America’s Iconic Brands Most Effective at Winning Hispanic Consumers

I had the pleasure of taking part in one of our recent in-house studies, which took a look at over 300 iconic brands. In the end, we were able to objectively identify the top 10 brands for Hispanic consumers.  

Reading Time: 4 minutes

October 4, 2022
David Evans – Chief Insights Officer

The evaluation examined brand performance as part of our monthly CultureRate survey and assessed cultural resonance for each major demographic segment.

Read on and fill out the form for an excerpt from our
Top 10 Brands for Hispanic Consumers presentation. 

Based on Collage Group’s proprietary metric – the Brand Cultural Fluency Quotient (B-CFQ) – the top brands for Hispanic consumers are Walmart, Netflix, McDonald’s, Nike, YouTube, Ross, Google, Visa, Amazon, and Dove. These brands showcase two elements: 1) strong commitment to the Hispanic community and 2) excellence in marketing executions that authentically resonate with the cultural traits and needs of Hispanic consumers.

Brands that connect most with Hispanic consumers

I should note, the CultureRate database is the largest of its kind available, and its growing annually by over 200,000 responses, or 30 million unique datapoints. Brand leaders apply the findings from CultureRate:Ad and CultureRate:Brand to build cultural fluency, the capability to drive total market growth from inclusive, diverse-led marketing.

As stated, we use the B-CFQ. By this standard, the 10 brands proved to be well ahead of all others in terms of appealing to America’s Hispanic segment. Additionally, three of the brands don’t appear in the top 10 for other segments, and this shows how each segment is distinct.

The B-CFQ reflects brand performance across six dimensions: Fit; Relevance, Memories (of positive past experiences), Values, Trust, and Advocacy (which is the willingness to spread positive word-of-mouth).

With regard to Hispanic consumers, all 10 top brands excelled on Fit and Relevance. Fit measures whether the brand offers a personally desirable product, and Relevance pertains to whether the brand connects with a consumer’s group identity. Moreover, each of the top 10 brands also scored particularly well on one to two additional B-CFQ dimensions.

Xue Bai, the Director of Brand and Ad Health Measurement explains it best: “Brands win by taking the lead in the areas of Fit and Relevance. But the true winners go one step further by differentiating in one or more other areas.”

Bai says successful brands truly excel at creating positive past experiences for consumers, earning their deep trust, or driving positive word-of-mouth. And she points out that each of the 10 brands named have taken these actions within the Hispanic community.

Bai says brands should build their core on Fit and Relevance, and after that, they should choose to focus on one or more of the additional dimensions to craft a winning marketing strategy.

Building Relevance requires upholding and activating Warmth and Rootedness – key traits among Hispanic consumers. Brands should also acknowledge and celebrate Hispanic patriotic pride, and be mindful to connect with the Hispanic sense of destiny and their Optimism.

Brand case studies show that winners succeed at aligning brand positioning with the cultural traits of Hispanic consumers. When brands take this approach, shoppers reward them by supporting or purchasing their product.

Engaging with Hispanic communities and groups at all levels shows a commitment to Values and builds Trust.

An example of this is seen in Nike’s support of national Hispanic organizations, as the company engaged through connections to specific Hispanic communities in key areas when it partnered with U.S. Sports Camps. The collaboration led to daylong opportunities for Los Angeles area kids to experience baseball.

Nike connects with Hispanics

Brands also prosper when they effectively build Memories and Fit. This entails that a given brand tie their brand value proposition to important Hispanic values of hospitality and intergenerational respect. Further, they should leverage brand strengths that best meet the fluid needs of time starved bicultural families. This means also enticing the Hispanic traits of Resilience and Adventurous mindset.

To that point, McDonald’s chose to honor a trailblazing Latino international icon with their “J Balvin special combo meal.” By placing this item on the menu and recognizing this Latino artist, McDonald’s taps into the exceptional and adventurous Hispanic pallet and mindset.

McDonalds connects with Hispanics

In conclusion, I would say that in order to build brand loyalty – whether it be with Hispanic shoppers or another segment – brands must go beyond promoting superficial insights. Simply put, that’s just not enough. Brands need to do the necessary research in order to determine ‘the why’. They must grasp how their values and brand positioning truly connects with Hispanic cultural values. This is imperative.

About Collage Group

Collage Group is the leading source of cultural intelligence about diverse consumers to more than 300 of America’s iconic brands across 12 industries. For more than 10 years, Collage Group has developed consumer insights across race and ethnicity, generation, sexual identity, gender and parent-child relationships with a focus on high-growth consumer segments. Members of the Collage Group Cultural Intelligence Programs –Multicultural, Generations, LGBTQ+ & Gender and Parents & Kids–have access to 10+ years of consumer insights and 300+ studies with new data unveiled weekly. Learn more about why America’s iconic brands turn to Collage Group for diverse consumer insights and best practices.

About CultureRate

With CultureRate:Ad and Brand, Collage Group provides competitive rankings of all top brands and ads in every major category. The CultureRate database is the largest of its kind available, growing annually by over 200,000 responses or 30 million unique datapoints. Through a deep oversample of diverse Americans, brand leaders can access rich insight into how consumers process brands and ads across race and ethnicity, generation, sexual orientation and gender. ​Brand leaders apply the findings from CultureRate:Ad and CultureRate:Brand to build cultural fluency, the capability to drive total market growth from inclusive, diverse-led marketing.

Other Recent Hispanic Research Articles and Insights from Collage Group

David Evans

David Evans

David serves as the Chief Insights Officer responsible for all syndicated content and thought leadership. He is passionate about leading the teams that reveal insights into consumers that can transform the fortunes of our members, make these actionable in our products and experience, and build great places to work. Before joining Collage Group in 2018, David served in a variety of senior roles in data, analytics and syndicated research organizations, including Cushman & Wakefield as Strategic Advisor, CoStar Group as Vice President of Research, and the White House where he founded the Office of Executive Councils in 2011. From 1998 to 2009, he worked at the Corporate Executive Board (now Gartner), serving ultimately as Chief Researcher for a $100 million division covering eight major business units. David holds a Diploma (M.Arch equivalent) from the Architectural Association in London and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Before pursuing a business career, David worked as an architect in the UK, France and Germany, and published and exhibited widely. David was born in London to American and Canadian parents. He lives in Bethesda with his wife Juliette Searight and younger Generation Alpha daughter, while avidly following his older Generation Z daughter’s journey into adulthood in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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