Marketers Join Forces to Better Target Hispanics by Laurel Wentz

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A new peer-to-peer business network is bringing together Hispanic marketers to share everything from dealing with the need for better data to hot topics such as the acculturation of Latino consumers.

Latinum was started in late 2009 by David Wellisch, founder and former general manager of AOL Latino, and Michael Klein, a veteran of other business networks.


"In the Hispanic market, there are execution challenges, often results are inconsistent, ROI is difficult to measure, and that leads to barriers to ongoing commitment," Mr. Wellisch said.

The group kicked off with a meeting at charter member McDonald's Corp.'s headquarters and continued with an online session on acculturation, identified as a key issue most marketers struggle with. Members can also work with Latinum in smaller groups, or one-on-one.

"It's the ability to network with other companies trying to find out the same answers we are, and collaborate, and work with Latinum to look beyond language," said Cristina Vilella, McDonald's marketing director for U.S. Hispanic. "We don't just target Hispanics in Spanish any more as a company. How do we look at the consumer who lives in both worlds?"

Juan Motta, Nestlé's head of emerging markets-domestic, said of Latinum, "It's an opportunity to share best practices with others, and pool resources so we can get smarter about things like how the U.S. Hispanic consumer is acculturating."

Mr. Motta noted that Nestlé's focus has been more on unacculturated Hispanics, building on immigrants' brand loyalty to Nestlé products such as La Lechera that they grew up with in Latin America. But now that the Hispanic market is growing more through U.S. births than immigration, Nestlé needs to study bicultural consumers more closely.

At the end of 2009, Latinum had 20 members, including H&R Block, Kraft, 7-Eleven and Sara Lee. Members pay an annual fee of $70,000, and range from companies like McDonald's, one of the top five Hispanic advertisers with an ad budget close to $100 million, to relative novices in the Hispanic market. Latinum offers research and data, an exchange of peer solutions and opportunities for collaboration among companies that are pursuing the same segment of the population.

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Hispanic Public Relations & Social Marketing Conference Set For 2010 - Written by My Latino Voice

The Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA) and the Hispanic PR Blog are joining forces to make history by presenting the first ever Hispanic Public Relations & Social Media Marketing Conference in Dallas, TX, May 10-12, 2010.

“This conference will provide attendees with case studies, professional development, career and networking opportunities that are razor-focused on Hispanic PR and social marketing,” said conference co-creator Manny Ruiz, the nation’s leading blogger on Hispanic public relations and the founder of Hispanic PR Wire, a division of PR Newswire. “We believe this case studies-driven event will be the premier annual showcase for all that our Hispanic PR/social marketing industry has to offer.”

“This conference comes at a critically important time for both HPRA and the Hispanic market,” said John Echeveste, HPRA co-founder and senior adviser. “This year, HPRA celebrated its 25th anniversary and, in 2010, we will expand its national presence, while the upcoming U.S. Census and the continued growth of social media will underscore the importance of the national Hispanic market. As the leading organization for Hispanic public relations professionals, HPRA is pleased to co-present this conference to demonstrate the effective role that PR plays in Hispanic marketing and the creativity and innovation that our members are providing in leading the social media revolution,” added Echeveste.

Rosa Alonso, My Latino Voice CEO, joins senior executives from leading brands and agencies as a member of the conference's advisory board, which includes: Cristina Alfaro (McDonald’s); Jorge Diaz de Villegas (Fleishman); Aymee Zubizarreta (State Farm); Armando Azarloza (The Axis Agency); Alfredo Padilla (Comerica Bank), Ivette Zurita and Lourdes Rodriguez (Hispanic Public Relations Association); Stephen Chavez (Ketchum); Lorenzo Lopez (Walmart); John Echeveste (VPE Public Relations), Romina Bongiovanni (Edelman); Audrey Ponzio (Edelman); Mario Flores (Sportivo/RL Public Relations) and Deborah Vallejo (Bromley).

The conference will feature nearly two dozen sessions on a wide range of topics covering everything from how to generate coverage with the top Hispanic bloggers to best practices in Hispanic youth marketing to how to effectively manage corporate partnerships with Hispanic organizations. All of the professional development programs are being defined by a senior executive advisory board consisting of some of the most seasoned Hispanic PR pros in the corporate communications, agency, media and non-profit worlds.

In addition to quality professional development programs and networking opportunities, the conference will feature an exhibition area to connect Hispanic marketers with industry communications providers as well as key Hispanic organization exhibitors. Parallel to the main exhibition hall will be a first of its kind Hispanic Market Career Fair for companies, organizations and government agencies seeking talented Latinos in PR and advertising.

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Hispanics in the News

Monday, December 7 - Most of what the public learns about the Hispanic population comes from event-driven news stories in which Hispanics are one of many elements discussed, according to a studyreleased jointly by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) and the Pew Hispanic Center.

