Hispanic immigration to the U.S. has slowed, leading to a larger U.S. born Hispanic population less proficient in Spanish, requiring marketers to adapt their strategies beyond language. Cultural legacy significantly influences how U.S. Hispanics perceive and respond to marketing, necessitating an understanding of their familial and social values. Marketers must recognize the cultural tensions faced by U.S. Hispanics and create campaigns that resonate with their unique experiences to build trust and effectively engage this demographic.

1. Reaching Hispanics Now – Cultural Legacy
Matters
Recent U.S. Census figures indicate that Hispanic immigration to the U.S. has
slowed down considerably since reaching its mid-90’s peak. The 2000 Census was a
wake-up call for marketers that hadn’t yet focused their efforts on the Hispanic
segment. The U.S. Hispanic population was larger than had been projected and
appeared to be on an unstoppable upward trajectory.
The U.S. Hispanic population as it existed in 2000 was also heavily Spanish
dominant and unacculturated since nearly half of them had been in the country just
10 years or less. From a marketing perspective, this translated into a lot of Spanish
language advertising. At the time, running ads on Univision was a fairly easy
decision to make since it captured the bulk of U.S. Hispanics in the language they
wanted to be reached in.
A decade and a half later, the decision as to how to reach U.S. Hispanics is no
longer straight-forward. As immigration slowed U.S. born Hispanics started
outnumbering immigrants and the prominence of the Spanish language has slowly
started receding. The operative word in that previous sentence is slowly since the
immigrants who came in the 90’s and their children won’t be forgetting how to speak
Spanish any time soon. However, as the prominence of the Spanish language for
marketing purposes recedes what should marketers focus on to connect with
Hispanic consumer research?
Culture
U.S. born Hispanics may not be as proficient in Spanish as their parents are and
may identify as American first but their cultural legacy still affects their world-view
and life choices. How do we know this? African Americans. They have 100% English
language proficiency and yet have a distinct world-view from White America.
Pretending that African Americans view marketing messages the same way as
Whites is bad business and so is marketing to English speaking Hispanics without
considering their cultural heritage.
In the late 90’s and early 2000’s marketers realized that simply dubbing English
language ads into Spanish did not work. Dubbed messages were mostly disregarded
by consumers as being second-rate since the advertiser appeared to be saying
Hispanics were an afterthought & not the prime target. As the U.S. Hispanic market
research evolves towards bilingualism and English dominance, there’s a temptation
to believe that acculturated Hispanics will be captured by existing English language
marketing. This is just as dangerous as dubbing. Consumers can tell when a creative
team took their worldview into consideration. In fact, an English-language ad that is
culturally attuned often works better than a Spanish language ad that uses a “gen
pop” theme.

2. OK, So What Cultural Legacy Should I Take into
Consideration?
Directly asking U.S. Hispanics to define their culture often leads to superficial
answers such as “Family is important”, “Religion matters” or “Respect for elders is
important” but most of us are unaware of how cultural legacy affects us or why it
affects us. Family matters to everyone. Few cultures around the world would tell you
that they don’t care about their families. The why for Hispanics is that family has
greater saliency for them because it’s not just viewed as a means of raising children
or source of unconditional love but as a bulwark against a sometimes threatening
U.S. culture. For U.S. Hispanics, families provide a support system that non-Hispanic
Whites don’t necessary need to rely on.
Extended Hispanic families are also at the center of U.S. Hispanic social lives.
Getting together frequently reinforces bonds and strengthens this social safety net.
Marketers can, therefore, speak to Hispanics about family but showing a mainstream
theme such as a Thanksgiving dinner with arguing relatives or surly teenagers does
not ring true to them since a greater emphasis on smooth social interactions is
placed on Hispanic gatherings than in the more individualistic mainstream culture.
Fatalism vs. Control Over Destiny = Tension
Accepting things as they are is generally viewed in a negative light by mainstream
American culture. Americans don’t accept the status quo and believe the world can
be bent to our will. Hispanics are typically more fatalistic and don’t necessarily
ascribe negative connotations to fatalism. Accepting life’s circumstances can be
viewed as liberating by allowing one to focus on other, perhaps more social, aspects
of life. This does not mean that U.S. Hispanics do not want to get ahead. It means
there is often tension between Hispanic culture and life in the U.S. Many U.S.
Hispanics feel guilt for feeling like they’re “abandoning” their families in favor of their
careers. Hispanics are looking for solutions that ease the tension they feel between
what their culture dictates and the demands of modern American life.
Tension = Opportunity
Getting ahead in the U.S. and meeting family obligations are not the only sources of
tension for U.S. Hispanics. Values such as respect for elders, gender
roles and social conformity are also under stress. This cultural stress is present
regardless of language and intensifies as individuals acculturate and start breaking
some of their original culture’s norms. Understanding this tension and
communicating with Hispanics in a way that recognizes their dilemma will help create
trust. Brands that connect in this way have a good chance of riding the Hispanic
demographic wave as it evolves beyond the Spanish language.
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September 28th, 2016|Blog, Hispanic Consumer Research, Hispanic Market Research, Hispanic Online
Research, Online Market Research
About the Author: Roy Eduardo Kokoyachuk

3. Roy is a Managing Partner at ThinkNow Research. He started his career at Warner
Bros. Media Research. A desire to pursue multicultural market research full-time led
him to join a full service Hispanic & multicultural market research company, in 2003
as Vice President of Advertising Research. He became Executive Vice President in
2006 and opened an operations center in Tijuana, Mexico and directed the
company’s entry into online research. In 2009 he initiated the creation of the first
nationally representative opt-in market research panel of U.S. Hispanics -
CadaCabeza. This panel broke new ground in panel building by focusing on the
recruitment of Spanish speaking Hispanics as well as the English speakers typically
found on online panels. He co-founded ThinkNow Research to further pursue his
passion for multicultural consumer insights.