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

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.