The New Mainstream Podcast

At this point, the business case for diversity, equity, and inclusion is a no-brainer. Not only is it a moral obligation, but research suggests maintaining a diverse and inclusive workforce improves business outcomes and financial performance. So, essentially, implementing DEI initiatives within your organization is common sense and just makes cents, right? Yet, many firms fail to look at how DEI...

The symbiotic relationship between data and storytelling has emerged as a powerful tool for diversity and inclusion initiatives within companies. Post-2020, organizations are now prioritizing D&I under mounting pressure from employees and other stakeholders demanding representation within the workplace, product and service offerings, and marketing and advertising. Storytelling is the catalyst for...

Customer expectations are much higher in 2021. Today’s empowered consumers know who they are, expect brands to understand their needs, and use their social currency to influence perception in favor of or against brands. Enlightened brands listen, build intelligence, and use those insights to make products more attractive to buyers. Product Managers play a vital role in bringing new products to mar...

Miami is quickly becoming the next Silicon Valley. Fueled by the tech explosion permeating South America and corporate America’s waning interest in settling out west, Miami has become a bustling hub for upwardly mobile Hispanics. Tech companies looking to put down roots in the coastal city are either looking to secure tech talent or are scouting locations to set up shop, or both. The result, an em...

At the height of the pandemic, focus group facilities were primarily silenced, accelerating the shift from in-person to online qualitative studies. For agencies, this shift happened at a critical time for brands as COVID-19 and racial injustice cases spiked. The need to get a pulse on consumer sentiment was palpable as companies found themselves navigating the pandemic while showing solidarity for...

Latino consumers continue to outpace the general market in technology use. This trend is driven primarily by the youth of this demographic. Nearly six in ten U.S. Hispanics are Millennials or younger, and Gen Z is the first majority-minority generation. These generations are digital natives and thrive on the mobile experience, which impacts how they interact with e-commerce, social media, and ente...

While Latinos over-index on using certain technologies, such as smartphones and social media, broad adoption of video conferencing apps and other online platforms being used to accommodate the shift from in-person to online qualitative research is not as prevalent. Over the last few months, market researchers have been tasked with helping multicultural consumers understand these tools so they can...

The pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital for many industries, including market research. More specifically, qualitative research. In-person focus groups and face-to-face in-depth interviews (IDIs) have been replaced by online research methodologies that enable consumers to share their thoughts and attitudes from the safety of their homes. Essential to the success of online qualitative res...

Linguistic anthropology dives into how people use language to create culture, enact different identities, tell stories, and create relationships. But language is continuously changing. In the U.S., Hispanics are becoming more English dominant. Spanish speakers or descendants of Spanish speakers are encountering a different linguistic experience as language evolves to meet the needs of Hispanics in...

Humans, in general, use metaphors to assign meaning to various aspects of our lives. By creating images in our minds, we make sense of the world around us and form associations that guide our behavior. Those associations can be aspirational, pushing us to pursue a certain status, or protective, warning us to steer clear of perceived danger. Understanding those associations is essential for markete...

Diversity, equity, and inclusion took center stage in 2020, with many brands rushing to restructure internal teams and re-evaluate advertising campaigns in response to calls for social justice. There was a cultural shift among the general population. Multicultural consumers became the focal point, and forward-thinking brands responded by creating culturally relevant marketing that appealed to mult...

Latin American brands often feel overly confident in entering the U.S. market. Having experienced success in their home markets, they look to replicate that brand affinity north of the border, often using the same strategy that won at home. But, that affinity doesn’t always translate into a successful entry, especially when brands fail to realize and plan for the shift from a mostly homogeneous cu...

Across industries, the pandemic has radically altered the way we conduct business and communicate. Market research is no exception, with social distancing requirements prompting innovation in online survey instruments, panel selection, focus groups, and other data collection methods to mitigate the risk of coronavirus spread. Despite this year’s challenges, 2020 has also presented new opportunitie...

Bilingual and bicultural Latino Americans often serve as “digital sherpas,” or guides, for foreign-born family members who have yet to master the American ethos and language. Navigating the intersectionality of both U.S. and Latino value systems, these interpreters often inform brand and product purchases, search, and content consumption for friends and family members from an early age. These “dig...

Market research has traditionally been more reactive, “reinventing the wheel” with each new client request, resulting in new trackers and survey instruments. Extracting accurate multicultural insights from these methodologies are difficult to obtain, as most surveys aren’t designed to attract or engage ethnic audiences. Market researchers must include more multicultural developers in the research...

Multicultural consumers comprise about 40% of the U.S. population and are important to brands searching for growth outside of saturated markets. Essential to penetrating this consumer group is understanding the nuances of it. Sample providers fulfilling census-representative sample requests or requests for multicultural sample, in general, must build out their panels to include multicultural persp...

At 13% of the U.S. population, Black Americans are key drivers of mainstream cultural trends. From music to sports, fashion, and the latest Tik Tok dances, the influence of Black American culture is evident in almost every facet of daily American life. But unlike other multicultural groups, African Americans are often still treated as a monolith by marketers. Faulty sampling methods and inadequate...

Multicultural audiences are significantly driving mainstream identity and influencing emerging trends. According to UM’s Annual Cultural Dimension study, two out of five general population consumers indicate being influenced by Latino, Black, and Asian segments when it comes to passion points like music, fashion, hair care, food, sports, and more. As consumer behavior shifts in response to cultura...

From search to content consumption, purchase to advocacy, Hispanic consumers take a unique collective approach to e-commerce. The ethos of this collectivist culture greatly influences brand experience and purchasing behavior. Hispanic consumers conduct searches to assist spouses, friends and family members, both inside and outside their household. Marketers and advertisers need to learn how to bet...

Financial literacy among U.S. Hispanics is lower, on average, than the general population. Numerous factors are contributing to the gap, such as youth, language barriers, lower income, and fewer assets. As a consequence, many Hispanics have a limited understanding of personal finance and how to build wealth, especially among Spanish dominant consumers. In this week’s episode of The New Mainstream...

Forty percent of American consumers are ethnically diverse, yet only five percent of advertising dollars are allocated to environments that are contextually relevant to these audiences. As racial injustice protests accelerate conversations about inclusion marketing, brands must contend with the fact that fielding multicultural data is no longer optional. It is now necessary to create equity with t...

Marketers looking to gain deeper insights into multicultural audiences must first move beyond blanket assumptions. Essential to doing that is leveraging data and understanding the value of audience segmentation. Some marketers, however, are uncertain as to how to find the data needed or adequately use the data when found to segment their audiences effectively. This week, Demetrius Parker, Integrat...

Influencer marketing has the power to fuel brand buy-in. But its brands that work to progress culture in ways that inspire and contribute to society that endear themselves to pop culture.  This week, we sit down with Marco Valadez, Partner at ID Agency and Executive Producer of “LA Originals” on Netflix, to discuss the benefits and examples of influencer marketing, its impact on community, and why...

Multicultural consumers are poised to be at the forefront of economic recovery in the U.S. Due to COVID-19, minority women-owned firms are pivoting to innovative strategies to continue delivering value to their clients. In many cases, they are discovering more profitable ways to do business. Essential workers, who are predominantly multicultural, are working on the front lines in healthcare, munic...

Before the pandemic, Latina owned businesses were among the fastest-growing in the United States. Now, many are facing the threat of permanent closure. Access to funding continues to plague Latino business owners, as 91% were unable to obtain funds from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program. Hispanic women-owned businesses, in particular, are absorbing the lion’s share of these fina...