In the English v. Spanish language debate, don't lose sight of what's most important: cultural relevance

On the heels of Univision reporting that it was number one for two consecutive weeks among adults 18-34 and 18-49 comes news from the Pew Hispanic Center that a growing share of Latino adults are consuming news in English from television, print, radio and internet outlets, and a declining share are doing so in Spanish.

Naturally, many marketers are going debate whether they should try to connect with Latinos in English or Spanish.  Many advertisers might feel relief that they can run their general market campaigns and not have to worry about a Spanish-language one.

So what language should you select?  The answer is both.  However, what shouldn't be lost in the discussion is the issue of cultural relevance.  That is above and beyond language selection. While English-language ads may REACH Latinos, they won't necessarily CONNECT with them if the message is not relevant to them.

Marketing in general is cultural, even within the same ethnic and racial group.  Don't think so?  Doesn't a White teenage girl differ culturally from her White grandfather? Of course.  So, brands develop specific and tailored messages to reach either the teenage girl or her grandfather because they understand that what motivates them to consume a product or service is often shaped by their beliefs, experiences, interpersonal orientation among other factors.

Why then do many want to take a short cut and assume their English-language campaigns will connect with Hispanics -- or worse, translate their ads to reach Hispanics in Spanish?  There are no short cuts. 

As Latinos continue their rapid population and purchasing power growth, understand that campaigns must be developed with them in mind from the start.  Otherwise, you're stuck trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.

Ad Age Releases 2013 Fact Pack

 Ad Age released its Hispanic Fact Pack that includes information about the Hispanic market including the the top 50 Hispanic advertisers, the 50 largest Hispanic agencies and all agencies with media-services revenue above $3 million.

It also includes data about marketers, 2012 ad spending and demographic trends as well as rankings of top properties in TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, online media and social networking.

The digital edition of the Hispanic Fact Pack will be available free to viewthrough Aug. 21, 2013, and then for $29 after that.

Ethnicity influences brand decisions

Great graphic in Adweek that outlines, among other things, that nearly half of 2nd generation Hispanics don't think ads target them.

New studies show Latinos driving box office sales and coffee consumption

Two separate, recent studies demonstrate the continued influence and purchasing power of Latinos. 

The first, was the annual theatrical statistics report released today by the Motion Picture Assn. of America reporting that global box office sales grew to a record $34.7 billion in 2012, with domestic totals reaching a benchmark $10.8 billion.  In the U.S. market, a steady four-year decline in teen attendance per capita was offset by a surge in attendance from Hispanics and moviegoers aged 40-49.

The second, from the National Coffee Association, showed that coffee consumption is much stronger among U.S. Hispanics than non-Hispanic counterparts. In fact, 74 percent of U.S. Hispanics drink coffee daily, fully 12 percentage points ahead of non-Hispanics.

Further, Hispanics appear to drink more premium coffee types than non-Hispanics, with 46 percent saying they drink gourmet coffee beverages daily versus 29 percent of non-Hispanics and, for daily espresso consumption, 32 percent versus 11 percent.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm drinking a latte as I write this :-)

Heineken understands that Spanish to English translations don't work either

AdAge just published an article reporting that Heineken USA has shifted its advertising for Tecate from Mexican-based Olabuenaga Chemistri to Inspire Dallas. 

The reason?

"We realized that when a Mexican agency tries to develop English creative, it feels translated," Mr. Palau told Ad Age. "So in all honesty, we were not comfortable with the delivery."

My question is why don't general market brands say the same thing about their creative being translated from English to Spanish to reach U.S. Hispanics? 

While great strides have been made and there are great examples of culturally-relevant transcreations of brands to reach U.S. Hispanics, there are many more examples of brands happy to go the translation route.  And, there is certainly no shortage of general market agencies that recommend that route or Hispanic media outlets eager to translate campaigns just to sell a spot or a space.

I hope this serves at least in part as a wake up call to brands that it doesn't work in any direction.

