English speaking Hispanics represent 2/3 of Hispanic Boomers.

Marketers and advertisers have recognized the importance of Hispanic consumers for some time but have segmented within the Hispanic community primarily on the basis of language — creating Spanish language ads and communication for the unacculturated, Spanish-speaking population while relying on their mainstream communication to reach more-acculturated, English- speaking Hispanics. Recently, however, marketers have started to realize that messages aimed at the general market may not resonate with more-acculturated Hispanics.

A new report from Focalyst, “More Than Just Language: A Look at Diversity Among Hispanic Boomers,” focuses on the 7 million Hispanic Boomers in the United States and examines whether marketers are missing important segments by using language as the defining characteristic.

Focalyst, a specialty practice within Millward Brown, combined results of the Focalyst View Study of over 17,000 Boomers (born between 1946-1964) and a major nationally representative Multicultural Segmentation study of 1,300 respondents conducted by Millward Brown’s Multicultural Practice to better understand the more-
acculturated Hispanic Boomers

The more-acculturated Hispanic Boomer is made up of those that are Bicultural and Acculturated. Acculturated Hispanics are U.S. born and speak primarily English. They identify strongly with American culture, but still keep ties with their Hispanic culture. Bicultural Hispanics are bilingual consumers born either in the US or in
Latin America that identify with aspects of both cultures. These two segments represent two-thirds of Hispanic Boomers.

While there are common values around family and traditions, these two groups have different life experiences, differing attitudes about life and different goals for the future. Such desires are likely to affect the way these consumers interpret messages and behave in the marketplace.

Among the notable findings:

• There are more trailing Hispanic Boomers (64%) than in the General Market (57%), meaning that they have additional years before many will be reaching the age when critical insurance and financial decisions are made.

• Employment among Bicultural Hispanic Boomers is about equal to the General Market, however they earn 23% less income on average.

• Hispanic Boomers live in larger households (3.3 vs. 2.9 for the General Market), often made up of younger children, adult children, or older relatives. With extended families, Bicultural households have the largest household composition (3.6 people).

• Acculturated Boomers are the most likely to be a caregiver for a family member, with 14% recently taking on this role.

• Besides supporting larger households, a quarter of Hispanic Boomers are providing substantial financial support to someone outside of their homes.

• Acculturated Hispanic Boomers are more likely to aspire to continue their education (28%), while Bicultural Hispanics are almost twice as likely to desire to start a new business than the general market Boomer.

• Despite experiencing more negative life events and not having many of the educational and financial advantages that the General Market and even the Acculturated Hispanic Boomers have had, Bicultural Hispanic Boomers have very positive attitudes, with 86% agreeing that they have been fortunate in life.

According to Jack Lett, Executive Director of Focalyst, “Marketers need to look beyond language and understand the demographic, altitudinal and behavioral differences within the Hispanic Boomer market in order to reach this target.”

“It is by understanding both their differences and similarities with the General Market segment that we can target Hispanic Boomers effectively and efficiently,” according to David Burgos, of Millward Brown’s Multicultural Practice.”

For more information at http://www.focalyst.com