Latin_KNOW: The Latino Marketing Report

Release: Marketplace Strength among Latinos

Following is a release announcing the new study "Americanos Poll". The most surprising piece of data to me with regards to brand recognition is the low identification rate for the Campbell's brand, which has a large presence in supermarkets in Latin America, which would lead one to believe that foreign-born Latinos would be more familiar with the brand.

Study Compares Brand Equity Scores Between U.S. Hispanics and Non-Hispanics    

Miami, Florida, October 24, 2005 – The “marketplace strength” of major brands among  Hispanics and non-Hispanics varies widely, according to a new study by Encuesta, Inc.   Americanos Poll:  Brand Power Index Study 2005, the second release in the Americanos Poll  series, evaluates the equity of 184 brands among consumers in each respective market.    The Brand Power Index (BPI) facilitates the comparison of a brand’s standing relative to other  brands in the marketplace and cross-culturally.  The BPI score offers a quantified measure,  from 0 to 100, of brand equity, based on an equation with four components:  familiarity, quality,  purchase intent, and corporate citizenship.  The study took into account the extreme response  style well documented among Hispanics when they use rating scales and applied statistical  methods accordingly so that fair comparisons between the two groups can be made.  “This  study is unique in that it objectively and comprehensively assesses the relative brand strength  of leading household brands in the U.S. among Hispanic and non-Hispanic consumers,” said  Martin Cerda, President of Encuesta, Inc.    

Among the study’s findings:   

•  Some common household brands are surprisingly weak among Hispanics.  For  example, Campbell’s, Pillsbury, and Betty Crocker are each over 50 points weaker  among Hispanics than non-Hispanics.   

•  Conversely, Adidas, Always, and Corona are over 40 points stronger among Hispanics  than non-Hispanics. 

•  In many cases, U.S.-born Hispanics’ perceptions of brands and their relative strength in  the marketplace are more similar to those of non-Hispanics than foreign-born Hispanics.   

The study is based upon telephone interviews conducted by Encuesta, Inc. with a  representative national sample of n=1,021 Hispanic and n=624 non-Hispanic adults. The  Hispanic sample mirrors that population’s known distribution of demographic, acculturation,  and media usage characteristics.  Aided evaluations of 30 randomly rotated brands by each  respondent generated the data used to compute the BPI scores.    Encuesta, Inc. sponsors the Americanos Poll series to compare the U.S. Hispanic and general  populations across a range of topics.  Many results will be made public to stimulate thought  and dialogue about and foster understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population.   

Encuesta, Inc. is a leading U.S. Hispanic marketing research and public opinion polling  specialist.  For information about the company, visit www.encuesta.com.    

For a copy of the summary report or additional information on the Americanos Poll, contact:   Lourdes Prado, Project Director, Encuesta, Inc., +1-305-661-1492 ext. 126 or  lourdes.prado@encuesta.com 

Technorati tags: latino marketing, hispanic marketing,

News: Latinos Cite Sony, Colgate, Ford as Best Brands

From todays Marketing y Medios:

Latinos Cite  Sony, Colgate, Ford as Best Brands
October 03, 2005

Sony was named "Best Overall" brand among U.S. Hispanics, followed by Colgate, Ford, Chevrolet and Nike, according to a recent survey by Miami-based Encuesta Inc., a market research and opinion polling firm.

The study, Americanos Poll: Favorite Brands Study 2005, compares how U.S. Hispanics and non-Hispanics perceive brands, including which they consider best overall, most trustworthy and best in advertising.

The questions with such phrasing as, “When you think of all brands and names of products and services that you know, which three brands do you consider best overall?" enabled respondents to list brands rather than choose from a list. In addition to the above named brands, other highly recognized ones among Hispanics were Adidas, Gap, AT&T and Gain.

MarketingyMedios              READ MORE

Article: US Hispanics Love to Shop

AdAge.com's Laurel Wentz reports today that the HOT (Hispanic Opinion Tracker) survey conducted by People en Espanol, set for release this week, found that 56% of Hispanic respondents said they "love to shop", compared to 39% of non-Latino respondents.

Some of the more interesting, and revealing, highlights of the article:

Hispanics are much more likely to pay cash, the preferred method of payment for about 75% of Hispanics. Only about 15% use credit cards, compared with more than 40% for the general market.

Among the Hispanic sample, just more than half (55%) are classified as Hispanic dominant, meaning they prefer Spanish and have a strong desire to maintain their culture.

About a quarter each are bicultural (23%), comfortable in both languages and worlds but culturally more Hispanic, or U.S. dominant (22%), a group that mirrors general market attitudes but identifies with its Latino heritage.

Another very interesting finding: the article points out that Univision beat out all three major networks and Fox for viewership among young Latinos, which seems to show that you can reach more Latinos by advertising on Spanish language television rather than on mainstream TV. So much for that Vehix experiment. Or perhaps not. Not all Latino consumers watch Spanish language television, and many watch it only half of the time. The best strategy is to get to know your consumers' habits and be how they are, where they are, when they are there, be that in English or in Spanish, on TV or radio, on your web site or wherever else.

STUDY: U.S. HISPANIC CONSUMERS LOVE TO SHOP
Annual HOT Survey Provides New Demographic Insights
By Laurel Wentz, Adage.com

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Fifty-six percent of the U.S. Hispanics polled said "I love to shop" compared with 39% of the general population and are similarly much more likely to pay cash for their purchases, acccording to People en Espanol's fourth annual Hispanic Opinion Tracker (HOT) survey slated for release this week.

