Posts Tagged ‘Hispanic’

In the battle for the hearts and minds of the Hispanic market, the CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies are reaching out to the community with content-driven initiatives. A recent MediaPost article by Joe Kutchera equates online content as the new brand marketing.

The article discusses the efforts of General Mills, SC Johnson, Kraft and other CPG companies’ content initiatives. While more detail about their efforts is available in the article, here is a quick breakdown of some of the sites being developed by major brands that are much more than just a landing page- they are information resources for the Hispanic community.

Comida Kraft (Kraft Foods) Right @ Home (SC Johnson) Pampers Village (Procter & Gamble) Vive Mejor (Uniliever)

When I arrived at my hotel on one of those long road trips, I took advantage of the free USA Today available at check-in.  While not an avid reader per se, I did notice the article on the front of the money section called “Many shun bank accounts, but pay more for financial services”.

A chart in the article sourced from the FDIC shows how minority households are much more likely than white households to be unbanked or underbanked.  In particular, Hispanics were the second highest percentage unbanked at 21.7%, and they were the third highest percentage of the underbanked, at 24%.  The abundance of check cashing/money transfer offices in San Francisco’s heavily Hispanic Mission District also supports the conclusion that the banking industry has been unsuccessful in reaching these markets.

Some of the reasons cited in the article include 1. Convenience, 2. Instant Cash, 3. Distrust.  It is amazing how a small check cashing establishment is able to cash a check instantly using a driver’s license, while a bank sometimes holds the funds for days.  Distrust, as well as TV commercials for payday loans, suggests that people are much more accepting of fees that are simple and clearly disclosed versus the hidden fees and charges for which banks are famous.

Working in the multicultural advertising industry, I see that very few banks are set up with multilingual websites and are not reaching out enough to the multicultural- and specifically Hispanic- markets through their marketing.  In the recently released Hispanic Fact Pack by Ad Age, which listed the Top Advertisers in Hispanic Media based on U.S. media spending, there is not a single bank in the top 50.  In most cases, the websites are very rarely in Spanish or other languages.

While banks have had some serious challenges in the past couple of years, there is a tremendous opportunity to reach out to the multicultural communities.  The resources are there, and with some minor focus, there is significant return.

Every day I find myself in situations where I meet Latinas and don’t know whether to talk to them in Spanish or “en inglés”. Latinas, both those born in the U.S. and those from Latin America, tend to embrace the mainstream American lifestyle at a supersonic pace; call it an effect of globalization impacting them, since they’re eager to belong to mainstream American culture and fit in among their peers.

Pop culture- including fashion, clothing, beauty, cosmetics, movies, music, TV and marketing media (particularly the internet revolution)- has created standards that most Latina women follow and emulate, making them the perfect consumer.

Not only are they following mainstream buying trends, but Latina women play a critical role in the economy of the household, making 80% of the buying decisions for her family. Latinas are embracing their role as the center of the family, while following the new format of the strong, 21st century independent woman.

While our focus is generally on the Hispanic market, there are various segments that are represented by the “multicultural” label.  This includes advertisers, publishers and agencies focused on Hispanic, Asian-American, African-American- and even LGBT.

In the news in the last week alone, there have been some important decisions made by the courts that affect these groups and those working with them.

1. Arizona’s SB 1070 had 7 key provisions blocked by a U.S. District judge.
2. In California, Proposition 8, which was a voter-approved proposition that defined a marriage as between a man and a woman, was overturned by a U.S. District Court Judge.
3. Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that every state must recognize gay marriages performed in Mexico City.

With an estimated 10.8 million illegal immigrants in this country, the immigration debate is sure to continue.  However, one of the biggest debates will be how to apply laws to stem illegal immigration without negatively impacting the remainder of the almost 50 million Hispanics in this country.  By the way, it should be noted that not all of the 10.8 million illegal residents in the U.S. are from Mexico or Latin America, as many may think.

