Opening on Monday October 3rd, including intriguing topics like "Will
Latinos Elect our Next President" and "The Transformed General Market,"
the world's premier annual gathering of marketing and communications
leaders kicks-off with some Latin flare in New York City.
With a mission to galvanize the industry, Advertising Week
seeks to move key industry goals forward like talent, diversity, among
others, to serve as a catalyst that takes advertising and media to the
next level.
In a year of fresh Census numbers, financial recession and an
uncertain and highly competitive political climate, it is evident that
the size and power of Latinos are slowly but surely getting the
mainstream spotlight it deserves. But, why hasn't the needle moved more?
Why is Hispanic marketing still perceived as "the special program" or
the pilot to pursue in the case of leftover budgets? Why is there such a
big disparity between the size and growth that the market represents
versus the advertising and resources allocated toward it?
While presentations, conferences, gatherings and articles are a great
sign of progress, a real evidence of progress will be measured when
discussions are followed with investment and action that are
representative of the total market opportunity.
According to Kantar
Media, 2010 ended reporting $131.1 billion in total advertising of which
only $6.8 were allocated to reaching Hispanics. While these numbers
represent a year over year increase of 8.4% in spend towards reaching
Latinos, it still only a timid 5% of total. That is, 5% of investments
to reach the 16% of the population that drove 53% of the population
growth. This is equivalent to a $12.4 billion gap.
In a world of information overload, data overexposure and an over
preached "50 million strong with $1 trillion in buying power" message,
maybe it is time to - yet one more time - recap and list the reasons why
businesses seeking incremental growth cannot afford to continue to test
or ignore the Latino powerhouse.
So, just in time to kick-off Advertising Week, and hopefully before
you decide to make the Latino presentations your time to catch up with
phone-calls and emails, here are the top 5 market and news indicators
that show there is a big wagon to jump on before it is too late.
#1 The numbers are too big and obvious to ignore.
The
Latino- case for action has become a case harder to argue against than
one to embrace. So let's restate what you've heard before yet one more
time: According to the U.S. Census, Latinos grew by 43% from 38 Million
in 2000 to 50 Million in 2010, while the Non-Hispanic population only
grew by 4.9%. But more than population numbers, there is significant
financial growth represented by this group. In the last 10 years,
Hispanic buying power has grown by 347% reaching $1 Trillion in 2010.
This ranks the U.S. Hispanic market as the world's ninth biggest economy
- larger than the Gross National Product (GNP) of Brazil, Spain or
Mexico. Is it denial or simply a case of analysis paralysis? Look no
further and let the números do the talking.
#2 America's top 10 cities are 35% Hispanic, today!
In a recent conversation with a top sales executive I heard what I've
heard over and over again "but Latinos are still only 16% of the
population..." Ironically, when I asked which key DMA's were his top
drivers of national sales volume, he was quick to respond that CA, TX,
NY represented 60% of his total U.S. business. It is unfortunate how a
broad assumption could be blinding to the fact that his company could
potentially be leaving 1/3 of incremental sales on the table. The
markets mentioned above are 33% Hispanic and growing anywhere between 3
to 5 times faster locally. Hispanic consumers are the most
geographically concentrated of any large consumer segment, with eight
states capturing almost 80% of all Hispanics. The 2010 Census data
reports that America's top 5 largest and most populous states combined,
which represent almost 30% of total U.S. population, are currently 29%
Hispanic. Also, the top ten most populous U.S. cities are 35% Hispanic,
with New York (29%), Los Angeles (48%) and Chicago (29%) topping the
charts. While for many 16% of the population doesn't sound impressive
enough, it is evident that at the local level the opportunity cost could
cause you to miss your national sales targets.
#3 Not your stereotypical undocumented immigrant: 62%+ of all Latinos are U.S. born.
