Understanding Hispanic Millennials

In 2015, a total of 22.7MM Hispanic Americans – that’s 42% of the total U.S. Hispanic population – are Millennials. (Data
courtesy of Target Latino/Market Intelligence). This growing young audience, coupled with the U.S. Hispanic market’s
$1.5 trillion in spending power, makes Hispanic Millennials a key demographic for marketers when developing
campaigns to target young audience groups.
However, not all marketing strategies are created equal and today’s communications specialists need to take the time to
learn about the characteristics of Hispanic Millennials, how Hispanic young adults consume their content and how best
to engage them in conversation before a marketing campaign is developed and distributed.
42%
Hispanic Americans
are Millennials
(a total of 22.7 Million)
Understanding Hispanic Millennials
According to data from the Pew Research Center, there are a number of ways in which Hispanic Millennials are different
from the general Hispanic population. Most notably, they are currently much less likely to be immigrants and more
likely to speak English proficiently. While these statistics may lead to the assumption that mainstream campaigns can be
geared towards Hispanic Millennials, it’s important to understand that culture also plays a very large role in the lives of
younger Hispanics. This makes it essential that campaigns be culturally-oriented be it through images, celebrities, music
or other cultural touchstones regardless of language. For example, despite the fact that young Hispanics tend to be
fluent in English, their musical preferences are rooted in the Latin culture. Based on information from Nielsen Audio
Today, regional Mexican music is the number one radio format among Hispanic Millennials.
This cultural connection also extends into other key areas such as Spanish-language television viewership. Case in point:
for nearly a decade, Univision Network has enjoyed tremendous success among young Hispanics with its annual youthoriented “Premios Juventud” television awards show. Based on Nielsen data, this year was no exception with Univision
ranking as the number one broadcast network on “Premios Juventud” night among both Adults 18-34 and Persons 12-34
in major markets including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and others. While many people may believe that
Spanish-language television only caters to older Hispanics with old-school variety shows and the ever-popular
telenovelas, things are changing. Through the success of “Premios Juventud”, “La Voz Kids” (a popular Spanish-language
version of the talent competition “The Voice” for kids and teens) and other youth-focused shows, Spanish-language
broadcasters have found a way to effectively engage with bilennials (bilingual Hispanic Millennials) enabling younger
generations to embrace their heritage, remain connected with the larger Hispanic community and keep familial
traditions alive through shared media consumption.
Now that we’ve delved into a little on Hispanic culture and how to understand and engage with Hispanic Millennials, it’s
time to look into sound marketing strategies and platforms that can effectively reach this target audience.
Awareness-Building Strategies
For organizations looking to inform audiences, generate awareness and motivate action, public service announcements
(PSAs) are one of the most cost-effective and powerful communications tools. Hispanic media outlets are generally
underserved when it comes to PSAs, and therefore these are often used heavily by Hispanic-oriented TV and radio
stations across the country. This often translates into millions of audience impressions and donated media values for
PSA campaigns. Most importantly, given Hispanics tend to be passionate and loyal to causes they believe in, engaging
them through PSAs can create a whole new donor base for nonprofits which can result in relationships that could last a
lifetime.
When developing a PSA campaign for Hispanic Millennials, having both English- and Spanish-language PSAs is a good
way to cover the bases when it comes to language preferences. For example, Spanish-language PSAs can be distributed
to Spanish-language media outlets across the country, while English-language PSAs can be targeted to mainstream
outlets in top Hispanic markets. As noted above, these should be culturally-oriented and it’s also a good idea to have
information in both English and Spanish on any websites that are part of the PSA’s call-to-action. It’s also very helpful to
collaborate with Hispanic public service campaign specialists who understand how to properly market PSAs to station
gatekeepers and can effectively leverage these for other opportunities such as Hispanic print, out of home and online
campaigns.
Hispanics are
Passionate & Loyal
to Causes
Speaking of Online, Lets Talk Digital!
Hispanic Millennials are young, influential, digitally savvy, increasingly mobile and social. According to Experian
Simmons, an estimated 74% of Hispanic Millennials own a smartphone and are 66% more likely to connect with causes
and brands via mobile than non-Hispanic whites.