Hispanics demonstrate importance at voting booth and at cash register

The hype about the importance of the Hispanic vote became a reality during the 2012 elections, where Hispanics were 10 percent of the overall voting block and significantly more in key swing states like Florida, Colorado and Nevada.  Latinos voted for President Barak Obama 71 to 27, a gap of 44 percentage points – larger than the 36 point gap the president had over John McCain in the last election.

While there is understandable attention being given to this important voting bloc on the heels of the election, the results of the election should serve as a wake up that this demographic will be influential for the long term – both at the ballot box and at the cash register.

And, the clock is ticking as by 2042, Whites will be the minority in the United States, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

 

The influence is also not limited to population growth.  Economically, Latinos account for more than $1.3 trillion in economic purchasing power, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth.  In terms of industries, Hispanics are expected to account for 40 percent of the net new households in the next 10 years, Hispanics spend more at supermarkets, outpace non-Hispanics on smart phone and table purchases and Spanish-language TV networks consistently outperform English-language ones among key demographics.   Add to this the fact that Hispanic-owned businesses grew 43.7 percent compared to the national rate increase of 18 percent and that Hispanics are now largest minority group among U.S. 4-year university students, the case for Hispanics’ long-term economic importance begins to take shape.

 

The market is there and the numbers are compelling, but many companies continue to put Hispanic marketing on the back burner, say they don't have a budget to do Hispanic marketing or think they are already reaching Hispanics through their English-language campaigns.

 

Let me be clear.  There is a major difference between reaching Hispanics and connecting with Hispanics. Connecting with Hispanics requires a credible and culturally-relevant approach.  Trusting relationships must be established and cultivated, and approaches cannot focus solely on language. Hispanics see straight through lackluster efforts such as translations, asking for our vote the last two weeks before an election or remembering us only during Hispanic Heritage Month.

 

The key is in transcreating rather than translating. Transcreation is the cultural-adaptation of marketing and sales messages to reach Hispanics in a language they understand both literally and metaphorically.  Transcreation focuses on what motivates Hispanics to purchase or consume goods and services rather than on whether they speak Spanish or English. In other words, knowledge of how culture influences a Hispanic’s decisions is more important than language preference.

 

Success also requires adequately allocating budgets to reach this important segment. The Hispanic market must be integrated into an overall market strategy and not treated just as a niche market.  There are no easy short cuts.

 

Now is the time to begin.

Record number of Latinos registered to vote, but not credibly courted

The Pew Hispanic Center report indicated 23.7 million Latinos are eligible to vote November 6, an increase of 22% since 2008, and the most than at any other time in U.S. history.

A report on CNN.com outlines that despite the high registration rate, there is a concern voter turn out will remain low. According to the article, only 50 percent of Latino registered voters turned out in the 2008 election. The two main reasons that Pew suggests are reduced enthusiasm for a non-presidential election, and an economic downturn that has displaced many Latinos (and subsequently caused their voter registration to lapse).

I would like to add a third: lack of credible outreach by candidates. While the presidential candidates are spending money to try to court the Hispanic vote in battleground states like Florida, the percentage of money allocated to that effort is abysmal.  The lack of attention Latino voters receive and lack of focus of issues that are important to Latinos and positioned from a Latino-perspective I believe results in voter apathy and a lack of name awareness of candidates at many levels.

Looking at places where there is a high Puerto Rican population helps to illustrate my case.  Voting rates for Puerto Ricans on the island are over 80 percent,  That rate but drop off considerably to 57 percent for Puerto Ricans in the United States.

And, despite the record number of advertising dollars being used in the 2012 election, The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce issued a release in early October on a study it commissioned that found only 4.57% of the advertising dollars were spent on Spanish-language media.

As Javier Palomarez , President and CEO of the USHCC said in their press release, "Political commentators from both sides of the aisle have said repeatedly that 2012 is the 'year of the Hispanic voter.' And, in fact, Hispanic voters are poised to play a decisive role in some of the most hotly contested battleground states from Nevada to Florida. But you wouldn't know it from the advertising of our political parties. Thus far in 2012, both parties seem to be spending comparatively little trying to reach Hispanic voters on the media platforms they prefer. The difference between rhetoric and action is striking and, frankly, troubling."

