Breaking Down Hispanic Stereotypes

Jan 11, 2009 by Mark Maier

I was part of a Spanish Radio station launch a few years ago in a very conservative area where over 30% of the population is Hispanic and some of the lessons we learned early on broke with stereotypes that consumers and business owners had.  MediaPost's Engage:Hispanics Newsletter talks about those same types of stereotypes that have morphed and changed over the years into the current marketplace....

"Many people can tell you that the U.S. is now the fourth-largest Spanish speaking country in the world -- with Hispanics accounting for 15% of the population. But, for our money, the more insightful statistic is that Latino population growth in the new century has come more from the existing population than from new international migration."
 
That is pretty powerful, 15% of the population and growing is something that your clients need to understand...

"This means that, when marketers talk about "U.S. Latinos," they cannot simply fall back on images of first-generation, Spanish-speaking immigrants. The Hispanic population in the U.S. is assimilating and transforming much faster than the speed of stereotypes, acquiring complexity as it blends old and new. "

Among the observations....

• Hispanics are committed to assimilating: While the majority (75%) of foreign-born U.S. Hispanics feel that their real homeland is their country of origin, most are in the U.S. to stay, with 82% aspiring to become citizens. Most Hispanics feel it is important to maintain their culture (72%); but 62% also feel that they need to "change to blend into the larger society" and 85% say that anyone who comes to the U.S. to stay needs to learn English. Lesson: Latino marketing needs to incorporate their new, U.S. identities, not just their loyalty to homeland.

• Tastes in food are transformed by time in the U.S.: Sixty percent indicate that their favorite foods are from their country of origin -- but the results vary greatly from those who are least assimilated (73%) versus most (33%). Lesson: Hispanic taste buds will be allured by much more than salsa and habanero.

• Advertising in Spanish may not be a deal breaker: Less than one-third (29%) of all U.S. Latinos prefer brands that advertise in Spanish. We see here, as well, a similarly high variation in results by assimilation level -- 48% among those with a low assimilation level, versus 4% among the most assimilated. Lesson: Spanish is not the catch-all for speaking effectively to Latino consumers.

• Family and friends trump many other priorities: While many seem willing to make sacrifices in order to live a successful life in the U.S., only 38% of all U.S. Latinos said they would give up time with family and friends to be successful. Lesson: Advertising and marketing that highlights group dynamics -- from social TV viewing to family-centered promotions -- has a strong advantage.

• Spanish-language TV is still a commonality: Nearly all Hispanics (91%) report having access to Spanish-language television stations at home, and even highly assimilated Latinos (46%) say they watch Spanish-language programming. But for English-language media, time spent each week varies greatly by assimilation -- 9 hours among the less assimilated, versus 22 hours for the more assimilated. Lesson: Spanish-language TV offers an opportunity to reach across the assimilation spectrum.

Among my favorite lessons learned while working with the station:  Hispanics are very family oriented with Sundays set aside for family get-togethers and activities.  Hispanic disposable income continues to grow, they buy houses, automobiles, furniture, electronics, and household goods and services at an equal pace to other consumers.  They are very social and a typical sales call will last an hour with a discussion of family or activities as part of the call, they paid by cash or check at the end of a sales call, and client lunches were always very productive.  To be effective, you need to pay genuine interest to the cultural, religious, and family culture of each client...it is part of their fabric and they expect it to be part of yours as well.

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