Some Key Strategies to Effectively Reach Hispanic Millennial Consumers

[Commentary] Univision Communications recently partnered with GfK Consumer Trends to compare Hispanic and non-Hispanic generation-mates and identify where Hispanics are leading total market trends.

The research initiative, titled “Decoding Y: Millennials Revealed,” clearly makes the case for a total market strategy -- or better said, a total millennial strategy. For any marketer looking to reach millennials, Hispanics must be integral to your plans from the outset of research and planning and throughout the entire marketing funnel. You can’t expect to apply a one-size-fits-all strategy and effectively reach Hispanics. Instead, our research indicates there is room for core cultural values, such as traditions, which can be leveraged in synergy with the common values derived from being part of the same generation.

Here are a few key highlights of the study:

• Traditional Values Matter. At 21% of millennials, Hispanics mirror their peers in many top values. However, we found traditional values like respecting ancestors, cultural purity and faith to be more important to Hispanics than their general market peers.
• Family Trumps Materialism. Hispanic millennials were substantially more likely to say they’d use the money to buy a house for their parents, or save for their children’s education, whereas non-Hispanic millennials were more interested in traveling the world with their friends.
• Traditional Family Roles and Definitions. Hispanic millennials are at the tip of the spear in a shift to a more collaborative approach at home where many domestic activities such as child care, grocery shopping and household cleaning are viewed as shared responsibilities, probably because they count as social and family time. We also find that the consumer mindset towards gay and lesbian marriages and families is changing very rapidly, and Hispanics, though from a more traditional background, are on par with their total market peers in being more open-minded.
• Sphere of Influence. For all millennials, the No. 1 source of influence in seeking opinions before buying a product is “asking family or friends” (82%).

[Ruiz is senior VP, Strategy and Insights, Univision]