There's nothing new about Target's sponsorship of the 2016 Billboard Latin Music Awards show. The big news is that beyond last night's broadcast, Target has significantly increased its marketing budget intended to attract and retain Hispanic customers.
Target has boosted its Hispanic marketing budget by 20 percent this year, according to Advertising Age. Last night, the retailer ran four commercials during the Billboard awards show as part of its Lúcete A Tu Manera" ("Show off your way") campaign.
The value of the Hispanic consumer market continues to grow. According to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by Pew Research Center, about a third (17.9 million) of the Hispanic population in the U.S. is younger than 18 and roughly one-quarter (14.6 million) is between the ages of 18 and 34 (Millennials).
The vast majority of these young Hispanics are born in the U.S., including 94 percent of those under 18. Sixty-five percent of Hispanic Millennials were born in America.
While the Spanish language has been seen as the best way for marketers to communicate with Hispanics, that is changing. Today, more than a quarter of Hispanic Millennials only speak English in the home and 76 percent speak the language well. Among those under 18, 88 percent are proficient in English, with 37 percent living in households where only English is spoken.
Rick Gomez, senior VP-marketing at Target, told Ad Age that his company's customers are "increasingly millennial and increasingly multicultural." Those customers (guests, in Target parlance) are "also increasingly Hispanic."