Latinos are the main source of growth for the grocery industry

In a time of economic hardship for many in the US, The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is doing a good job educating their distributors about new trends, including publishing an article on their website: “Hispanic buying power will impact your bottom line”.

The article has many powerful statistics like, “the Hispanic population is the largest ethnic group in the United States and is growing three times faster than any other ethnic group,” and, “It is predicted that Hispanics will spend just over $1.2 trillion in 2012.” Stats like these are not just useful to people within the beef industry, but to anyone trying to reach the Hispanic Market.

The fact is, that “Hispanic customers spend 42% more on beef purchases than any other ethnic group,” and it behooves (pun intended) the NCBA to not only understand this diverse market, but also to educate their distributors. The article gives useful tips to retailers like preferred cuts by country of origin, bilingual signage ideas and Hispanic recipes. One of the most impressive resources the NCBA posts on this page is the “Beef Training Camp: Hispanic Marketing pamphlet.” Another article put out by the NCBA outlines the effectiveness of Hispanic POS Elements in four test areas.

The article also offers a link to LaCarnedeRes.com, which is a Spanish language offshoot of the NCBA’s main site, offering tips for recipes and events to the Latino community. In a time when companies are feeling their ribs after recent lean years, the NCBA is taking control of their future; they are finding new, creative ways to access consumer dollars.

All Hat and No Cattle?

Although a majority of U.S. businesses say that Hispanics are important to the growth of their companies, very few  are actually marketing to them.

Even though a sizable majority (80%) of US marketers say that the Hispanic market will have a major impact on their products and services in the coming five years, half of them are not marketing specifically to the demographic. This is according to a report earlier this year from legendary independent Hispanic agency Orci.

The agency survey was emailed to 9,300 senior marketers at Fortune 1,000 companies. When the results were tabulated, more than 80% of respondents also said they either do not plan to begin marketing to Hispanics or will not increase their efforts in the next 12 months. This takes into consideration all forms of media. And even though there is very clear evidence that social media and online are accelerating in their use amongst this powerful demographic, the report also found that despite 80% of the Hispanic population using social media, only 20% of marketers are targeting social networks with Hispanic-specific marketing messages. What’s up with that?

So where is the logical disconnect?  Are they really bullish on the Hispanic market or are they simply full of bull? Hard to say, but it clearly indicates a misalignment in strategic thinking if not plain old common sense. In 2008, 46 million U.S. Hispanics accounted for $980 billion in spending power, according to market research firm Packaged Facts. That number will increase to $1.3 billion by 2013. Seems like there are lot of companies that need to get their lassos out and start working the ranch before all of the cattle are out of the barn (and yes, there is probably a “brand” pun in there somewhere)!

Speaking in Tongues

I recently saw the documentary Speaking in Tongues, which promotes the benefits of bilingual education in public schools, communities and families.

Nowadays, being bilingual is “in”, and I am glad to be able to raise my son speaking Spanish and English. It will only make his life easier, I think.  We live in a city where immersion programs are offered in three elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. It is such a popular program that only a very small percentage of the applicants make it in.

Bilingual education has certainly changed. I’ve heard stories of how past generations of Spanish-speaking families wanted to raise their kids speaking English only. They believed it was the way children would blend easily in their community.  Could it be now the opposite? Are we realizing Spanish (and Chinese) are essential to a competitive professional life for our kids?

Bilingual education is not popular everywhere, and I agree it may not be for every family.  In my situation, I believe my son will benefit in so many ways- more than professionally, since I know my son will have a better understanding of English grammar by studying Spanish, and he will have a better understanding of his roots, his family and his community. He will happily respond: ¡Sí Hablo Español!

Ana Torroja on LaMusica.com

Spanish Broadcasting Systems recently launched Lamusica.com, which includes online radio, video and television along with entertainment news, blogs and links to all the SBS radio stations from the United States.

SBS is the largest Latin media and entertainment company (publicly owned) in the United States. They have been able to successfully operate more than 20 radio stations in major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and in Puerto Rico.

I highly recommend visiting Lamusica.com because it is a well-organized and clean web site where you will find many options to choose from without getting lost in the pop-up windows or too many links. I personally like to be able to change radio stations from different parts of the nation and the world.

I’d like to point out that most of the ads in their sites were in English however, most of the content is written in Spanish. Hispanic online consumers can be divided in three groups: predominantly Spanish speaking, bilingual (English and Spanish) and predominately English speaking – who may feel more comfortable speaking English but they may have taste for Musica en Español! It doesn’t matter which group of listeners you fit, in any case I suggest tuning into Lamusica.com

Modern Family

We have previously written on Reach Hispanic about Ugly Betty, and what a pioneering show it was for its portrayal of a loving Latino family, and a main character who recent Emmy winner for Best Comedy broke stereotypes (a nerdy Latina working in the fashion world?). Now, we have “Modern Family”, also on ABC, which also shines a spotlight on a Latino family, along with two others.

“Modern Family” is that rarest of things, a half hour family sitcom that produces out-laughs. There is no laugh track, yet the laughs keep coming, thanks to sharp writing and great casting. Of note is Eric Stonestreet as the lovable Cameron, husband of Mitchell. Yes, the show portrays, in addition to a white nuclear family headed by a working father and a stay at home Mom, a gay couple raising an adopted daughter from Vietnam, and a blended family- an older white man (played by Ed O’Neill, formerly of Ted Bundy fame), remarried to a gorgeous young Colombian, played by former Miss Universe Sofia Vergara, who has a young son, Manny.

