Hispanic consumers 3x as likely as Caucasians to respond to mobile advertising

An article in MediaPost, citing fourth-quarter data from mobile social network Limbo and GFK Technology, reports that for all demographics 1 in 3 mobile consumers recall seeing mobile advertising. That increases to 2 in 5 for iPhone users.

Hispanic consumers, as well as African American, were three times as likely as Caucasians to respond to mobile advertising.

Overall, there were 271 million U.S. mobile phone users in the fourth quarter, up 8% from a year ago. The number of people texting increased 16% to 162 million.

Women were 85% more likely to respond to ads than men, and those ages 18 to 24 were twice as likely to respond as those age 25 and over.

Targeting Latinos in tough economy = smart business sense

AdvertisingAge has a good post from Tommy Thompson regarding why in a tough economy it makes financial sense to target Latinos.

The main point he makes is that if the "ultimate goal for all brand advertising is to reach the maximum number of eyeballs" then the Hispanic media only makes perfect sense since it can deliver the lowest cost per point than general market media. In other words, more bang for the buck.

The one point not addressed is that for many organizations not currently marketing to Latinos, it's possible to invest int the Hispanic market without increasing their budgets. An important consideration in a down economy. How? By really looking smartly at your general market buys and eliminating any redundancy or waste and instead investing those dollars into the Hispanic market.

I've seen many cases where companies who offer products/services perfectly suited for the Hispanic market are buying 3 general TV stations in the same market and running spots at the same time, and not spending a single dollar in the Spanish-language media.

2009 is the year of ROI. General market organizations need to be really prudent with their dollars and deliver a return. It's time to not only recognize the importance of the Hispanic market, but know that there are cost-effective ways to reach us.