With
news and politics focusing on illegal immigration and media portraying
old Latino stereotypes, good decision making may be getting a little
clouded by personal bias. The U.S. Hispanic market is a vibrant and
young bi-cultural and bilingual market. Ninety one percent (yes, 91%) of Hispanic children were
born in the U.S. and according to Pew Hispanic Center, 22% of all
children under 18 in the U.S. are Hispanic. Similar to the 16%
population dilemma mentioned above, this make many marketers assume that
English language and a one-size fits all works with this emerging
"Americanized" Latino. However, multiple research studies and the recent
Máximo Report conducted by the New Generation Latino Consortium
confirm that while the new Latinos are bilingual and English-speakers,
their hearts, minds, values and drivers remain rooted in the culture of
their abuelitos (grandparents). For many, their pride is manifesting
through a unique sense of retro-acculturation that transcends language.
Also, with Hispanic college enrollment up by 24%, Hispanic owned
businesses growing three times faster and with an emerging group of
affluent Latinos reaching over 5 million households; the approach and
places to successfully reach them are far beyond from stereotypical.
Hispanic marketing does not equal Spanish marketing. But also don't
assume that doing nothing is enough because they speak
English ... ultimately it boils down to relevancy, just as you would when
segmenting and reaching women, teens, elders, Gen X's, etc. Just go
back to the insight.
#4 Prime time telenovelas beat the combined ratings of ABC, CBS, NBC.
The power of relevancy is coming to live with the original programming
developed for U.S. Hispanics by TV outlets like Telemundo, Univision,
Mun2, MTV3, NUVOTV, among others. While English-language broadcasters
have seen audiences shrink as viewers spend more time watching cable
television, ratings for programs for Latinos are holding steady and in
some cases growing. For example, Telemundo's May 30 finale of "La Reina
del Sur" ("Queen of the South") was the highest rated program in the
network's 19-year ratings history, averaging nearly 4.2 million total
viewers (persons 2+) and over 2.8 million adults 18-49, according to
Nielsen Media Research. In Los Angeles, the finale of "La Reina del Sur"
was #1 across all stations in the market among adults 18-49 in its time
period, regardless of language, beating the combined delivery of ABC,
CBS and NBC. Also, when the Latin Billboards aired on Telemundo this
past Spring, the show was the #1 worldwide Twitter top trending topic at
9:30pm EDT, and Telemundo's Twitter following grew by +89% compared to
prior day. Additionally, the network's Facebook fan base increased by
+54% compared to prior day. Still not convinced? For the week ending
September 25th, Univision out-delivered one or more of the
English-language broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC or FOX) on five out
of seven nights last week among Adults 18-34. Thus far in 2011,
Univision is the #2 broadcast network in this demographic, averaging
more Adults 18-34 viewers than ABC (+2%), CBS (+17%), and NBC (+11%).
And the examples of outperformance go on and on, week after week; all
while you may be struggling to juggle a fragmented media, cable and DVR
"general-market" media mix.
#5 Big broadcasters and companies like Fox, NBC and Google are "Latinizing."
With opportunity comes change and innovation, and that is what many
companies have done in the last 12 months. CNN re-branded and
re-programmed its CNN en Español property, Fox News launched Fox News Latino, John Leguizamo launched UrbanoTV,
but beyond content platforms major organizational changes have also
taken place. Last April, News Corp.'s Fox Networks Group on Monday
announced the creation of Fox Hispanic Media,
a new media unit with which the firm intends to broaden its ability to
reach the fast-growing Latino public. Within the same week, NBC
announced the launch of "Hispanics at NBC" in a company-wide initiative to boost ad dollars targeting Hispanics. And to top it all, Google
also created a "specialist team" in 2011 to focus on the U.S. Latino
market, leveraging that about 86% of Latinos have high-speed Internet
connections at home, and 78% use the Internet as their primary
source of information, above TV and friends and family. Great leaders
whose vision is being matched by top-down sponsorship and bold changes.
So, will you take a leap in 2012? Will you move from sidelines to the playing field? This is your time.
Big kudos, ¡felicitaciones! to Advertising Week and all the
participating entities who are bringing this important topic to the
table ... only time will tell whether it moves the needle or not.
