People Don’t Talk about Bruno, Nor the Importance of Spanish in Marketing: Daisy Expósito-Ulla wants to change that.

For over 40 years, many have predicted the demise of Spanish-language media and advertising in the U.S., despite Census results reporting that Hispanics have accounted for over 50% of the total U.S. population growth for more than 20 years. Why is this?

Conversations have been dominated by the fact that U.S.-born Latinos are now driving that growth, and there have been many misguided assumptions about acculturation. At a Prisa Brand Solutions U.S. presentation held at the Google offices in New York City, this past Thursday, Daisy Expósito-Ulla explained that nothing could be further from the truth.

“We are 62 million Hispanics in the U.S., of which an estimated 40 million speak Spanish. Now, those 40 million Spanish-speaking Hispanics are 15% larger in number than the size of the total Hispanic population in 2000, which was 35 million,” said Expósito-Ulla. One wouldn’t know that from the marked decline in advertisers using customized strategies and creative to better target Hispanics, over the last 20 years.”

In responding to a question about how conventional thinking among marketers is that, generally, Spanish-speaking Hispanics tend to be lower income and cannot afford to buy more premium-priced products, Exposito-Ulla commented, “To me, that’s extremely outdated thinking. The Latino community has grown, advanced and diversified. We are more affluent and have closed the education gap significantly. Plus, recent research studies by the Hispanic Marketing Council, the ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing, Nielsen and Pew prove that we see our Latino identity as an essential part of our individual identity, and our connection to the culture and language is stronger than ever – even with Gen Zers.”

Expósito-Ulla went on to express how, for decades, research has shown that Spanish-language advertising is more effective than English when targeting Hispanics, regardless of language preference. “Going back to the 1990s, quantitative studies from the Roslow Research Group, Millward-Brown and others have shown that Spanish-language ads perform better in ad recall, likeability, persuasion and other measures than do English ads – not only with Spanish-preferred Hispanics but with Bilingual and English-preferred, as well. Just last week, Carlos Santiago from AIMM presented research that showed that not only are language and culture significant contributors to advertising performance, they are crucial for building brand trust and preference. This is because of our powerful connection to Latino identity and culture, which shapes the way we see the world and live our lives, regardless of language preference.”

Expósito-Ulla took part in a panel discussion and was joined by Group M’s Gonzalo del Fá and José Antonio Ortega Carrero, CEO of Prisa Brand Solutions U.S. Her final comments spoke to the increasing importance of Spanish-language content on digital and streaming platforms. “One game-changer is the proliferation of Spanish content that’s now available digitally. Nielsen research shows that Latinos are 36% more likely to stream content because they have more choices of programming that reflect their cultures, identities and lifestyles. HMC research shows this to be true, as well, even with Gen Zers that were born and raised here in the U.S. With the growth of streaming platforms and the variety of programming they offer, we still cannot assume that English-preferred Hispanics are consuming the same media and programs as their non-Hispanic counterparts.