The U.S. celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month each year to recognize the influence, culture, and contributions of Hispanic Americans. One generation is blazing a trail and breaking convention – Gen Z. An area in which we see a tremendous impact by this demographic is employment. The U.S. labor force is shifting toward younger workers who favor the trending "work from anywhere" concept. But it's not just their job philosophy that differs from traditional ideologies. Gen Z's consumption habits differ from other generations and will likely evolve as they age. ThinkNow surveyed more than 1,400 Hispanic Gen Z to determine where these differences lie.
About 8.3% of respondents stated earning a salary between $50K-$60K, with 6.7% stating they make between $40K-$50K. Nearly a quarter of respondents are still in their undergraduate careers, so it's no surprise that 40% said they live with their parents/family.
Gen Z is likely listening to the radio while driving to work. Fifty percent of Gen Z listen to AM/FM radio, with 63% listening on traditional radios (not streaming services like Sirius XM, iHeart, or Pandora). For advertisers, this presents a cost-effective opportunity to reach this demographic through a channel competitors may be ignoring.
When they are not listening to the radio, they watch their favorite programs. Sixty-six percent of Gen Z responded that they spend 0-4 hours per week watching Spanish-language TV programming. Nearly 70% of respondents stated they watch Netflix programming. As a bonus for advertisers, 60% of respondents stated they don't listen to top Spanish or Latino podcasts. Redirect that spend to channels more native to this generation.
Finally, we often see Gen Z calling out injustices around the world. But a surprising 83% state they're optimistic about the future. Perhaps that's because they feel empowered to be the change they want to see in the world. Three-quarters stated being satisfied with their current life, and less than one in five responded feeling their life is at least somewhat worse off than their parents'.
Gen Z is on track to fundamentally change the work environment and social norms.
Want more Gen Z facts? Get on-demand audience insights with ThinkNow ConneKt.
Consumption has changed since the pandemic, as consumers consider their lifestyles more deeply. Companies and brands are following suit, studying how their actions, systems, and beliefs impact the consumer dynamic and striving to be more inclusive in their marketing and advertising. However, not all consumers feel seen.
Latinx consumers in the U.S. are not a homogenous group. Marketers are accustomed to segmenting these groups by factors like country of origin but often overlook the biculturalism that exists among niche groups, like Latinx consumers of Asian descent who immigrated from Latin America to the States in the past few decades.
In this episode of The New Mainstream podcast, Silvia Li Sam, founder of Slam Media Lab (Slam), talks about her experience as a Peruvian Chinese American and how marketers must leverage research to understand the complexities of the Latinx consumer market.
About Silvia Li Sam:
Silvia Li Sam is a Peruvian Chinese American founder, published writer, and expert on content marketing, web design, and SEO.
Li Sam was one of the youngest CEOs to start a multi-million dollar agency during the Great Resignation of 2021. Her award-winning agency, Slam Media Lab (Slam), focuses on SEO, Webflow, content marketing, and brand strategy for founder-led and mission-driven companies.
Before starting Slam, Li Sam was the first hire for digital & SEO at the XQ, the nation’s leading organization rethinking America’s high schools started by Laurene Powell Jobs. She scaled XQ’s marketing efforts from 0 to over 650,000 members in 3 years, and skyrocketed their SEO from 0 to 2MM searches. Li Sam has led multi-million dollar advertising and branding campaigns, managed and executed partnerships with all social media platforms, and led two successful TV shows (Graduate Together & XQ Super School Live) on the four major networks. The shows have reached over 2B people.
Li Sam is known for starting one of the largest startup publications in the world in three months, growing it from 0 to 250,000 readers with no budget.
Her work has been nominated for Webby and Peabody awards. Li Sam’s marketing strategies have been featured on Forbes, The Huffington Post, NBC, and more.
She is a Board Member at Wild Awake, a nonprofit that provides immersive outdoor learning experiences for youth and adults that bring us closer to the earth. She also serves as a tech and marketing advisor to two tech-focused nonprofits: Peer Health Exchange and LTX Connect.
Li Sam holds a B.S. in Business & Marketing with a minor in design from the University of Southern California.
She lives in the East Bay with her partner and her labradoodle and frequently bounces between San Francisco, Lima, Honolulu, Los Angeles, and New York.
