Hispanics and Sports - Futbol vs. Football

The second reason why Acculturated Latinos choose Hispanic targeted media in Spanish is really quite simple: soccer. Or actually, let's call it futbol since that is how we refer to it.

For non-Hispanic Americans, it's hard to comprehend how large an audience futbol commands. Futbol for them is a children's game that minivan moms shuttle their kids to practice after school. Maybe, they cite the World Cup, the tournament that grips the globe every four years. Of course, by globe we mean every country except the majority of people in the U.S.

But futbol is a religion to Hispanic Americans. It doesn't matter if you are U.S. born or foreign born, acculturating or unacculturated. The fact of the matter is, soccer is king.

Sure, the NFL commands a pretty large Hispanic audience - last year the league drew 70% of Hispanics. But, the recent World Cup qualifying match between the USA and Mexico reached about 85% of all Hispanics (male or female, young or old) through television, radio, online and mobile. Also, there's a reason why the Spanish word for futbol fans is "hinchas," which means "to pump" as in the act of pumping the very soccer balls they use to play the game. Hispanic fans are as integral to the game as the actual ball they kick along the pitch.

Going back to the original point of this two-part post, sure you can reach more acculturated Hispanics via general market media. But, let's be honest...reach isn't really the name of the proverbial game these days, it's "engagement" or "connection" or "breaking-through" to this audience. You can ignore the opportunity to address this attractive target at your peril, but make no mistake that your competition may not be so cautious.

The Power of Spanish-Language News

Clients often tell me that they adequately reach "acculturated" Hispanics via their general market media plans. They also believe that English Dominant Hispanics simply do not watch or read Spanish-language media, despite data that shows a portion of them do. Why would they consume Hispanic targeted media if they speak English? Well, options for one. But really, it boils down to two words: News and Sports.

Today, let's tackle news. Hispanic focused news organizations cover topics that general market news bureaus just don't touch: immigration, inner city education, workplace injustice and information on legal and government processes.

But more importantly, the lens that Spanish-language news organizations use to filter information is far different. Don't believe me? Let's look at an example.

A lot of digital "ink" has been used to cover Mexico's violent war against the drug cartels which have left over 8,000 dead. Today, NYTimes.com featured a piece on the escalating violence and spoke about the corruption of police forces, the flow of money and weapons from the U.S. into Mexico and the aid that Mexico will receive from the U.S.

Now, look at a piece on Univision.com that highlights the dead, particularly the "good" authorities that have been murdered by the drug cartels for refusing bribes.

No doubt, American media has a very particular point-of-view on Mexico, Mexico's systems and certainly, it's "third world" or "developing" status. Yet we Hispanic-Americans have a more nuanced and arguably, accurate perspective on our countries of origin. Spanish-language news organizations give us a better picture on what is occuring there and discuss topics like the human toll of this war, something that U.S. based media simply glazes over. Apparently, dead Mexicans aren't that interesting.

Until American media broadens its approach to the coverage (or lack there of) that it provides for relevant Hispanic issues, Latinos - acculturated or not, will always turn to Spanish-language news as an alternative.

Latino Instant Communication

Data on Hispanic online behavior can hardly keep up with the lightning speed of changes occurring in the ways we use these technologies. One area where we over-index is in communication tools like instant messenger. With family and friends spread across the street to across the globe, we use these tools to stay connected.

Yet top instant messenger MSN is starting to see a decline in Hispanic usage. The culprit, Facebook instant messenger, where a lot of Hispanics are spending their time these days. But Facebook has some competition. A popular feature, the "status update," is already being replaced by Twitter, a service with huge popularity in urban areas.

While Twitter is enjoying growth, its' time may pass before it finds a way to earn revenue. Hispanics are going threw the web at warp speed, Twitter and Facebook need not hold back on the accelerator to keep up.

College Bound Latinos

Latino students lag their non-Hispanic counterparts in college attendance. But recent data revealed by MSNBC and the Pew Hispanic Center indicate that those numbers are improving. In 2008, Hispanics represent 12% of college students, that's 2% higher than in 2006. While these are certainly great strides, we still need to close the gap to reach at least 15% - equal to our national population composition.

