Online Courses on Hispanic and Multicultural Marketing Open to All This Spring 2014

Register by December 1, 2013. 

The Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University offers the following online courses Spring 2014:

• Hispanic Marketing Communication (graduate)
• Hispanic Marketing Communication (undergraduate)
• Account Planning (undergraduate)
• Multicultural Marketing Communication (graduate)

These courses can be taken by themselves or as part of the undergraduate or  graduate certificate in Multicultural Marketing Communication. The links provided above lead to the certificate requirements that include descriptions of each one of the courses.

The courses start on January 6th and run until May 2nd, 2014.  Professionals, interested individuals, and students at other universities, who would like to participate in the Certificate programs or just by taking one or two of the courses are encouraged to apply. Online discussion boards allow for the exchange of ideas and  networking opportunities. The courses are asynchronous so students can work when their schedules allow.

For admission requirements CLICK HERE.   For more information about admissions please write or call: 

Anthony McDonald     

abmcdonald@fsu.edu             

850 645 9486

The application deadline is December 1, 2013, so act soon.

Watch this video for more information   CLICK HERE.

Visit the Center's site at http://hmc.comm.fsu.edu 

Hispanic and Multicultural Marketing Online Courses from Florida State University Starting August 2013

This Fall Florida State University offers the following Hispanic and Multicultural marketing online courses:

• Hispanic Marketing Communication - Undergraduate
• Multicultural Marketing Communication - Undergraduate
• Account Planning (with multicultural emphasis) - Graduate 

These courses are open to anyone in the United States or internationally. The undergraduate courses can be taken by anyone with an interest in the subject. The graduate course requires that the student has completed an undergraduate degree in any discipline.

These courses can be taken by themselves or can be taken as part of our undergraduate or graduate certificates in Multicultural Marketing Communication. The courses are part of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication, founded by Dr. Felipe Korzenny.

The courses start the last week in August and end the first week in December.  They are asynchronous so the student can take the courses at their own pace, and without a rigid schedule. Discussion boards online create ample opportunities for learning, besides the assignments and readings. This is a great forum for those already working to discuss Latino Marketing issues they encounter and to find new solutions. Groups of company employees can take a course and use it as a the focus of discussion in a seminar they may organize internally. Others, who are on their own may find these courses as a great networking opportunity.

Apply now because enrollment is limited and it takes about two weeks to get registered.

To apply and for more information please contact:

Anthony McDonald

abmcdonald@fsu.edu

850 645 9486

The main book for the course is "Hispanic Marketing: Connecting with the New Latino Consumer," By Felipe and Betty Ann Korzenny, Routledge, 2012.  CLICK HERE FOR BOOK DETAILS.  

Hispanic Affluence by State - Implications for Marketing

The American Community Survey (ACS) of the US Census Bureau provides important insights into the lives of Americans. Friends of mine frequently ask me about the level of affluence among US Hispanics. Those households with incomes of $75,000 or higher are generally considered to be affluent. What states have higher percentages of affluent Latinos?  How do Latinos compare with the overall population in terms of affluence across States?

In order to try to answer these questions I obtained 5 year estimates from the ACS (2006 - 2010) for household income and compared Hispanics with the overall population by State, then created an index of Latinos as a percentage of the overall population in terms of household income. The latter index I thought would help us visualize which States have a larger gap as compared with others.

The following Table contains the States, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, with the lowest disparities in terms of the percentages of Latino households with incomes of $75K+, compared with the corresponding percentages for the overall population for each State.  The last column represents an index of disparity.  The larger the index the better, comparatively, Hispanics do in that State.  The index was created by dividing the Latino percentage over the overall percentage of those with household incomes of $75K +.



The above table shows that the States with lower disparities of percentages of households with incomes of $75K per year or more are either those that have generally lower incomes, or those that have unusual economies with higher incomes overall such as Alaska, and Hawaii. Regardless of overall economic trends in these States, it is interesting to observe that Hispanics are generally doing quite well across the board as the proportion of affluent Latinos suggests that generally about 25% of their households earn significant incomes.

The table below shows the States with the largest disparities.




