Bicultural campaigns in traditional and non-traditional media are gaining popularity, as Hispanic millennial mothers become more and more attractive to marketers who are looking to unlock the secrets of their shopping habits.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. launched an online campaign in late spring 2014 called "Celebrate Family Unity," which focused on Latinas but maintained its gaze toward the general market audience. The consumer brand conglomerate elicited the assistance of Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and mother of a 4-year-old girl Christina Milian, 32, as their spokeswoman, recognizing her mass appeal, and hoping that she could influence young mothers via social media.

For the campaign, mothers were able to go to thefunsong.com, where they could select a song or compose custom MP3s, then share it socially. The more they shared, the more they saved. Consumers received coupons for products such as Huggies, Pull Ups, U by Kotex, Kleenex and Scott, which increased in value the more reach the song gained.

Fisher-Price similarly announced a program dedicated to Hispanic millennial moms, the Mis Primeras Mañanitas campaign, which centers around a child's first birthday. The ongoing Mis Primeras Mañanitas Sweepstakes encourages mothers to enter for a chance to win a party prize pack (party invites, favors and decorations, and a customized cake) and a bundle of 12 toys. Mothers are also encouraged to discover unique ideas for their child's first birthday party on the Fisher-Price website, as well browse the many toys available, where they are likely to buy a bounty of items.

The value of young, digitally-connected audiences isn't simply their spending power. Rather, it's the fact that they do marketers work for them.

Young people 'share,' 'like' and buy items with fierceness, unwittingly providing companies free marketing, advertising and support with the mere click of a mouse. And Latinas, millennials and mothers are most likely to 'share' and 'like' things on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, proving themselves to be vital. Also, Latinas are no stranger to the "word of mouth" method of advertising, which is irreplaceable because mothers turn to family and friends for brand recommendations, above all else.

A balance between ethnic insights and far-reaching appeal is what Kimberly-Clark, Fisher-Price, Wal-Mart, Target, Walgreens and Food4Less strive for when reaching out to both Latina millennial mothers and mainstream mothers. Marketers who simultaneously seek out Latina mothers and all millennial mothers must be aware of Hispanic heritage but remember that Latina mothers are like every other. Failure to show inclusion creates animosity, and a failure to recognize individuality implies ignorance. That said, the overall eclectic buying patterns of Latina millennial mothers keep marketers guessing.

Latina millennial mothers are as diverse as Latinos. Millennials have matured, and about half have somewhat abandoned the "young and unattached" image that's been associated with the group. The older half of millennials are having children, and there are now 10.8 million millennial households with children. Also, millennial parents are responsible for approximately 80 percent of the 4 million annual U.S. births.

In addition, 40 percent of the millennial audience is multicultural, and 16 percent of millennial parents are Hispanic (compared to 12 percent black and 61 percent white). About 61 percent of millennial parents in the workforce are women, 63 percent of millennial parents are married, and 51 percent of millennial parents live in the suburbs, according to the "Millennials as New Parents" study, signifying diversity.

Latina millennial mothers use mobile social networking sites and the internet with more regularity than the general population, but millennial moms also continue to seek out products that prove to be a good value, are proven to be safe for children, simplify lives and have wholesome ingredients. Also, they tend to support brands and organizations that share their values, are socially responsible and are recommended by other parents. Because of this, many marketers see the value of using young Latina mothers and abuela-types to advertise products to young mothers. But, campaigns featuring such images may attract many Latina mothers, but certainly not all.

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