latino lingo

Univision does what English-language networks won't with YouTube

2009-11-18T17:13:00.004-05:00

Univision and YouTube inked a deal that make full-length episodes of many current shows (not the telenovelas yet since they are produced by Grupo Televisa, but there is hope) available on YouTube. YouTube called the deal one of the site's, "most comprehensive partnerships for full-length content to date." English-language networks most provide snippets of their shows on YouTube and some use Hulu. But, this is the first deal of its kind between YouTube and a major network.

More proof that Hispanics outpacing others on broadband

2009-11-18T11:24:00.002-05:00

The Hispanic Institute just released a new study entitled, "Hispanic Broadband Access," further demonstrating how Hispanics are outpacing others on the adaptation of technology.

Findings include:

Hispanics and African Americans lead mobile broadband use (53% and 58% respectively), with both communities far ahead of Whites (33%).
Hispanics are more mobile than the general U.S. population and, thus, rely more on cell phones. Hispanics account for more minutes used and for a higher percentage of cell-phone ownership despite their relatively low incomes.
40% of U.S. Hispanics are born abroad in countries where wireless service often is more common than land line phones making them more open to mobile broadband than many other population groups. This familiarity makes the leap to smartphones and other connected mobile devices a more intuitive step for many than turning to wired, home broadband adoption and computer usage.
In 2008, Hispanics outpaced the general population in accessing and downloading digital media (music, video, audio, movies, television programs, video games and podcasts), 42% to 35%

Read the full report (.PDF)

Everything I know about Latinos I learned watching, "In the Heights"

2009-11-11T10:25:00.003-05:00

I had the pleasure of seeing In the Heights on Broadway last weekend. While I really enjoyed the show and recommend it, what I took away from the performance is how I could completely identify with the characters.

That I was born in Colombia and raised in the U.S. -- and not a Dominican or Puerto Rican who grew up in Washington Heights-- but saw myself, my family and my upbringing in the characters made me think about the "Latino Cultural Identity" that we speak so much about, and its importance to marketing.

The pillars of Latino Cultural Identity -- the interconnectedness of time and space perception, interpersonal orientation, spirituality and gender perception -- we all clearly on display during the show.

It left me more convinced that while you don't have to be Latino to market to Latinos, you really need to understand Latino culture. General market agencies and companies that continue to focus on language and acculturation level as their main approach to marketing to Hispanics need to watch this show ASAP. Those that still insist they are "reaching" Latinos via English-language media because many of us are bi-lingual also need to watch this show ASAP.

What I hope they take away is that they can't identify with these characters at all. That they wish they took someone to sit next to them to answer their repeated questions of, "what did they say?" or "what does that mean?" That simply replacing the characters with Caucasians and translating the Spanish euphemisms to English will not make the show appealing to the general market.

Most of all, I hope they take away that there actually is something to this notion of Latino Cultural Identity, and they should pay some attention to it.

Hispanic market continues to soar, general market ad shops taking notice

2009-11-02T10:33:00.003-05:00

AdWeek has a good article on how the continued growth of the Hispanic market and the impending 2010 Census is good news for those agencies that market to the Hispanic segment, and how general market shops, eager to grow their revenues as the general market advertising industry continues to shrink, are looking to compete for work in this niche.

Along with the fact the Hispanic market continues to grow, general market agencies are also interested because Hispanic ad shops are starting to take away general market business. As the "general market" becomes more Hispanic in some parts of the country, some companies are adapting their Hispanic creative to the general market rather than vice versa.

The on-going challenge for Hispanic ad shops is to keep the discussion -- and the competition --centered on appealing culturally to the Hispanic segment, and not on which language to use. Once the discussion becomes centered on language, the Hispanic marketing industry is dead as general market shops 1) will continue to use their general market approaches in Spanish and buy some Spanish-language media and 2) continue to run their general market creative on shows that skew high Hispanic and tell clients and prospects they are "reaching" Hispanics.

There is a BIG difference between "reaching" Hispanics and "appealing" to Hispanics (or better yet, motivating them to consume your product) and it has much more to do with culture than language preference.

Hispanic agencies who help prospective clients understand this are well-positioned for continued success.

Hispanic online ad spending sees continued increase

2009-10-27T13:10:00.002-04:00

Marketers made some cuts to Hispanic advertising in traditional Spanish-language media but increased 2% in online spending, according to a report by the Jack Myers Media Business Report.

According to the report, total Hispanic ad spending is forecast to drop 11.2%, with a slight rebound projected for 2010.

The report predicts Spanish-language advertising will not reach its 2008 peak of $4.25 billion again until 2012, although its share of total US advertising continues to increase.

