I was disappointed to see no Hispanic-targeted ads during this year's Super Bowl. With the number of Hispanics growing yearly, it is a shame and an opportunity loss that advertiser are not paying more attention to this market segment.
During the Super Bowl two years ago was the first time ever, if I remember correctly, where a Hispanic (comedian Carlos Mencia) was featured in a "general market" campaign. The advertiser was Bud Light and one particular ad in this campaign was called "Mencia Class." In this ad, Carlos Mencia is teaching what looks to be ESL to a group of recent immigrants.
Although the campaign itself wasn't particularly targeted at the Hispanic market, the mere use of a well-known Hispanic figure (for those who know comics and watched his TV show, I suppose) was enough to reach this large demographic.
The question remains "Why are still so many advertisers still ignoring this group with such huge buying power?"
Hispanic advertising may be an afterthought for some advertisers and budgets are often minimal compared to general market campaigns. Yes, the current economic crisis may play a role in budget cuts and no Hispanic marketing efforts... but ho long will this continue?
However, for those advertisers who are making the effort and who realize the potential in this market I'd like to say -Good for You!
Check out the Mencia Class ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aADTT_zgvec&feature=related
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
AOL's "Hispanic Cyberstudy"
A classmate shared this AOL study with me. It is full of information about US Hispanic online behavior and attitudes.
The study also reflects the well-known, yet somehow still underestimated, buying power of the US Hispanic consumer. The Hispanic population has grown drastically -they are tech savvy, becoming more educated and earning more income than ever before, and with it marketers need to understand how to better advertise to this segment and stay away from literal English translations. Younger Hispanics prefer English language while older Hispanics still prefer being reached in their native Spanish. Although the study doesn't cover it, Hispanics, especially younger aculturated ones, prefer Spanglish -the combination of Spanish and English language.
Thanks to Emilia Radeva for sharing!
The study also reflects the well-known, yet somehow still underestimated, buying power of the US Hispanic consumer. The Hispanic population has grown drastically -they are tech savvy, becoming more educated and earning more income than ever before, and with it marketers need to understand how to better advertise to this segment and stay away from literal English translations. Younger Hispanics prefer English language while older Hispanics still prefer being reached in their native Spanish. Although the study doesn't cover it, Hispanics, especially younger aculturated ones, prefer Spanglish -the combination of Spanish and English language.
Thanks to Emilia Radeva for sharing!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
I recently got this from a friend in the ad world. Very interesting stuff... as many of you know, when the market went south one of the first industries to have been hit hard was advertising. Ad agencies were faced with budget cuts as clients were pulling away accounts. Layoffs were massive and many people, including myself, were left with no where to go. Fortunately people in advertising are not only creative but resourceful. This documentary is a great example of that. As for me, well, I just went back to school to get a Masters...
"A while back a bunch of guys decided to do a documentary-style film featuring the 'what happened next' after a bunch of advertising execs all over the country were laid off during what our country has called the economic crisis of our time.
The stories are pretty interesting based on the trailer that came out (stories range from guys becoming documentary filmmakers to yoga instructors to changing genders) and I thought I would share the private link I received so you can watch the whole movie. Inspiring and beautiful production quality.
This is only up for about a week or so before they take down the link from the site and release the movie to limited locations within the U.S, here you go… "
Trailer: http://www.lemonademovie.com/
Actual Movie: http://www.lemonademovie.com/limitedviewing/
Password: subscribersneakpeak
"A while back a bunch of guys decided to do a documentary-style film featuring the 'what happened next' after a bunch of advertising execs all over the country were laid off during what our country has called the economic crisis of our time.
The stories are pretty interesting based on the trailer that came out (stories range from guys becoming documentary filmmakers to yoga instructors to changing genders) and I thought I would share the private link I received so you can watch the whole movie. Inspiring and beautiful production quality.
This is only up for about a week or so before they take down the link from the site and release the movie to limited locations within the U.S, here you go… "
Trailer: http://www.lemonademovie.com/
Actual Movie: http://www.lemonademovie.com/limitedviewing/
Password: subscribersneakpeak
The Hispanic vs. Latino dilemma
This started with my husband a few days ago by asking, "so what's the difference between Latino and Hispanic?", than my sister commented that she liked the word Latino better. This is a dilemma as both words can be, and in fact are, used interchangeably.