The States with the largest disparities between Latinos and the overall population show a trend similar to that in the above table. In States with higher proportions of high earner households overall, Latinos tend to do proportionally less well, for example California, Arizona, Delaware, Texas and Utah. At this lower end of the disparity distribution, however, even those States that have lower proportions of affluent households also show a sharp contrast when compared with their Hispanic household component. These States are exemplified by Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Montana, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Idaho.

The big lesson is that generally speaking Hispanics seems to be doing quite well in terms of having a relatively high representation of high earning households overall.  There are gaps that are due to economic conditions and opportunities but for marketers, the lesson is clear. High earning Latino households are abundant and their significant presence points to their potential for enhancing the bottom line of many marketers that realize their potential. Be these opportunities cars, homes, recreational vehicles, vacations, travel, education, restaurants, etc. savvy marketers can start taking action when they see that they may not be culturally addressing an important part of the potential customer base.

Online Courses on Multicultural and Hispanic Marketing Communication

Starting the last week in August The Florida State University will offer for the first time, online, a course on Multicultural Marketing Communication. It is available to anyone interested in continuing education or just for the sake of learning. Students in academic programs can get academic credit and those not in academic programs get a certificate of completion. The course is asynchronous, so students can participate when they have the time. Click here for more details.

Also starting the last week in August is our well known online course on Hispanic Marketing Communication now using our new book "Hispanic Marketing: Connecting with the New Latino Consumer." This course is also available to anyone interested. Click here for further details.

We have also added to our online course rotation Account Planning in the Summer. For inquiries about any of our courses and to register please contact: Inquiries@campus.fsu.edu

Cultural Marketing For The 2010's

The decade of the 2010's will require more cultural sensitivity than ever before. Not that cultural sensitivity was not needed much earlier in the US and around the world, but conditions are ripe now for understanding how culture can enhance profits and better marketing.

Cultural marketing is not something nice to do to show good citizenship. Cultural marketing is a profit making enterprise. Let me explain. If we accept that emotion is at the core of selling, advertising, and marketing, then culture is a shortcut for reaching the emotions of many people at the same time. Culture consists of objective and subjective designs for living that are passed from generation to generation. The components of culture are what we are raised with in our early years. We are taught what is right and wrong and what is good and bad. When we are enculturated we are given lessons that become warm feelings that generally persist until we die.

The beliefs, feelings, and values that encompass subjective culture are shared by many people in our culture. That is why marketing to Hispanics as a culture makes sense. It is not so much because of the external manifestation of culture like food and dress, but because Hispanics share so much in common because of historical roots that overlap with religion and language.

Marketing to Hispanics as a culture is a way of connecting with these consumers at deeper levels. It is a way of communicating why a product or idea makes sense from the perspective of the consumer and evoking the deepest emotions that become ingrained in the process of enculturation.

Clearly, the same can be said about almost any other cultural group. Marketing to a culture in cultural terms is about touching those cords that have been instilled in us since childhood. While I understand that eventually marketing will be a one-on-one relationship, cultural marketing is a good interim way to bridge the gap between marketing to the masses (as if they ever existed), and understanding the individual's values and deep rooted perceptions of the world at the most personalized level.

Cultural marketing is a shortcut that minimizes the trajectory and produces results. It needs to be authentic and honest because it is about relationships. It requires that the marketer understands the culture. It is not a matter of making a gesture, it is an endeavor of commitment and dedication. Cultural marketing is not about obvious portrayals of families, soccer, or salsa music but about understanding the underlying perceptions that members of a culture share. While portrayals of soccer, families, and salsa music can be very important as tactical elements, underlying subjective elements of the culture can provide true insights for positioning and strategy.

Cheers to all for the 2010's and the challenge of doing cultural marketing right.

****************************************************************

By the way Cesar Melgoza and I will be doing a Webinar on this topic if you are interested:

"Why In-Culture Marketing is Critical to the Long Term Success of Any American Enterprise" on February 11th, 2010 1:00-2:00 p.m. EST.

Understand why marketing to high-growth segments such as Hispanics, Asians and African Americans is key to securing growth for corporations across industries. Get facts and figures that impact corporate strategy at all levels of management and see why in-culture marketing should be mandatory for most corporations. All proceeds will be donated to FSU’s Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication.

