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.

CONSUMER CLUSTERS CLASSIFIED BY BRANDING ENTHUSIASM

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

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

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.