You can't run a Spanish newspaper like an English one

2009-10-11T20:46:00.003-04:00

The news a few weeks ago that Registro, a Spanish-language weekly based in New Haven, Conn., ceased publication was unfortunate -- certainly in that I personally know those who lost their jobs. While unfortunate, it also certainly wasn't surprising news. Its parent company, Journal Register, had declared bankruptcy, and there was a noticeable decrease in advertising over the last few years.

When the only 2 Spanish-language newspapers in the state that have ceased to exist in recent years are those owned by English-language newspapers, we need to look a little deeper at what has actually happened. Certainly because the closure of the newspaper bucks the national trend that is seeing an increase in Spanish-language print publications.

The other, Tiempo, a Spanish-language weekly owned by the Meriden Record Journal, closed in 2006. Registro, like Tiempo, was essentially doomed from the start, primarily because its sales staff was the same sales staff as its English-language counterpart. The sales staff at Registro did not know how to sell the newspaper. Period. To general market companies, it was often pitched as a "value added" bonus to an English-language media buy thereby de-credentializing it and minimizing the significance of the newspaper's ability to reach an important customer segment.

Additionally, the parent company didn't adequately invest in developing ties to the community or with its readership. Many a festival, parade, community event, church gathering, festivity, etc. passed by without active participation from Registro. In fact, I tried to include them in a 2-day festival in New Haven that attracts more than 50,000 people that I help to promote with a small non-profit. However, the then-publisher was only interested in participating if the non-profit purchased a series of ads to promote the festival. While I understand the need to make a quick buck, this short-sightedness of the publisher demonstrated the fundamental lack of understanding of why it's important to establish connections, not just transactions, with the Hispanic community.

I presume this lack of connection is what lead some Hispanic advertisers to not want to buy from Registro as they called them a "gringo" newspaper. Some Hispanic business owners and non-profits even went as far as refusing to give interviews for news stories as they didn't trust the newspaper. Clearly, there was a problem with connecting to the very people it intended to inform.

The lesson here is not that the Hispanic market is not economically viable; evidenced by the fact, new media outlets -- including a new Spanish-language weekly and an AM radio station -- have emerged in Connecticut, and its direct competitor has more ads than ever. The lesson, as it is for all general market organizations looking for success in the Hispanic market, is that you have to reach the market in a culturally-relevant manner to have long-term success. It's not enough to build something and hope that we will come.

Citi first to offer mobile banking in Spanish nationally

2009-10-08T11:56:00.003-04:00

Stating that 1/4 of their customers are Spanish-speaking Hispanics, Citibank announced they are the first major U.S. bank to offer mobile banking in Spanish, according to a Hispanic PR Wire release. The mobile platform will allow customers to manage their accounts, pay bills, locate branches in Spanish from a cell phone.

Citi Mobile en Espanol mirrors the functionality of the English-language Citi Mobile for Smartphones.

Forrester Research: Hispanics represent "dream segment" for advertisers

2009-09-30T16:48:00.002-04:00

Forrester Research released a report entitled "Hispanic Consumers Offer Opportunities in a Recession." This report, as well as comments from Gisela Girard, chairman Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA), were cited in an article where Forrester Research Analyst Tamara Barber called the Hispanic population a "dream segment" for advertisers.

Why a "dream segment?"

Because of their growing buying power, their "economic optimism," and their loyalty to companies that woo them, she said. And, in a down economy, smart advertisers use ads "to build and maintain brand loyalty through relevance."

Number of Hispanic TV homes continues to outpace general market

2009-09-08T10:56:00.002-04:00

Hispanic TV homes will show a 2.3% increase for the 2009-2010 TV season, to 12.95 million, according to Nielsen Co. in a MediaPost article. The entire U.S. TV home population will grow 0.3%, African-American TV homes grow 0.3% , and Asian TV homes show a 0.8% increase.

Total Hispanic TV viewers will climb 2.4% to 44.3 million; African-American viewers will be at 37.5 million, a 1.3% gain; and Asian TV viewers will stay the same versus a year ago, at 14.5 million, the article reports.

With the exception Hispanic TV and cable, all 19 media segments monitored by the ad-tracking research service posted declines

2009-09-02T18:12:00.002-04:00

So, says an article in MediaWeek. With advertisers collectively cutting budgets by more than $10 billion the first 6 months of the year, the only bright spots were Hispanic TV and cable, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Specifically, Spanish-language cable TV inched up 0.6 percent to $140 million, the article reports.

