Reaching The Hispanic Market In The U.S.

New York, NY - Market researchers have realized that the term "Hispanic" is really just a convenient way of describing a large, heterogeneous group of people rich in diversity and cultural subtleties; a group for which a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing does not fit. Yet, the contemporary Hispanic American market shares many core values and traits that have implications for Hispanic research and Hispanic marketing, says Alex Camacho, in his article "Core Values and Common Traits in the Heterogeneous Hispanic American Market."

The essay looks at these traits, as well as the research challenge this growing population represents for marketers, and appears in the latest issue of Ipsos Ideas, the newsletter published by the Ipsos Group, the fastest growing market research company in the U.S.

"The Hispanic population in the U.S. is exploding, jumping from 22.4 million people in 1990 to nearly 40 million in 2003. And most marketers want to get to know them better, since their purchasing power is expected to grow to as much as $1 trillion by 2010," says Camacho, a Ipsos-Insight Hispanic Consultant. "Despite the fact that Hispanics in the U.S. come from 23 different countries, there are core values to Hispanics that U.S. marketers need to be aware of if they want to target them as their customers."

The author cites prevalent values including allocentrism (or collectivism); familialism, and simpatia. Common traits important to marketers include the obviouslanguage as well as the division among gender roles, the larger and close extended family, and the church as a central social and cultural activity.

"Of course, these values and traits do not describe every Hispanic," says Camacho. "However, they do provide insights into the community that have implications on market research."

Ipsos Ideas delivers the insights and ideas that Ipsos has gleaned from each of their research specialty practices: advertising, customer loyalty, marketing, public affairs, and forecasting, modeling, and consulting. The complete text of the article, as well as "Marketing to the Hispanic Language Split," and the white paper "English Versus Spanish Speaking Hispanics: differences across the board," are available at www.ipsos-ideas.com or by electronic subscription.

For more information, please contact: Alex Camacho Hispanic Consultant Ipsos-Insight 513.257.7384 [email protected]

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