Hispanic more digital-savvy than Non-Hispanics

New analysis from the Hispanic InsightCenter reaffirms other studies showing that Hispanics are outpacing Non-Hispanics in the areas of mobile and social media. The new report further reports that the are using social media and mobile technology to give and seek advice about products and services.

According to an article in MediaPost, Hispanic consumers tend to be early adopters and are more likely to own smartphones and tablets. iPad ownership specifically is up among Hispanics from 4.2% in June 2010 to 21.3% in 2012. (14.6% of Non-Hispanics report having an iPad in 2012.)



Viewing on Mobile Devices
	% of Users
Mobile Used to View	Hispanics	Non-Hispanics
Email	48.1%	29.2%
News	26.6	17.5
Sports	15.2	10.2
Video/TV	15.5	9.6
Source: BIGinsight, August 2012

In addition Hispanics’ regular usage of social media also largely outpaces Non-Hispanics counterparts. Usage among Hispanics indexes higher across all sites tracked in the InsightCenter.

Regular Use of Social Media/Online Communities – Index (Hispanics 18+ vs. Non-Hispanics 18+)
Media	Index vs. Non-Hispanics
Facebook	109
Foursquare	166
Google+	133
Hulu	144
LinkedIn	127
MySpace	155
Pinterest	109
Twitter	141
YouTube	133
Source: BIGinsight, August 2012

Census releases 2012 Hispanic Heritage Month "Facts for Features"

The U.S. Census released its annual Facts for Features on Hispanics for Hispanic Heritage Month.  Read it here.  Some of the highlights:

52.0 million

The Hispanic population of the United States as of July 1, 2011, making people of Hispanic origin the nation's largest ethnic or race minority. Hispanics constituted 16.7 percent of the nation's total population. In addition, there are 3.7 million residents of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory.
Source: 2011 Population

1.3 million

Number of Hispanics added to the nation's population between July 1, 2010, and July 1, 2011. This number is more than half of the approximately 2.3 million added to the nation's population during this period.
Source: 2011 Population Estimates
National Characteristics: Population by Sex, Race, and Hispanic origin

132.8 million

The projected Hispanic population of the United States on July 1, 2050. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 30 percent of the nation's population by that date.
Source: Population Projections

37.0 million

The number of U.S. residents 5 and older who spoke Spanish at home in 2010. Those who hablan español constituted 12.8 percent of U.S. residents 5 and older. More than half of these Spanish speakers spoke English “very well.”
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 American Community Survey: Table B16001

17.3 million

The number of U.S. residents 5 and older who spoke Spanish at home in 1990.
Source: Language Use in the United States: 2007

2012 Advertising Age "Hispanic Fact Pack" is out

The 2012 version of Advertising Age's Hispanic Fact Pack is available for viewing here.  There is a log in registration required.

Non-profits, Foundations need Latino Donors to Make up for Existing Boomer Donor Base

Philanthropic organizations and nonprofits face a long-term challenge as most have a donor that is overwhelmingly made up aging Anglo Baby Boomers.  Their future is based on making themselves relevant to Hispanics as the fastest-growing demographic in a way that's relevant to them, says an article in MediaPost.

The article's author, Jose Villa, points out some facts that track with research and strategic marketing planning I've been involved with for non-profits and a major community foundation.  Specifically, that most Hispanics are generous in their giving, but do so in non-traditional ways and give to organizations close to them, such as a church.  Most have no family history or connection to charitable organizations and other nonprofit organizations.

Mr. Villa suggests a few ways philanthropic and non-profit organizations can start to make themselves relevant such as:

• Make your work (product, service, etc.) relevant to Hispanics (and other ethnic groups) and particularly young Hispanics. You may not have an“H” or “L” in your name (e.g., LULAC, HSF, NALEO, etc.), but you need to start to think and act like a Hispanic-serving organization.
• Make sure you hire and retrain staff who understand (and represent) younger Hispanics.
• Create opportunities for Hispanics to take leadership roles in your organization.
• Invest in understanding how to make your brand, marketing and communications inherently cross-cultural.
• You probably already have an existing Hispanic constituency. Identify it, empower it, and use them as your ambassadors, or “emisarios,” out to their large network of Hispanics.
• Make your organization digital at its core – live where young multicultural audiences live. Go where younger Hispanics are. That’s in social, mobile and the broader digital world.

