Lauren Cortiñas talks with Ali Jackson-Jolley about what brands and politicians often get wrong about engaging the economically powerful Latino population.
0:00 Introduction
0:34 Lauren Explains Her Role With Culture West
2:06 Lauren Speaks To The Strength Of Her Community
5:14 Consumer Trends From A Marketing Expert
8:21 What Is Mainstream Media Getting Wrong About The Latino/Latina Community?
12:05 The NFL And Its Marketing Strategy
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0:00 Introduction
0:34 Lauren Explains Her Role With Culture West
2:06 Lauren Speaks To The Strength Of Her Community
5:14 Consumer Trends From A Marketing Expert
8:21 What Is Mainstream Media Getting Wrong About The Latino/Latina Community?
12:05 The NFL And Its Marketing Strategy
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
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Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC]
00:03 Hi, I'm Allie Jackson Jolly.
00:05 I'm here with Lauren Cortinez,
00:07 who is the Chief Client Officer for Chemistry Cultura,
00:12 where she works with major brands and partners,
00:17 including the NFL,
00:19 working to create more of a voice in space
00:23 for communities of color,
00:25 and specifically the Latino/Latina community.
00:28 Lauren, welcome and thanks for being here with us.
00:31 Good morning. Thanks so much for having me, Allie.
00:34 So first I'm going to ask you just to sort of describe,
00:39 you're the Chief Client Officer,
00:41 but what does that mean and what do you do in your role?
00:47 Sure. Great question.
00:49 It's actually a brand new role with our agency,
00:51 which I'm very excited to take on
00:54 and honored to be given the opportunity
00:56 to just continue doing the great work
00:58 that we do at Chemistry Cultura.
01:00 I've been working in this agency capacity
01:02 for the last 13 years,
01:04 always very hyper-focused on helping brands engage best
01:07 with the U.S. Latino demographic.
01:09 So it's obviously a very deep passion of mine.
01:12 And starting with the agency years ago
01:14 as an account manager,
01:15 rising through the ranks to group director,
01:18 and then account supervisor,
01:20 SVP, and now Chief Client Officer,
01:22 just really speaks to the growth model
01:25 that our agency boasts
01:27 and the different mobility paths that we like to offer
01:30 our teammates over the courses of their careers.
01:33 So this particular role really blends
01:35 the strategic marketing and comms experience that I have.
01:39 So I continue to work day to day
01:41 with the various client portfolio that the team manages,
01:44 but also dabbling a bit in how to mentor the team more,
01:48 provide professional development opportunities for them,
01:51 as well as just being a great ambassador
01:53 for the work that we do
01:55 with just new folks that want to work with us,
01:57 or speaking with folks like you and Forbes,
01:59 just trying to up the ante on the awareness piece of the work
02:03 and why this demographic is so very important.
02:06 - Yeah, so you said a couple of things
02:08 that really interest me.
02:10 One is you talked about strategically engaging
02:15 this community.
02:17 That's a really nuanced community
02:20 with different cultures and generational differences.
02:25 How do you speak and engage such a vastly nuanced community?
02:32 - I love this question, Allie,
02:34 because it just speaks to the fabric
02:36 and the colors of the communities
02:38 that we serve day to day.
02:40 I've had the pleasure of living in various cities
02:43 in this country where the Latino demographic
02:45 and the cultures they represent
02:46 take on new life everywhere you go.
02:49 So being born and raised in Massachusetts,
02:51 the Latino demographic there might skew
02:53 a little more Caribbean, Puerto Rican, Dominican,
02:56 than moving to Miami and living there for 15 years.
02:59 It's kind of a melting pot
03:00 of all these different Latin American cultures.
03:03 But in the most recent years,
03:05 in addition to the vast Cuban demographic there,
03:07 you're seeing an influx of Colombian, Venezuelan,
03:10 and others from the Caribbean as well.
03:13 And living then in California and now in Arizona,
03:16 I am delighted to learn more about
03:19 the Mexican-American population,
03:20 their roots, as well as Central Americans and beyond.
03:23 So what I love about the work that we do
03:26 at Chemistry Cordura is really working with brands
03:28 to educate them on the nuances
03:31 of each of the regional parts of this country
03:33 and what that means to how they best engage
03:35 and market to them, right?
03:37 So a Mexican-American living in East LA
03:39 looks and behaves very different
03:41 than someone living in Texas,
03:43 even though they share Mexican heritage.
03:45 The music they listen to, the foods that they eat,
03:47 everything is highly nuanced, and they're proud of that.
03:50 And I think, you know, back in the day,
03:52 and I still get hit with these questions frequently,
03:54 like, "What is Latinx versus Latino or Latina,
03:57 and what does that mean if you're Latino?"
03:59 To be quite honest with you, it doesn't mean anything
04:02 unless you personally believe it does.
04:04 So in my work and in the communities
04:06 that we speak to day in, day out,
04:08 they much prefer being referred to as Mexican-American
04:12 or Colombian or Ecuadorian
04:15 as opposed to Latino or Latina.
04:17 But they're not opposed, if you're speaking in general terms,
04:20 to be referred to as Latinos or Latinas or Hispanics.
04:25 But I think it just, you know, it begets the point
04:28 that it's important to look at the individual
04:30 and just try to be honest and true
04:32 to how they identify themselves
04:34 and be mindful of that as you're marketing to them.
04:37 Yeah, and can you educate us a bit,
04:40 or, you know, share some light on how the differences
04:45 in the generational divide?
04:47 I would imagine that speaking to the younger generation
04:52 may be much different than speaking to the more--
04:55 I like to call it the more seasoned generation
04:58 or, you know, first-generation immigrants
05:02 versus those who have been here for quite a while.
05:06 So how do you--talk to us about the generational divide
05:10 and maybe educate me how I should think about this.
05:14 Sure, love this.
05:15 So it's interesting because, you know,
05:17 a lot of marketers will come to us, you know,
05:19 to engage our experience and our knowledge on this topic.
05:23 And a lot of them, especially as years have gone by,
05:26 are very quick to say, "I don't know enough about this,
05:28 and I'm looking to you to help me understand."
05:30 So before we engage in any marketing strategies
05:33 or creative or anything like that,
05:34 it's simply this is how it looks,
05:36 and it's highly nuanced.
05:37 It's not just, "Oh, you're from Mexico,
05:39 so you're what everyone in the U.S.
05:41 that's Latino looks like."
05:42 Absolutely not.
05:44 So we actually have a chart,
05:46 and I'm happy to share it with you if it's helpful,
05:48 that kind of goes into the multigenerational nature
05:51 and acculturation levels of Latinos and Latinas
05:54 living in this country today
05:56 and how that contributes to their behavior patterns
05:59 and their consumer trends, right?
06:01 So a more, say, older generation Hispanic
06:06 that lives in this country,
06:07 whether they're recently arrived
06:09 or they've been here a long time,
06:11 could largely favor speaking Spanish predominantly
06:14 at home and on the streets with friends and family.
06:17 They happen to be high consumers of Facebook and TikTok,
06:20 nonetheless, even though they're part of an older generation,
06:23 but they're very tech savvy, and they like to, you know,
06:26 they value word of mouth opinions and perspectives
06:29 from friends and folks around them,
06:31 whereas sort of a Gen X or a millennial generation,
06:36 they tend to have,
06:37 they call them kind of the 200 percenters, right?
06:39 So they have one foot here in the U.S.,
06:42 yet one foot still back in the country of origin
06:44 that they resonate with,
06:46 and they embody the cultural nuances of both.
06:49 So in some cases,
06:50 you'll see that they're largely bilingual, bicultural.
06:53 They might speak Spanish at home or with older relatives,
06:56 and in some cases,
06:57 they may even be raising their children to be bilingual
07:00 because it's important to them
07:02 that they keep that language in the family,
07:04 but also they're conducting business every day
07:07 in very proper English, attending American schools,
07:10 learning English, reading, writing.
07:12 They're just like you and me,
07:13 and so it's important to note that they're very proud
07:16 of their roots, proud of their culture,
07:18 and they want to preserve that,
07:20 but at the same time,
07:21 they're very much part of the American fabric as well.
07:25 The younger set, the Gen Zs,
07:27 which is particularly appealing to me
07:29 because our agency last year released a research study
07:32 dedicated to Gen Z Latinos,
07:35 and not unlike their general market Gen Z counterparts,
07:39 very tech savvy,
07:40 super high consumers of social media and anything online,
07:44 but also very interested in creating almost a new brand
07:48 and a new culture for themselves and for their generation.
07:52 It's not to say a disassociation
07:54 with those that have come before,
07:56 but more like I want to create something
07:58 that I can call my own, right?
08:00 And so the patterns, the jobs,
08:02 and the different things that they're doing,
08:04 the trends that they're setting
08:06 with the music they're listening to,
08:08 acts like Beso Pluma, Bad Bunny,
08:10 and others that are coming down, Becky G,
08:12 I mean, they're aspiring to really great things,
08:14 but they're not wed to any one culture,
08:16 any one notion that really represents their Latino culture.
08:20 They're kind of making it their own.
08:22 Oh, I love that.
08:23 And how about, this is a really broad question,
08:26 but I'm going to ask it anyway.
08:29 We know that there are these large gaps in the media,
08:33 you know, around the Latino, Latina community.
08:37 What is the biggest thing that you would say
08:40 mainstream media is getting wrong
08:42 or missing about this community?
08:45 Absolutely.
08:46 In fact, I was just doing some research yesterday
08:48 on this notion of media deserts, right?
08:51 And I think we're feeling it in the media
08:53 across the board right now,
08:55 but no more so than during a year like 2024
08:58 when it's a presidential election year.
09:00 Like access to information is becoming more and more disparate,
09:03 more and more scattered,
09:05 more and more difficult to access,
09:07 especially for underserved populations and communities, right?
09:11 So what does that mean for a Latino in this country today,
09:14 especially with, you know, this consumer group
09:17 comprising nearly 20% of the population in this country and growing?
09:22 I mean, one out of every four, three or four births,
09:24 I think, is a Latino child.
09:26 You know, there is a discrepancy between growing up
09:30 in a community in rural North Carolina
09:32 where your parents are working
09:34 and not having a Spanish language news station or paper
09:37 to get information,
09:39 whether it's about the election
09:40 or about a construction development happening in your backyard.
09:43 There is a real gap between them getting access to information,
09:47 and that's a shame.
09:48 And, you know, sadly, we're seeing a lot of these
09:50 sort of mom-and-pop local-serving community publications
09:54 closing their doors
09:55 because they simply don't have the bandwidth
09:57 or the financing to support the operation, right?
10:01 And so it's a very sad state of affairs
10:04 for media in general serving this Hispanic population.
10:07 There are certainly some outlets that are doing very well
10:10 serving sort of that millennial Gen Z set
10:13 that is largely bilingual, bicultural.
10:15 So they can publish news in English,
10:17 publish robust stories in English,
10:19 and this demographic still will be drawn to them,
10:22 but they're still leaving a gap
10:24 with those that still might prefer to consume information in Spanish, right?
10:28 So I think it's really incumbent upon all of us, frankly,
10:32 as consumers of media,
10:34 and in my case as a huge supporter of press,
10:36 to ensure that opportunities for rising Latino media
10:39 and for rising Latino and Latina journalists
10:42 continue to present themselves.
10:44 We need to really double down on fellowship work, scholarships,
10:48 supporting universities and institutions
10:50 that are training and giving those hopes and dreams
10:53 a chance for this population, because they're eager.
10:56 They're eager to work for the USA Todays
10:58 and Forbes of the World in English,
11:01 but representing their communities with nuance and relevance
11:04 and authenticity that I think is so often lacking.
11:07 So it's a very big passion of mine.
11:10 I'm sure you see it just by my hand movements,
11:13 but I'm excited and eager to try to help
11:16 in some regard to bridge that gap.
11:19 Yeah, I love that. I love that.
11:22 So we're almost out of time.
11:24 I wanted to circle back to the fact
11:27 that the NFL is one of your larger clients,
11:31 and actually I'm going to give my producer credit for this,
11:35 because she said to me,
11:37 "The thing that comes to mind is that football
11:40 "doesn't always mean football,
11:42 "depending on your culture and where you're from."
11:45 So let me ask you, as you're serving this community,
11:50 trying to help the NFL better engage
11:53 the Latina/Hispanic community,
11:56 how do you bridge this gap that sometimes football
12:00 means American football and sometimes it actually means
12:03 what we think of as soccer?
12:05 Yeah, it's a great question.
12:07 And actually, I take it as more of an opportunity
12:09 instead of a challenge.
12:11 We tend to, with the NFL, use a lot of humor
12:14 to bring light to the often misinterpreted
12:17 football versus football notion, right?
12:20 And I'm not sure how much you know about Sports Alley,
12:23 but there is a lot of borrowed credibility
12:27 that has become very popular among Major League Sports today,
12:30 whereby you have a hockey player that in his or her off time
12:35 golfs, or you have a baseball player,
12:38 then when they're not on the field pitching,
12:40 they actually love soccer.
12:42 And so there's an opportunity there without competition.
12:46 I mean, frankly, sport is something that's a great equalizer
12:49 and unifies all of us in this country and beyond.
12:52 Gone are the days where, like, "Oh, I'm a baseball player
12:55 "and I can't market to soccer players."
12:57 No, no, that's long gone.
12:59 Rising tide raises all ships.
13:02 Tap into the benefits of both and attract wider audiences.
13:06 So there's a marketing tactic that they call "game versus game,"
13:10 where you're taking, say, this most recently in Vegas
13:13 for Super Bowl, we just have this partnership with La Liga,
13:18 which is one of the premier European soccer leagues in the world,
13:22 probably the most followed of all.
13:25 And Real Madrid had a few players actually come to Super Bowl
13:30 and have--we were at the media center and they were doing interviews
13:34 with various American NFL football players,
13:36 and there was just a lot of friendly banter back and forth,
13:39 watching Tyreek Hill kick a soccer ball
13:43 or seeing Iker Casillas throwing a football.
13:46 I mean, those are content opportunities that really resonate with our fans
13:51 and that we love to make noise about.
13:53 So it's not as much about, you know, one game versus the other.
13:56 It's more about how can we celebrate the shared passion of fandom
14:01 that is exuded by both, right?
14:04 And so I just--sport is a great passion of mine.
14:07 I think for Hispanics and Latinos in general,
14:10 we talk about passion points a lot--food, family, music, entertainment.
14:14 Sport is probably the number one.
14:16 So if you're a recently arrived immigrant to this country
14:20 and you're trying to look for ways to, you know--
14:23 I hate the word "assimilate" because I'm all about preserving
14:26 one's roots and culture, but if you're looking for a way
14:29 to adopt new traditions into your family, look no further than sports.
14:33 And I think the NFL has done a fantastic job resonating with this population.
14:38 It is now the number one sport of choice among Latinos in this country,
14:42 which I don't think a lot of people realize.
14:45 Baseball, because of the numbers of players that are part of their fabric
14:50 that are largely Latino, I just don't think for some reason
14:53 they're showing the numbers of fandom and growth as the NFL is right now.
14:57 And I think it's largely attributed to the NFL really trying to transcend
15:02 the Xs and Os of the game on the field and really tell stories
15:07 that can resonate with different folks, whether it's, you know,
15:10 bringing in Bad Bunny or J Balvin to perform at their annual kickoff concert
15:16 to storytelling around recently drafted players, like, in their rookie year,
15:22 sporting the Puerto Rican flag on their backs as they win the Super Bowl,
15:26 which is what Isaiah Pacheco did last weekend.
15:28 Like, those are images that stay with fans and with consumers
15:32 and really mean something.
15:34 And so I love the fact that the NFL is not shying away from it.
15:38 They're actually elevating those storylines, bringing them to the surface,
15:42 and doing an amazing job.
15:43 So I think, you know, the challenge is for more sports to follow the lead
15:47 and do the same, but it's really exciting to watch.
15:49 Yeah, well, you are definitely speaking my language.
15:52 I could talk and hear experts in the area talk about creating, you know,
15:59 space for different voices and telling different stories all day.
16:03 But we're out of time.
16:05 So I want to thank you for being here with us.
16:08 And, look, I really look forward to keeping the conversation moving.
16:12 Absolutely. Thank you so much, Allie. It was a pleasure.
16:15 Take care.
16:16 [END]