By MAE ANDERSON

NEW YORK

U.S. companies have been pursuing emerging markets in Latin America in recent years, but a new Nielsen report says Hispanics and Latinos in the U.S.also are an important market that shouldn’t be neglected.

The U.S. Hispanic population of more than 50 million now spends about $1 trillion a year and will have buying power of $1.5 trillion by 2015, according to the report. That power would land the U.S. Latino community among the world’s top 20 economies.

“A lot of times people are looking to market to Hispanics outside the U.S., but it is important to pay attention to Latinos currently here,” said Monica Gil, Nielsen’s senior vice president for government and public affairs.

And marketers must understand Hispanic culture, she said.

“It’s conventional wisdom that Latinos will become part of the melting pot, but Hispanic culture is more sustainable than that,” she said. “The culture may evolve, but it will not go away.”

Nielsen gathered and analyzed data from a range of sources to create the report for its clients, which include advertisers, TV networks, consumer product companies and others.

It’s the third in a series of demographic reports. The other two researched women and African-Americans.

Nielsen’s data sources include consumer panels, surveys of consumer media and purchasing habits, the U.S. Census, the CIA World Fact Book, Goldman Sachs Global Economics, Commodities & Strategy Research and Selig Center for Economic Growth.

Some excerpts:

– Per capita income among U.S. Hispanics is higher than in such emerging markets as Brazil, Russia, India and China.

– U.S. Hispanics are younger than Americans in general, with a median age of 28, compared with 37 for the nation as a whole.

– U.S. Hispanics spend 68 percent more time watching video online and 20 percent more time watching video on mobile phones than non-Hispanic whites.

– Hispanics make fewer shopping trips per household than non-Hispanics, but they tend to spend more per trip.

– Hispanics remember English-language commercials as well as the general population, but Hispanics’ recall improves as much as 30 percent when they see the same ad in Spanish.

US advertiser spending in almost all traditional mediums targeted at Hispanic audiences (Spanish advertising mediums) grew between 2010 and 2011, reflecting the potential of this young and growing market, which is forecast to reach $1.5 trillion in buying power by 2015,according to [download page] an April 2012 report from Nielsen. Total advertising spend on Spanish advertising mediums was more than $5.7 billion in 2011. Spanish language network TV made up the greatest share of spend, at 57%, and grew 13% year-over-year. Spanish spot TV was the next-largest medium, at 20% of total spending, though advertising on this medium increased just 1% year-over-year. National magazine spending, though accounting for just 2.4% of total spend, grew the most rapidly, at 26%, while Spanish cable TV, which accounted for almost 8% of spend, increased by 21%. Local newspaper spending, the smallest medium, was the only one to see a decline in spend, of 4%.

Spending Heavyweights Remain On Top

Procter & Gamble, the leading advertiser, maintained its top-ranked position in Hispanic spending, allocating 73% of its $225.6 million in spending to Spanish language network TV. Other companies on the top 10 list in both 2010 and 2011 were McDonald’s, AT&T, Verizon, Toyota, General Mills, and General Motors. Bancorp moved into the second spot in 2011, with $193.1 million in spending, with almost all (98%) of this on Spanish language network TV. In fact, all of the top 10 advertisers spent at least two-thirds of their Hispanic advertising budgets on this medium save for AT&T, which devoted an equal amount to Spanish language network TV as to spot TV (both at 42%).

Impact Better for Spanish Language TV Ads

Data from Nielsen’s “State of the Hispanic Consumer” indicates that Hispanics like TV ads 51% more if viewed in Spanish rather than English, and that hiring Spanish-speaking talent to deliver the script resonates 30% better with this group. In fact, although Hispanics remember English language commercials as well as much as the general population, the same commercial shown in Spanish can bump up ad recall by as much as 30%.

According to recent results from a Yahoo! Insights report, advertisers targeting Hispanic audiences with messaging targeted towards their ethnicity will be more likely to find favor with 1st generation than later generation Hispanics. Results from the report show that 70% of 1st generation Hispanics say they notice products and brands that make the effort to reach their ethnicity through advertising, while more than 3 in 5 are more likely to try such a product or brand, and be more trusting of it. This compares to 40% of later-generation Hispanics who notice products and brands blending ethnicity into their advertising, and less than one-third who are more likely to try that product or brand, and be more trusting of it.

