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Hispanic Public Relations Blog

Archive for August, 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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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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The Shifting Hispanic Landscape In America

As the Hispanic population grows in America, it’s spreading to areas that we haven’t traditionally thought of as centers of Hispanic settlement.  While Latinos are still most concentrated in traditional centers such as California and Texas, there have been new growth patterns over the last few years that call for a wider view of the Hispanic demographic.

As of 2004, the areas with the highest Hispanic populations were the Mexican border states- California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona – along with New York and Florida.  The latter two have had a strong core of Caribbean and Latin American immigration for years from Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, along with more recent immigrants from Columbia, Argentina, Ecuador and other countries.

Cities in these states have had a strong influence in the Hispanic market, and there’s no sign that that’s about to change.  Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Houston remain the top Hispanic DMAs; and L.A. gained more new Hispanics last year than any of the other top 10 markets.

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Taking Hispanic Marketing Beyond Language, Acculturation (Advertising Age)

There is a new study being conducted by Starcom MediaVest Group and Telemundo to give marketers a more in-depth look at the changing U.S. Hispanic market, according to an article by Laura Wentz in Advertising Age.  The study will go beyond language and acculturation, also looking at passions, lifestyle, interests and other influences that shape one’s identity.

The study is expected to be released in 2010, just as the content from the 2010 starts to emerge.  Read the Ad Age article here:  http://adage.com/hispanic/article?article_id=138237