Despite recession, State Farm and others strengthen commitment to Hispanic market

2009-08-13T14:30:00.003-04:00

From the Miami Herald is an article regarding how State Farm Insurance is increasing its Hispanic market budget over last year. According to the article, State Farm, spent nearly $58 million in advertising in Spanish-language TV, magazines and newspapers in 2008, doubling what it had spent in the prior year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. More than $5 billion was aimed at the Hispanic market in 2008, according to TNS Market Intelligence, an advertising market research firm.

Why is this increasing while the general market advertising is decreasing?

1. In addition to the population growth, the share of buying power controlled by Hispanic consumers will grow to 10 percent, or $1.4 trillion, of the U.S. total by 2013, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business. That is more than all other minority groups, including African Americans, the articles says.

2. The article states: "Hispanics' shopping habits also make them appealing to advertisers: They are more frequent shoppers than non-Hispanics and are more willing to buy from advertisers than non-Hispanics, according to a survey released in June by Experian Simmons and Univision Communications."

2009 AdAge Hispanic Fact Pack now available

2009-07-27T10:28:00.002-04:00

AdAge has released its 2009 version of its Hispanic Fact pack and reports that , "agencies are trampling the traditional boundaries between general-market and multicultural accounts to win business in a tough economy. Enough, in fact, that seven of the shops in Ad Age's ranking of the top 50 U.S. Hispanic agencies this year aren't primarily Latino shops."

Download the 2009 Hispanic Fact Pack (PDF)

Michael Jackson is Tops Yahoo! En Espanol's most popular search

2009-07-08T10:19:00.003-04:00

Yahoo! en Español reports that The King of Pop was the top search topic, like it was for every search engine in about every language.

Here's the complete Yahoo! en Español top 10:

1. Michael Jackson
2. Farrah Fawcett
3. Jennifer Aniston
4. Adam Lambert
5. Michelle Vieth
6. Real Madrid
7. Yuri
8. iPhone
9. Janet Jackson
10. Demi Moore

Houston, No Hay Problema

2009-07-02T15:09:00.002-04:00

NASA is announcing that Astronaut Jose Hernandez will be the agency's first person to Twitter bi-lingual as he readies for his flight to space in August. You can follow him a twitter.com/astro_jose

This will also be the fist shuttle flight to include 2 Latino astronauts as Danny Olivas is also scheduled to make the trip.

Hispanics internet and mobile use continues to grow

2009-06-25T14:02:00.002-04:00

Media Post's "Engage Hispanics" has a posting by Alvaro Cabrera listing a top 10 list regarding Hispanics and Internet and mobile use.

These include the fact that:

-- Hispanics' Internet use is growing 2x faster than the general market
-- 88% of Hispanics making more than $50,000 are online
-- Hispanics are early adapters to mobile with 64% penetration at age 15
-- Hispanics spend 14 hours per week (compared to 8 in the general market) with a technology device

How Hispanics are influencing pop culture

2009-06-17T22:39:00.001-04:00

In case you missed it on the Today Show, Kerry Sanders had this interesting piece on how Hispanic culture has become more mainstream and influential.

Lance Armstrong Foundation reaches out to Latinos

2009-06-16T17:32:00.002-04:00

The Lance Armstrong Foundation launched a month-long multimedia campaign to reach Spanish-Dominant Hispanic cancer survivors, their families and those who take care of them.

According to fellow blogger, Juan Tornoe from Hispanic Trending who sent me the details, they are using both traditional and new media to reach all generations, including on Facebook.

Here is the press release in Spanish. Please help spread the word.

Marketing to Hispanics in a down economy -- Parte Dos

2009-06-05T16:36:00.001-04:00

Back in February I wrote a post about why marketing to Hispanics makes more sense in a down economy.

Now, a study by Experian Simmons for Univision, shows Hispanics are less affected by the recession, tend to be more positive about it, shop more often and are more receptive to TV ads than the general population.

Specifically, compared to non-Hispanics:

-- More Hispanics (34 percent) expect to be better off financially in the next 12 months vs. 25 percent for non-Hispanics,
-- More Hispanics believe the economy will improve in the next 12 months, 29 percent versus -- -- Hispanics are less burdened with potential debt with only 45 percent of Hispanics having credit cards vs. 71 percent of non-Hispanics, fewer Hispanics have loans, 34 percent versus 53 percent for non-Hispanics

Who is Hispanic?

2009-05-29T15:29:00.003-04:00

The Pew Hispanic Center has a great article about what & who exactly is a Hispanic or Latino. I chuckle because I tell people I didn't know I was Hispanic until I came to the U.S. I always thought I was just Colombian. But, it's a common question I get when giving presentations on marketing to U.S. Hispanics. Good reading.