Other Findings:

• According to the Nielsen report, 56% of US Hispanic adults speak either only Spanish (28%) or mostly Spanish (28%), compared to 40% who speak either only English (15%) or mostly English (15%). The remainder speak Spanish and English equally.
• Hispanics have much higher concentration than the overall population average (16%) in Texas (38%), California (38%), Florida (22%), Colorado (21%), Nevada (27%), and New Mexico (46%).
• Hispanics tend to overindex in younger age demographics when compared to non-Hispanic whites. For example, they are much more likely to be 15-24-years-old (17.1% vs. 12.6%) and 25-34-years old (17.3% vs. 11.8%), and far less likely to be 55-64-years-old (6.8% vs. 13.6%).

Unilever, the world’s third-largest consumer goods company measured by 2011 revenues (after Procter & Gamble and Nestlé) with a market cap of nearly $100 billion  and the world’s largest maker of ice cream, is using its Spanish Language Domain and Spanish Language Website offline on ‘Sabado Gigante’ and going after the worldwide Spanish speaking population big time.

The multinational company known for personal care brands such as Dove, Vaseline, Lux and Ponds; foods brands such as, Slim-Fast, Lipton, Hellmans and Bertolli and home care brands such as Comfort, Domestos, Radiant and Surf is marketing its brands front and center in Spanish.

‘Sabado Gigante’, a multinationally airing Spanish language television show that is the longest-running variety TV show in the world, (50 years and running)  reaching 100 million Spanish speakers in 40 countries, boldly promotes Unilever’s Spanish Language Website www.ViveMejor.com on its Saturday night staple variety show to its international Spanish speaking viewership.

We have been saying all along that those who are first in will be first served.  As more of the worlds 400 million plus Spanish speakers get on line, (approximately 150 million are online already) the economic leverage their buying power offers investments into Spanish Language Domain names and Spanish Language Websites, is incalculable.

Its not rocket science.  The formula is simply this: Get educated, make smart decisions, position yourself correctly with the aid of marketing professionals and calculate the cost-benefit ratios. You will be surprised at the business opportunity available to you via an online and offline presence in Spanish using Spanish Language Domains and appropriate Spanish language content and representative graphics.  Four hundred million Spanish speakers are waiting to connect with you!

With their flourishing numbers in the U.S. and their love of  fresh fruits and vegetables, members of the Hispanic / Latino community make ideal produce department customers.

The U.S. Hispanic population has skyrocketed to over 50  million consumers and their numbers have expanded well beyond the Southwest and Florida.

Hispanic consumers have settled in many major metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, Denver, Las Vegas and Charlotte, N.C., Hernandez says.  There even are pockets of Hispanics in “secondary cities,” such as Cincinnati and Minneapolis.

Hispanics hail from many countries, including Argentina, Chile and Cuba, and each have their own produce and food preferences that should be catered to, he says. But also keep in mind that 65% of Hispanics in the U.S. are from Mexico or of Mexican descent.

Large population

Latinos now make up 16% of the nation’s population, says Eduardo Serena, marketing director for the Los Angeles-based Avocado Producers and Exporting Packers Association of Michoacán (APEAM).

This population rise provides retailers with valuable sales opportunities by allowing them to strategically market to the Latino consumer, Serena says.   Hispanics tend to prefer specific foods, Hernandez says, especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables.  That includes lots of tropical produce, says Mary Ostlund, marketing director for Brooks Tropicals LLC, Homestead, Fla.

Tropical produce is Latino produce,” and “It’s the fruit and vegetables that’s native to Latin cuisines.”

Yucca, yams, malanga, boniatos, mangos, papaya and pineapple are essential entries in the produce departments that want Hispanic trade, she says.  Hispanic shoppers will patronize stores that offer good quality and price, she adds.

