Leaders of multicultural agencies stress that Hispanic Heritage Month should serve as an opportunity to reevaluate the brand’s long-term relationship with its Hispanic American audience. Instead, the first mistake brands often make is thinking about HHM with a single campaign to check off a box and claim they’ve marketed to Hispanic Americans.

Execs from The Community, Alma DDB and Orci, three multicultural agencies that work with clients like Verizon, McDonald’s and Honda, highlighted how brands need to develop a deep understanding of the Latino experience in America in order to gain credibility in their communities. That means reviewing their budgets and how they’re blending their messages together to resonate with the fastest growing group of Americans, according to the 2020 Census.

During conversations with clients, Isaac Mizrahi, co-president and COO of Alma, always asks how much of their growth comes from Hispanics, noting that budgets should reflect that growth. In the 2020 Census, there was a 20% increase in people who identified as Hispanic or Latino, and Mizrahi said budgets should mirror that and pointed marketers toward resources from the ANAs and Nielsen in order to understand proper resource allocation. “Marketers shouldn’t have a pot of money that Hispanic, Asian American, African American and LGBTQ marketing has to fight over,” Mizrahi said.

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