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates that there are approximately 8.8 million gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons in the U.S. (based on the 2005/2006 American Community Survey, an extension of the U.S. Census).  This is another segment of multicultural marketing that is growing, and considering that the Proposition 8 battle in California was the highest-funded campaign ever on any state ballot, with opponents and supporters raising over $80 million, same-sex marriage too will continue to be a hotly debated issue.  Yet even a very Catholic country like Mexico has accepted that marriage is a right that is not exclusive to opposite-sex marriage.

While everyone has their own opinion on how they feel about the individual issues and rulings, aside from working with both the supporters and opponents of the various initiatives, most of the agencies and service providers to the advertising industry are not necessarily interested in the politics- just the key facts.  There are significant numbers of immigrants (legal AND illegal), citizens of many different backgrounds, and a large LGBT community, which are all increasingly important.  As marketers we care about how many there are and how we can reach them- otherwise the court battles are for the politicians.

Ad Medium: TV (national) and YouTube

Brand: AT&T

Overall Grade: A

Quick Review: If you ever feel like losing your faith in the goodness of humankind, read some comments of YouTube videos.  There, the ignoramuses, nitwits, and racists of the world come out to argue in horribly misspelled English.  So it is with regret that I took a glance at some of the comments left for AT&T’s “Rethink Possible” ad ,where a young man uses his AT&T smartphone to buy a last minute ticket to catch a train, where he meets his future wife, and they eventually give birth to the 57th President of the United States.  The actors playing the man and woman are ambiguously cast- they could, in my view, be mixed race, Italian, Hispanic, Greek, Brazilian, etc.  But because they are not typically Anglo looking, and because their ambiguous looks could very well be Hispanic, many people, whether right or wrong, assume that this ad shows the creation of the first Hispanic President of the U.S.  And that has many YouTube commenters very upset.

In my opinion, this ambiguity is the genius of the ad.  The ethnicity of the couple, and their son who becomes President, is never stated, but yes, they all look Hispanic, so AT&T sends a subtle wink and a nudge to the U.S. Hispanic audience, saying, “One day,  there will be a Latino President.  Make it happen with AT&T”.  Many advertisers who want to reach Hispanics are told that the key is to focus on family, family, family.  This ad has managed to feature the importance of the family in Latino life  in a creative way.  To the consternation of many YouTube commenters, AT&T is reaching out to the Hispanic market- and in my view, succeeding.  What do you think?  Let us know in the comments.

Each year Advertising Age comes out with their annual Hispanic Fact Pack, which has become an excellent informational tool for those of us working with or interested in the Hispanic market.  Not only does this annual guide offer great insight into the Hispanic Market in the U.S.- it is actually FREE.

I make sure each year to share this guide with our team and of course with our partners.  The  2010 version of Ad Age’s Hispanic Fact Pack has just been released.  We highly recommend giving it a look. Some highlights include data on Hispanic buying power for the top 20 U.S. markets, among many, many others!

When you get right down to it, every social, political, and cultural issue roiling American society in 2010 comes down to the changing demographics of the nation.  The National Journal has recently published an article that gets to the heart of the matter, entitled “The Gray and The Brown: The Generational Mismatch”.  Though a bit long, I urge you to read it, as it explains the existing and future policy and cultural clashes that result from a growing, mostly white senior population that is skeptical of government and its role in public life, and a booming youth population that is mostly minority (and Hispanics make up a large part of that minority group).  Young people are more encouraging of government’s role in shaping economic and social policy.

The article, by Ronald Brownstein, delves into the implications for social policy.  In a nutshell, young people will have a growing senior population to support through Social Security taxes, and seniors will have to rely on an educated, employed workforce to support them.  In terms of marketing, we see the results of this generational mismatch in various ways.  Slowly but surely, minorities are more visible on television, in both commercials (see the recent Los Links ad campaign by Microsoft) and television shows (the recent success of Ugly Betty).  And yet Ugly Betty was pulled from the air, to make room for…reality shows and programming that caters to a broader (read: whiter audience).  Although there is more and more data to suggest that Latinos’ purchasing power is only growing, we also see that marketing decision makers are hesitant (or unwilling)to invest ad dollars in Hispanic-focused campaigns.