To register or for more information visit http://www.geoscape.com/college_of_business.aspx

Hispanic Income Trends: Implications for Marketing

The median income of Hispanic households has lagged behind the overall population of the United States for a long time and does not seem to be getting better. The largest difference since 1980 was in 1996 when the disparity was of $14,465 dollars (in 2008 dollars), according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplements. Since 1980 the smallest gap occurred in 1981 with a difference of $8,573. The latest figures available are for 2008 show a difference of $12,390, a gap similar to gaps in the 1990's. See the historical trends table on the left.

The current gap probably reflects some of the social and economic issues that resulted from the downturn of the economy between 2007 and 2009. But there are uplifting news. My analysis of the American Community Survey data of 2008 shows that income differences are not evenly distributed in the population as shown below:

It is interesting to observe that the gaps between the overall population median income and that of Hispanics is largest at the higher income levels, and interestingly there are more Hispanics in the middle income categories than in the overall population. This is very revealing because for the majority of consumer products income levels between $25,000 and $60,000 are ideal, and that is the range in which there are more Hispanics proportional to their population. This alone is a very important reason for marketers to pay attention to Latinos.

Clearly, the fact that proportionally Hispanics have some more households in the lower end of the distribution and fewer in the upper end is not desirable. Nevertheless, where the sweet spot of most marketers resides, that is in the middle, Hispanics have higher representation. This is surprising and uplifting, and helps understand that Hispanics are not generally poorer but they are better represented where it counts for marketers.

The content in this blog may be copied and distributed but credit must be given to the author.

Magnet States for Hispanics in 2008: Marketing Implications

My analysis of the American Community Survey of the US Census Bureau for 2008 reveals that there are key states that experienced net in-migration of Hispanics from other States in the prior year. This is the most up-to-date information of what States Hispanics are moving to, and what States Hispanics are leaving behind. At the top of the gaining list are Texas, Colorado, Utah, North Carolina, Washington State, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Virginia, Arizona, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Maine, and Maryland, in that order.

The States with the largest out-migration of Hispanics, in order of loss to other States, were: California, New York, Florida, New Jersey, Alaska, Illinois, Michigan, Rhode Island, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Nevada, Georgia, Ohio, Delaware, Nebraska, and New Hampshire.

These trends appear to confirm the continued dispersion of Hispanics throughout the United States to places that were not typically attractive to Hispanics in the recent past. Growth in States like Utah, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana seems to uphold the trend that Hispanics are moving to States that offer job opportunities and a reasonable cost of living, even if these States were not atop of the Hispanic agenda in the past.

Those States losing Hispanics to other States are those who have experienced severe economic difficulties in the recent recession and/or are also expensive to live in, for example: California, New York, Florida, New Jersey, Nevada, Alaska, Illinois, and Michigan.

This analysis, however, does not include in-migration from other countries. Thus, one can not conclude from these data that there is no actual Hispanic growth in some States that are losing Hispanics to other States. The problem in conducting this type of analysis is that the American Community Survey does measure people coming in from other countries but not people leaving the country. That is because the US Census Bureau only interviews or administers questionnaires to people in the United States.

The list of States with largest in-migration, and that with the highest out-migration, with their respective net gains and losses are found below.

These tables can be reproduced and circulated but the analysis must be credited to this author.

Top Hispanic Gaining States from Other States

Top States Losing Hispanics to Other States

The implications for marketers are that marketing efforts dedicated to Hispanics will continue to be more at a National level instead of in just a few major markets. While those major markets are still large and worthy of much attention, smaller emerging Hispanic enclaves need to be considered and planned for. Further, as Hispanics continue to disperse in the United States their tastes and preferences will further contribute to the Latinization of the US. At the same time, however, more of these important consumers will be establishing contact with members of non-Hispanic communities and being exposed to touch-points that they did not attend to before.

Also, it should be noticed that States that welcome Hispanics will continue to benefit from their hard labor and work ethic. Those States who have ostracized them under the pretext of undocumented immigration are likely to continue to lose their attractiveness and the benefits that Hispanic presence brings.

While the culture and in many cases the language of Hispanics will continue to be of great importance to connect with these consumers, marketers will also need to understand the dynamics of evolution and change in the Hispanic community.

