Beware of Friday the Thirteenth. Those who know about these things, inform us that Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden on a Friday, Noah’s flood started on a Friday, and Christ was crucified on a Friday. Christians also noted that twelve witches plus one devil are present at Satanic ceremonies so Friday and 13 make a deadly combination. And today is none other than the dreaded viernes trece.

Cultural Superstitions Affect Behavior
By Yolanda L. Gonzalez, Maria Herlinda Chavez and Monica Mora

Step on a crack and break your mother’s back,” children can be heard chanting as they carefully jump over every crack on the sidewalk. Adults tend to think of superstitions as childish or even uneducated beliefs–and they may be. However, superstitions abound all over the world, each influenced by the cultures of different people. Here on the border things are no different.

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Since the general market agencies and holding companies (IPG, WPP, Publicis etc.) decided to capitalize on the growing Hispanic market about 10 years ago, we have seen partnering between agencies. But in recent times, we’ve seen an ever increasing amount of independent Hispanic agencies partnering with general market agencies. As advertisers continue to look for integrated approaches in marketing, I think independent Hispanic agencies have woken up to the fact that they have a lot to gain. I think these agencies are seeing the benefits of strategic partnerships rather than battling the general market agencies for a voice.

Overtime, I have noticed that there are many different types of relationships that agencies can have. In my time at Accentmarketing, we partnered with Campbell-Ewald and even serviced accounts together (Chevrolet, U.S., Navy and Kaiser Permanente), but we were all IPG held agencies. We had a contract that said we needed to get along. Zubi never really partners with JWT…in fact; JWT services the regional retail Hispanic business. “Ride it like a Ford” was successful because it worked in English and Spanish…but it worked at the implementation level because it came from one agency. And The Vidal Partnership was forced to work with Zimmerman on the Nissan retail business.
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This week, Yahoo! Telemundo and Experian Simmons Research released findings that declare that Hispanics in the U.S. are “media mavens,” consuming and adopting media and technology at a higher rate than the general market. In my gut, I know this is true…to some degree. I mean, we do over-index in almost all categories imaginable, why not media consumption and media integration. However, I think as a group, we are slow to change and do not like change which makes me question the technology aspect of this study.

As I’m sure many of you will agree, this is quite a departure from the conflicting pieces of research out there including that Hispanics are not online; and those that are only speak English. Sound familiar? Working solely in the online industry for the last year has made me realize that this statement is simply not true. Another white paper from another general market agency will not change the fact that we are online and that we are responsive to Spanish messaging.

Finding

“The fact that TV viewership continues to grow among U.S. Hispanics while Internet penetration has almost doubled, combined with the high penetration of broadband access in this segment, presents a unique opportunity to offer this diverse audience more choices of meaningful and relevant content.”

We know the face of media in the US changes dramatically every year. We also know that the amount of print, OOH, cable channels, websites and mobile providers increases daily. The NAHJ (National Association of Hispanic Journalists) can confirm the obvious, however, we must watch for over-saturation. Remember, what goes up, must come down. However, what I believe we will see is much more integration of mediums.

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From Mediapost

A report released in March, 2007, entitled Latinos Online by PEW Research, finds that 56% of Latinos in the U.S. (comprising 14% of the U.S. adult population) use the internet. By comparison, 71% of non-Hispanic whites and 60% of non- Hispanic blacks use the internet. Lower levels of education and limited English ability largely explain the gap in internet use between Hispanics and non-Hispanics, concludes the report.

One in three Latinos who speak only Spanish go online.

• 78% of Latinos who are English-dominant and 76% of bilingual Latinos use the internet, compared with 32% of Spanish-dominant Hispanic adults.
• 76% of U.S.-born Latinos go online, compared with 43% of those born outside the U.S.
• 80% of second-generation Latinos go online, as do 71% of third-generation Latinos.
• 89% of Latinos who have a college degree, 70% of Latinos who completed high school, and 31% of Latinos who did not complete high school go online.
• Mexicans are the largest national origin group in the U.S. Latino population but only 52% of Latinos of Mexican descent use the internet. Even when age, income, language, generation, or nativity is held constant, being Mexican is associated with a decreased likelihood of going online.

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I recently read in Hispanic Market Weekly that the Vidal Partnership was able to convince Home Depot to produce their Hispanic spots in English and Spanish. Although I have not seen the creative I must say…congratulations!

Capitalizing on the fact that Hispanics are increasingly able to afford homes, Home Depot stands poised to cash in big on being prepared (and early to the party). I think it is smart to have created the spots in a culturally significant way rather that being confined to just one language. As I have mentioned in other postings, it is a real shift in thinking to the way Hispanic marketing has been done in the past…defined by one language.

I think it is insightful in this case because the way our homes look/feel are significantly different than most general market homes. Color is one of the things that differentiate us the most. So Hispanics, no matter the language, will have homes that look and feel different. This creative will speak to this insight and make a connection with this consumer that will be memorable.
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First there was Colombia, then the sequel and now the U.S.? Yes, Ugly Betty has taken the world by storm…even India with their own in-culture version. Even Italy has “Betty la brutta” shown below. The highly rated American version is no exception. With its campy, over-the-top characters and its stark primary color palette Ugly Betty is a runaway hit with Latinos and non-Latinos alike.

I think Mexican icon Salma Hayek has struck gold with this one. Although I agree that it is a bit stereotypical, it does a lot to show the human and compassionate side of our people. It is more than a great advertising buy; it pushes you to want to be a better person. It is well produced, has high production quality, an amazing ensemble cast and writing that has not been seen since Will and Grace. Let’s not forget America who has been an amazing Latina role model in HBO’s “Real Women Have Curves” and in a mainstream family film “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”.

Set in NYC, Betty works at a major fashion magazine the likes of Vogue named Mode (EcoModa for your Colombian fans). Her daily encounters with adventure, romance and EXCELLENT one-liners have people making this appointment television.

To reach our largely expanding market, ABC created Hispanic targeted campaigns for Ugly Betty that included Spanish on-air promo spots featuring original music; print, radio, outdoor and in-theater campaigns; and two vehicle campaigns, one featuring customized trucks with rolling billboards, the other comprised of television screens installed in buses that aired the Spanish spots.
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Has any one out there tried buying social media for the Hispanic market? Well, first of all, there are very few players in the market today speaking only to Hispanic. Most of them are pretty hokey at best. The general market sites cannot discriminate between its total user universe from the Hispanic users. They do not ask any qualifying questions which allow for segmentation. This causes CPM to levels to rise so much that they do not make strategic sense. I mean, after all, isn’t the claim that internet supposed to me efficient?

Myspace.com has the most attractive sampling of Hispanics, but there is little to nothing you can do to target them. You can do so my choosing topics of Hispanic interests like music etc, or make assumptions by geographic location but nothing that you can truly rely on to deliver the results. I don’t know, but if I were myspace.com I would be working 24/7 to find away to filter audiences. Other players like hi5 have been playing in the global market and have made inroads in countries of Hispanic origin. They are looking to fill this void in the Hispanic market but yet, they still cannot explain abnormally large number of Latino subscribers, in
Miami of all places. Naturally, this is something I found curious during a meeting with that vendor where I proceeded to probe the numbers.
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