Top 20 list

Retailers seeking to attract Hispanic shoppers should have a basic selection of 20 or so Hispanic items, including mangoes, guavas, jalapeno peppers and tomatillos, says Hernandez, who previously served as marketing director for Houston-based Fiesta Mart Inc.

Roma tomatoes, he adds, are critical, and melons, grapes and bananas also will bring in traffic.

“Because avocados are a food staple in the Latino household, Avocados from Mexico continuously invests in sales-building integrated marketing programs targeting Hispanic consumers,” Serena says.

Indeed, it’s important to let consumers know you have the items they want by advertising them, Hernandez says. Half the items on the front page of the typical advertising circular for Hispanic-oriented stores are perishables, he says.

And be sure to identify produce in-store with Spanish-language signs to make Hispanic shoppers feel welcome.

“It’s a sign of warmth, friendship, respect and acknowledgment,” Hernandez says.

Habitual shoppers

Customers of the 33-store Gonzalez Northgate Market chain based in Anaheim, Calif., tend to be very habitual, says Alfonso Cano, assistant produce director.
“They buy the same top 10 items every week, regardless of price,” he says.

Those items include white onions, roma tomatoes, bananas, papayas, cilantro, bulk beans, chili peppers (such as serrano, jalapeno and pasilla) and tomatillos.

Hispanic consumers often shop three or four times a week, he says.

Northgate distributes its advertising circular to ZIP codes surrounding its stores and buys commercials on Spanish-language radio stations for holidays, weekends or “when we feel we need to push our customer count,” he says.

Once in a while, Northgate runs a TV ad, usually aimed at customers who have not tried the store or to announce the arrival of a new or seasonal item — such as honey tangerines.

The company strives to offer a fair price, Cano says.

“We have to be competitively priced — not necessarily the cheapest.”

Ample selection

On the East Coast, product selection and merchandising differentiate the 14 Compare Supermarkets from traditional stores, says Juan Diaz, store manager for a Brooklyn, N.Y., location of the Brooklyn-based chain.

About 75% of the store’s customers are Hispanic, he says, and they rely on the store to have the plantains — the most popular item in the produce department — yucca, malanga and other items they crave.

While other stores may have a small display of a handful of Hispanic items, Compare Supermarkets have a full line and merchandise them in large displays, Diaz says.

Hispanic items are featured on the front of the store’s ad as well as inside, he says.

At Northgate stores, because the chain offers high-quality produce at reasonable prices, many non-Hispanics shop there, too, which helps the company build its customer base, Cano says.

“We try not to be too ethnic for the non-ethnic customer or too non-ethnic for the ethnic customer,” Cano says.

There is at least one, if not several, produce specialists on the floor at all times who can offer product information, samples, or recipe suggestions for items consumers may not be familiar with.

Busy days

Sundays and Mondays are the busiest days for the chain, with Saturday ranking third.

Cano sets up large displays of the 10 or 15 best-selling items, but he sparks impulse buys by strategically placing secondary displays throughout the store — in the meat or dairy departments, for example.

While most experts advise using Spanish-language signs in stores with a large Hispanic customer base, signs in Compare Supermarkets are in English, not Spanish or bilingual, Diaz says.

Diaz says he considers it his job to have plenty of everything his customers want on hand, since they rely on the store to keep their kitchens well supplied.
“We don’t want to be short,” he says. “You can lose a customer if you don’t have all the items they need.”

Frequent shoppers

“Studies have shown your Hispanic (consumer) shops frequently and shops a variety of stores from bodegas to drug stores for groceries,” Ostlund of Brooks Tropicals says. “Play up how you sell best, and the Hispanic consumer may frequent your establishment more.”

Venture beyond papayas, mangoes, avocados and pineapples and merchandise starfruit, uniq fruit, passion fruit, ginger and other tropicals as well, she suggests.

Since Hispanics often shop several times a week, Hernandez says they tend to prefer ripened fruit to nonripened fruit.

They also prefer bulk product to packaged and are more concerned about the quality of their produce than how it looks. And they are impressed by large displays, which they associate with a product that is popular, reasonably priced and in good rotation.

“You don’t have to have beautiful displays that people are afraid to touch,” he says.