The above suggestions are great, but they are largely tactical. What I suggest is that the first step be to stop talking about credibly reaching out to Hispanics make it a business imperative by getting buy-in from the leadership and the board.  Not much will happen without that, despite the best intentions of those in the organization.

Also, start with a plan.  Hire experts to develop a strategic marketing plan so that the entire organization is on the same page, and resources are allocated appropriately based on segments identified. Buy-in has to start at the top and permeate throughout the organization ... and everyone needs to be operating from the same plan.

Presidential campaigns missing mark in ads for Latinos

Much has been written about the 21.3 million registered Latino voters that could make the difference in this year's presidential election, including a Time Magazine cover story in March. However, it seems both President Obama and Democratic Challenger Mitt Romney are both missing the mark when it comes to culturally-relevant approaches in their marketing, according to an article in the Seattle Times.

Neither campaign, the article states, has adopted the approach honed over the years by businesses targeting Spanish speakers — one that not only depicts Latinos in positive settings, but also reflects attention to cultural nuance.

Romney's ads appear to be direct translations of English ads with awkward translations of phrases.  The Obama campaign is doing considerably more with a Spanish-language website, a Twitter feed for Latinos, an English-language website targeted at Latinos and a Spanish-language website about the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. After Obama's order to stop deportations of young undocumented immigrants, the campaign put out an ad in Spanish featuring Miami-based television personality Cristina Saralegui, the article says. However, the campaign buy allocation is not keeping par with the changing demographics or the Latino makeup in key swing states.

Hispanics Buy Brands that Empower Their Cultural Relevancy

A Forbes article reinforces what we've been saying for some time: Hispanics are more inclined to build trustworthy relationships with people and companies that take the time to understand who we are and what we represent morally, ethically and culturally.   This is important because Hispanics are the largest immigrant group to exhibit significant sustainability of their culture and are not disappearing into the American melting pot.  

The article goes on to say that the Hispanic market can no longer be viewed as a short-term expense, but rather should be approached as a strategic long-term investment.  Cultural relevance is key.  However, cultural relevancy is a two-way conversation. This means marketers must allow the Hispanic consumer to influence how they brand their brands.

AHAA expands beyond Hispanic Advertising

AHAA (Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies) is seeking to expand beyond just serving advertising agencies in the U.S. Hispanic market by changing its name and expanding its board members.

Now calling itself AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing, the industry association is trying to rid itself of the impression it only serves advertisers.  In addition to the name change, AHAA announced its new board members, which includes Rosana Fisk, the first Latina to serve as CEO of the Public Relations Society of America.

Hispanics Will Spend $17.6B on Mobile Devices in 2012

U.S. Hispanic consumers will spend more than $17.6 billion on mobile devices and over $500 million on mobile apps in 2012, according to a new Zpryme INFOgraphic, 2012 Hispanic Mobile Consumer Trends
Download the Zpryme INFOgraphic, 2012 Hispanic Mobile Consumer Trends here: link

Other findings include:

1. Over the next six months Hispanics are likely to purchase: smartphone (24%), laptop (21%), and tablet (18%)
2. Top three smartphone OS used by Hispanics: Android (27%), Apple (21%), and Blackberry (7%)
3. Top three mobile devices owned by Hispanics: laptop (70%), smartphone (52%), and mp3 player (42%)
4. Top three daily deal sites visited by Hispanics are: Groupon (40%), LivingSocial (26%), and Eversave (10.2%)
5. Top four mobile app types purchased by Hispanics are: games (48%), songs (41%), navigation (24%), and books (23%)
6. Of Hispanics that own apps: (84%) of apps are primarily in English, 13% about half in English and Spanish, and 3% primarily in Spanish
7. Of Hispanics that own apps: (19%) have 1 - 5 apps, (18%) have 11 - 20 apps, and (17%) have 6 - 10 apps
8. Top three activities online by Hispanics are: (84%) email, (67%) social networking and (54%) video/music

Portada Magazines' Hispanic Marketing 12 Predictions for 2012

Portada Magazine again published predictions for the 2012 Hispanic Marketing and Media industry.

