What religion teaches us about Hispanic marketing.

By Maria-Gracia Inglessis, Senior Account Planner at Wing

We all have heard-and probably at some point also said-that Hispanics are brand loyal. One common mythical struggle in our industry is to make Hispanics try brands other than those they grew up with. Marketers who introduce a new product are considered lucky because they don’t have the loyalty dragon to slay and are able to make that very first impression in the minds of Hispanic consumers. But are Hispanics really that loyal?

I recently came across a few things that make me wonder if the knee-jerk answer is still the right one. What’s interesting here is that the information was not about toothpaste or mayonnaise, diapers or cars; it was about religion.

The article Separated Brothers published in the Economist back in 2009 and the report Changing Faiths: Latinos and the Transformation of American Religion by the Pew Hispanic Center in 2007 talk about how Hispanics are moving from Catholic to evangelical churches. They explain that 68% of Hispanics are still Catholic, but about 15% are now born-again evangelicals who are, as suggested in the article from The Economist, “fast gaining market share.” More recently, according to the 2011 State of the Church Series report by the Barna Group, Hispanics are dropping religion all together: the percentage of unchurched Hispanics has doubled in the last two decades.

This is an important change. Across Latin America and Spain, Catholicism may be the strongest and longest-lasting “brand” ever; it is probably the one that has shaped the culture the most and is the one to which Hispanics have been most loyal, which is what makes any move away from it so striking. It is no small thing to reject such a powerful presence in one’s culture.

There are two angles that I find interesting in this shift. The first one is related to the potential implications for the culture. We know Catholicism is one of the strongest pillars of the Hispanic culture, how would a change in religion affect Hispanic values, attitudes, and behaviors? For example, while Latino Catholics pay special devotion to the Virgin Mary, Latino evangelicals, less so. How might this difference affect attitudes towards gender roles? Also, Latino evangelicals are twice as likely as Latino Catholics to be Republicans. How does this affect their worldview?

The second area to consider is loyalty itself. What is making some Hispanics less loyal to Catholicism? According to the Pew Hispanic Center, Latinos are moving to evangelical churches because they feel them to be more relevant: converts said they sought a new religion because they wanted to feel closer to God. They are looking for a more direct relationship with God, one that is less mediated by hierarchies. Also, converts seem to like evangelical rituals or celebrations because they are more experiental and lively than Catholic masses, which they feel lack excitement. Finally, according to The Economist, the outreach programs of the evangelical church have great pull because they go beyond what government programs offer, doing things like taking young men away from gang life, fighting for immigrants’ right and more.

So, what can we marketers learn from this change in faith? First, we need to keep the pulse on how this trend may affect culture, values, and ultimately consumer behavior. Second, we need to keep in mind that brand switching is not unattainable, among Latinos, even if we are competing against the all-time legacy brand. Loyalty could be gained, among other things, by offering engaging and direct experiences that bring the consumer closer to the spirit of the brand, and that provide the consumer with a real benefit that is relevant to the way they live today, right now.

Let’s remember to look at Hispanics in a holistic way, closely following how religion, sports, arts, and other elements of culture fit in their lives, remembering that none of them will ever be static. This broader exploration gives us a more complete picture of who they really are and what they are looking for today. And let’s learn a lesson from the audience itself; let’s challenge conventional wisdom more and more often, just like Latinos are doing in their day to day lives. If they are prepared to accept change even in the most fundamental areas of their lives, we probably should too.