Everybody’s heard the stats about advertising communities. Heck, we use them every day; “Ad spend in US Hispanic provides the biggest ROI”; “Hispanics will make 30% of the US population in X number of years, so we can convince X client to commit X amount of dollars to our brilliant plans and ideas”.
This article was written by Guillermo Perez, Chief Creative Officer, Digo Hispanic Media
But besides that, how do you quantify culture? Can it even be done? I’m sure there’s some app or algorithm already dishing out some Index of how much Fania there’s in your coffee.
Truth be told, there’s never been a more exciting time than now for Hispanics to be part of the marketing and advertising communities. We’ve all had our share of surprises and learned so much in recent years. Likewise, many questions and observations arise in all of us, regarding the wonders of this fertile environment.
Yet, few things are as exciting as noticing that maybe we’ve been dealing with or interpreting stuff partially. Or even in the wrong way. Perhaps, we’re seeing this whole thing way smaller or from a different perspective than what it is.
We’ve been hearing about inclusion, participation, and belonging. Hearing about many a brand’s quests for authenticity to be able to reach us. But then, when a community already has this massive footprint in culture… meaning music, language, sports, literature, politics, etc. definitely there’s a big shadow we cast. What if we take the flip-side view of this thing?
What if we’re failing to notice how much brands in middle America want to belong to this major social change? Do we have a grasp on how curious and eager they are to understand us more? What if we’re too busy? Too unaware?
There are for sure, brands that want to connect with us, in the way some kid in Michigan is doing to the latest dembow or reggaeton track. The kind of power that draws you in, even when there’s no clue of what it’s all about, except it moves you and has this effect in you.
It’s kind of awesome when we reflect how a few decades back, there were kids all over Latin America and second-gen US Hispanics dancing and singing to pop songs from U.S. and UK just looking for those same connections. What does being a teenager of Dominican descent have in common with E.L.O, Sex Pistols, Gorillaz, or Radiohead? I don’t know if there’s a data set able to explain that. But that was me.
This is how many of us learned to see and feel the world. This is part of the magic of cultural impact. A chaotic series of accidents and weird circumstances that end up shaping the fabric of everything that’s relevant and true.
And it’s happening all around us. Non-Stop. Language, behaviors, and tastes of every kind.
My mind is often occupied with looking for clues of how Hispanic culture fits in the continuity of things in America. The way I see it, Hispanic DNA already runs in America’s bloodstream. Occupying pretty important real state.
More than ambassadors of our cultural cues and folkways, I see ourselves more as relatives to new, curious, and somewhat charmingly clueless family members, eager to be part of our gang. Seeing brands from such a perspective has proven to be a much better icebreaker of what common cultural ground we share.
It takes labels and turns them into this beautiful grey area of perception. It makes every data point and insight a lot richer. And when that happens with brands, they often become richer too.
This article was written by Guillermo Perez, Chief Creative Officer, Digo Hispanic Media
