One Region, Many Realities: Decoding LATAM's Marketing Landscape with Juan David González

Juan David González on LATAM marketing's growth. Discover why social media is key, AI is essential, and a regional strategy is a myth

Latin America is no longer a single, emerging market for digital marketers, but a constellation of distinct, fast-maturing ecosystems, each demanding a unique playbook.

To test this, we spoke with Juan David González, Head of Global Marketing at Jeeves, a marketing leader with deep experience across the region's fintech and edtech sectors. In his experience, Juan has witnessed firsthand the rapid evolution of LATAM's digital landscape.

In this interview, he dismantles the monolithic view of the region, revealing how countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia are charting different paths to growth, why social media is the foundational layer of the customer journey, and how AI is moving from hype to becoming an indispensable tool for marketers navigating this complex and exciting territory.

Interview with Juan David González

How is the marketing industry in Latin America growing, and which countries are leading this growth?

Marketing in Latin America is growing fast, but the real story is the level of sophistication we’re starting to see. Brands are finally balancing performance with real brand-building, and tech companies are pushing the region into a more data-driven mindset.

Brazil and Mexico lead the growth by scale, but Colombia has become a kind of “regional lab” especially in fintech, SaaS, and education. At Jeeves we see it clearly: Brazil is a giant in payments innovation, Mexico is moving aggressively in e-commerce, and Colombia is where you find some of the strongest growth and product-marketing talent in the region.

LATAM feels like one big market, but every country demands a different playbook. That’s what makes it exciting.

What role does social media play in shaping marketing strategies across Latin America?

In Latin America, social media isn’t just another channel, it’s where the customer journey begins. People often discover new brands on Instagram or TikTok before they even think of Googling them. And that changes everything:

• People buy through DMs.

• WhatsApp is basically CRM, support, and checkout in one place.

• Creators and short-form videos outperform traditional media in many categories.

At Jeeves, many of our conversations with CFOs or founders actually start because they saw something on social, a clip from an event, a quote from our CEO, or a product update. Social humanizes brands in a region that’s very relationship-driven.

How are businesses in Latin America using AI to improve their marketing campaigns?

We’re past the hype phase, AI is now pure productivity.

Personally, I use AI every day to analyze performance across countries, speed up content creation, localize messaging for Brazil or Mexico, and free up time for strategy instead of operations.

Companies across the region are doing the same:

• Automating segmentation

• Predicting churn

• Optimizing media in real time

• Generating creative assets in minutes, not days

At Jeeves, AI helps us target the right financial segments, personalize communication, and build campaigns faster. And coming from the EdTech world at UBITS, I saw how large organizations were already using AI to train people and measure impact. The companies that adopt AI well will grow faster, simple as that.

What challenges do marketers in Latin America face when trying to reach diverse audiences across different countries and cultures?

LATAM looks like a single region, but culturally it’s a puzzle. What works emotionally in São Paulo doesn’t necessarily resonate in Bogotá or Mexico City.

The biggest challenge is context: economic reality, digital maturity, payment behaviors, and even humor change dramatically country by country. At Jeeves, a “regional” campaign is never really regional, we rewrite tone, value proposition, and even visuals for each market.

Also, the digital maturity gap is huge. You might talk to a CFO in Mexico who is obsessed with automation and efficiency, and on the same day meet a company in Peru that is still taking its first steps into digital tools. Good marketers don’t translate, they localize.

How does limited access to data or technology affect the effectiveness of marketing in some parts of Latin America?

Limited access to data means you’re flying half-blind. Many companies still operate with fragmented information, offline sales, and very basic analytics, so decisions end up being based on intuition or partial metrics.

This creates a “two-speed” region:

1. Tech companies, fintechs and e-commerce players running advanced funnels with AI and real attribution.

2. And others still trying to unify their CRM and paid media data for the first time.

At Jeeves, we talk a lot about visibility in financial operations and it applies perfectly to marketing. When you don’t have the full picture, you overspend, optimize slowly, and miss opportunities.

What new digital trends are helping shape the future of marketing in the region?

Two trends are truly reshaping the future of marketing in Latin America:

1. Creator-led storytelling

Short-form content and influencers are now central to how people discover brands. The best campaigns in the region feel human, not corporate. Even for a fintech like Jeeves, a simple clip of someone from our product or sales team explaining a product update can outperform traditional ads, because people trust people.

2. Social commerce and integrated payments

The journey is becoming one continuous flow: discover on TikTok, ask on WhatsApp, pay with a link, receive the same day. LATAM is obsessed with convenience, so any brand that removes friction wins.

And we’re only at the beginning. “AI-first marketing” is coming fast, and the brands that combine strong creative with smart automation will take the lead.