The Importance of Hispanic Heritage Month: Marketing and Self-Esteem

When we arrive in the United States we share in the experience of being Latin Americans in a new cultural environment. That is a shared experience, the experience of being different from the receiving culture, and the experience of slowly becoming different from the culture we came from. That means that we are not from here and not from there "ni soy de aqui ni soy de alla." We become part of a third culture, a concept I have discussed in an earlier blog.

What I mean is that part of our common identity is the shared experience of being of Latin American origin living in the United States. That shared experience contributes to a way of being, thinking, and feeling that differentiate us Latinos/Hispanics from everyone else.

Hispanic Heritage Month is meaningful to us, Hispanics or Latinos (depending on label preference), because it represents the celebration of that experience. The experience of being unique in this great country.

This celebration also has side benefits that are related to marketing. It enhances our self-esteem because it tells us we are legitimate while being different. Also, savvy marketers help by emphasizing the achievements and contributions of Hispanics in this Country. Those who understand the opportunity and talk to us honestly and and with candor can enhance their brands. It is because they are linking their brand with the celebration of our identity.

Comprehending the deep implications of how a brand can acquire emotional significance is related to understanding the way consumers feel about themselves. Hispanic Heritage Month is good for both Hispanics and sincere marketers.

Clearly, one celebration is not enough to create a link between the consumer and a brand, but it definitely is a step in the right direction.

I like seeing television shows in English television talking about the importance of Hispanics in the United States. I like seeing celebrations all over the country.

While we have many differences among those of us coming from the different Spanish speaking Latin American countries and Spain, we become united by the shared experience of language, history, relationship to the supernatural, and being unique in this great Country. It is the shared experience associated with our values and beliefs that we celebrate.

Professionals: Online Course on Hispanic Marketing - Spring 2009

After four successful semesters, an online course in Hispanic Marketing Communication will be offered again this Spring by the Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication. The Center, headed by Dr. Felipe Korzenny, is pioneering education in Hispanic Marketing Communication.

The online course is available to anyone interested and is particularly recommended for professionals currently addressing the Hispanic market, or those who would like to start a Hispanic marketing initiative. The course, during the last four semesters, attracted students from many industries across the United States and provided a forum for learning and discussion about strategy that enriched the practice of many these professionals. The course has become an opportunity to share experience in an integrated framework.

Students in the course have testified that participation in it enriches their experience via online discussions with other professionals, case studies, readings, and guest lectures. Joining the group is more than studying the discipline because it encourages thinking and sharing of practices and ideas. The course creates synergy for communication and links professionals that otherwise could not meet each other to discuss their common Hispanic marketing problems and solutions.

The Spring 2009 session has duration of fifteen weeks (classes begin January 6 and end April 24) and includes topics such as language use, Hispanic cultural insights for marketing, and case studies relating to Hispanic marketing. The course will also address research and marketing strategies. A certificate of completion will be issued to all non-degree seeking students who satisfactorily complete the course, and eligible students can receive three hours of undergraduate/continuing education credit. THOSE INTERESTED ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY IMMEDIATELY AS REGISTRATION IS LIMITED. REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW! For application information contact Jennifer Boss at inquiries@campus.fsu.edu or by phone at 850 644 7551.

Using Social Media to Understand Social Influence

Social media, or social networking as it is commonly known, is powerful beyond what anyone can imagine by looking at the surface of it. Those of you who have studied social networks can relate to this. Imagine being able to identify those who are opinion leaders, bridges between communities, leaders, and isolates, by looking at their social media behavior.

Social media is about influence and power. Who contacts you the most? How many people contact you? How central are you in your network? What are the topics of conversation in your network?

The metrics that can be derived from studying modern networking sites can be a goldmine for marketers. What are some applications?

• Who is credit worthy?
• Who is an opinion leader?
• Who influences whom?
• What are topics about which different individuals influence others?
• The strenght of community bridges to pass ideas along to other communitities

How many times do we wonder where to place a message so that it has impact? Social networks are more powerful than "one-way" media because they reflect communication behavior. Social media marketing is about communities that go beyond geography.

The moral of the story is that there is a lot to come when it comes to network metrics.