The term "Hispanic" itself is very old, it means "Spain". However, in modern US, the word "Hispanic" was used during the 1970's to identify people of a certain origin during the census of that decade. According to the US Census Bureau, the term Hispanic categorizes people with Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Central and South American origin. Since then, the term has been used in all federal documents by the US government.
Looking back in history the term "Latino" was originally used to describe countries that were under Roman rule, which included Spain. Today, "Latino", in American Spanish, is short for "Lationamericano" (Latin American). That is, people from Latin America that are actually identified as Spanish speakers. In the late 1990's the term "Latino" was adopted by the US government. Apparently this term is used most commonly in the western part of the country.
Both of these definitions; however, are a little tricky as some include the countries of Spain and Brazil in their definition. In addition, it wouldn't be completely correct to say that the definition for Hispanic alone is "people of Spanish-speaking culture or that are Spanish speakers themselves" because many Hispanics in the US do not actually speak Spanish or Spanish is their second language, not their first.
Most importantly, however, is that neither term, "Hispanic" or "Latino", refers to race as Hispanics/Latinos are composed of many races. We are indigenous, blacks, whites, etc. I even have a friend who identifies herself as being Latina although she is Taiwanese by birth, she grew up in Chile and in her mannerism, language, and cultural ideals it could be said that she is more Latina than even me!
So why did I choose to use the term "Hispanic" in my blog's name? Well, because I come from the advertising world, where the word "Hispanic" is most commonly used to describe this particular market segment. Marketing and advertising includes all Hispanics/Latinos (whatever term you want to use) whether they speak Spanish or not, whether they come from Latin America or were born in the US, whether they feel more attached to that particular culture or not or feel more "American", etc. Much of the research you will see out there about this market segment will be in terms of "Hispanic market"!
The term "Hispanic" itself is very old, it means "Spain". However, in modern US, the word "Hispanic" was used during the 1970's to identify people of a certain origin during the census of that decade. According to the US Census Bureau, the term Hispanic categorizes people with Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Central and South American origin. Since then, the term has been used in all federal documents by the US government.
Looking back in history the term "Latino" was originally used to describe countries that were under Roman rule, which included Spain. Today, "Latino", in American Spanish, is short for "Lationamericano" (Latin American). That is, people from Latin America that are actually identified as Spanish speakers. In the late 1990's the term "Latino" was adopted by the US government. Apparently this term is used most commonly in the western part of the country.
Both of these definitions; however, are a little tricky as some include the countries of Spain and Brazil in their definition. In addition, it wouldn't be completely correct to say that the definition for Hispanic alone is "people of Spanish-speaking culture or that are Spanish speakers themselves" because many Hispanics in the US do not actually speak Spanish or Spanish is their second language, not their first.
Most importantly, however, is that neither term, "Hispanic" or "Latino", refers to race as Hispanics/Latinos are composed of many races. We are indigenous, blacks, whites, etc. I even have a friend who identifies herself as being Latina although she is Taiwanese by birth, she grew up in Chile and in her mannerism, language, and cultural ideals it could be said that she is more Latina than even me!
So why did I choose to use the term "Hispanic" in my blog's name? Well, because I come from the advertising world, where the word "Hispanic" is most commonly used to describe this particular market segment. Marketing and advertising includes all Hispanics/Latinos (whatever term you want to use) whether they speak Spanish or not, whether they come from Latin America or were born in the US, whether they feel more attached to that particular culture or not or feel more "American", etc. Much of the research you will see out there about this market segment will be in terms of "Hispanic market"!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Hispanic Chat
Welcome to my new Blog "Hispanic Chat"
There are two purposes for this Blog:
1. To post information about the US Hispanic consumer; in particular for those in the New England region as Hispanic advertising/marketing is virtually non-existent in this area (with the exception of a couple of small agencies catering to this target audience).
2. To share lessons learned while I continue my graduate studies at Emerson College in Integrated Marketing Communications.
The information will come from various reputable sources as well as my own personal viewpoint on the subject at hand. In addition, I encourage my Blog fans to leave comments and share ideas.
Thanks for reading. I look forward to great discussion topics!
Saludos,
Lorena
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