All over the country, communications professionals at cultural and non-profit organizations are partnering up with their counterparts at corporate institutions to roll out programs that are mutually beneficial. To get some insight into this process we had a brief talk with Shannon Gilliam, Director of Public Relations for the Children’s Museum of Houston.
After 10 years, two car crashes and 80,000 miles of fun, my car has finally died.
Like millions of other Hispanic consumers, I am officially in the market for a new car.* And now I have lots of places to go for automotive information in both Spanish and English.
Auto manufacturers have courted Hispanic consumers for years and are among the most sophisticated and innovative Hispanic marketers. You may recall that last year Toyota aired the first-ever bilingual ad during the Super Bowl. And to me it’s no coincidence that a popular pick-up truck from Dodge is named after a state in Mexico: Durango.
According to Ad Age, car companies are among the largest Hispanic media spenders. In 2006, five of the top 15 advertisers were car companies, as were four of the top 10 advertisers on Hispanic media sites.
On the editorial side, there are many choices for automotive information geared to Hispanics, including the automotive sections of newspapers and Web portals, magazines such as Sobre Ruedas and Motor Trend en Español, and Web sites such as Aceleración.com and Conduciendo.com.
Now if only I could find a site to haggle for me.
* = Here’s an interesting look at what drives the purchase process for Hispanic new vehicle buyers.
According to a new report from the John Hopkins Children’s Center, Hispanic children are doing more than just being entertained while watching Spanish-language TV, they’re also gaining weight.
The Hopkins team monitored commercial breaks and found that Hispanic stations ’averaged two to three food commercials an hour, with one-third of them specifically targeted to children. Almost half of all food commercials promoted fast food, and more than half of all drink commercials featured soda and drinks with high sugar content.”
This is a particularly important topic of concern in our community because Hispanic children have the highest rates of obesity, as documented by the CDC and other sources.
According to the Census, there are about 153 Latino single men for every 100 women in their 20s. In our culture, dating and courtship are much like in any other. However, some do prefer to marry people with similar cultural backgrounds, interests and even language. For those looking for love, churches, work, family and friends can traditionally be sources for finding a soul mate. Increasingly, they also turn to the web where Latino-specific dating sites now are offered in the same universe as Match.com or eHarmony.
A few years ago, then University of Pennsylvania students Ariel Oxman and his friend and now business partner Joe Spector had conversations about how difficult it was to meet and date other Latinos. Forward to this month, the partners have launched QuieroLatino.com — what they envision to be the equivalent of J-Date for the Latino community. Their positioning is to offer a serious dating site targeting bilingual bicultural singles.
Most every day my colleagues at FH Hispania are engaged in delivering information and messages to the Hispanic public, usually through the filter of media or other third-parties. Today, we unveil the results of Confianza: Hispanic Trust Pulse, a study our agency conducted that delves into the topics that are most important to U.S. Hispanics and what sources they rely on to obtain information about them.
One thing is for certain: Hispanics trust a variety of sources to obtain their information. Although media plays a prominent role in this interaction, to an even greater extent Hispanics reach out to individuals in their communities, such as professionals and service providers or family and friends, to get informed about that things that matter to them. Another aspect that bears noting is that Hispanics share key similar interests with non-Hispanics, but differences do come to the surface that should be heeded by communications professionals – as should differences between recent immigrants and more acculturated Hispanics.
You can access the press release about the study we distributed earlier today at http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-07-2008/0004751504&EDATE. If you are interested in seeing a more in-depth presentation about the study results, please feel free to contact me (jorge.diaz@fleishman.com) or any of our other team members who regularly contribute to FH Hispania Plaza.
Shakira and Carlos Mencia will both be featured in commercials that will air during the upcoming Super Bowl, pitching Sunsilk shampoos and Budweiser respectively. Last year, Mencia’s spot was hilarious and memorable, playing on ESL. The ad was very natural coming from Mencia and, as he described recently during an interview with Donny Deutsch on The Big Idea, relatable to all people. This year, he’s back. And Shakis will be pitching Sunsilk alongside Madonna and Marylin Monroe– two iconic women who have earned their place in pop culture. A couple of years ago Toyota broke a bilingual ad touting the hybrid Camry during the game.