Use of Social Networking Sites Among Diverse Cultural Groups in the US

Social Media Marketing depends on the popularity of social networking sites. In the study referred to in my prior Blog we also asked our large multicultural sample of respondents to "please indicate the social networking sites you visit regularly." We listed MySpace, HI5, QuePasa, Habbo, Orkut, FaceBook, Friendster, Bebo, Classmates, WindowsLSpaces, Xanga, Flixter, Tagged, Netlog, Reunion, Broadcaster, Cyworld, MyHeritage, Friends, Reunited, Linkedin, BlackPlanet, and SecondLife. We also provided the option "none."

The chart below illustrates the preponderance of use of MySpace and FaceBook among these emerging minorities:

The first observation is that Non-Hispanic Whites, as in the prior blog, show a lower incidence in visiting these sites regularly when compared with the other cultural groups. Interestingly both popular sites fare best among Hispanics who prefere English and Asians than among anyone else. Hispanics who prefer Spanish and African Americans, however, are still more likely to visit these sites than Non-Hispanic Whites. Again, it is emerging minorities that are leading the future of the digital era in the United States.

The following Chart illustrates that culturally targeted sites do better among specific cultural groups:

Sites that have a preponderance of particular cultural groups, or who target specific cultural groups appear to do well with them. The International Site HI5 and QuePasa do realtively well with Hispanics who prefer Spanish. Friendster, populated by a larger number of Asian Americans does relatively well with Asians as compared with other cultural groups. African Americans are more frequently regular visitors of Black Planet. Thus, cultural targeting seems to have great potential among those who strongly identify with their culture. Interestingly, none of these sites seemed to do particularly well with Hispanics who prefer English or with Non-Hispanic Whites. In the case of Hispanics who prefer English this may be because there are few sites specifically catering to them.

Perhaps even more surprising is that members of all of these online cultural groups visit social networking sites with regularity as the following chart shows:

This last chart illustrates that very few individuals in any of these groups use none of the social networking sites we listed in the questionnaire. This emphasizes the importance that this new social medium has for most online consumers.

Social networking is growing fast and becoming very popular among most Americans. Emerging minorities, however, are leading the trend. Social Media Marketing efforts can capitalize on this knowledge to establish their brands and territories in these social circles.

The moral of the story is: Go market where people are associating with others, and become part of their socio-cultural identity. As culture is rooted in social interaction, brands can become part of these complex patterns of interaction.

Social Media and Emerging Minorities

The new multicultural landscape of the United States is showing some interesting trends, at least with our recently collected data. The Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication with the support of DMS Research (an AOL LLC Company), collected data in March of 2008 from a national online sample with over 500 cases in each of the following cultural groups: Hispanics who prefer English (HE), Hispanics who prefer Spanish (HS), Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW), African Americans (AA), and Asians (A) in the United States.


The results are quite interesting. When asked about how often individuals in these groups visit Social Networking sites like FaceBook and MySpace, the following distribution was obtained for TWO OR THREE TIMES A MONTH OR MORE OFTEN:

Hispanics who responded in English and Asians are the most avid users of Social Media with about 35% of them using these outlets 2 or 3 times per month or more often, while Non-Hispanic Whites are least likely to use these media with only 17% of them using them with similar frequency. Hispanics who responded in Spanish and African Americans are in between at about 25%.

What this new and original data seems to say is that emerging minorities are quite a bit more likely than the traditional mainstream of American society to be reachable with Social Media Marketing. It is fascinating that many traditional marketers still talk about "the General Market" when refering to Non-Hispanic Whites and seem to still orient most of their campaigns to this segment. It is revealing that it is precisely those who are not considered the mainstream are at the forefront of the use of Social Media, and apparently eager to participate in what it has to offer.

The lesson of the story is: Those who are forgotten may be your biggest opportunity.

Related links with additional resources:

http://hmc.comm.fsu.edu/

http://www.capturagroup.com/

Why Social Media Marketing to Reach Hispanics?

There is a lot of talk about social media, user generated content, and Web 2.0. Marketing and outreach via social media to Hispanics is a very promising touchpoint. First let me clarify that we are not talking about the traditional field of social marketing in which the product is usually a social service, or a product that will improve the life of users with relatively little or no benefit to the one generating the message, like a health promotion campaign. Well, that is not what I am talking about here. I am talking about Social Media Marketing, like using LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, Plaxo Pulse, or any other social media now visited online, to create brand awareness, product/service purchases, and perhaps brand loyalty and a continued brand relationship.

