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Understanding The Less-Acculturated Hispanic Millennial
During the past years, as researchers, we have noticed that our clients are finding enormous value in understanding Millennials, and in our case, Hispanic Millennials. There are thousands of articles, books, blogs, etc. that talk about Millennials. All marketers are paying attention to this audience and are trying to tailor their initiatives to target them better. But, what is really unique about the Hispanic Dominant and Bicultural Millennial? Does this group behave exactly the same as the mainstream millennial?
Ingenium Research Boutique decided to leverage its learnings about this segment over the past years while conducting research for some of our clients, and complement those learnings with some ethnos among Hispanic Dominant and Bicultural Millennial respondents. Our final outcome portrays the story of four very different Hispanic Millennials while at the same time points out commonalities among them. Some of the most interesting insights that were identified are the specific differences between Less Acculturated Hispanic Millennials vs. mainstream Millennials in terms of concepts such as narcissism, “Peter Pan” generation and “I want it know”, which are very common beliefs about the Millennial segment.
- Narcissism vs. Collectivism: Hispanic Millennials are not narcissists, as usually Mainstream Millennials are described. As with Mainstream Millennials, this group has hectic lives and limited time for themselves, but as a key differentiator, it considers collectivism as a very important value. When reaching out to this Hispanic segment, it is key to acknowledge the strong desire and need for acceptance, reassurance and validation that Millennial Hispanics tend to look for.
- “Peter Pan Generation” vs. “Early Adulthood Generation:” Contrary to what is believed about Mainstream Millennials who are perceived as “delaying” their passage into adulthood, Hispanic Millennials have to mature fast as they tend to have children earlier and/or need to start providing for their families and themselves earlier. When designing marketing strategies, keep in mind that many young Hispanic Millennials are already parents of at least one kid, work hard in order to provide for their direct families (and/or their parents), and may have matured faster than Mainstream Millennials.
- “I want it now” vs. “I have to work hard to get it:” Millennial Hispanics come from a culture that has to work very hard in order to pursue the American dream – nothing is “fast and easy”. As immigrants, and because of language barriers or Hispanic stereotypes, this segment has learned to be patient and work hard when they want to accomplish a dream. As a marketer, acknowledge and celebrate with Hispanic Millennials their hard work and persistence when pursuing a dream. Any marketing efforts could portray how your company can be their ally during the hard path to get where they want to go.
Furthermore, it is also very interesting how this particular segment of Hispanics starts having different motivations compared to older Hispanic audiences:
- “I want to be successful” vs. “I want my kids to do better than me”: Older Hispanics tend to dream about their kids getting what they could not get (i.e. having my kids go to college and having good jobs). However, Millennial Hispanics tend to believe that they still have the opportunity to succeed in life so their kids will be proud of them. We recommend marketers to encourage and support Millennial Hispanics to pursue their dream about getting the proper education to get the job of their dreams. Marketing campaigns can talk about how your company can help Millennial Hispanics make their dreams come true.
About our company: With more than 15 years of experience in the U.S. and Latin America, Ingenium Research Boutique is a company that specializes in qualitative marketing research. We perform focus groups, ethnographic interviews, in-depth interviews, shop-alongs, and many other qualitative techniques in the U.S. and also in Latin America. Since 2012 we started doing online groups and interviews, which is a cost effective alternative for ad testing.
If you are interested in the full report and the video that supports the report or in learning more about Ingenium Research, please contact Maria Parra at mlparra@ingeniumresearch.com.
Maria L Parra
President/ Hispanic Research Consultant
Phone: 914-621-1745