Marketing To Hispanic Adults: Get A New Game Plan

By Adam R Jacobson

U.S.-born teens and young adults are greatly contributing to the “death” of the adult Hispanic consumer target as we know it.

That’s the key insight offered Wednesday at the AHAA Annual Conference in Miami Beach by MTV Tr3s senior vice president of research and consumer insights Nancy Tellet, who reviewed highlights from the 2011 Tr3s Hispanic Millennial Study.

“This U.S.-born segment … is growing up. We have to start thinking of them as an adult demographic,” says Tellet, noting that the percentage of U.S.-born young adults, now at 59%, is astounding. “When demographics like these shift so greatly, it is a major event – it is like meteors hitting the earth and destroying the dinosaurs.”

Tellet believes the core of the new Hispanic marketer target is represented by “Luis,” the bilingual Latino who may be second or third-generation. “Luis” could be someone who has retroacculturated and newly embraced their Hispanic culture. They number 4.9 million, according to data compiled by MTV Tr3s from Simmons, Motivo Insights/NGLC 2010 and Pew Hispanic Center.

Core identity is shaped by Latino roots, not by language, among this demographic, Tellet adds.

Second-generation Hispanics are also indexing at or above the levels of those in the total population with respect to technology and what they use it for – “watching stupid animal videos” on YouTube, notwithstanding, Tellet says.

Today’s millennials are also “stressed for success,” she adds, driven to overcome obstacles to financial, employment and educational achievement.

Consumer-oriented questions were also presented to the Latino millennial. They often take charge of cable TV or DirecTV/Dish Network channel packages, and exert lots of influence over grocery shopping needs, clothing and telephone services. And while Hispanics are commonly thought of as extremely brand loyal, the U.S.-born Latino millennial is active with their “group of brands,” and are not as interested as the total-market in private label brands (Publix, Safeway, etc.).

Courtesy of http://jakeadams.net>