The reasons for the improvement depend on who you speak to. Some note that Bush's No Child Left Behind legislation helped improve performance in inner city schools. Others say that a migration form English as a Second Language programs to intense English immersions bettered the chances of Hispanic children to succeed.

Whatever the reason, there is no doubt that a greater number of Latino college graduates will only strengthen this community's power both politically and as consumers. If there was ever a question about the continued existence of the American Dream, look no further than Latino advancement as an indication.

Multicultural Job Seekers

Employment search sites have reported a surge in traffic as a result of the 8% national unemployment rate. Since Hispanic and African American unemployment is above 10%, one would imagine that they represent a sizable portion of these unique visitors.

Back in January, attorney Cyrus Mehri filed a civil lawsuit against the major advertising agencies in the US. His firm cited data gathered in a commissioned study that shows a clear lack of African American representation in the industry. Some stats showed that African Americans made up just 5.8% of professionals and only 3.2% of managerial roles despite representing 14% of the population. Mr. Mehri's firm also found that blacks earned 20% less than their white counterparts. While the study did not include Hispanics, one would assume that a similar trend persists. Both minority groups contend that they are mostly relegated to roles in multicultural agencies, if they are hired at all.

With high unemployment and rampant layoffs at top ad agencies, where can multicultural job seekers turn to find career opportunities? Career Builder and Monster, the top two job seeker sites have developed diversity enhanced sites to address this need.

For example, Career Builder partnered with MSN Latino to launch EmpleosCB, a site targeted to Latino job seekers. Monster.com partnered with the NAACP to launch a diversity search site.

Despite some of these targeted opportunities, the challenge still remains that there are few jobs to fill and now more competition than ever. But one thing is certain, advertising agencies in the enviable position to hire during this economic crisis should strongly evaluate the potential contributions of a more diverse staff.

Latino Music Downloads

The other day, Scarborough Research indicated the huge strides Hispanics have made online especially in content downloads. The biggest growth has been music downloads. We Latinos love music! That's certainly clear when you see that 32% of Hispanics download music vs. 24% of non-Hispanics.

The top performing sites online have tons of music content. Batanga.com is a music behemoth and relative newcomer having come of age over the past four years. According to Comscore, it attracts about 700,000 unique visitors to its collection of online radio stations of all types of Latino inspired music. Other sites include Telemundo's sister network for Bicultural Hispanics, mun2 which has a companion online site: holamun2.com. Then of course there is mtvtr3s.com which has been growing over the past 2 years. And for Latinos who love their Miley Cyrus as much as their Paulina Rubio, there is Yahoo Música. iTunes now also has a Latino channel. With all of these music options online, one can only imagine that music downloads will continue to be a critical touchpoint to reach truly engaged Hispanics.

Multicultural Consumer Confidence

A new report entitled Yankelovich Multicultural Marketing Study (there's a lot of cool research out this week) evaluated the current mindset of African American and Hispanics in the United States. The study sheds some light on the challenges that both ethnic groups are facing in light of greater empowerment. This is defined not only by political strength, but by consumer buying power in the United States.

Both African Americans and Hispanics note that they feel greater optimism for their personal future as a result of Barack Obama's presidency (87% and 79%, respectively compared to only 55% for non-Hispanic whites.) Yet, in light of the economic crisis, 54% of African Americans and 65% of Hispanics say they feel moderate to high anxiety about their current prospects. That compares to 43% of non-Hispanic whites.

With both African American and Hispanic unemployment reaching the 10% mark compared to the national average of 8%, it's no surprise that multicultural consumers are feeling the economic crisis like no one else. Add into the mix that both ethnic groups were disproportionately affected by the sub-prime mortgage mess and you have a recipe for disaster.

But despite these challenges, African Americans and Hispanics are critical consumer segments for marketers. They continue to grow economically (both approaching $1 trillion in buying power) and politically, (African Americans and Hispanics were critical to Obama's success.) As a result, advertisers should avoid the temptation to walk away from multicultural marketing during this recession. Neither group is genetically predisposed to brand loyalty and one brand's loss, is another one's gain.