Hispanic growth still fueled from U.S.-born Hispanics

2009-05-28T09:58:00.002-04:00

A new study by the Pew Hispanic Center shows that the number of Hispanic children has nearly tripled since the 1980, with Hispanics now comprising more than one-in-five of all children in the United States. The report is called, "Latino Children: A Majority Are U.S.-Born Offspring of Immigrants." Download the PDF

Study defines what Latinas want

2009-04-22T22:25:00.002-04:00

OK, I have to admit when I became aware of this study I dropped everything because I've been trying to figure this out for the last 38 years! LOL. But, this isn't a "Hombres are from Mars and Mujeres from Mercury," but rather a look by Meredith Hispanic Ventures and Telemundo Group at what Latinas want in a variety of areas.

Key findings included:
-- 81% of respondents said they are either the main decision-maker or make decisions with their spouse.
-- The key factors determining their success in life were education, being fluent in English as well in Spanish, and often owning a business.
-- Latinas are optimistic and self-confident, with 66% describing themselves as "someone who can do it all," compared with 53% of non-Hispanic women.
-- Respondents said their greatest financial concerns were rising taxes (75%), saving for retirement (71%) and paying bills each month (70%). Not including home mortgages, 44% said they have less than $10,000 in debt.
-- 40% of described themselves as fashion-forward, 37% said they keep up with beauty trends and 37% prefer to use the latest products, compared to a somewhat smaller number of non-Hispanic women who said they are fashion-forward (31%), keep up with beauty trends (30%) and prefer the latest products (32%).
-- Latinas are more likely (75%) than non-Latinas (63%) to say they'd rather have sex with their husbands than a glass of good wine.

Frankly, the freaky King offends me more

2009-04-13T22:52:00.002-04:00

Mexico's ambassador to Spain has written a letter to Burger King's offices in that nation objecting to an ad for the Texican Whopper billed as, "The taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican."

Hispanics Rush to Get Online with Cell Phones

2009-03-26T17:24:00.002-04:00

A new report from market research firm Mintel shows that online Hispanic adults are quickly surpassing other demographic groups in acquiring new online communication skills.

I belive that Niños are our Futuro

2009-03-11T19:19:00.002-04:00

1 out of 4 kids in kindergarten is Hispanic, more than triple the rate during the 1970s, according to the U.S. Census.

In addition, the report stated that Hispanic kids make up 53% of nursery schools serving 4-year-old children, up from 21 percent in 1987.

Interesting, but not surprising. Yet, toy manufacturers as a whole spend less than 2% of their overall marketing budgets in the Hispanic market.

Beyond marketing, companies need to consider the future workforce. As baby boomers continue to age and retire, they will increasingly be replaced by Hispanics.

No, you're not effectively reaching bicultural Latinos via the general market

2009-03-09T17:36:00.003-04:00

The agency Dieste created, Diestepedia, a wiki of Hispanic phrases and culture (brilliant idea, BTW), and AdAge is running some of the words and definitions.

The latest is, "Bicultural," a word they say is, "certainly the least understood and most poorly used in Hispanic advertising." Completely agree!

I thought I'd paste some of the definition to help squash the misconception out there that bicultural Hispanics are effectively reached via the general market. This misconception, routinely spread by many general market agencies to their clients, is a common headache for specialized Hispanic marketing agencies. Clients, who are trusting in the counsel of their agencies as they should, are misdirected into thinking their campaigns are reaching Hispanics and thus do not allocate any (or perhaps less than they should) resources to Hispanic market creative and Spanish-language media.

Here's part of Diestepedia's entry on "Bicultural":

Bicultural as Bilingual
Although these words are frequently used interchangeably, they are really quite different. Bicultural Hispanics have surpassed 60% of the population, according to Synovate, but people speaking English and Spanish (indiscriminately and with no preference for either) barely make up 20% of the population. While it's possible to be bicultural to some degree or another, you can either speak two languages perfectly or you cannot. However, this is just a theoretical difference. In practice, most research and marketing companies abandon the category of pure bilingualism by asking people for their language of preference. Then, they qualify anyone who can speak some degree of both English and Spanish as bilingual.
One consequence here is that marketers tend to assume that bicultural Hispanics speak English fairly well. So, they ask why they should translate anything at all to Spanish. Well, maybe they shouldn't. In the "wiki-words" of an interactive expert: When a client asks me, "Why should I translate?" I answer, "You shouldn't. You should change your content, not your language, and give people options, because the freedom to choose how to interact with the world is the essence of being bicultural."