September 15th marks the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month. During this month-long celebration, the contributions and culture of Hispanic and Latino Americans are thrust into the national spotlight and inspire a steady flow of well-intended marketing campaigns. U.S. Hispanics, however, are often treated as a homogenous group by media, leading to poorly executed campaigns that miss the mark and squander opportunities for brands.

Far from fitting the one-size-fits-all formula, the 60 million Americans of Latino/Hispanic origin represent over 20 Latin American countries. Each with their unique heritage and cultural backgrounds. …

The empathy economy has accelerated rapidly since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and social justice movements impacting the global community. But what is the “empathy economy” and, as it implies, how can showing empathy have economic benefits?

According to Michael Ventura, author of the book, Applied Empathy:

“People think empathy is about being nice, being compassionate, being sympathetic — it’s none of those things, empathy has a broader meaning that extends well beyond its dictionary definition of ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.”

The author goes on to describe empathy as “self-aware perspective-taking to gain richer, deeper understanding.” Attributes we often associate with being empathetic, like showing compassion for others, are simply byproducts of being an emphatic person. …

The empathy economy has accelerated rapidly since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and social justice movements impacting the global community. But what is the “empathy economy” and, as it implies, how can showing empathy have economic benefits?

According to Michael Ventura, author of the book, Applied Empathy:

“People think empathy is about being nice, being compassionate, being sympathetic — it’s none of those things, empathy has a broader meaning that extends well beyond its dictionary definition of ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.”

The author goes on to describe empathy as “self-aware perspective-taking to gain richer, deeper understanding.” Attributes we often associate with being empathetic, like showing compassion for others, are simply byproducts of being an emphatic person. …

Despite thousands of shuttered stores across the country earlier this year and varying degrees of re-openings as restrictions ease, the beauty industry has proven resilient. While sales have declined, they have not bottomed out like many other industries. However, the loss of in-person experiences has fundamentally changed the dynamic of how beauty brands engage consumers. In our ThinkNow Cosmetics & Beauty Report™, we surveyed a representative sample of cosmetic/beauty buyers to gauge sentiment in the category and how COVID-19 has impacted purchase behavior.

Through our research, we’ve found that the decrease in sales has not depressed consumers’ love of beauty products, but it has changed how they buy them. …

Nothing helps bolster an argument more than citing a research study that proves your point with statistics. A quick Google search can pull up numerous results of supporting data to prove just about anything. Even flat earthers can “prove” their theories with “research” they find online. The explosion of DIY survey tools has made it possible for anyone with a keyboard to create a “poll” and disseminate the results. The challenge is data integrity, which is often sorely lacking here. …

Over the past six months, economic instability has sent shockwaves through the global marketplace, causing some industries to crumble and others to thrive as e-commerce and digital interactions increase during the pandemic.

For example, technology companies like Amazon and Facebook have seen massive spikes in their stock market prices, advertising revenue, and the number of users. While more traditional brands like Hertz and Royal Dutch Shell, as well as most brick and mortar companies, were not so lucky. They suffered massive profit losses as a result of people sheltering in place and abandoning their normal routines.

The pandemic has similarly carved out clear winners and losers in the online sample industry, with COVID-19 accelerating the push for digital collection methods. As a result, larger companies with more advanced technology have started edging out smaller competitors, hoarding market share and tipping the balance in their favor. …

The Black Lives Matter movements that erupted following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor have sparked a massive cultural shift in the American consciousness and sparked a global conversation about equality. For the first time, many corporations are lending their voices to denouncing racial injustice and pledging to be more culturally sensitive and inclusive in business. But the outpouring of support has come with notable backlash. Consumers have blasted many brands for “performative woke washing” and not backing up their claims with action.

While the market research industry has mostly embraced the Black Lives Matter Movement, I urge fellow researchers to go beyond issuing a powerful statement. Take a closer look at your samples to ensure African Americans and minorities across the board are equally represented. …

Marketing managers have difficult jobs. They are expected to be psychologists, storytellers, salespeople, and fortune tellers. Engineers and product developers don’t understand why their fantastic products aren’t selling and blame marketing for not communicating how terrific they are. Unfortunately, having the best product or solution is often not enough because consumers typically don’t make purchase decisions rationally. They do so emotionally.

Subconscious Decision Making

Evolutionary psychologists are fond of saying, “You can take man out of the Stone Age, but you can’t take the Stone Age out of man.” Our senses of perception evolved to keep us alive. Most decisions are made quickly at a subconscious level since spending too much time on decision making usually led to poor outcomes for our ancestors. It’s generally better to jump at the sight of a stick in the grass on the off chance that it’s a venomous snake than not to react at all. …