1. Univision’s IPO will take place in 2012
The investors who took the broadcast media private will want to monetize their investment in 2012 through an IPO.

2. Mobile becomes huge for Hispanic Marketing
Mobile media (Mobile phones, Tablets and E-Readers) will become a major force in Hispanic Marketing and Advertising. That is why Portada is dedicating a special event (The Hispanic Mobile Marketing Forum on Sept. 19, 2012) to analyze this phenomenon. Hispanic Consumers spent more than $5.15 billion during this year’s holiday season on mobile devices, according to the Hispanic Holiday Mobile Survey 2011 by Zpryme.

3. The “SoLoMo” trend will continue
“SoloMo”, or Social-Local-Mobile will be increasingly applied to marketing strategies. Particularly in the Hispanic market, where both social networking and mobile usage overindex. Geolocalization when using mobile media, e.g. checking in on Facebook and/or FourSquare, or in review sites such as Yelp will be driving local consumer marketing and advertising. QR Code integrations in print advertising will play a particularly important role for retail. Online-Mobile Gaming and In-Game Advertising will play an increasingly important role.

4. T-Mobile will end in the hands of a Latin Telecommunications giant
Now that AT&T has officially announced that it is no longer pursuing a T-Mobile acquisition, we know for sure that as “a contractual penalty for the collapse of the merger, AT&T will pay T-Mobile $3 billion in cash, and give T-Mobile at least $1 billion worth of spectrum rights. Portada predicts that Latin Telco giants America Movil and Telefonica have a strong chance to end up acquiring T-Mobile.

5. U.S. Hispanic Advertising Market will grow by 5% in 2012…
As 50+ Hispanic marketing executives said in a recently published Portada Survey, U.S. Hispanic Advertising will grow by approximately 5% in 2012 driven by Auto, Political and Financial Advertising.

6. Hispanic Digital Advertising’s expansion will continue to grow at a high rate
While digital advertising in the U.S. Hispanic market still amounts to less than 5% of the overall advertising pie, compared to nearly 20% for the overall U.S. market, the U.S. Hispanic digital advertising market will continue to grow in 2012 at a very high rate.

7. Online Video will be on a roll
Within digital media Hispanic online video advertising will be growing the most. The rationale is very compelling: Hispanics watch more video online than their general market counterparts. Content providers will be working hard to increase their online offerings, particularly of Spanish-language online video, and satisfy the needs of the online video advertising markets.

8. Hispanics Newspapers will do well overall
Hispanic Newspapers will continue to have a relatively strong performance, particularly when compared to their U.S. general market counterparts. The strong community media element of Hispanic newspapers plays in favor of them. So does the fact that print media continues to be a great way to target Spanish-dominant U.S. Hispanics.

9. ImpreMedia will be acquired
Impremedia private equity backers Clarity Partners, Halyard Capital Fund, ACON Investments and Knight Paton Media as well as Goldman Sachs (who provided a loan) are looking for an exit. The likely buyer is a large general market newspaper chain who wants to place a strong bet on the Hispanic digital and print media markets.

10. Measurable (Targeted) Media will continue its expansion
The rise of digital media and the data about audience reach engagement etc that comes with, is impacting other media. Targeted TV (e.g. Hispanic audiences of general market TV programs) are also being developed and increasingly sold to advertisers.

11. E-Commerce and Online Media will get closer
Content Marketing applied to online media has a lot to do with SEO. Once the content attracts an audience, that audience can be monetized via advertising or via e-commerce. Major companies, who attract millions if not tens of millions of unique visitors, are betting on content production to attract the right audience and then convert readers into buyers. Watch out for more and more CPG’s and retailers hiring journalists and editors to produce and curate content on their corporate (media) sites.

