WITH $3.7T GDP, THE LATINO BUSINESS CASE IS A CAPITALIST AGENDA

By Ana Ceppi

For the seventh year, the L’Attitude conference has endeavored to showcase the Latino consumer as a domestic fiscal imperative, distancing the conference from a DE&I conversation to a dollars and cents one… as Sol Trujillo, CEO, Co-Founder of L’Attitude mantra during the conference would repeat we are “helping everybody think about how they can make more money as a capitalist” and “to go where the growth is [Latino] and invest in capital growth there”. This year the agenda endeavored in adding dimension to the value of the Latino GDP Report, $3.6 Trillion. The report states Latinos are 28.3% real GDP growth (2017-2022); with a domestic income valued at $2.8T; a $3.8T Latino Purchase Power (LPP) and projected to become the Fourth Largest economy in the world by 2029. More than 30 speakers from all industries and sectors brought the consumer consumption and lifetime value to life.

(from Left to right: Dennis Hoffman, PhD; Ana Valdez, President and CEO Latino Donor Collaborative; Patty Juarez, EVP & Head of Hispanic/Latino Affairs Wells Fargo; Sol Trujillo CEO, Co-Founder of L’ATTITUDE and Chairman, Trujillo Group LLC)

The 3 takeaways:

1. “Mathematically it is impossible to grow the American Economy without Latinos”- a point that Marissa Solis, Chief Brand Officer at the NFL, stated in every panel she participated…“The NFL currently has 40 Million Latino fans and their viewership has increased by 60%… we intend to grow the NFL Latino Fan base to 30% from 18%.
2. The Latino and the Latina GDP are fueling the domestic economy. According to LDC, the Latino GDP is larger than India (the country). A separate Latina GDP report, states that the Latina GDP is larger than the GDP of 47 states in the USA.
3. Technology will continue to be a wealth and share accelerator for Latinos regardless of age or gender.

There are deeper dive reports this year to complement the story: US Latino Youth; The Latino Fast Facts; The LCD Comprehensive Handbook on US Latinos. Two noteworthy reports:

The 2024 Latinos in Media report which for the first time includes Black, AAPI, Non Hispanic Whites to the media representation mix. As in years past, Latinos are the only group that is not seeing growth in media representation.

• Lack of representation in Emmy’s: Ana Valdez, President and CEO of LDC, who demonstrated the lack of Latino representation with the Emmy’s nomination where this segment is absent by saying “it is important that you think about what is happening because tomorrow it’s the Emmy’s… and that is a really big point, and I want you to remember this when you watch the Emmy’s and you will see there are no Latinos nominated… and I want you to be uncomfortable with the kind of content you are going to support”.
• Lack of advertiser participation: Rita Ferro, President of Disney Advertising, detailed that close to 231 advertisers [out of approximately 1200] are in the Latino market, yet, “the last 2 years has been a really rich data across the ecosystem of platforms and channels that we have” … which will have an impact in how to pinpoint consumers where they are- and increasingly that will be Latino.
• Valuable Movie Box Office ROI: Tony Vinciquerra, Chairman and CEO Sony Pictures Entertainment and lead actor Paola Nunez talked about the value of Leading Latino roles in the box office; Vinciquerra stated “$400 million box office [ Bad Boys for Life ] and 30-35% Hispanic audience for a film illustrating the positive impact of Latino representation and market share profitability”.

The 2024 Latinos in Tech and AI report which indicates that Latinos are leaning into the technology and as “non legacy”/GenZ cohort, and are early adopters of the tech; setting the stage for L’Attitude Ventures deep focus on the Tech vertical. According to Silvana Montenegro, Global Head of Advancing Hispanics and Latinos at JPMC, JPMorgan Chase has been a core investor of L’Attitude Ventures with an investment of $20M… and have also supported VC first tech accelerator programs with a $2Million dollar grant.

And if you are wondering what is the value of the Latina purse… according to the Latina GDP prepared by Bank Of America, the 2021 U.S. Latina GDP is $1.3 trillion, up from $661 billion in 2010. The total economic output of Hispanic females in 2021 is larger than the entire economy of the state of Florida. In fact, only the GDPs of California, Texas and New York are larger than the U.S. Latina GDP.

The Latino GDP will continue to drive growth in every sector fueled by the segments youth, higher education attainment, entrepreneurship and upward mobility. Still to be seen is the uptake of companies and advertisers on targeting this audience as a growth lever vs a segment.

About the author:

Ana Ceppi, is the founder and CEO of Factivist LLC, a marketer executive who looks to accelerate business growth by creating demand in unseen and elusive marketing opportunities; bringing facts into action. She is the winner of 2023 Crains Notable Hispanic Leaders & executives; 2019’s Imagen Powerful and Influential Latinos in Entertainment and holds 5 Effie’s and a 2024 Gold Lions.