Source: HIspanic Trending
04/03/2012
By Tom Burfield

New York is home to 2.3 million Hispanics who account for nearly 30% of its residents, as of 2010. New York’s Hispanic population is more diverse than that in other large cities: the largest share is Puerto Ricans (34%), followed by Dominicans (25%). In LA and Chicago, the largest share is Mexicans (69% and 73%, respectively).

The Bronx has the highest concentration of Hispanic population of any of the boroughs, but the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Sunnyside in Brooklyn, Corona in Queens, and Port Richmond in Staten Island also have sizeable Hispanic populations.

New York City Hispanic Population Concentration, 2010:

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

I have heard marketers frequently say, “A data-driven decision is always a good decision.”  I don’t necessarily agree with that all the time – insights, innovation, and a healthy measure of gut certainly play a large role in my own marketing decisions, along with paying attention to regular data-oriented updates on what’s happening  in Denny’s demographics and market segments.

But anyone who says numbers don’t go into marketing is sorely mistaken, particularly large, growing numbers that signify dramatic change and opportunity. Here’s one number where it is very easy to see the obvious opportunity –the Hispanic population in the U.S. is growing at three times the rate of the overall population. A number like that is a marketer’s dream.

At Denny’s, one out of every five guests that walk through our doors is Hispanic.  We have long recognized how important it is to reach this group through some very specific marketing initiatives.  In fact, today we went live with our first national online marketing campaign targeting the Hispanic consumer to support our limited time offer for our recently launched Sizzlin’ Skillets.  We worked with our Hispanic marketing agency, Casanova Pendrill, to create a web video called the Skillet Whisperer starring famed dog behavioralist , Cesar Millan, otherwise known as ‘The Dog Whisperer’.  The video, which can be seen  on YouTube.com in Spanish and on Funny Or Die in English, is the first branded content that we’ve made in both English and Spanish to ensure we’re effectively reaching a more diverse audience.

It’s also the first time that we’ve produced a video segment in both Spanish and English to support a menu launch and we’re eager to hear feedback from our guests.  The spoof video shows a family at a real Denny’s diner trying to enjoy a Sizzlin’ Skillet that is misbehaving.  Cue Cesar Millan, known for his ability to tame unruly dogs, who helps the family get the Skillet under control so that it can be eaten in peace.  I have no idea if it’ll work or not, but my gut says it will.

I would encourage all marketers, and in particular those of consumer brands, to consider the dollars that the Hispanic community spends every year and determine a strategy to make sure you are effectively engaging with this growing population – in their own language.   By 2050, the U.S. census estimate projects the Hispanic population will more than double its size today, surpassing the 100 million mark. Now that’s a number I’ll certainly be paying attention to.

source: emarketer and iab

By Lynn Currie
January 11, 2012

Growing Diversity

Click on chart to see population and growth rates by race for every state.

The Census Bureau—in its first nationwide demographic tally from the 2010 headcount—said the U.S. Hispanic population surged 43%, rising to 50.5 million in 2010 from 35.3 million in 2000. Latinos now constitute 16% of the nation’s total population of 308.7 million.

The Census Bureau has estimated that the non-Hispanic white population would drop to 50.8% of the total population by 2040—then drop to 46.3% by 2050. This demographic transformation—Latinos now account for about one in four people under age 18—holds the potential to shift the political dynamics across the country.

“The Hispanic population is under-represented in the electorate and politically because of demographic factors,” including the high share under age 18 and the high number of immigrants, said Jeffrey Passel, a demographer at the Pew Hispanic Center. “Their presence in the electorate will increase over time.”

Nearly 92% of the nation’s population growth over the past decade—25.1 million people—came from minorities of all types, including those who identified themselves as mixed race. Nine million people, or 3%, reported more than one race.

In addition to the 16.3% of people who identified as Hispanic or Latino of any race, 63.7% identified as white; 12.2% identified as black; 4.7% as Asian; and 0.7% as American Indians or Alaska Natives. Other races made up the rest.

