Connecting brands with Hispanic Consumers

1. Connecting Brand Enthusiasm with Hispanic Millennials
By: Patrick Harrington
With the unending barrage of multiple channel and multimedia vehicles available to
consumers the valid question of whether brand loyalty is still relevant emerges. IBM’s Institute
for Business Value recently published a research document titled “Brand Enthusiasm: More
than Loyalty” addressing this question head on by assessing consumers brand experience
eagerness throughout the world. It identifies digital technology, electronic commerce and the
explosive growth of private label as three variables that are intersecting and influencing the
process of consumer purchasing. The study also identified four major consumer groups
identified by current shopping behavior traits, disposition to shop for new brands and age
segmentation as projected in these two diagrams.

2. CONSUMER CLUSTERS CLASSIFIED BY BRANDING ENTHUSIASM

3. CONSUMER AGE CLASSIFICATION
The study goes into some detail explaining the shopping behavior of Product Purists and
Disassociated Shoppers based on age and income variables, which closely parallel the habits
and trends of U.S. shoppers typically associated with the Baby Boomer and Generation X
groups. However, the central idea in this document probes how Global Millennials are a
combination of how Brand Enthusiasts and Brand Ambivalents lead the consumer segmentation
in terms of numbers (Age), overall disposable income and from a qualitative viewpoint the
greatest opportunity for marketers to reach new consumers. More specifically, the results
presented outline a call to action for marketers to successfully franchise these two groups
through a combination of tactics that include online marketing, enticement to try new
products, willingness to share personal information as well as creating theme-oriented a/o
needs based promotions that are often appealing to both groups. This will be possible by
rolling out tactical actions that holistically integrate consumer engagement initiatives, support
product innovation, balance trade and advertising budgets and discern consumer data by

4. focusing only on relevant priorities while staying ahead of the curve in the adoption of mobile
and digital technologies.
So is all this fancy way of doing “21st
Century marketing” applicable to the Hispanic
Millennial Consumer? It most certainly is given the abundant data that clearly draws parallels
and literally mirrors almost identical consumer behaviors between Hispanic Millennials and the
Millennial-focused consumer clusters presented earlier. Let’s look at some.
 SIZE: Hispanic Millennials are now more than 65% of the total Hispanic population in
the U.S. and are 20% + of the total Millennial Population in the U.S. based on data from
the Hispanic Pew Research Center (1). The IBM report projects more than 50% of the
Brand Enthusiast group are in the 18-35 age brackets. While the Hispanic Millennials do
not constitute the majority of the overall Millennial segment, they are increasingly
influencing the benchmarks that many brands are setting to reach Latino consumers.
 MOBILE FIRST: Hispanics are “mobile first” and are more than 2x more likely to own a
tablet compared to General Market consumers as assessed by Simmons Research (2012)
and cited by Dieste’s recent publication 1+1=3 “Changing the Equation with the
Booming Hispanic Market”. (2) A key finding in the IBM report reveals the willingness
of Brand Enthusiasts to share information about themselves and again, this is widely
corroborated by IAB’s publication titled “Hispanic Millennials and Mobile Ethnographic
Research Results”. In short, they are leading the way to build relationships with brands
in mobile and digital environments.
 AVID CPG CONSUMERS: The first waves of Hispanic Millennials have become busy
parents. They are the main consumer group that is fueling the primary growth that
categories such as Baby Formula, Diapers and Eggs have experienced over the past two
years as registered in Nielsen’s Target Tracks (3). Furthermore they significantly
outperform General Market millennials in sales lift measurements made on children’s
products during key promotional flights. Also, it’s important not to underestimate their
propensity to purchase other categories such as Beer and Liquor.
 CONVENIENCE: Hispanic Millennials are part of the ON-THE-GO generation and the
opportunity of having customized product lines that accurately target this group’s
preferences is a must do for CPG marketers. It’s important not to confine this to the

5. traditional grocery store channel; it becomes essential to include product innovation
and rollouts that successfully reach Latino consumers at “C” stores.
The concluding points to this post are meant to reflect on two important
considerations that affect the connecting of branding experiences to Hispanic
Millennials. First, the fact that most Hispanic Millennials are born in the U.S. and follow
some consumer behavior patterns other Millennials exhibit does not make them part of
a total market approach. Hispanic Millennials are extremely responsive to specific
cultural values and norms often influenced by direct family members and friends. This is
clearly reflected in the way they interact and use mobile and digital technologies.
Secondly, considering the way Hispanic Consumers shop embracing all retail channels, it
makes sense for marketers to integrate in-store branding activities and amplified social
media communication under a mobile today – digital tomorrow umbrella to effectively
reach this fascinating consumer group.