Social Media Marketing is particularly interesting in the case of Hispanics. After conducting several studies with different cultural groups online ( http://hmc.comm.fsu.edu/ ) we have discovered that Hispanics are particularly interested in new technology, having their own personal blogs and websites. This is likely due to the social nature of Hispanics who see Social Media as a way to keep in touch and maintain relationships. As these new technologies are important to Hispanics, Marketers and other entities who want to reach out to Hispanics online can set up their interactive sites in the multiple Social Media outlets available, and create buzz about something. Clearly, this has to be an attractive and useful site, but once a take-off point of interactivity has been reached, the site feeds itself and creates further enthusiasm about the brand, topic, product, etc.

Social Media Marketing is not expected to be solely attractive to Hispanics. Hispanics, nevertheless, have a strong propensity to affiliate and create networks. Now that interpersonal communication is moving from face-to-fact to virtual, Social Media marketing has great potential for creating legitimate emotional links, particularly among Hispanics.

A strategy for Social Media Marketing has to be carefully formulated, managed, and orchestrated to be effective. Companies like Captura Group ( http://www.capturagroup.com/ ) are examining the conceptual underpinning on the use of Social Media Marketing to create loyal following among Hispanic consumers.

On the Web everything is transparent. A company or entity cannot succeed with a Social Media Strategy by misleading consumers. Legitimacy and truthfulness are crucial for establishing long term relationships. That is the virtue of this new medium, that it is a legitimate way of creating long term, honest, relationships.

Interactivity on the Web is now making Social Media Marketing more power than television, radio, newspapers, and magazines ( http://hmc.comm.fsu.edu/ ). The future in marketing to Hispanics is here.

Of Hispanic Time, Calendars, and Tradition

Latin American calendars are a cultural tradition that can provide an interesting marketing tool to marketers in the United States. The notion that time has different dimensions for Hispanics than for other cultural groups is relatively well known. There are those who talk about "Latin time" and those who talk about "mañana." "Mañana" or tomorrow represents how many of us, Hispanics, think about what we need to do in life.

Tomorrow is a great time management tool because it allows one to postpone all things that are not emergencies, thus piling huge numbers of activities into a very small tomorrow. Tomorrow presents interesting possibilities as those who expect things tomorrow may forget about them or the activity may have lost interest. Thus tomorrow saves effort because one does not waste time doing things that tomorrow will show are not important.

Now, calendars represent a related but more complex story. Latin American calendars are not just for providing the date and to keep us organized. They are cultural icons that symbolize how we feel about time. Latin American calendars display cultural and historic pictures in their pages. They illustrate the past and the pride associated with it. In many ways, calendars are decorations that we cherish as we try to pile things up into tomorrow. We can see how much more time we have for enjoying the present. Looking at the calendar gives us a glimpse of the past that we respect, celebrate the moment, and look at a "mañana" that is slow to come.

I remember growing up with calendars that the grocery store, the butcher shop, the phone company, the electric company, the shoe store, the restaurant, and others had given my family at the end of the year. These were presents given to us so that we would remember those nice merchants that helped us decorate our walls with so many images of our tradition, our tastes, and our cultural pride.

Traditional Latin American calendars can be of great marketing value in this modern era, where Hispanics are still proudly honoring the symbology of their culture, while most others are just rushing into the future. Large and small marketers can establish an emotional bond with Hispanics by providing them with these traditional calendars as tokens of appreciation. They serve as a continuous reminder that a specific business or brand thinks about us and shares with us the images of our culture.

I have come across http://www.latinworldcalendar.com/. An exploration of this site will provide good examples of the different types of art and motifs that Latin American calendars offer.

While time flies for so many people, it is good to have a traditional calendar that can help us keep time still for just a little while.

Literature Insights for Hispanic Marketing

I am happy to announce that the Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication released today a paper by Holly McGavock with my collaboration. This paper shows how insights from popular Latin American and US Hispanic literature can inspire marketing and advertising. This is an important first effort at systematizing the link between popular culture and marketing to US Hispanics. The full paper can be found at http://hmc.comm.fsu.edu/.

