Outlook of an Eternal Optimist: Status Report of an Unsinkable Industry

By Louis Maldonado

The first half of 2024 has been nothing short of a whirlwind. Ad industry conversations have centered around many exciting opportunities, like using Generative AI as a tool to elevate all steps of the creative storytelling process, from research to insights to a much broader scale of personalized content. At the same time, we are having substantive discussions around major barriers that can thwart our clients’ ability to evolve at the pace of the changing consumer landscape. One would be the mounting attempts at undoing DEIB practices and protocols, which can – and has – had a direct impact on the priority placed and budgets allocated to Multicultural Marketing. Another is the legislative agenda to strip any consumer data related to race, ethnicity and other identity-related demographic information from critical data sources, which can severely limit our ability to identify, study, reach and engage the multicultural consumer segments with the most relevant content and brand solutions.

Multicultural and Hispanic Marketing industry think tanks have been active players with lead roles at ensuring our consumer segments have a voice in these critical conversations, and they will add shape to our industry’s transformation. Some of the latest examples include:

• In April, the Hispanic Marketing Council (HMC) unveiled its clever and eye-opening “Stop Latino Coating” campaign to address the superficial marketing tactics, often in the form of tropes, clichés and even stereotypes, that are frequently used when targeting Hispanic audiences. This campaign was launched at Cannes and was led by a triumvirate of accomplished creatives: Luis Miguel Messianú from MEL, Marcos Vega from We Believers and Elias Weinstock from Casanova//McCann. It was inspiring to see such a blend of respected creative colleagues embracing our common agenda to remove any doubt so that more CMOs get it right, for once.
• In late June, the ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) released a report that shows while significant progress has been made in many areas of inclusive and multicultural marketing, that advancement is not seen industry-wide. Also, key areas, like diverse supplier sourcing and accuracy of multicultural consumer data, continue to be stark challenges.
• Both of these organizations, along with many Hispanic agencies, Stacie de Armas and the DEI team from Nielsen, and Claudia Romo Edelman from the We Are All Human Foundation, formed an organic contingent that represented the Hispanic marketing industry and our community. This was total proof that sipping rosé on the sandy beaches of the French Riviera can be the best way to call attention to the importance of Hispanic marketing at the always hectic Cannes Advertising Festival.
• More broadly, the ANA and the 4As have been working non-stop to facilitate the understanding and adoption of the latest gen AI tools and technology, as well as to shape the legislative policies related to consumer data and our ability to use it in marketing while respecting individual privacy.

Without a doubt, this critical work is positively impacting marketing transformation. It serves to ensure that not only are campaigns representative, inclusive and without bias, but that the creative storytelling connects on a cultural level and reflects the fact that Multicultural consumers are leading business growth, led by the Hispanic audience that’s already at 62 million strong.

As I said, the examples above are just the latest in a collective plight that has endured for over half a century. Many of us that specialize in Hispanic and/or Multicultural marketing have reported on the ongoing demographic and psychographic shifts and shared numerous business cases to prove the ROI is there. We have presented mounds of data and real-life examples that prove our Latino culture and language are central to our individual and collective identities across all generations of Hispanics, including Gens Z and Alpha. Likewise, we have conducted quantitative studies that show in-culture and in-language ads not only are more attention-grabbing, like-able and persuasive, but they drive double- and even triple-digit increases in brand trust and purchase intent.

These trends, consumer preferences and business cases are irrefutable. Yet, a number of the unconverted seem to have little-to-no intention of investing in the Hispanic growth segment, and many that have invested for decades have been shifting spend to other efforts and are opting to use more generic creative messaging. All of this is happening at a time where the need for authenticity, representation, personalization and the dire need for a breadth of content is mounting. Yet, for some puzzling reason, recent conversations around brand creative and content appear to be more focused on removing bias in ads, which is commendable, but the motives seem to be more of a safety check to avoid cultural cancellation as opposed to elevating the intention of doing more and better targeted, customized work that resonates with the heart and soul of diverse consumers – and of course, without bias.

This leaves many of us asking ourselves some key questions: Why hasn’t the industry made more progress, as the AIMM report mentioned above attests? Have more recent technological advancements, perhaps, shifted the attention and priority to shinier more newfangled objects? Have we pushed the agenda so far that key decision-makers are opting to tune out and are no longer listening? Do we need a new approach?

Perhaps the ongoing marketing transformation sparked by digital and performance channels, and now turbocharged by the increasing adoption of AI, have opened a door for us to reimagine modern marketing – and with Multicultural experts finally at the helm. The truth is our expertise is needed now more than ever. The limitations in cultural representation and shortfalls in accuracy that plague big data sources and generative AI require that true multicultural experts are involved at interpreting the data and mitigating any shortcomings to unearth insights and tease out the nuances that can lead to compelling strategies and powerful creativity. Regarding Gen AI in the creative process, we will need experts to lead in training the models and crafting the right prompts that will result in the most accurate and representative outputs. With regard to performance media, we need seasoned experts to input accurate data, as well as to have the cultural insight required to analyze and optimize performance and avoid shortchanging potential business drivers. Finally, experts are needed at every step of the customer journey to drive product/service innovation and to ensure every consumer touchpoint is culturally relevant, meaningful and of true value.

All of this is especially critical as we continue shifting to more personalized experiences and messages because, after all, culture and language are central to our individual identity.

These are transformative times for our industry. More importantly, this is our time to shine! We Hispanic and Multicultural Marketing experts were meant to be here at this very moment so we can leverage our talents, skill sets, expertise and, yes, passion, to help clients leverage cutting-edge tools and technology to optimally connect with the Hispanic growth consumer.

We are well poised to champion a bold and new way of helping clients build authentic, long-term relationships that elevate brand trust and loyalty, all fueled by Multicultural consumer insights. We have the opportunity to keep elevating our game and be the brand stewards that guide strategies based on a keen and intimate understanding of these growth audiences, because our specialized expertise makes us the most attuned to their needs, challenges, motivations and desires. There will be opportunists and perhaps even tricksters that may pose challenges and even threats, so courage, tenacity, shrewdness and a strong sense of purpose are mission-critical. But we have faced these and other challenges before and will do so again. Now, let’s get to work!

About Author

Louis Maldonado is Partner and Managing Director at d expósito & Partners, an integrated marketing communications firm with the cultural dexterity required to help brands win with diverse consumer audiences.