Multicultural Marketing in 2026: Quiet Activity, Loud Opportunities
This blog is a guest blog by Jose Villa, the President & Chief Strategy Officer, Sensis and Chair of the Hispanic Marketing Council.
2025 was one of the most challenging years multicultural marketing has faced since the field took shape in the 1960s. The narrative got loud, and many brands went into risk-management mode - quietly dialing back DEI language, pulling down public commitments, and avoiding visible multicultural work to sidestep backlash. Too often, multicultural marketing got lumped into the same bucket as everything else in the culture war, particularly the DEI pullback. Ethnic media also felt the strain. Late in the year, business headlines even implied Hispanic consumers were pulling back spending amid deportations, raids, and real anxiety in the community, justifying reductions in multicultural ad spend by some major brands.
From my vantage point – as both the President of a cultural marketing agency and as Chair of the Hispanic Marketing Council - the reality was more complicated (and, frankly, more encouraging). For instance, the Hispanic market, the biggest component of the multicultural market, didn’t suddenly shrink, and most major marketers didn’t materially cut Hispanic advertising investment. What changed, again, and at speed, was where dollars went. Broadcast TV and radio, long the most visible bellwethers for Hispanic and in-language advertising, continued to lose share. In their place: digital video, streaming/CTV, retail media, and creator / influencer partnerships. Those channels can be exceptionally effective, but measurement is fragmented and often under-attributed, so the shift can look like a retreat when it’s actually a migration.
Multicultural consumer behavior no doubt shifted as well. Fear changes shopping patterns. Economic uncertainty influences spending priorities. Families reprioritize. People spend differently, not necessarily less. And with overall multicultural attention compressed, Hispanic marketing took most of the oxygen in the room, while Black and AAPI efforts were often less visible than they should be.
So, what will 2026 look like? In many ways, a continuation of 2025 - at least in the first half. Brands will continue to stay quieter. Spending will remain steady, but the digital shift will accelerate. And the work will keep moving: multicultural RFP activity remains healthy, and the World Cup will refocus marketers on who is shaping modern mainstream culture and driving growth.
The opportunity, and the responsibility, is to separate multicultural marketing from the DEI backlash narrative. Multicultural is not a cause; it’s a growth strategy grounded in consumer reality. Most astute marketers are doubling down on Cultural Intelligence and performance-grade measurement so marketers can defend these investments in the boardroom and optimize them in-market. The winners in 2026 will invest consistently, build relevance with authenticity, and prove impact with rigor.
At Setup, we’re proud to work with agencies like Sensis that are helping brands navigate growth through authentic, culturally intelligent marketing. If you’re interested in learning more about Sensis or exploring whether they may be the right partner for your brand, connect with us — we’d love to help.
Jose Villa, the President & Chief Strategy Officer at Sensis and Chair of the Hispanic Marketing Council, shares his thoughts on Multicultural marketing - where marketers are spending and where consumers are shopping when fear and uncertainty take precedence.