Education, not immigration #1 Hispanic issue

National Council of La Raza released a study today that shows the #1 election issue for Hispanics is education. Specifically, 89% of Latinos believe that improving public education should be a “very important priority” for the next president.

According to the NCLR press release, other findings were:
-- Latino voters consider the high dropout rate among Latino students to be the greatest educational problem for the Latino community in the U.S.
-- Half of those surveyed declared that they considered the quality of public schools to be “mediocre” or “poor.”
-- More than 80% of the Latino electorate feels that one way to improve public education in America is to hire more teachers with expertise in the subjects they will teach.

The poll surveyed 1,000 registered Latino voters.

2007 Hispanic Fact Pack now available ...

Advertising Age has released the 2007 version of its Hispanic Fact Pack. The Hispanic Fact Pack includes data about marketers' 2006 ad spending by company and category, demographic trends, language use and detailed rankings of the top TV, radio, newspaper, magazine and online media.

Download the PDF here (4.2 megs)

Hormel taps DePaul students for feasibility study

Pork Magazine ... yes, there is such a thing ... I don't want to ever hear that I don't find you the best sources :-) ... is reporting that Hormel Foods is seeking the help of students at DePaul University to, "find answers in how to market to Hispanic consumers and the untapped opportunities." Among the work, according to the article, is 12 DePaul students will analyze 12 Hormel brands that are not currently in the Hispanic market, identify growth opportunities, and then present findings to Hormel and account people from its Hispanic marketing agency, the San Jose Group.

A spokesman for the company is quoted in the article as saying, "We easily could have assigned this project to an established research company, but we wanted to see what these promising students could discover."

Saying that hiring an established research company is the "easy" way to do this is curious in that hiring a firm that specializes in this is probably the most "effective" way. But, it is very interesting that they are giving promising students at a university with a program in Hispanic marketing an opportunity.

What would have been more interesting is if they had asked their agency to also do the study and asked a research company to do the study as well. Then, they could compare all 3 to see who had the best information. But, that would be too and they certainly had to cut the pork! (sorry, just couldn't resist the corny joke)

Unilever and Univision team for telenovela

Product integration goes to the next level with the new novela "Mi Adorada Malena," produced by Unilever and Univision, where products are woven into the story.

The novela will run for 6 episodes on the web.

One new product being launched is Caress Exotic Oil Infusions, and is key to the drama for the lead character, Malena Ferreira, who is supposed to be a famous Caress Exotic Oil Infusions spokesmodel, according to an article in the Stamford Advocate by Rich Lee. The lead character is played by Cynthia Olavarria, former Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Universe 2005 first runner-up.

It will be promoted on Univision radio as well as print ads in Spanish magazines, according to the article.

This non-traditional approach is very interesting and may have some great results. There seems to be a bit more overall acceptance of overt product integration in the Hispanic market than the general market where consumers want a line in between (save for a show like The Price is Right). But, it must be done properly and not too overtly as well. Clearly, Unilever recognizes both the significance of novelas in Hispanic cultures and the growth of the internet (and mobile marketing) in the Hispanic market.

We'll see if moving from traditional TV "telenovelas" to web-based "cybernovelas" will bring the audiences (especially a short series competing at the 6PM time slot), but if it works I suspect others will follow suit.

The next episode is tonight at 6.