Social GPS Convergence

Over the past 2 months, I've been tracking my friend, Heidi, on Google Latitude. We've opted in to see where each of us are at throughout the day via our mobile phone and online. Just the other day I texted her to find out why she was in Southport, CT. (She was outlet shopping.)

Loopt is another service that offers folks the opportunity to see small profiles of friends and strangers alike and connect with them. Imagine spotting an attractive guy/gal within a two block radius and asking them out for coffee? Unlikely? Not really - my roommate did just that. Certainly this is a dangerous technology - you may not want everyone to see where you are at all times.

But I thought, given Hispanics' propensity to socialize - maybe this technology will find huge adoption amongst Latinos? Does that data exist? No. But impromptu connections and a fluid idea of personal space make Latitude and Loopt interesting social enhancers for Hispanics. It will be interesting to see how the use of social GPS application evolves and how multicultural audiences adopt and adapt these technologies in the future.

Spanish-Language as Cultural Relevance?

Many marketers approach their Hispanic marketing like an equation. How many Hispanics are exposed to their message via general market messaging? Then, they discount a specific percentage of spill that is not understood by the target (effective spill). Then they develop complimentary goals in Spanish-language to meet their communication objectives. Lastly, some translate their spot from English to Spanish and others develop original Spanish-language creative.

The problem with this approach is that Hispanic targeting becomes a function of language not of cultural relevance. Sure, those who create original creative targeted to Hispanics in Spanish are getting at the cultural relevance. But what about the Hispanics reached via effective spill? Are they not worthy of targeted, culturally relevant creative in English?

Certainly with limited resources, the lowest hanging fruit is targeting those not appropriately reached via general efforts. Yet, the Hispanic market is rapidly evolving and it's only a matter of time before it shares many traits with the African American market.

Ask any African American marketing agency and they'll tell you the same thing. They have to fight for every penny and explain why simply relying on general market spill is not effective. Clients on the other hand, point to the heavy usage of television and radio (African Americans spend on average 10 more hours with broadcast media per week than non-blacks.) US Born Hispanics spend 13.5 more hours vs. non-Hispanics, so it seems Hispanic agencies will eventual suffer the same level of scrutiny.

Which goes back to the original point - when language is used as a crutch to justify advertising, you forget about a critical and growing segment of the Hispanic market - US Born Hispanics who spend less time consuming media in Spanish.

Multicultural Gays Online

Since the beginning of the web; lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT) have found virtual communities to find support. Sites like Gay Cafe created a place where young and old LGBT's could be themselves and find others like them. Gays of color also found refuge in these chat rooms and later, dating sites.

However, there are few places online that connect or provide resources exclusively for Latino or African American gays. For minorities within the LGBT community, there is an additional stigma to being gay driven by a machismo prevalent in their cultures. This dynamic drives many to live a closeted existence and often makes these groups more susceptible to STDs including HIV.

Thrown in, the LGBT community is also not free of the racism that many Hispanics and African Americans endure. Often, minorities within the gay community find it difficult to connect within a primarily "Abercrombie-obsessed" ideal of beauty. Many Latinos and blacks complain that they are approached by gay white men whose attraction to them could be described as a fetish.

Recently, sites have begun to spring up to address the special concerns of these communities. QV Magazine, an online publication expected to launch in Spring 2009 plans to provide special coverage of issues that impact gay Latino men.

Yet for every QV Magazine, there are still more minority groups within the gay community who do not have a place of their own online. Lesbians of color, African American gay men and trangenders of different ethnic groups still need their own place on the web. With the infinite space available, it's just a matter of time before content is created to address their unique needs.

The New Record Label - You

A group of friends hanging by a river were horsing around when they came up with a song as they were jamming. One of the men in the group pulled out his cell phone and recorded it. Everyone loved it and they forwarded it to eachother as a ringtone. And they forwarded it to friends, and then their friends forwarded it and so on and so on. Within a few months, that song would be uploaded to Youtube and played over a half million times with fans posting their own music videos. The song eventually becomes a Top 10 hit in both the US and Mexico on Billboard's Latin Music List. Sound unlikely?

Well this is real. This scenario happend to an amateur Mexican regional grupero band called Los Picadientes de Caborca (The Caborca teeth-pickers.) This assortment of musical rejects now find themselves on tour and having daily phone interviews with radio DJs while being chased by fans. The best part - they don't have to share any profits from sales of their single, La Cumbia del Rio, with a record company. In fact, record companies are stalking them to get in on the action.

The web's transformative power on the music industry is so prolific that new models of doing business are explored every day. Just two months ago, Cucu Diamantes, a relatively well-known singer and former front woman of a Latin band, Yerba Buena, launched her solo album, Cuculand, exclusively online with the help on iTunes and MySpace. Her video for her single, Mas Fuerte, is now a Top 20 video favorite.

What all this means for Hispanic music lovers is that there will be more options for them and less control on the type of music we gain access to by the music labels. Now our biggest challenge is finding all of this great music, which is a fun problem to have.

Hispanic Crossover Success

In my line of work, I spend a lot of time convincing clients about the value of cultural relevance in advertising. We explain why simply translating work from English to Spanish-language is not effective. It's not about the language - it's about talking to Hispanics by using their culture as a way to their heart.

With this approach, my agency develops a lot of original creative work for Latinos. Mostly, our creative runs on Hispanic targeted media outlets like Univision and Telemundo.

Yet, there are occasions when we create work that transcends the original target audience. Creative that tugs at the heart or makes you laugh regardless of your ethnicity. It's in these instances that we realize that in spite of our cultural differences, we as humans have way more similarities.

Creativity is an online magazine that celebrates the best creative campaigns. Our agency's work for Wendy's was just highlighted by their Ad Critic Pick of the Week. This is only the third time that a Hispanic-targeted campaign has been selected. It's certainly a reminder that any differences between us are differences in small increments. Enjoy the ad.

Facebook Privacy - What Privacy?

Facing extreme pressure from its users, Facebook rescinded their updated policy to essentially "own" in perputuity any content that a user uploads - even if that user deletes his or her profile. One would think that Facebook stole everyone's first born child with the firestorm the company endured this week. Blogs were abuzzing...

What I found interesting is two things - the idea of privacy on a social network and how Hispanics reacted (or didn't react) to the news. The easy one first: social networks are public forums! You may have implemented strict security settings, but in essence, the difference is between walking around naked in the street or on your balcony (either way, someone is going to see you.)

The second is a cultural understanding of Hispanics and their concept of privacy. I've scanned blogs and have seen few Hispanic surnames in the comments section. Hispanics don't seem to be that up in arms about this whole mess. Yet, Hispanics make up a healthy margin of Facebook users (in the neighborhood of 23% even though they make up only 15% of the population.) So what gives? Don't they care that Facebook wants to own their Quinceniera pictures?

The answer is not really. When you grow up in multigenerational households and alongside more siblings than non-Hispanics (3.2 average siblings vs. 2.3), you're idea of privacy is fluid. You understand and accept that your "business" is going to be shared with more people. You accept that your brother's friends are going to tell their cousin Maria that you threw up at the carnival and show her a picture of it. That's life. If Facebook wants to own pictures of your Aunt Teresa dancing salsa with Cuco, your pitbull, then go for it. Afterall, social networks are for sharing. Don't share what you don't want others to see or know.