In McGavock’s words “Marketing messages are designed to travel to the consumer‘s heart and mind. Today, marketing communication is found everywhere, from subway walls to cell phones to internet sites to the television programs and movies we see on a daily basis. Consumers have learned, for the most part, how to tune out messages which don‘t appeal to or connect with them. Marketing, then, is becoming a much more sophisticated practice which requires practitioners to have an intimate knowledge of their consumers in order to connect with them on a deeper level. This is further evidenced by the increased presence of account planners in advertising agencies, whose job it is to find the insights in market research which help creatives make advertising which breaks through the clutter to reach consumers.

The same concept also applies to Hispanic marketing. For many years advertisers were able to sell their products simply by translating ―general market‖1 advertisements into Spanish and advertising on Spanish-language television networks. However, as spending in Hispanic marketing has grown, this market too has grown cluttered with advertisements, leading Hispanics in the US to feel overwhelmed by the number marketing messages and available information sources. Account planners are now popping up in the major Hispanic advertising agencies across the US. Their goal, like the goal of those in the general market, is to understand consumers and translate that understanding into insightful communication with consumers.

Much research has been done regarding the character, values and beliefs of US Hispanics. However, the search for insights requires looking for new and non-traditional sources of information. The culture of a people manifests itself in many different areas, all of which are of interest to marketers looking to understand consumers. Culture manifests itself in, among other things, traditions, clothes, music and literature. A closer examination of the literature of a people can reveal much about its culture. Furthermore, literature has the advantage of allowing the reader to experience the story as if he or she were actually a part of it. “

ROI in Hispanic Marketing

I am fully in favor of having every investment return a profit. Not only a profit that is commensurate with the investment but better than other alternatives would have provided. Lately, however, ROI, or return on investment, has become a fixture in marketing parlance but it has been loosing force and significance. Looking at ROI, Costumer Lifetime Value, and other measures of profitability one notices that one needs to have a baseline or history, or one has to make assumptions.

That is the problem. In Hispanic marketing we need to make assumptions most of the time because we do not generally have historical data. ROI becomes a roadblock more than a value proposition in Hispanic Marketing programs. Why? Because lacking historical data, high level managers can also say that lacking substantive data to figure their return on investment they prefer the status quo. That is a sad state of affairs. ROI, can in fact become the argument against Hispanic marketing programs.

It is sort of a circular problem. Without prior data we cannot reliably calculate future return on investment, and without ROI calculations Hispanic marketing programs do not get funded. In my opinion marketing creativity suffers because of this. Most successful entrepreneurs follow their intuition when starting their ventures. It is also true that many fail. But without taking risks, how can anyone succeed.

My editorial is that we should always try to calculate how much a Hispanic marketing program can return to the company/brand, but when such calculation is more of a figment of our imagination than reality, then let us talk about entrepreneurship. Let us not stifle innovation and growth in a new marketing era because we can not come up with solid calculations. You know the story of the pendulum. ROI was totally ignored in the late 90's and now it is dogma. Should not there be a middle ground?

The New Hispanic Family

Marketers are mystified by Hispanics in the United States. Many still use outdated segmentation approaches that depend exclusively on acculturation variables.

Why is acculturation segmentation becoming outdated? Because the largest wave of Hispanic immigration to the United States happened between 1980 and 2000, from 10 million to 40 million in twenty years. While growth has continued the portion due to immigration has slowed down and the portion due to births has surpassed immigration. That is why we are dealing now with a different Hispanic/Latino market.

While individuals still have different levels of language proficiency, the typical family has changed dramatically and with it the sources of information used by different family members. What does this family look like these days?

A typical Hispanic/Latino family these days has two to four children, depending on their family formation stage. The children are more likely than ever before to speak English at home, with friends, and at school, even if their parents prefer to speak Spanish. Depending on many factors the mother is more likely to prefer the Spanish language for communication, but is also likely to understand some English. The father, is likely to be proficient in English and can be also a Spanish speaker. A grandmother that lives with the family is most likely monolingual in Spanish. A cousin that recently arrived from Mexico or another country is also more likely to be dependent on the Spanish language.

Is this a complicated family? It is very complicated particularly for marketing purposes. Each of these family members will likely be exposed to commercial messages in different media and in different languages. They will have dinner together and talk about their experiences and the products they think are best. In some cases they will be confused because the messages some of them saw in English will be different from the messages some of them saw in Spanish. In other cases their decisions will be reinforced by the confluence of similar strategic messages coming from different sources.

