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Archive for the ‘bicultural’ Category

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Hispanic 101 (Part 8): Latino Entrepreneurs

Hispanic business owners are an important part of the Hispanic market. Census research has shown Hispanic-owned businesses are growing at three times the national average.  The latest figures show that one of every ten businesses in America is run by a Latino.  By 2010, it’s predicted that there will be 3.2 million Hispanic-owned firms in the U.S., altogether generating $465 billion annually.

The majority of these are small businesses with annual revenues under $250,000.  They range from local restaurants, to hair salons, construction companies, and mechanics.  Such businesses are key to the growth of the Hispanic middle class.

Then there are some 1,500 larger firms estimated to have 100 employees or more, manufacturers and large-scale construction contractors, chains of Hispanic-related grocery stores, and firms with real estate holdings in the U.S. and possibly Latin America.  Altogether, these businesses generate about $42 billion annually in gross revenue.  Many are started from scratch, with borrowed money or foreign capital.

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Posted in Affluent, Brand, Business, Census, Hewlett-Packard, Hispanic, Hispanic 101, HispanicPR, Latino, Palladium Equity Partners, bicultural, census bureau, culture, entrepreneur, immigrant, private equity | 5 Comments »

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Hispanic 101 (Part 4): “White or Some Other Race”: The Complexity Of Hispanic Racial/Ethnic Identity

As we’ve discussing in this blog, when targeting a specific market (like the Hispanic market), we need to fully understand the market and its characteristics.  Through our “Hispanic 101” series, we’ve worked to give a better understanding of the Hispanic market’s size, its buying power, consumer habits, and other characteristics.

One frequently misunderstood thing about Hispanics is that the word “Hispanic” refers to an ethnicity, not a race.  We often read reports that speak about “white” “black” and “Hispanic” populations as if they were three different groups, when in fact there are white Hispanics, black Hispanics, Asian and American Indian Hispanics and others, all united by a link to a Spanish-speaking country.

The term “Hispanic” was created by the U.S. Census Bureau in the late 70s to cover those of Spanish-speaking origin, and the term has caused many debates.

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Posted in Census, Hispanic, Hispanic 101, HispanicPR, Latino, Population, Spanish, bicultural, culture, language | 10 Comments »

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Filling The Pews: A Hispanic Marketing Story

Reaching the Hispanic market requires more than a change in language: it requires a change in approach to match the Hispanic culture.  This week, Daniel Marrin, an associate at TeleNoticias, shares a success story of a business that changed its approach to reach the Hispanic audience.

Years ago, I worked for St. Charles Catholic Church, in Arlington, VA, a socially progressive church where I organized aid to the poor and advocacy on political issues.  Our congregation was full of community activists, young and old, and we regularly held discussions on poverty, Iraq, interfaith dialogue, and many other topics.

Though we had a thriving Spanish-language mass, overcrowding our pews and filling our hallways, our talks attracted very few members of our Latino community.  It wasn’t just a matter of language either, since many of our Latino congregants were bilingual.

Our pastor became concerned that our Latino congregation was being divorced from this aspect of our parish life.  So, he called for talks just for the Latino community, on issues concerning them.

These Latino talks were organized the same way as all others: a list of topics was generated, based on current affairs; speakers were called; and events were scheduled for after the Spanish mass.

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Posted in Hispanic, HispanicPR, Latino, Spanish, bicultural, communications, culture, language | 1 Comment »

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Beyond Translation: Appealing To Culture

A recent Nielsen Consumer Insight study compared the success of different types of ads in the Hispanic market. Nielsen focused on Hispanic bilinguals, those who reported using Spanish and English “equally”, on the “likeability” of different television ads they saw.  First, they compared likeability for Spanish and English language ads for the same product.  Spanish-language ads rated 62% on likeability, while English scored 41%.  The subjects also had 8% higher brand recall of Spanish ads.

Then Nielsen examined different kinds of Spanish ads.  One type they looked at were “translated” spots, where the execution was the same as it had been in English, but dubbed or translated.  Translated ads scored higher brand recall than English ads, as you’d expect.

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Posted in Hispanic, HispanicPR, Latino, Spanish, bicultural, communications, culture, language, translation | 8 Comments »

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Hispanic Market 101 (Part 2) – Speaking Their Language: Adapting Your Message for a Hispanic Audience

It’s almost impossible, if not insulting, to try to speak of a generic Hispanic culture in the U.S.: Hispanic culture is inherently dynamic and hard to classify.  There are constantly new waves of Hispanic immigrants, more than 20 different countries represented, and huge differences between generations.  Anyone who seeks to market to this audience needs to appreciate its complexity.

First, let’s discard with stereotypes.   Most Hispanics are not recent immigrants to this country: in fact, the majority of Hispanics in the U.S. – three out of five – are native-born citizens.  The last census showed that the biggest group in the Latino population is Generation Y, those between 5 and 24 years old.

As you might expect, there’s a stark contrast in English ability between Hispanic immigrants and their native born children.  Among Hispanic immigrants, Puerto Ricans and South Americans are most likely to claim English proficiency, while Mexicans are the least likely.  According to a Pew Hispanic Center Report, only 1 in four Hispanic immigrants report being able to speak English well.  But that number jumps to 88% for US-born Hispanics 18 and over.

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Posted in Census, Hispanic, Hispanic 101, HispanicPR, Latino, Population, Spanish, Uncategorized, bicultural, culture, language | 5 Comments »