The 2022 World Cup is scheduled to run from November 20th till December 18th. The tournament was moved from its usual June/July slot because of the intense summer heat in host-country Qatar. The temperature, however, is not the only heat surrounding the tournament. Human rights abuses by the firms building the stadiums and infrastructure to host the event have gotten as much, if not more, coverage than the qualifying matches that lead up to the tournament. Qatar's laws against homosexuality are also creating tension at a time when World Soccer is trying to become more inclusive.
These controversies, however, do not appear to have diminished fans' interest in the quadrennial event, especially here in the U.S., with athletes returning to the tournament after failing to qualify in 2018. This, along with an overall increase in interest in soccer in the U.S., will likely result in strong viewership. To gauge interest in the tournament and measure how the controversies might affect viewers' opinions of sponsors, we conducted a nationally representative survey of 1,550 respondents. We found that 44% of U.S. adults are either somewhat or very likely to view at least some matches. This is an improvement over the last time the U.S. qualified for the tournament, when 37% of respondents in our 2014 survey said they would be watching.
Download the report here.
As usual, Hispanics are the most likely to say they will tune in. Mexico's national team, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay, Costa Rica, and (technically not Hispanic) Brazil, will be playing in the tournament. Those teams, along with Team USA, are expected to draw Hispanic viewers who would like to see the FIFA World Cup Trophy return to the Americas.
Forty percent of Millennials are soccer fans. They are twice as likely to be a soccer fan than Gen X and 25% more likely than Gen Z. Major league soccer matches in Atlanta, Seattle and Cincinnati regularly draw larger crowds than baseball games. Millennials are also the age group most likely to watch the World Cup.
When asked how they plan to watch, streaming edges out broadcast television by 52% to 48%. This holds true across racial groups, except for Hispanics who are slightly more likely to view on T.V. (56% vs 54%).
The only group to report a higher likelihood to watch games on regular T.V. over streaming are Baby Boomers at 69% vs. 34%. The rise in streaming's popularity is evident across all types of content. Sports, however, has been a holdout in that the major networks are generally viewed as the best place to view live events. However, the fact that the World Cup audience skews younger is bolstering streaming over broadcast. Fox Sports and Telemundo and their respective streams have the U.S. broadcast rights for the U.S. Likely viewers, however, are not yet aware of that since 52% of respondents said they would watch on ESPN vs. 35% on FOX and 21% on Telemundo.
Awarding the World Cup to Qatar has been controversial. Accusations of bribery being the reason the tournament was awarded and the fact that the country could not host the tournament in the summer because of excessive heat are concerning but their poor human rights record has garnered the most attention. Building the soccer stadiums in a country with summer highs of 108/109 °F and weak worker protections has caused the death of 6,500 foreign workers. Additionally, homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and punishable by up to three years in prison and death under sharia law for Muslims. This has led some brands who normally sponsor the tournament to pull out of this year's event. Others have issued statements condemning the human rights abuses but have stopped short of pulling their sponsorship.
Fans, however, generally support brands that sponsor the World Cup. Fifty percent say that sponsorship positively impacts their impression of the brand while only 7% say sponsorship would negatively impact their opinion. Negative opinion towards sponsorship is in the single digits across all demos except for Gen Z. 22% of Gen Z say that sponsoring the World Cup this year would diminish their perception of a brand.
While controversy surrounds the 2022 Qatar World Cup, viewership in the U.S. is likely to remain strong and the potential for backlash against sponsoring brands will remain low. The fact that it will be played in the fourth quarter makes it difficult for brands to stay away since it's when most Holiday ad spending takes place. However, brands that choose to sponsor World Cup events this year should also demonstrate their support of the LGBTQ+ community and workers' rights to make it clear where they stand.
In a time when U.S. viewership of international sporting events like the Olympics is declining, more attention will be placed on the expanding World Cup audience. Americans will be tuning in, or more precisely, logging on. Brands that care about staying relevant need to be there with them.
Download the report here.
