Republica Havas CEO Jorge Plasencia urges brands to ditch surface-level tactics and embrace cultural authenticity, as he breaks down the $4.1 tn Hispanic market opportunity with The Drum’s Gordon Young.
Republica Havas at Cannes 2025
“Translation is not the answer,” says Jorge Plasencia, chief executive officer of Republica Havas and global chief client officer at Havas: “When you're doing that, you're shooting blanks.” It’s a striking moment during a conversation in Cannes which lays bare the reality: brands are missing out on the biggest growth engine in the US.
Plasencia pulls no punches on the business case: “The Hispanic market in America has $4.1 tn in buying power... It’s the youngest market by far,” and “it’s the market with the greatest growth for brands,” he says. But it’s an ongoing education process with marketers and the C-suite: “still, many brands just don’t understand.” He challenges marketers to go beyond token gestures and invest in cultural authenticity.
Filmed in Cannes but focusing on the cultural heartbeat of Miami, the conversation spotlights the city as a proving ground for multicultural marketing. “Miami is a microcosm of what the US is becoming,” says Plasencia. He points to communities from “Mexican, South American, Venezuelan, Puerto Rican, [and] Cuban” backgrounds living side by side, creating a unique testing ground for brands.
Gordon Young, co-founder of The Drum, underscores the stakes: “People think it’s a fringe market, but actually the Hispanic market is mainstream.” It’s a sharp reminder that marketers who treat multicultural audiences as niche are already behind.
He adds perspective to the scale of the opportunity: “If the Hispanic market in the US were a country, it would be bigger than the UK or France.”
This short but sharp video doesn’t just talk about multicultural marketing – it offers a offers a blueprint for growth. Watch it to hear what good (and bad) really look like and why cultural nuance drives ROI.
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Republica Havas
Republica Havas is a culture-first global communications agency that leverages proprietary cross-cultural insights, data, and tools to help brands authentically...