It is this last family portrayed on the show that is truly a breath of fresh air. Granted, I will concede that Modern Family in no way tries to portray the “typical” family, and the household of Jay, Gloria and Manny is unique in many ways. Yet just as the show boldly shows a gay family as loving and committed to each other, so too is the mixed family (both mixed race and mixed generations) noteworthy for being so ordinary in its love and commitment to family.

I have been pleasantly surprised by Sofia Vergara’s comedic acting chops- not just a pretty face, the woman can act. Though by all outward appearances she is simply Jay’s trophy wife, we come to see in the scenes between the two affection and tenderness. In taking families not often seen on TV (Hispanic, blended, gay) and showing their every day trials and tribulations, the makers of “Modern Family” make the extraordinary ordinary.

Latinas and Cell Phones

Portada recently highlighted the findings of a study detailing how young Latinos use digital means to communicate.  The study focuses on the use of cell phones for both talking and texting (big difference), land lines, and social media, comparing participants by gender, age (under/over 26), language, native-born vs. foreign born, and Hispanics vs. non-Hispanics.  Some highlights include:

- Young Hispanic males are less likely than young Hispanic females to use social networking sites for communication – 19% versus 27%.

- While 68% of English-dominant and half of bilingual young Latinos use text messaging daily for communication, just 19% of Spanish-dominant young Latinos do the same.

- Two thirds (65%) of the native-born say they communicate with their friends by text message daily, while just 26% of the foreign-born do so. And more than half (55%) of the native born talk daily by cell phone with their friends, while just 29% of the foreign-born say they do the same.

The findings echo those of previous studies that show that young, acculturated Latinos have better access to technology than foreign-born, Spanish dominant Latinos. And of course, we see that men and women use the internet in different ways. It turns out women, at least on line, are the more social of the sexes.

Spanish Usage Online

In 1996, 75% of all web searches were conducted in English, however today, according to the site Internet World Stats, with North American users only representing 13.5% of world internet users, English searches account for only 25% of search.  Combine the accessibility to the internet, the increase in content in all languages and the increase in the number and quality of search engines and directories, allowing them to now process multiple languages, and you have a recipe for global growth.

The Hispanic market represents 15% of the U.S. population, outpacing other multicultural segments in its growth and importance, and it is only natural to see an increase in the usage of Spanish search terms.  With significant growth in access to high-speed internet as well as computer ownership in the Hispanic community, especially with the Spanish-dominant segment, web searches in Spanish are increasing at an astonishing rate (over 600% as cited in the article).

While the Hispanic market is not only defined by language, it is interesting that of those considered English dominant, 40% use some Spanish-language on the internet daily.  With advertisers, publishers, agencies, and of course search engines continuing to include multicultural and multilingual options, the non-English SEO space is due for strong growth.

Taco Bell’s Sandwich Lady commercial

State Farm

As I noted previously regarding successful efforts to market to young Latinos, I have seen some of State Farm’s new ads in the last few months, which feature a bilingual (Spanish/English) Spokesperson. Good looking guy, and seems trustable. But something about the ads didn’t quite hit it for me, while Ford’s and Chase’s did.  The most compelling part of one ad I saw was the line that State Farm insures more people than Progressive and another insurance agency put together – that, I thought, was impressive and improved the brand in my eyes. In general, kudos to them for going for the bicultural angle and having a bicultural spokesperson, even to speak to gring… I mean, Anglos, generally. It probably took guts to make that decision at the corporate level and I applaud it, and expect that it definitely will increase visibility for the brand among Latinos.

So how to do it? How do you do good, believable and potentially uplifting (!) bicultural advertising? Of course, it’s going to depend on your demo and your product/service, but I can raise a couple of issues.  First is employing a Hispanic Ad agency to work on the creative… lurking out there, always, are the mistakes people have made directly translating English language creative to Spanish. Danger, Will Robinson.  Of course, even a Hispanic Ad agency can make corny, or bad ads, but the chance that they will make grammatically incorrect or culturally irrelevant/insensitive ads is low.

Second, within Latinos, to whom are you marketing (and I mean culturally)? Are they Mexicans  and Mexican-Americans, who make up 2/3rds of Latinos in the US, or are they Caribbean/Antillean Latinos, who make up a majority of the Latinos on the East Coast (as well as at most of the (generally excellent) Ad agencies in Miami)? The “Pa” in “Ready Pa Tu Mundo” is definitely Caribbean/Antillean, you don’t hear that much on the streets of LA and the Bay Area (nor, I imagine, in Dallas or most of Houston). I understand it, but I have also spent a lot of time in Panama and know a lot of Antillean Latinos, so I get it and it doesn’t rub me wrong.  I imagine that the experience is something like what a Cuban or Colombian or Boricua American would feel if the Ad said “Q-volé”, which would make perfect sense reaching young Mexican Americans. You don’t hear “Que andas?” so much here, you hear “Que ondas”. You get the point. This will be an issue in the future.

Finally, what’s the mix of Spanish and English? At least for tag lines, I think for now it (Spanglish) has to be mainly Spanish with English sprinklings, like “Ready Pa Tu Mundo”.  This avoids sounding like Jimmy Smits in that great old Saturday Night Live skit where the Anglos are trying to impress him by laying on heavy with the accent on Spanish words, like “Hey, whose beautiful Camarrrro is parked outside?”

So I say to advertisers, go for it! Be bold – assuming they are done by Latinos, even the bicultural ads you do that don’t exactly hit the perfect mark will be applauded for speaking to us, for engaging us in a world that is still frustratingly slow in waking to our presence.

Qué Rica Vida - General Mills

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)