States in the South and West posted the sharpest growth rates during the decade, with the population of the West surpassing the Midwest for the first time. More than half the U.S. lived in the 10 most populous states, with about a quarter in the three largest states: California, Texas and New York.

The Census Bureau said the population continued shifting toward the South and West, which together accounted for 84% of the decade’s population growth. The nation’s center of population—the balancing point if all 308 million people weighed the same—moved about 25 miles south to just outside Plato, Mo. In 1790, the year of the first Census, the population center was near Chestertown, Md.

The Census data also showed blacks moving out of big cities in the North and into suburbs and the South, marking more black-white integration.

Two cities, New York and Washington, saw their black populations decline. The District of Columbia notched its first decennial population increase since the 1940s, rising to 601,700 despite an 11% drop in blacks. But the non-Hispanic black population in the nation’s capital was just 50% in 2010, as the non-Hispanic white population jumped almost a third to 209,000.

“We’ve moved to an African-American population that, at least for a lot of young people, is becoming much more mainstream than 20 years ago in terms of where they want to live and how they see themselves in American life,” Mr. Frey said. “It’s affecting the way suburbs are growing. It’s changing the way the South is growing.”

The increasing racial diversity among U.S. children underscored a shift that is likely to make whites a minority in the early 2040s. Of the entire Hispanic population, children make up about one-third, compared with one-fifth among whites.

The total number of people under age 18 rose by nearly two million over the decade. But the number of white children fell, while the number of Hispanic children rose sharply. During the decade, Texas alone added 979,000 individuals under age 18, of which 931,000 were Hispanic.

“That can tell you as much as anything how important Hispanics are for the future of children in the United States,” Mr. Frey said. Of the states gaining people, “they owe it to Hispanics.”

Latinos moved increasingly into such states as Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky and Maryland. North Carolina and other states that previously had smaller Hispanic populations saw similar growth—a trend demographers say is likely to continue in the next decade. “The migration streams that have been established tend to be somewhat self-reinforcing,” Mr. Passel said. “Once a migration stream gets established to a new place, more migrants tend to go there.”Nevada grew by more than 35%, making it the only state to expand by 25% or more for the last three decades. It was followed by Arizona, Utah, Idaho and Texas.

source wsj.com

The 2010 Census revealed that 50.5 million (or 16%) of the US population were of Hispanic origin, and P&G estimates that approximately 15 million Latinas share a dual heritage (Latina and U.S.). Orgullosa.com celebrates this biculturalism and will be launched during this Hispanic Heritage month empowering “Mujeres con la Falda Bien Puesta,” which literally translates to “a woman who has her skirt well placed.” The concept celebrates the femininity of Latinas, while acknowledging their steadfast spirit on the path to achieving personal and family success.

“We understand that Latinas living in the U.S. have much to be proud of — from their traditions, to their language to their cultural heritage and original style. They are go getters taking on multiple roles day-in and day-out,” explained Alexandra Vegas, Director Multicultural Business Development Organization North America. “We want to support Latinas in their personal journeys and empower them to feel confident about their appearance, style and home. This is why Orgullosa exists.”

Motivational speaker and bestselling author, Maria Marin will serve as the spokeswoman for the initiative: “I am proud to be a part of this initiative and continue to share my life’s work of motivating and empowering Latinas to succeed in all aspects of life professionally and personally,” Ms. Marin stated. “Today, Latinas are the new face of America, holding powerful positions in science, public service, the arts and entertainment while keeping our heritage strong and proving to the world how successful we are.”

To commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month, P&G has commissioned Latin Grammy award winning songwriter and producer, Yoel Henriquez, co-producer Juan Paulo Gasca, and up-and-coming singer/songwriter Amerika Jimenez to produce a celebratory song inspired by the Orgullosa initiative. The song celebrates Latinas and is available through:http://www.facebook.com/Orgullosa.

P&G brands that participate in the Orgullosa initiative include Olay, Secret, Venus, Pantene, CoverGirl, Natural Instincts Crest, Always, Tide, Downy, Bounty, Charmin, Febreze, Gain, Pampers, Dawn. For more information visit Orgullosa.com.

Source: http://www.hispanicprblog.com