche Hispanic Market Campaign
SOURCES:
*https://news.mattel.com/News/Mattel-Launches-First-Multi-Brand-Hispanic-Integrated-Campaign-Timed-to-the-Holiday-Season-3e4.aspx
**https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/making-hispanics-how-one-term-united-diverse-group-n88951
***https://www.cnn.com/2014/05/03/living/hispanic-latino-identity/utm_campaign=Social%20Media%20Interaction&utm_content=5281312&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
****https://www.chicagonow.com/chicanisima-latino-politics-news-and-culture/2013/08/chicago-has-5th-largest-hispanic-community-in-u-s/
*****https://miamifl.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm
