Marketing To The Faithful

The religious and political influence of Latino evangelicals has been the subject of some media coverage. But practically nothing has been written about their impact on the overall Hispanic market. Estimates vary wildly but the figure of eight million Latino evangelicals is routinely bandied about. Even if that number is inflated, Latino evangelicals represent a largely untapped market. (It is worth noting that Univision now has a Christian music section on its website). 

Big sweeping studies such as the Latino Intelligence Report youth study do not include a single question about religion. Aside from Barna Research Group, Christian Hispanic market research seems largely nonexistent. (Please correct me if I am wrong and email evidence to the contrary.)

To give you a sense of the paucity of information about Christian Latino marketing just look up those three terms in google. A brief piece I wrote for Marketing y Medios is at the top of the list. Now, the article is fine but cannot possibly be the definitive word on the topic unless practically no one in mainstream Hispanic marketing is talking about it (specialized trades such as Christian Retailing routinely cover the topic).

Even if brand marketers have yet to focus on this segment, Latino evangelicals have drawn notice from the White House. President Bush makes a point of attending the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast and at the last one, according to the official transcript, he said "Que dios les bendiga."

Now I understand that for Dubya the Big D is Dallas, but surely one of the many evangelical interns and staffers at the White House should be able to point out that Dios begins with a capital letter.

PS One of the nicest aspects of covering the Christian Latino Marketing beat is that at the beginning or end of your conversation the person you are interviewing will invariably say "God bless you." When I worked at CNN, I lost count of the number of times I was berated, pushed, shoved, tear-gassed and doused by a water cannon. Some middle-class Chilean supporters of Pinochet even threw empty perfume bottles and cellphone batteries at me. Believer or not, it never hurts to be blessed.

PPS The faithful might want to make sure they link directly to the Christian music section when they visit Univision's website. Otherwise, they might chance upon "Pornovideos delatores: Un video porno de la Guzmán podría verse por Internet."