And from February through August, 2009, only a fraction of the news stories--57 out of all 34,451 studied--focused directly on the life experiences of Hispanics in the U.S.

The event that drove far more of the coverage than any other was the historic nomination of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The issue of immigration drove less than a quarter as much.

Among the key Findings:
During the six months examined, 2.9% of the news content studied contained substantial references to Hispanics. That was more attention than any other group studied except for Muslims. Nearly all of the Muslim coverage involved foreign affairs, while the majority of Hispanic coverage concerned domestic issues and events.


The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor made up the largest share of this Hispanic-related news, 39.4%, more than twice than of any other storyline. The Mexican drug war came second at 15.1%; the outbreak of H1NI flu (with its origin in Mexico City) was third, at 13.0%.


Immigration, the number four topic, accounted for just 8.4% of the coverage involving Hispanics during these six months. When immigration was discussed, however, Hispanics were the group mentioned most often. Looking at all of the news about immigration, 34% referenced Hispanics, 10 times that of any other ethnic group.


In the small portion of coverage that dealt with the experiences of Hispanics living in the U.S., the most common story line was the effect of the recession. Next was the immigrant experience, after that was population growth and changing demographics, and then the question of fair treatment and discrimination.


Looking at Hispanic figures mentioned in the news, Justice Sotomayor received far more coverage than anyone else. She was a lead newsmaker in 30% of all stories with a Hispanic element. The only other people to garner of the total even one percent were leaders of Latin American countries: ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya (1.7%), Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (1.4%), and Mexican president Felipe Calderon (1.1%).


The degree to which Hispanics are covered in the news varied by media sector. Newspapers gave them then most attention, with Hispanic references in 4.3% of the front-page coverage studied. Hispanics were least likely to be referenced on cable television, appearing in 1.9% of the newshole studied. (Newshole is the percent of total time on TV and radio and space online or in print studied.)

These are some of the findings of a study that examined coverage of four prominent ethnic, racial and religious groups--Asians, Africans/African-Americans, Hispanics and Muslims--in 55 U.S. news outlets including 13 newspapers, 15 cable programs, the 7 broadcast network evening and morning news programs, 12 prominent news websites and 9 news radio and talk programs. This study was designed and produced jointly by PEJ and the Pew Hispanic Center, both of which are projects of the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C.

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Contact:

Mary Seaborn, Pew Hispanic Center
info@pewhispanic.org
202-419-3606
or
Amy Mitchell, PEJ
asmitch@journalism.org
202-419-3650

Why sell your services or products in Spanish?

Not only is Spanish the second most spoken language worldwide, and is the most commonly taught foreign language in the United States. Because of the Hispanic population living in the US now reaching millions, Spanish is recognized in many states at the government level.

The term Hispanic refers to a person of Latin American or Spanish culture or origin. As such, Hispanic does not refer to a racial group, but an ethnic category of people shares similar cultural traditions. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race, and come from different countries, yet the uniting factor is the Spanish language. Thus, bilingual marketing efforts in Spanish and English will continue to become more valuable for U.S. businesses over time.

The Department of Labor’s most recent Survey of Consumer Expenditures shows Hispanic households spent more on groceries, communications, and apparel than non-Hispanics. Also, Hispanics spend greater percentage of their money on housing and vehicle purchases, and they spend similar amounts as non-Hispanics on restaurants, household supplies and personal care. As such, Hispanics are a segment of the market that is worth targeting just as much if not more than other ethnic groups.

The 2006 American Community Survey shows that one out of every seven people who reside in the U.S. is of Hispanic origin. And this does not refer simply to those who have migrated from Spanish-speaking countries. In fact, three out of five Hispanics residing in the U.S. were born in the United States. According to the Pew Research Center in their April 2009 study, 22% of infants born in the U. S. are Hispanic. The statistics also show that approximately half of all U.S. immigrants are from Latin America.

Because of the high birth rate and increasing immigration, the Hispanic population is growing at a rate much faster than the total U.S. population, a trend anticipated to continue. Between 1990 and 2008, the Hispanic population has increased by 107% compared to 14% for the non-Hispanic population.

There are an estimated 44 million Hispanics in the U.S. as of 2009. This means the United States is home to the world’s fifth largest Hispanic population (trailing Mexico, Colombia, Spain and Argentina.) The US Hispanic population is projected to grow exponentially to over 100 million people by 2050, which will be approximately one quarter of the total U.S. population.

California is home to the largest population of Hispanics in the U.S., 13 million, one-third of the state's population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Therefore, California businesses are taking note of the economic influence of Hispanics by designing products, services and advertising that appeals to them. More than 50% of Latino adults respond best to advertising when it is presented in Spanish.

© Sofia E. Keck 2009 – sofia.keck@sellitinspanish.com