New Facebook Group for Hispanic Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations

For my fellow FB junkies I created a group called "Hispanic Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations" ... hope you'll consider joining it. It is a non-promotional group where those in the industry, interested in it, or trying to join it can collaborate and share ideas. I hope it serves as a valuable resource to you.

Marketers continue targeting Hispanics via Mobile

Other industries are starting to join telecom an auto in reaching Hispanics via mobile, per an Advertising Age article.

Why?
Research suggests that U.S. Hispanics are more engaged with their mobile phones than Americans overall.

-- 71% of Hispanics consume content on their cellphones, compared with the market average of 48%, according to ComScore M:Metrics. Why? Many don't have subscriptions to internet or landline service, so wireless phones are their sole communications tool.
-- Additionally, the median age among Hispanics is 27.6, compared with 36.6 in the population as a whole, so that may also help explain their propensity toward mobile.

Ad Age's 2009 "Bright Spots" includes Hispanic market

Ad Age published an article on where the opportunities for growth are in 2009.

Among the areas is the Hispanic market, writing:

"Hispanics account for about 50% of the population growth in the U.S., and the Pew Research Center forecasts that Hispanics will make up 29% of the U.S. population in 2050, up from 14% in 2005. For many marketers, Hispanics are their growth segment. That's why Walmart, a major marketer to Latinos, is pressuring its suppliers, such as GE, to develop their own Hispanic-marketing strategies. Johnson & Johnson says it will spend more on Hispanic marketing in 2009, adding brands that have never advertised to that segment before. And whole categories, such as pharmaceutical, are assigning brands to Hispanic agencies for the first time. Even hard-hit sectors such as magazines can succeed in a tough economy if they target the fastest-growing Hispanic segments. Meredith's Spanish-language magazine for new parents, Ser Padres, enjoyed meteoric growth in 2008, with ad dollars up 122.6% through September 2008, according to Publishers Information Bureau figures."

The other growth areas included:

DIGITAL OUT OF HOME-- Digital out of home is entering 2009 already in a position of growth, finishing 2008 with $2.43 billion in ad dollars, an 11% increase from 2007.

MOBILE -- Mobile will continue to be a growth area, and vendors remain bullish. More advertisers are expected to dip their toes this year, while others will plow ahead in their experimentation.

ONLINE VIDEO -- In the U.S., online video will continue to rise dramatically relative to other online advertising channels in the next few years, dwarfing growth in search, display ads and rich media.

PUBLIC RELATIONS -- U.S. PR-agency employment in June 2008 reached its highest point (52,300 jobs) since the 2001 recession.

MARKETING ANALYTICS -- The marketing industry's growing love affair with data and analytics is as passionate as ever, and the recession will doubtless drive more brand managers into the arms of the data wonks.

ONLINE COUPONS -- According to ComScore, coupon sites were the fastest-growing online category in November by traffic, up 32% from October to 35.6 million.

Happy 2009!

I want to thank all my readers for your continued interest in latin0-lingo. My resolution for this year to you is to continue to provide insight and analysis on issues regarding the U.S. Hispanic marketing industry.

BTW, for those on Facebook I created yesterday a new group called Hispanic marketing, advertising and public relations. It had 27 members join on the first day so it's off to a good start.

This year will certainly be interesting. With most organizations cutting back on their marketing budgets I am seeing some good and bad examples already of how organizations are handling their outreach to the Hispanic market. Some have cut everything across the board while some smart ones are diverting at least some of those cuts to the Hispanic market in an effort to gain share in a down economy.

Still some don't invest a penny despite their general market being in many ways the Hispanic market. For example, there are banks in this region who have branches in cities where the market is near 50% or greater Hispanic in population and where there are more Hispanic-owned businesses than any other. Yet, they continue to wonder why they can't grow their deposit rates.

So, thanks again for the support and keep your questions and tips coming.