Attention pharma marketers: as you look to your 2018 plans, there remains a largely untapped opportunity to grow your brands – Hispanic diabetics. In order to tap into the market that this underserved audience represents, here are three important things to know about marketing to Hispanic diabetics:
1. Hispanics are 1 in 4 diabetics in the U.S. today.
Diabetes disproportionately affects Hispanics who represent 19% of the total U.S. adult population, but 25% of total adult diabetics. This is due to the fact that Hispanics are twice as likely to suffer from this disease with an age-adjusted prevalence of 23% compared to 11%. When looking at key markets, the Hispanic share of diabetes patients is even greater than the national 25%: San Antonio (67%), Miami (49%), and Los Angeles (47%). This means that diabetes brands not reaching out to Hispanics are potentially ignoring a quarter or more of their target patient population.
2. Hispanic diabetes prescription sales are on the rise.
Today, Hispanic diabetes prescription sales are worth $4.9B or 12% of the total $40.7B market. Year-over-year, Hispanic diabetes prescription sales have grown slightly faster than non-Hispanic at a rate of +12% vs. +11%. Across both sub-segments of the diabetes market, Hispanic growth outpaces non-Hispanic, among insulins (+9% vs. +8%) and non-insulins (+14% vs. +13%). But, given the higher Hispanic diabetes prevalence, Hispanics should in fact account for a larger share of the total market and have an even stronger growth rate. Diabetes marketers have an opportunity to help close that gap by reaching out to Hispanic patients.
3. Culturally relevant messaging is key for success with Hispanic diabetics.
Despite an increasingly competitive environment, only a handful of brands have committed to advertising to Hispanics in-culture and in-language. We know from the Univision/Nielsen Hispanic Healthcare Journey study that engaging Hispanic diabetes patients in Spanish is critical for driving awareness, diagnosis, and treatment. With an abundance of new launches in the already cluttered English-language media landscape, Spanish-language media offers diabetes marketers a chance to stand out with a high share of voice and connect with Hispanic patients.
Sources: 1. U.S. Census National Projections 2017, released Dec. 2014 2. Journal American Medical Association: “Prevalence of and Trends in Diabetes Among Adults in the United States, 1988-2012” Sept 8, 2015 3. 2015 APLD Custom Study by Optum Insights Based on Insured A19+ – Diabetes Market – ICD-950.** (Diagnosis Prevalence by DMA Applied to 2015 A18+ Nielsen Universe Estimates) 4. Symphony Health MAT Sept 2016 – 2017, USC-3 Diabetes Insulin and Non-Insulins, A18+ Ethnically Identified 5. Nielsen AdIntel Jan – Oct 2017: Spanish Network TV, Spanish Cable TV, Spot TV