Who is GenYLA?

They’re being called GenYLA, as in generation Young Latino Americans, an offshoot of US marketers penchant for labeling swaths of consumers according to age and distinct behavioral tendencies: GenX, GenY, etc…

GenYLA’ers are Latinos between 18 and 34 years of age, and the label was invented, as as far as I can tell, by my former bosses at Telemundo. Granted, it’s a marketing stat, but it serves to give us an insight into the lives, behaviors and opinions of a specific group of the large mosaic of the US Latino community.

Telemundo and other media and consumer driven companies are banking on the YLA’ers; they’re the largest and fastest growing consumer group in the country. So it’s no surprise that they would package it and study it.

Latino market experts see the group as generationally significant. Portada On line reports:

“It is said that in every decade a new generation brings forth a big change. In the next 40 years the U.S. population will expand by one hundred million people fueled primarily by US Hispanics,” said Jacqueline Hernandez, Chief Operating Officer, Telemundo, Communications Group, Inc.

Here’s a list of highlight’s of Telemundo’s market report, as parsed by Portada:

• YLAS are highly maintaining their culture and heritage while still embracing their American Lifestyle.
• YLAS love being bi-cultural. More than one third (37%) of YLAS self-identified themselves as both Hispanic and American, identifying with both cultures equally the same. At the other end of the spectrum, only 2% felt more American than Hispanic. YLAS are in the midst of a retro-acculturation explosion. Because of the YLAS strong pride in their homeland and country of origin, this generation is re-discovering their heritage and is experiencing a Latino re-awakening. YLAS are going from George to Jorge.
• For YLAS it is easy to toggle in and out of both the Hispanic and American cultures.
• YLAS live in a cultural fluid environment.
• YLAS have no language boundaries or barriers.
• YLAS language mobility greatly depends on the place or situation they are in – they are chameleons in their space – they control it and they like it!
• YLAS are the always-connected generation.
• YLAS are multi-taskers.
• With a huge strength in mobile usage, a high percent (87%) of YLAS cannot live without it.