And don’t forget video! Video is the leading type of content consumed by Hispanic Millennials online.
Therefore, incorporating digital marketing technologies into your overall campaign strategy is vital to successfully
engage with this influential demographic.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed when trying to develop an online marketing campaign since the technology itself can be
confusing and the number of choices and platforms vast. However, let us pinpoint a few ways that are very effective
when marketing to Hispanic Millennials.
Precise audience targeting through search intent marketing, behavioral and site retargeting is crucial when engaging
with Hispanic Millennials online and asking them to take action for a specific cause or event. Also placing content on
popular channels such as Hulu and Pandora can help drive significant ROI for your campaign.
A Little Background on These Areas
Search Intent
Technology:
When a consumer is online, search engine activity is collected, classified by keyword and category, and
anonymously mapped to relevant user profiles. Connect360 utilizes search referral URL data that we collect
from the sites we partner with. These sites consist of vertical search sites, comparison shopping engines,
product review sites, blogs and other sites that have consumer data. Consumers will usually do several
searches on vertical/niche sites and Connect360 captures those keywords used. To put your campaign in
the best position to succeed, we combine search, purchase, as well as browsing behavior to identify your
ideal viewer.
Behavioral
Targeting:
A consumer’s online behavior – the websites they view, the products they research and how close they
come to making a purchase are captured and categorized. As the Hispanic Millennial audience is identified
real-time, a customized campaign banner is then fed to the online viewer for message interaction. Since the
banner is generated by a consumer’s demonstrated interest, behavioral targeting provides a stronger, more
promising way to make informed decisions in real-time on when best to serve your campaign awareness
banner to the right user.
Site
Retargeting:
A viewer’s behavior is tracked on your campaign website; what information/services/events are being
viewed and what categories are being surfed. As your audience leaves your site and traffics back to their
favorite websites, a customized banner continues to be served to lead them back to your site for further
message integration.
Mobile
Marketing:
As demonstrated in the above data points, mobile provides unparalleled opportunity to reach consumers
across channels and on virtually any device they choose. With thousands of websites and apps, a
customized campaign awareness banner and video can pinpoint Hispanic Millennial viewers throughout a
mobile network which handles all carriers and devices (including 90+% of both the Android and iOS
universe), through in-app placement and as content within mobile websites. The customized banner can
link directly to your website, video and/or donation page.
Hulu:
Video pre-roll, especially PSA video, offers a tremendous opportunity to expand the reach of your message
and Hulu’s popularity with Hispanic Millennials is growing by the day. Hulu’s total Hispanic audience is 3
million, 52% of which are 18-34. Hulu Latino content is also 94% more likely to be watched via mobile
devices vs. non-Latino content.
Pandora:
According to ComScore, 25 percent of Pandora's total active monthly unique visitors (MUV's) are Hispanic.
That’s over 20 million strong! On Pandora, a listener’s library of personalized stations can be endlessly
diverse, satisfying all of their musical needs, whether inspired by discovery or heritage, enabling an ease of
use that can keeps them on one simple platform–no matter what device they’re on–all day. Targeting and
segmentation for PSA audio content can be incredibly effective in reaching Hispanic Millennials on Pandora
by using an intricate algorithm based not only on ethnicity but listening behaviors, music interaction,
geography, listener surveys and more.
Connecting the Dots
The U.S. Hispanic community is known for being diverse and multi-faceted, and Hispanic Millennials are no exception.
However, when thinking about marketing to Hispanic Millennials, diverse and multi-faceted doesn’t have to mean
difficult and complicated. By developing a good understanding of this unique demographic and utilizing the right
playbook and strategies, marketers can be poised to win over this powerful new segment of our population.
For more information on how to reach Hispanic Millennials contact Chris Cavello, [email protected] or 212-624-9183
and Ivette Achong, [email protected] or 212-624-9186.
Connect360 Multimedia
170 Old Country Road
Suite 301
Mineola, NY 11501
(212) 624-9180
www.c360m.com