Further, this family is more likely to be influenced by the children's opinions because they generally have a lot more access to messages from more diverse sources. The influence of kids can be fundamental in the adoption of a product or service particularly in this type of family. The credibility of children is augmented by their deeper knowledge of the consumer environment. It is as if children are subverting the traditional flow of influence in Hispanic families.

Should we start thinking about segmenting Hispanics/Latinos by type of family as opposed to by individual traits? Families with different lifestyles?

New Television and US Hispanics

Television networks have for a long time ignored social trends. Slowly they have seen their share eroding as alternative media channels become more relevant in people's lives. It is interesting that Desperate Housewives have claimed a large viewership that includes many US Hispanics. Its obvious sex appeal makes it relevant to many people. But also it is its diversity and the extent to which the audience can see themselves in the screen.

Identification with characters in entertainment has been known, for a long time, to make a difference in attracting audiences. Nevertheless, television networks, perhaps concerned with losing their mainstay audience, did not seem to notice that society and their audience had changed dramatically. Not only have they been ignoring their growing audiences at the expense of their dwindling past fans, but they had not noticed that new even what they call the "mainstream" had changed its taste in favor of what is "cool." And "Latino" has been increasingly "cool." Ugly Betty, a show that started in Spanish language TV in Spanish several years ago now it is shown in English by ABC to the delight of many diverse audiences. The universal value of a woman who appears to be ugly but that is "beautiful," is relevant to many, and interestingly, it has cultural nuances relevant to US Hispanics.

The new Hispanic audience for television is not focusing on the Spanish language exclusively. It is focusing on cultural relevance. "General" audiences enjoy seeing others who are "cool" that also reflect universal values. We shall not wait too long to see more of what the industry calls "cross-over" appeal.

The old shows targeted to Hispanics, largely from Latin America, had ignored the new identify of Hispanics in the US. New and successful entertainment needs to reflect the life of US Hispanics as it is here, not there. This is the new "New World."

Online course on Hispanic Marketing

I am pleased to announce the first course on Hispanic Marketing Communication online.

Beginning in January 2007, an online course in Hispanic Marketing Communication will be offered by the Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication. The center, headed by Dr. Felipe Korzenny, is pioneering education in Hispanic Marketing in the US.Dr. Korzenny states “we are proud to satisfy the demand of many marketers in US industry that have requested an online course in Hispanic Marketing Communication. This is the first online offering of its kind and will make the content of our on-campus courses available to anyone in the world with an interest in the subject.”The course is available to anyone interested and is particularly recommended for professionals currently addressing the Hispanic market, or those who would like to start a Hispanic marketing initiative. The online course is also available to Florida State University students not currently residing in the Tallahassee campus.

The course duration is of fifteen weeks (classes begin January 8 and end April 20) and includes topics such as language use, Hispanic cultural insights for marketing, and case studies relating to Hispanic marketing. The course will also address research and marketing strategies.
A certificate of completion will be issued to all who satisfactorily complete the course, and eligible students can receive three hours of undergraduate/continuing education credit.

THOSE INTERESTED ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY IMMEDIATELY AS REGISTRATION IS LIMITED. REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW!

For application information contact Ashley Smith at advising@campus.fsu.edu or by phone at 850-644-8004.
To see the course description visit our webpage http://hmc.comm.fsu.edu/onlinecoursedescription.htm

About the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication
The U.S. Hispanic marketing industry has experienced dynamic growth and a consequent need for trained professionals. Most advertising, public relations agencies, and marketing organizations encounter difficulties filling their Hispanic marketing positions. It is for these reasons that Dr. Felipe Korzenny founded the Center for the Study of Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University in 2004. Currently, the Center is the first of its kind in the U.S. Recognizing the immediate need for professionals trained in Hispanic Marketing Communication, the Center has developed the following main goals, which are to:
Train students to serve the Hispanic marketing industry,
Train professionals who currently serve the Hispanic public in the U.S.,
Conduct relevant research to further the understanding of the Hispanic market, and
Serve as a source of knowledge about the Hispanic Market for industry professionals.