| 2001 News & Magazine
Articles
Translating
for the Hispanic Market
By
LAFAYETTE
JONES
09/01/2001
Promo
Habla
Espanol? Do you know the best way to reach the booming
Hispanic market? If you think it involves more than
getting a handle on Spanish, you're right. Tapping
the best marketing and promotion techniques, getting
a good media mix, learning about in-culture marketing,
and understanding acculturation are all key.
Isabel
Valdes, a partner in niche
marketing firm Santiago & Valdes Solutions,
San Francisco, notes that "language segmentation"
teaches a lot about Hispanic consumption behavior.
Latinos may be bilingual, speak only Spanish, prefer
English, or mix Spanish and English in a unique language
called "Spanglish."
"In
soft drinks, language makes a huge, huge difference,"
says Valdes. "It's often true that Hispanics
who are bilingual more often embrace light beers and
diet drinks." One possible reason is that they're
more acculturated to American low-calorie preferences.
In
contrast, those who speak only Spanish (generally
recent immigrants or the less acculturated) are generally
great fans of sugar, says Valdes, whose studies for
the ACNielsen Homescan Consumer Panel will be published
in 2002 in part two of Marketing to American Latinos:
A Guide to the In-Culture Approach (santiagovaldessolutions.com).
Countries
of origin are also significant. The majority of Hispanic-Americans
regard Mexico as their ancestral homeland. (Fourteen
percent identify Central or South America, 10 percent
Puerto Rico, seven percent Spain, two percent the
Dominican Republic, and four percent Cuba.)
Why
is this important? Because beans are not always "beans."
They're"frijoles" in Cuba and "habicheulas"
in Puerto Rico.
There
still is much common ground, however. Sears Roebuck
and Co. advertises in a generic form of Spanish, but
tailors regional markets to fit the local population,
adopting a Mexican flavor in the Southwest and a Caribbean
bent in the East.
Sears
was one of the first companies to develop a Spanish-language
customer magazine: Nuestra Gente (Our People). Procter
& Gamble does the same with Avanzanda con tu Familia
(Advancing Your Family). Neil Cumber, director of
P&G's Hispanic corporate relations, says the publication
reaches 4.5 million Latinos in the metro areas where
they are concentrated: Chicago, New York, South Florida,
Dallas/Houston, and Southern California.
Other
companies have learned the value of Hispanic media.
In a two-city (Chicago and San Antonio) test project,
Sara Lee's hosiery division increased sales of its
Hanes nylons eight percent using a mix of Hispanic
print, radio, TV, and Web sites, says marketing manager
Cathy Jo Espinola."And this was just advertising,
without other promotions." (A guide to more than
1,700 listings is available in SRDS's Hispanic Media
& Market Source.) The Corázon of the Matter
Understanding
that family, children, tradition, and religion are
important is another must in capturing "share
of heart" in a culture which values aesthetics
and emotion, says Valdes.
Helping
companies wade through cultural waters are groups
such as the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies
(ahaa.org), chaired by Horacio Gomes, president of
San Francisco-based HeadQuarters Advertising.
Latino
holidays and cultural events present tremendous marketing
opportunities. Religious passageways - christenings,
communions, and anniversaries - are significant events,
as are holidays and holy days such as Los Tres Reyes
(the feast of the Three Kings) in January and the
pre-Christmas Las Posadas celebration. The 15th birthday
of a girl - Quinceañera - ushers in a need
for makeup, high heels, nylons, gowns, cards, gifts,
and other items for the new debutante. Catering halls
and churches are booked months in advance. Segmented
Marketing Services Inc. developed and executed a Quinceañera
teen sampling program for P&G's Secret deodorant
with a bilingual-targeting publication featuring female
Hispanic opinion and service group leaders.
Other
mainstream companies have launched ethnic marketing
promotions. Autumn Boos at General Mills says the
company's bilingual circus, Trix Circo Mundial, comes
complete with a Spanish-speaking Trix Rabbit. American
Express developed a credit card program to help fund
the rising number of Hispanic entrepreneurs.
The
Hispanic boom is here to stay. "Between 1997
and 200l, an estimated 18.6 million babies will have
been born in the U.S. Over one in six of these (roughly
three million, or 18 percent) will be born to a Hispanic
mom," says Valdes. "In high-density Hispanic
markets, the birth rates can be as high as 52 percent
of the population."
All
this adds up to tremendous buying power - especially
in California, where $138 billion of the total $452
billion in U.S. Hispanic buying power resides, according
to the University of Georgia Selig Center for Economic
Growth. (Texas is second with $75 billion, followed
by Florida with $44 billion and New York with $43
billion. Next in line are New Jersey, Illinois, Arizona,
Colorado, New Mexico, and Virginia.)
With
the median family income now at $30,700, the population
boom in progress, and entrepreneurs on the rise, there's
no question that the only way to describe this market
is que bonita!
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