HispanicTrending

June 24, 2004. Betsy Spethmann of Primedia Inc. presented this superb article which at first appears to be about which language to utilize when marketing to Latinos/Hispanics… It goes way beyond that, it is a masterful rendition of several of the essential key issues one needs to understand about Hispanics in the United States if one is to reach them effectively.

There’s a dichotomy in marketing to the Hispanic community that goes beyond bilingual.

Hispanic culture is hip these days, so it influences general marketing in the same way it influences food, music and fashion. But Hispanic immigrants aren’t assimilating as quickly or deeply as past immigrant groups. Credit cultural pride, tight-knit geographic communities and an increase in Spanish-language media. Newcomers don’t have to learn English, and marketers get national reach in Spanish.

Put the two trends together and there’s the dichotomy: a broader Hispanic flavor to general culture, but a smaller, tighter audience for targeted Hispanic marketing — and a two-tiered audience at that, with some more Americanized than others.

Some marketers dedicate their ethnic marketing dollars to Spanish-only immigrants, and let general-market campaigns suffice for second-generation and assimilated Hispanics. That trend will grow as long as Latino is cool.

Others target two audiences: acculturated, bilingual consumers, and Spanish-only newcomers. That two-year-old trend will grow as the population expands, warranting segmented marketing.

I believe, as mentioned before, that it is a function of how deep are the advertiser’s pockets, where, geographically they are advertising, and what are they trying to achieve. If one has a limited budget and is specifically trying to reach Latinos in Brownsville, TX, probably centering all advertising dollars into Spanish media at the beginning is a wise move. Then again, this would not be a wise move under the same circumstances in Albuquerque, NM.

“We have to be O.K. with this dual current moving forward,” says Maria Madruga, president of Mass Promotions, Miami. “The Hispanic consumer is a 150 percent person: He keeps the influences of his home country, then adds all the good things from his new environment. It enriches his personal possibilities and gives a greater frame of reference.”

Let’s not get too sanctimonious about Latinos/Hispanics… Unfortunately we do not only add the good from this new environment… We are easily adopting the bad…