Wine & Spirits Daily had a terrific article last week titled, “Capitalizing on the Growing Ethnic Trend.”

The article includes data on the growth rates and buying power of the Latino, African American, and Asian consumer markets. Further, it reports on data gathered by Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) and describes who drinks what.

Some of the reported drinking habits are well known to spirits marketers and some show shifts from the past.

A few highlights from the article:

• Everyone drinks vodka.
• Latino consumers primarily drink beer, followed by tequila and rum.
• African American consumers drink rum, cognac and gin primarily, but tequila is up there in consumption (I guess PDiddy knows what he’s doing with his new involvement in DeLeon Tequila).
• Asian consumers show a preference for scotch.

What I find so interesting is that compared to the past, while there are some diverse drinking preferences, everyone drinks everything. There are differences but not as sharp as I’ve seen years ago.

So permit me to add some comments and cautions concerning marketing to diverse population segments.

The Latino/Hispanic market is not one market.

It is a diverse group of consumers consisting of those from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central America, Cuba, and other Caribbean Islands. Further, these sub-segments are geographically dispersed so the Mexican American consumers in Texas, for example, are different from those in Chicago or LA.

The African American consumer category and brand preferences also vary by geography and urban, suburban and rural residence.

And along with that the  “Asian” category doesn’t account for consumers from China, South Korea, Philippines and other countries that each have there own cultures and customs.

The point is, a smart brand builder pays attention to diverse consumer markets as a starting point, but understands that further knowledge (micro marketing) is necessary.

A Memorable Experience in Ethnic Marketing Research:

I was conducting focus groups on behalf of Patron Tequila when Seagram had the brand. The research was among Anglo and Mexican American consumers. At the time, Patron was only just beginning to grow and we wanted to know attitudes and perceptions about the brand.

Many Anglo consumers told us that their favorite brands were those they believed to be “authentic” tequilas and brands like Cazadores and Herradura were mentioned. But, so was Patron.

At the time Patron was not available in Mexico (except for Duty Free) and was only an export product. Yet, it’s name and packaging made it ”authentic” tequila.

Among the Mexican American consumers, the attitudes became even more telling. Those who strongly maintained their Mexican identity stuck with brand preferences from “back home.” But, second and third generation Mexican Americas (those more assimilated rather than acculturated) also added Patron to their repertoire. When challenged about the lack of heritage for Patron, the most frequent reply was, “Hey, my Anglo friends drink it so it must be good.”

So, looking at the market from a diversity standpoint is great but it’s critical to remember that there are many layers to a culture and one size doesn’t fit all.

The LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender)  market also make up a very interesting drinking segment of the population and are also a deeply layered group of communities. Ah, but that’s a subject for another posting.