FSU Online Hispanic Marketing Course will be offered in the fall

In my Jan. 5 post I mentioned that Florida State University was offering a new online, distance-learning Hispanic Marketing Course in January. I was contacted by them today saying they are indeed offering it again in the fall (they were unsure back in January). I'm likely going to take it. Is anyone else interested?

Hispanic radio and TV ad market to boom to $5.5 billion by 2010

Media Daily News is reporting on a Kagan Research prediction that the Hispanic radio and TV ad market will reach $5.5 billion by 2010

The boom will benefit broadcast and cable TV, but will favor cable nets, which should see 32% overall growth in Hispanic ad dollars versus 12.5% for broadcast in the eight years between 2002 and 2010.

According to Kagan Research, the boom will be driven by 1) the overall growth of the Hispanic population, and 2) the increase in purchasing power.

Outshining other awards shows

The Univision-televised awards show, Premio Lo Nuestro (like a people's choice), last night had its highest audience ever, according to an article in Media Week.

It drew 6.3 million viewers nationally , according to Nielsen Media Research data, up 4 percent over last year.

According to the article, the show was viewed in 3.4 million households, up 6 percent from last year, and also totaled 3.6 million adults 18-49, up 5 percent over last year. In Los Angeles, the music awards show outrated ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy in viewers 18-49, 7.9 to 6.9, and Fox’s American Idol, 7.6 to 5.2, in head-to-head time periods. Among teens, it outrated American Idol 6.8 to 5.0.

Premio Lo Nuestro also reached more Hispanic viewers 18-34, 18-49 and teens, than the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards and the Video Music Awards in 2006, and the 2007 Golden Globes did combined, according to Nielsen Hispanic Television Index data.

Top advertisers still not turning to powerhouse Univision

Media Buyer Planner has an article about how despite the growth of ad spending for Univision, the network is still struggling with bringing in top advertisers.

The article discusses that although ad spending on Univision is outpacing English-language spending by between 6-8%, many are not "clamoring for Univision avails for a number of reasons."

First, they say that it "takes a big commitment" to produce commercials in Spanish and that advertisers must do their homework. Well, there's the "Duh!" of the week. "You can't just throw a commercial into the rotation like you would on any English-language network," CEO of GroupM North America Marc Goldstein is quoted as saying.

Of course not. Just like for any campaign, you do have to do your homework and determine why a purchasing decision is made, who makes it and then create for that message.

The article also talks about how Univision is helping its clients to market creatively to the Hispanic audience. That, I'm sorry to say, is also a problem. While many advertisers flock to a Univision or other media outlet (have to be fair here) to help them do creative, it's a double-edged sword. The first question I ask is, would that same advertiser go to their local ABC affiliate to do a TV commercial for them? Unlikely.

Second, as I've written before, it's not just about language or just having a Latino do your spot. Just like for an English commercial, your best bet is to go to a specialist with a creative department. Not to the Spanish media just because they are in the media and Hispanic.

The end result, as I've seen on TV, is mediocre spots that tend to have the same look, feel, tone and message. They are often shot with inexpensive equipment and all from the same angle. So, unless you want to risk your spot looking like or sounding your competitor's or another product, you need to hire a specialist.

What tends to happen is that advertisers think they can do Hispanic marketing "on the cheap" by having the media develop it or just doing a voice over to an existing spot. While the benefits and results of doing this can be debated, especially for smaller companies, it's those companies that treat the market with more respect that are having the real results.

Bi-lingual toys taking off

The Willmington Star has an interesting story on the growth of bi-lingual toys. While it's not surprising that Hispanics are helping to drive sales, what is interesting is the dual role that bi-lingual toys are having. For non-Hispanics, they often serve to teach kids to speak Spanish. For Hispanics, it's a way for second-generation or English-dominant Hispanics to have their kids connect, or re-connect, to their heritage.

The article also mentions a couple statistics I wanted to highlight:

-- For the first time, Hispanics have more spending power than any other minority group in the United States, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth.
-- Hispanic disposable income will swell to $863.1 billion this year, up 8.1 percent from 2006, the Center estimates.
-- The average Latino household has four kids per household - compared to the average household, which has 2.3

Latin America contributes to Valentine's Day

Ahhh ... love is in the air ... and so is UPS rushing in flowers from countries like Colombia and Ecuador to meet the demands for tomorrow.

Fresh flowers began arriving on February 3 and UPS has added an additional 12 flights from Colombia and Ecuador to handle the mad dash of import traffic during February. UPS moves more than 2 million flowers a day during the Valentine rush, according to a release they sent out on Hispanic PR wire.

More than a third of all cut flowers in the U.S. are sold for Valentine's Day and 90 percent of them come from Latin America, according to the Society of American Florists

And for those of you women looking for love, your odds are great with a Latino. According to the U.S. Census, there are 153 Hispanics men per 100 women (The average is 120: 100. For Asians it's 132 men per 100 women, Non-Hispanic whites 120 men per 100 women, and Blacks: 92 men per 100 women).

Just the facts, please

Broadcasting and Cable has an article about how advertisers' demand for time in African-American programming is challenging because "chiefly" there are fewer black-themed shows to buy.

The article highlights the dramatic shift in advertisers' interest toward the much more rapidly growing Hispanic market.

Hispanic programming represents 5% of all advertising dollars and African-American represents just 1%, according to Keith Bowen, executive VP, advertising sales and marketing, for TV One, the three-year-old 40 million-subscriber cable network targeting African-Americans, who is quoted in the article.

While the article was clearly about the need to grow more African-American programming and advertising opportunities, the author was careless in allowing the following statements by Bowen to go unchecked or not fully explained:

First, Bowen says both viewer groups are at about the same population level. While this is technically true (Hispanics are at 42.7 million people and African-Americans are at 39.7 million) the rate of growth for Hispanics is much higher so this won't last for long.

Second, he is quoted as saying, “If you look at buying power, the African-American market is so much more affluent than the Hispanic market." This is factually incorrect. According to the Census' 2005 survey, the median income was $35,967 for Hispanic households and was $30,858 for black households in 2005. So, "much more affluent" is an over statment. And, again, you have to look at the growth.

This isn't a brown v. black issue I'm trying to raise. But clearly, journalists should do their homework and provide proper perspective to what they print.

Hispanics online use surpassing the general market

Hispanics' online use has surpassed the general market by a factor of 6.5, according to Terra Networks, citing data from comScore Media Metrix, and as reported in MediaBuyerPlanner.com.

Between Dec. 2005 and Dec. 2006, Hispanic online audience increased by 13 percent, while the general market increased 2 percent .

Hispanics also surpassed the general market in time spent online per day. Hispanics spent an average of 88.1 minutes online per day, while the online general market spent 81.7 minutes per day during Dec. 06, according to the article.

The other point the article mentions is that, despite speculation that Spanish language usage will decrease over time, it has remained about the same.

Thanks to Rebecca, media buyer extraordinaire from Mason, Inc., for forwarding me the story.