What's the biggest downside to living in the U.S., according to Latina women? One survey has discovered that Hispanic women name Donald Trump.
A study commissioned by one of the leading millennial women's media companies Popsugar, in partnership with Contecxt and Ipsos CT, asked Latina women about their preferences, especially as it pertained to advertising.
One of the open-ended questions asked Latinas what the most negative thing about living in the United States was. Forty-one percent of the survey takers, who wrote more than 500 unique responses, referenced negative Hispanic stereotypes — with many of those specifically naming Trump.
Still, the survey found that, overall, Latinas had a positive view of America, and considered themselves to be equally American and Latina.
Latinas are considered an immensely lucrative demographic to advertise to, given their purchasing power. According to the 2015 Multicultural Economy Report from the University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth, Hispanics are expected to have a total purchasing power of $1.3 trillion this year, the largest of all the U.S. minority groups. The figure is projected to hit $1.7 trillion in 2020.
"The pure size of the market has exploded," said Yashoda Sampath, research director at digital agency Huge. "It's also the one that is growing the most in affluence over time, even accounting for the recession."
Mark Book, vice president and director of Digitas Studios, said that there are more than 6.4 million Hispanic moms in the U.S., and they typically have larger households. In addition, a quarter of the millennials in the U.S. are Hispanic, and contribute more to overall household expenses than non-Hispanic white millennials.
"Marketing to the Latina demographic is so important for brands because of the share of buying power that they represent today, in the next five years, and beyond," he said.
In addition, Sampath said that Hispanics are more likely to embrace newer digital technologies, like mobile and social media, than the rest of the population. Because of a lower penetration of broadband services in Hispanic households, the population started out as mobile-first.
For example, Digitas Studios data shows that 77 percent of Latinas own smartphones, as opposed to 55 percent of non-Hispanic whites.
"The Latina demographic is more digital and mobile savvy than the general population, and multitask less when watching ads online or on television," said Book. "This allows more concentrated consumption of brand media."
The Popsugar survey also discovered that 45 percent of Latinas overall said they trusted digital advertising more than they trusted opinions of friends. Native advertising, or pieces of commissioned content, was highly favored, especially among Latina moms and young Latinas between 18 and 24. Also, they had no problem sharing branded content with friends.
There is room for brand improvement: When it came to content, the overwhelming majority of survey takers said they wanted to see more Latinas in the media, especially in lifestyle categories such as food, beauty and fashion.
Previously, Sampath said many marketers relied on what is called niche marketing to reach Hispanic audiences, taking historically Hispanic products and creating advertising campaigns in Spanish featuring a predominantly Hispanic cast.
However, she explained more brands are starting to take a total market approach, realizing that including Hispanic people in ads targeted toward the general population can reach all consumers instead of having campaigns for each demographic.
"That's changing fast as more brands become aware of the opportunity.... It's more of an inside-out approach rather than an outside-in approach," she said.