Millions of second- and third-generation Latinos are moving where the jobs are and this is fueling ethnic and racial diversity across the nation. Young Latinos view themselves as English speakers, which has inspired a number of media studies regarding language preference and how to market to this subsection of the nation’s Latino population.

Our firm has consistently advised its clients to use a bilingual (Spanish and English) as the best approach in targeting the U.S. Latino population. This stance continues to be valid. However, young Latinos are consuming media in English, regardless of what they speak at home. This is largely the case in larger metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Detroit and various cities within Texas.

From an advertising and marketing perspective, targeting young Latinos in Spanish (without a direct English-language equivalent) may backfire because they see themselves as English speakers. However, it’s important to note that mainstream English marketing won’t do the trick either. Targeting young Latinos successfully takes a combination of English and Spanish and this is the trend nationwide in television, radio and print media. It takes linguistic skill and cultural competency to know the messages and triggers that this audience will respond to. Furthermore it takes the rare combination of this knowledge, plus a mastery of marketing communications and execution to provide the correct approach and the desired results.

To learn about another interesting report on marketing to Latino Youth, check out the March 2006 issue of VOZ, our monthly newsletter on all things related to Hispanic marketing.