The patient journey starts with vulnerability. There is a need yet all too often within minority communities, that need isn’t met with adequate resources. Latinos, in particular, face several obstacles to accessing health care, from difficulties finding information in their native language to a shortage of Latino or bilingual doctors. Additionally, lack of transportation and reluctance to take time off work, alongside the fear of deportation for undocumented Latinos, further exacerbate the problem. As a consequence, some Latinos forgo care, and that decision could prove fatal.
To address these barriers and improve health outcomes for Latinos, it’s essential to understand their patient journey and identify the friction points, one being the lack of community navigators. Community navigators, more commonly known as community health workers, are the bridge between the healthcare system and patient care. Community health workers are essential to underserved communities as they attempt to simplify and demystify the complex systems that have historically ignored the needs of minority communities.
In Latino communities, these navigators are known as promotores de salud (promotoras). Promotoras play a critical role in educating Latinos and directing them to resources, like primary care physicians, which is in stark contrast to them relying on informal information sources like social media or family. These individuals, seen as trusted messengers, are often Latino and understand the plight of Latino families and make recommendations that align with the Latino lifestyle in efforts to close the health equity gap.
Zócalo Health has its finger on the pulse of Latino health care and champions the use of promotoras. Through its innovative virtual-first family medicine service for Latinos, it’s committed to helping remove barriers to healthcare by offering convenient, transparent, and culturally-aligned care to members.
In this episode of The New Mainstream podcast, Mariza Hardin, Co-Founder, Head of Strategy and Operations, and Erik Cardenas, Co-Founder, CEO of Zócalo Health, share the importance of promotoras (community health workers) in improving health care outcomes for Latino communities.
ThinkNow recently fielded a comprehensive quantitative study that compared attitudes and behaviors related to health and wellness among minority groups. After reviewing the survey results, I assumed I would write a blog about mental health issues impacting Black or Hispanic Americans. While there were certainly findings that I could have written about among those groups, the results that really struck me were specific to Asian Americans. The Asian American narrative usually revolves around the model minority myth promoting positive stories about education and financial success. However, mental health in the Asian community does not get as much press. The findings were eye-opening.
Statistically, Asian Americans are doing well collectively when it comes to educational and financial attainment. However, our data shows they lag other ethnic groups in seeking mental health services when needed.
Seeking help for oneself runs contrary to the collectivist ideal in Asian culture of placing the needs of others and society before one’s own. This is true in both East and South Asian cultures. The belief is so ingrained that some segments of the Asian American community, especially the foreign-born, don’t have the language to discuss mental health issues. They, instead, think of mental ailments as a physical condition without considering possible psychosocial origins. The concept of mental health was developed in the U.S. and Europe and mainly used western cultural concepts in diagnosis and treatment. The lack of connection to mental health awareness shows up in the data where most Asian Americans surveyed stated not perceiving mental health as a significant contributor to overall health and well-being.
Even when they recognize they might need help with mental health issues, Asian Americans are less likely to feel comfortable seeking that help.
Suicide is the leading cause of death among Asian American young adults ages 15-24. Asian youth can become overwhelmed by the expectations to succeed. Although the model majority myth may have its origins in Asian immigrants’ desire to succeed in the U.S., it is perpetuated in mainstream culture by teachers, business leaders, comedians, and the media. Asian students may perceive struggling with school pressures as letting both their parents and society down. Without good examples of what self-care looks like, fewer than 20% of Asian Americans know what to do to keep themselves mentally healthy.
Since fewer Asian Americans currently seek mental healthcare compared to other groups, they are less likely to see other people like them in places that could help them, such as student health centers or clinics. This inadvertently confirms their belief that they don’t belong there. Recognizing this disparity is the first step toward creating inviting spaces for Asian Americans to seek mental health services. Language is not as much of an issue for Asian youth but is a real barrier for older, foreign-born groups. Having in-language material and resources available can be lifesaving.
Training healthcare providers to recognize the additional barriers their Asian American patients may be experiencing can also help increase the uptake of services in this demographic group. Healthcare workers must be culturally competent, understanding the nuances impacting their Asian American patients’ decisions.
The model minority myth requires society at large to perpetuate it. Reflecting on our beliefs about what a scientist, artist or carpenter looks like can help open more doors for Asian Americans struggling to conform to certain ideals. Also, asking Asian Americans “where they’re from” is still far too common. What seems like an innocent question to get to know one better actually “others” that person for it makes assumptions about what an American should look like.
