On the latest episode of Deep: The Health Marketing Podcast, John Mangano speaks with TelevisaUnivision EVP of Pharma and Healthcare Client Partnerships Jorge Daboub about an often-overlooked segment in healthcare marketing: the Hispanic population. Jorge is a veteran in health marketing to Hispanic audiences, and he illuminates some of the big-picture strategies and essential nuances needed to engage this flourishing yet underserved demographic.
Despite representing about 20% of the U.S. population—around 60 million people—Hispanic consumers often receive little to no targeted health messaging. Jorge shares his experience working with clients on critically needed, culturally relevant health information, pointing out the substantial gaps many companies miss in media and data representation.
One of the most striking insights is the economic impact of properly engaging this segment. Jorge reveals that brands connecting authentically with Hispanic consumers are seeing returns up to twice as high compared with those of general-market campaigns. But about half of pharma companies overlook this. Many brands are prone to see diversity, equity, and inclusion as a superficial checkbox, rather than pursuing integration with Spanish-language media and tuning in to Hispanic cultural nuances.
Jorge emphasizes the diversity within the Hispanic community itself—a broad spectrum of cultures originating in Mexico, Central and South America, and beyond. There are certain shared, deep-rooted values across these groups of people, including family, spirituality, and trust. However, health marketers must still consider linguistic and cultural subtleties. With anecdotes and data, Jorge illustrates how brands that prioritize these elements are fostering lasting trust and loyalty within the Hispanic community.
In health advertising, underrepresentation and bias in data are major barriers, especially as the industry embraces artificial intelligence (AI) in decision-making. Jorge describes the necessity for health marketers to develop inclusive datasets—that reflect the full Hispanic population—rather than relying on skewed, more general data. Health marketing leaders are taking steps to create more accurate data models, like building their own Hispanic household graphs to sharpen their insights.
In an industry where information access directly influences patient health outcomes, this episode of Deep makes it clear that inclusive, targeted marketing is not only ethical but essential for driving business growth.
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