overview
A leading national CPG brand came to CR Research with a challenge: despite significant investment in Hispanic-targeted media, trial rates among Hispanic shoppers for their new product line remained flat. The brand had strong awareness numbers but could not convert that awareness into first purchase.
CR Research partnered with the brand’s insights team to design a research program that would go beyond surface-level survey data and uncover the real motivations, hesitations, and decision moments that shape trial behavior among Hispanic grocery shoppers.
THE PROBLEM
Awareness Was High — But Trial Wasn’t Following
Despite running Spanish-language TV and digital campaigns for two consecutive quarters, the brand’s new product line was seeing awareness scores above 60% among Hispanic shoppers aged 25–54, yet household penetration remained under 8%. Something was breaking down between knowing the product existed and putting it in the cart.
The brand’s internal hypothesis was that price was the barrier. But when CR Research conducted an initial stakeholder workshop, a different picture emerged: Hispanic shoppers weren’t rejecting the product because of cost — many hadn’t formed a clear opinion about it at all. The brand’s messaging had created recognition without meaning.
There was also a trust dimension that had been overlooked. For many Hispanic shoppers, especially first- and second-generation consumers, food purchases carry cultural weight. Trying a new brand isn’t just a transaction — it’s a statement about the household. That emotional layer was entirely absent from the brand’s campaign strategy.
OUR APPROACH
A Two-Phase Research Design Built for Cultural Depth
CR Research designed a two-phase program. Phase one consisted of eight in-person focus groups across three markets — Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles — with bilingual moderators conducting sessions in the language of each participant’s choice. Groups were segmented by acculturation level, household composition, and primary grocery decision-maker status.
Phase two deployed a quantitative survey of 1,200 Hispanic grocery shoppers, stratified by market, acculturation, and income bracket. The survey was fielded in both English and Spanish, with instrument translation reviewed by native Spanish speakers from each target regional dialect. Key constructs measured included cultural identity in grocery purchase decisions, brand trust cues specific to Hispanic consumers, and the role of family endorsement in first trial.
Throughout both phases, CR Research’s cultural strategy team provided ongoing analysis to ensure that findings were interpreted within the correct cultural context — not simply mapped onto general consumer frameworks.
The result
A Clear Path to Trial — Rooted in Family and Community Trust
The research revealed that trial for this category is primarily driven by social proof within the family unit, not by individual discovery. Seventy-one percent of Hispanic shoppers who had tried a new food brand in the past six months reported that a family member had purchased or recommended it first. The brand’s existing campaign, which focused on individual discovery moments, was structurally misaligned with how this shopper group actually makes trial decisions.
CR Research delivered a segmentation framework identifying three distinct shopper profiles — the Cultural Anchor, the Bridge Shopper, and the Assimilated Tryer — each with a different entry point for trial. The brand was shown that the Cultural Anchor segment, which represented 38% of their target market, required family-network activation strategies rather than individual-facing digital ads.
Within one quarter of implementing the recommended strategy shifts, the brand’s household penetration among Hispanic shoppers increased from 8% to 14% — a 75% lift. The insights team credited the research with fundamentally reframing how the organization thinks about multicultural marketing, moving from a translation mindset to a cultural strategy mindset.
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