We hope that, as young minorities make up an increasing part of the workforce, that marketers pay more attention to targeting this important audience (and targeting them INTELLIGENTLY).  We hope that more minorities get into the marketing world, since we bring a unique perspective to the advertising decision-making process.  Perhaps then will we see an increase in quality offline and online advertising targeting U.S. Hispanics.

From banking scandals to ominous warnings of a double dip recession, there are always significant events floating around in the news.  While each person or company has their struggles to contend with, or you know people close to you that are struggling, there are always some positive stories around to give hope.

In the marketing, there are companies losing and winning accounts everyday, as well as team members who have moved on to other opportunities.

In the case of Alcance Media Group, we started in late 2007 with a key group of three individuals working from home, cafes or wherever there was a free internet connection.  Through a difficult recession we have continued to grow, and now have team members across the U.S. and Latin America and have recently moved into a new office with spectacular views of the San Francisco skyline (of course at a reasonable cost due to low commercial property rates).  Here it is:

Alcance Media Group started with a focus on the U.S. Hispanic market and maintains a personal and client- centric approach.  As the network has grown, we have found new client needs, from helping agencies offer their clients multicultural and online services to assisting website publishers in monetizing their inventory.  It all started with one publisher, an ad server, and one advertiser and has continued to grow.

With a very small budget in 2008, I decided on an exploratory trip to Mexico City with nothing more than one contact from a major advertising agency.  After much follow up, we were able to obtain a $3,000 month-long trial that has now extended into a long-term relationship with the agency.  Just as our first client in 2007 helped jumpstart the company, that one Mexican client has led to our relationship with other Mexico-based companies, major Mexican publications, and an expansion of our efforts in the region.

According to Pew Hispanic Research, nearly two thirds of U.S. Hispanics self identify as being of Mexican origin.  Not only does this offer an opportunitiy to U.S. companies seeking to reach Hispanics in the U.S., it also offers a great opportunity to Mexican companies on both sides of the border.

I will admit freely that though I do enjoy “business meetings”  involving Lucha Libre and tequila, the focus when I’m in Mexico on business is to learn more about each company’s needs and adapt our services to them.  Now with a business development team working with Mexican companies, we are expanding our focus and have joined the Interactive Advertising Bureau in Mexico.

We are attending the IAB Conecta 2010 conference taking place July 29-30^th in Mexico City.  Whether it is one contact that becomes a client, a business contact or just a personal relationship with other professionals, this conference promises to be worthwhile and if you go, make sure to say, “Hola”.

Much is debated about the habits of the Hispanic consumer in the U.S.: whether or not we buy with our hearts, our heads, or our wallets.  And much has been said about our purchasing decisions- that it depends on the product, economic conditions, and other underlying reasons.

The Hispanic consumer in the last few years has been transforming his buying habits, considering product rankings on the internet more relevant than the recommendation from a relative or friend.  This demystifies the argument that Hispanics buy out of brand loyalty.  Of course, depending on the consumer’s motivations, they may be willing to spend, but the current economic climate must always be taken into consideration.

Based on the information I’ve been exposed to in the last 10 years, I think that the purchase process of  the Latino consumer is increasingly longer (due to the use of the internet as a comparison tool), and his decision is a heterogeneous intersection between logic, impact on the family budget, and brand loyalty towards the product being purchased.

Finding that online connection with Hispanics is and will continue to be the determining factor in marketing products and services to this community. E

Nielsen has just published a report showing that ad investment in Latin America increased 48% in the first quarter of 2010.  The U.S., the country with the biggest ad market, also saw an increase, though only 4%.

Investment in all global ad markets reached 100 billion dollars, and the main drivers of this investment were the Winter Olympics and the World Cup in South Africa.

Nevertheless, Nielsen also warns in the study that the results should be read with caution, since these figures are the result of comparing current investment with the numbers from 2009, when the recession caused a drastic drop in global advertising budgets.

“After 18 consecutive months, the industry has finally turned the corner to enter positive terrain”, according to Michele Strazzera, Deputy Managing Director at Nielsen Global AdView.

In terms of different media, television still has the largest market share in terms of ad investment, with an increase of 16% during the aforementioned period. It seems that many companies still have not changed their modus operandi and have not taken advantage of the crisis to change.