HOT, one of the largest Hispanic surveys conducted in the U.S. each year, found that Hispanic consumers are more likely to go shopping and much less likely to use credit cards than their general market counterparts. Survey participants said they spent on average $1,992 on clothing and accessories in the last 12 months, for instance, compared to $1,153 for general market consumers.
'Passionate about shopping'

“We’re much more passionate about shopping,” said Jackie Hernandez Fallous, publisher of People en Espanol. “And Hispanics are much more impacted by advertising and marketing. They buy because of a product’s image or the ads or because something is trendy or new on the market.”

AdAge.com            READ MORE

Article: More Spanish Men's Mags Debut

Here's a trend that I didn't see coming...fresh from MediaWeek:

More Spanish Men's Mags Debut
July 01, 2005
By Nancy Ayala, Marketing y Medios

American Media Inc. will add another Spanish-language magazine to its Hispanic division come March 2006, Hombre Actual. But it's not to be seen as following in the footsteps of another AMI male-targeted magazine, Men's Fitness.

Says Publisher Yolanda Jordana, "We see this as reaching additional men who happen to be Hispanic. We're not going to be cannibalizing Men's Fitness readers. We're bringing new reasons to grow our [Hispanic books]."

The magazine will launch with a "conservative" circulation of 25,000, says Jordana. "We're going to be applying for an ABC audit from the beginning. We're delivering [an accurate number of] warm bodies to advertisers."

David Jackson, group publisher of AMI, adds, "We're going to be able to meet that and exceed that in the first year" to reach 50,000. Hombre Actual will begin with eight issues, then grow to 10 issues the following year, much like Shape en Español when it launched in 2003. The magazine will cost $2.99, and it will be distributed by AMI's distribution arm, DSI. AMI's subscription database will be tapped to see if there's a way to grow within the AMI group.

While art and editorial staffing are still in the works, both publishers stress that the magazine will operate as its own separate entity, even away from Shape en Español and AMI's other Hispanic title, Mira. "The way we see is it will have its own unique staff and will have its own specialty and role. We need the appropriate person to see our baby boy to life," Jordana says.

MediaWeek.com                READ MORE

News: Three US Hispanic Agencies Win at Cannes

From today's AdAge.com:
THREE U.S. HISPANIC AGENCIES WIN AT CANNES
La Comunidad, Grupo Gallegos and Lapiz Score Silver Lions

June 27, 2005
By Laurel Wentz

CANNES, France (AdAge.com) -- Three U.S. Hispanic ad agencies were awarded Silver TV Lions Saturday night in the best-ever performance by the U.S. Hispanic market at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

The Lions went to independent shops La Comunidad, Miami, and Grupo Gallegos, Long Beach, Calif., and Publicis Groupe's Lapiz, Chicago, part of Leo Burnett.

La Comunidad
La Comunidad, a hybrid agency started by Argentinean creatives Jose and Joaquin Molla and based in Miami and Buenos Aires, won a silver for the spot "Parents' Day" for Viacom's VH1. To illustrate that VH1's offering goes way beyond just music videos, the agency put a rock star in the mundane setting of a parents' meeting at a school to show that musicians have a life beyond music, too ("Beyond Music" is the network's tagline). Every time the rock star asks a simple question about his daughter Jenny studying a foreign language at school, a blaze of fireworks goes off around him, which no one pays any attention to.

Grupo Gallegos
Grupo Gallegos' winning spot, "Mano Japonesa" ("Japanese Hand"), was for Energizer batteries. In the spot, a man who lost his hand gets a transplanted limb from a Japanese man. The new hand makes him compulsively take photographs everywhere, even in bed with his very annoyed wife. In one vignette, he is snapping away with a bright flash during a movie and an angry man seated in front of him at the cinema turns around and tackles him.

"Most battery spots show an exaggerated passage of time or battery failure, but the client liked that we were able to uncover another twist," said Grupo Gallegos CEO John Gallegos, chatting about the spot over Perriers on the Carlton Terrace. Mr. Gallegos, attending the Cannes festival for the first time, flew in the day before the awards show. Favio Ucedo, the agency's executive creative director, who was at the festival for the second time, said he has rarely attended a client presentation where everyone laughed so much.

AdAge.com            READ MORE

US Latino Population Boom

The Associated Press published an article today on data released by the census bureau reporting that Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority group in the US.

According to the article: "there are 41.3 million Hispanics in the U.S. The bureau does not ask people about their legal status; that number is intended to include both legal and other residents."

AP goes on to say that the increase is due not only to immigration, but to higher birth rates and quotes Lewis W. Goodman, an American University expert on U.S.-Latin American relations as saying:

"If we didn't have those elements, we would be moving into a situation like Japan and Europe ... where the populations are graying in a way that is very alarming and endangering their productivity and endangering even their social security systems," he said.

I wonder when the United States will recognize, as Spain did, that immigration is needed to sustain the social security system and long-term economic growth of the country. Last month, Spain "legalized" 700,000 immigrants because they realized this. Spain's birth rate is among the lowest in the world.

According to Spain's El Mundo newspaper, the legalization of "sinpapeles" in Islas Baleares (Mallorca, Menorca, etc.) will generate 51 million euros yearly to the social security system.

This goes beyond marketing, I know. But immigration is an issue that no one can ignore, and newly arrived people from Latin American countries will continue to shape pop culture, politics, and even business. The growth in Latino population here in the US drives the point home even more: unless you begin marketing to Latinos, and do it effectively, you are missing out on a very large segment of potential customers.