With the Super Bowl taking an aim at growing its Hispanic fan base, and audience lines blurring as Hispanic viewers flip from English to Spanish-language TV, this is an interesting trend. And an echo of what’s going on in TV with many shows including lead Hispanic characters. The NFL is currently on a multi-year plan to attract Hispanics. This has come with some challenges since acculturated Hispanics are among its fans, while Spanish-dominants prefer other sports. According to research conducted last year by TNS Sport and cited by the New York Times, the N.F.L. is the favorite sport of English-dominant Hispanics, followed by Major League Baseball, the N.B.A. and boxing, but ranks fifth among Spanish-dominant Hispanics.
Mencia is a great draw for those who already are fans– his show airs on Comedy Central. Shakira, on the other hand, can deliver both broad Hispanic segments.
Some of you may have seen Univision’s announcement today that is has hired a VP of corporate communications. The news hit close to home since she’s someone we are very familiar with: Monica Talan, our esteemed, and now former colleague and a regular contributor to this blog since it came into being last year. A great talent, if we may say. Congratulations to Monica on her appointment. We wish her every success in her new role at Univision. To read some of Monica’s past postings, please consult our archives.
This weekend I read two interesting posts from Alberto Ferrer (no relation) over at AdAge’s Big Tent that examined the difference between Hispanic professionals and professional Hispanics.
The order in which those two words describe an individual can tell a world of difference. In the professional realm, Hispanics have very satisfying and rewarding careers– specially those with a college degree. But when in comes to the professional discipline of marketing to Hispanics, just being raised in the Hispanic culture is not a qualification.
But to add to the discussion, another issue facing Hispanics in marketing/communications: pigeonholing. What do I mean? That being Hispanic does not mean that marketing/communications professionals should only be considered for Hispanic or multicultural opportunities, instead, for any and all opportunities based on skill.
In general, as Ferrer points out, the assumption that ethnicity or cultural background alone equips an individual with the right tools is wrong. I would agree and add that not opening the doors to Hispanics for all opportunities is also wrong.
Finding the best talent to work on Hispanic marketing is very difficult, but part of the challenge might be that some companies/agencies are not looking beyond ethnicity or cultural background.
The good news is that Hispanic professionals are in high demand — a recent story in Univision.com spoke of how bilingual Hispanics are getting ahead in the corporate world.
Thanks, Alberto, for opening the door to such a rich discussion.
Earlier this month, GM announced that it was shifting multicultural work for five brands to general market shops. At the recent Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies conference, there was a strong focus on where Hispanic advertising is going and the blurring lines between Hispanic and general market work.
I mention this because as our clients look to maximize investments, they are looking for ways to create programs that can be effective with both general market and diverse audiences, programs that add value by attracting more consumers.
As an example, I am working on a project where a client is dispatching street teams for product demos. Part of the selection criteria for the street team staff is bilingual capability. Even though this is what would be considered a general market program, the brand team recognizes the importance of having bilingual staff available because Hispanics make up a large population of major metro areas and because of our spending power.
Too often, organizations begin to think about a Hispanic marketing program only after they’ve completed their general market planning, missing opportunities for maximizing their investments or creating much more innovate programs. This piecemeal approach is not the most effective way to work. Instead, a strategy and plan for reaching Hispanics consumers and influencers should be developed in tandem with overall planning.
This does not necessarily mean the consolidation approach is the right answer either, because you have to have a strong understanding of the market, including opportunities and sensitivities, in order to be effective.
As noted here last week, Hispanic marketing spend is increasing. The companies that get it right – and make their dollars work harder – integrate Hispanic marketing from the planning phase, and not as an add-on.
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