Finally, normalizing mental healthcare as something everyone in society can benefit from is vital. By sharing our own challenges, we can inspire Americans of all ethnic backgrounds to accept mental healthcare as an integral part of a well-rounded healthcare routine.
Keeping pace with culture can be challenging for brands. Consumer dynamics are evolving and becoming increasingly fluid, particularly around identity. Several factors influence how consumers see themselves and shape their attitudes, behaviors, preferences, and biases, including their heritage and culture. Through this lens, consumers make purchase decisions and establish brand affinities, requiring companies to develop a better understanding of the complexity of identity.
Multicultural consumers are often motivated by a desire to represent their culture in how they identify their race and ethnicity. In 2020, ThinkNow conducted a nationwide online survey among Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans ages 18 to 64 to understand how they prefer to identify themselves among peers and in marketing and media. This year, we conducted a follow-up study in which we found that the needle hadn’t moved much, with a few exceptions.
Download the report here.
In 2020, we found that the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino/Latina” were preferred by the majority of U.S. Latinos across different scenarios, in particular, when they or others (i.e., media, companies) referred to this population as a whole. That consensus holds in 2022, with the majority of Hispanics preferring the term “Hispanic” when used in most contexts, followed by “Latino(a).”
There was a noticeable shift in sentiment when respondents were asked about naming preferences “when describing yourself in a professional setting (job, interview, etc.).” In 2020, 36% preferred Hispanic and 26% preferred Latino(a). In 2022, 43% of Hispanics preferred “Hispanic” (increase), and 20% preferred “Latino(a),” a six-point decrease.
Interestingly, there is a five-point decrease in the use of the term “Latino(a)” when respondents were asked naming preferences “to use when describing or naming all people of Spanish or Latin American heritage in the U.S.,” from 30% to 25%.
Consistent with data reported in 2020, the term “Latinx” continues to exist in the margins. However, 3 out of 5 Hispanic adults have heard of the term, but it has yet to achieve broad adoption except among younger generations.
Among African Americans, we saw naming preferences become more nuanced. In 2020, 49% of African Americans preferred media, companies, and brands to refer to them as “African American,” and 33% said “Black,” accounting for 82% of respondents. This year, only 37% of African Americans prefer that companies, brands, and the media use the term “African American,” followed by “Black” (23%) and “Black American” (22%). While the total percentage of respondents is the same here, we saw an additional preference emerge not accounted for in 2020. While commonly used, the term “people of color” is not preferred in most cases.
Among Asian Americans in 2020, when asked about naming preferences “for the media/companies/brands to use when describing/naming,” 8% of respondents stated “My Country of Origin + American.” But in 2022, 14% held that preference. Very few Asian Americans prefer to solely be called “American.”
Across the three cohorts, the term “American” was among the least favored naming preferences indicating a desire among multicultural consumers to connect with their heritage. The onus is on media, companies, and brands to research to uncover cultural drivers underpinning multicultural identity and how these factors affect consumption habits.
Download the report here.
Sports fans have been predicting the demise of boxing for years, but lovers of the sport say that trope is played out. Boxing may be controversial, but its fans love the heated rivalries and public feuds that make the headlines, and they're willing to pay for ringside seats.
Latinos are one of the consumer groups driving this craze that often goes unnoticed. While boxing may be declining in popularity among other demographics, it's thriving with Hispanics thanks to the likes of former boxer turned promoter Oscar De La Hoya and the new generation of boxing's elite, like Javier Fortuna, Ryan Garcia, and Canelo Alvarez. Boxing is the ticket to a better life for some Latinos, and for others, it is a cherished tradition passed down from generation to generation, as families gather to watch the fights and cheer for their heroes.
The fandom is paying off for some networks. Of the 25 largest pay-per-view events, 14 featured Hispanic fighters. Spanish-language networks Telemundo and Univision broadcast boxing regularly, while English-dominant networks can't seem to commit. Boxing has proven to be a viable and accessible medium for brands interested in reaching Hispanic audiences.
Roberto Andrade, a feature writer at ESPN, joins us on The New Mainstream podcast for a casual conversation about Hispanics and boxing and why pairing the two just make sense.