12. Spanish-Language Media will continue to lead
During the last months of 2012 several new ventures, particularly digital media properties, have been launched to target English-dominant Hispanics online. Will these in-culture English-language media be able to differentiate itself enough from general market English-language media and obtain major advertising buys? The jury is still out. In any case, while English-dominant targeted Hispanic media is a great addition to the Hispanic advertising and media landscape, we think that, when it comes to mass media, in 2012 Spanish-language will continue to be the pre-eminent way to market to and reach the U.S. Hispanic population.

Hispanics Are Online, But do Marketers See Them?

eMarketer expects U.S. online advertising spending to reach $31 billion in 2011.  How much of that is spent targeting U.S. Hispanics? Industry figures show it at only $200 million in 2011, a mere 0.65% of the total investment in U.S. online advertising, according to an article in MediaPost's "Engage: Hispanics."

Woefully low, even if you're only targeting Spanish-dominant Hispanics.  This has to change in 2012 as studies continue to show Hispanics prevalence for on-line from both traditional and mobile/tablet platforms.

Online Hispanics Have A Hard Time Finding Health Information In Spanish

"When it comes to being healthy, Hispanics have several things going against them: language and cultural barriers, lack of access to preventive care and lack of health insurance. But there is another, lesser-known barrier that prevents them from living healthier lives: lack of online health information in Spanish." So says Lee Van in his MediaPost article about the lack of Spanish-language health content.

In the past 12 months, usage of health websites skyrocketed among the bilingual and Spanish-preferring online Hispanics. As a result, more than half of all online Hispanics visits a health site each month.

Growth in health site visitation by segment September 2010 - 2011
English Preferring: 25%
Bilingual: 47%
Spanish Preferring: 35%
All Hispanics: 32%

Percent of given segment that visited a health site in September 2011
English Preferring: 53%
Bilingual: 52%
Spanish Preferring: 51%
All Hispanics: 52%

This article ties back to what I wrote about in January 2010 after the release of the AOL Cyberstudy, which pointed out that Hispanics recognize the disparity between the availability of English and Spanish-language content. They perceive English sites as more comprehensive in part because they know the Spanish content is not.

Further, the study showed that Hispanics often prefer English content and mistrust Spanish content because Spanish-language sites are often little more than literal translations of English content. In fact, only 3% of respondents found Spanish sites more trustworthy and useful than those in Spanish.

The only way to overcome this challenges is to offer relevant, comprehensive and trust worthy health information in Spanish.  As Lee points out at the end of his article, there is a clear demand for Spanish language health information online and relatively few companies providing it.

U.S. Hispanics More Receptive to Ads

Research shows that U.S. Hispanics are more responsive to ads than non-Hispanics, especially when the creative celebrates cultural sensibilities, according to an article in eMarketer reporting on new advertising research study by comScore.
In other words, being culturally relevant and not just focusing on language preference makes the difference.  This is an important consideration as Hispanics, the nation’s fastest-growing population, will spend $1.48 trillion in 2015, according to data from the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.

Banks must focus on service as mobile banking increases

... so says a recent report by Forrester entitled, "The State of US Mobile Banking." Forrester also predicts that mobile banking will grow by an average of 20 percent per year over the next five years to reach 50 million U.S. adults by 2015. The growth is being driven by smartphone adoption as well as by banks efforts to support a wide variety of mobile device platforms.

As I wrote last year , Hispanics are rapidly adapting to mobile banking and now account for 30% of the mobile banking industry.

For Hispanics, perhaps more than non-Hispanic Whites, customer service is paramount in establishing brand preference, and building trust. With a large number of Hispanics being unbanked or underbanked, it's important for traditional financial service institutions to provide trustworthy services, that now must extend to mobile. Otherwise, retail outlets like Wal-Mart that are entering the industry will earn the Hispanic market share because of the relationships they've built with other services and products.