Business

The desire to reach such varied Hispanic consumers has multinational corporations clamoring to introduce products and reinvent messages in cities ranging from Miami to Los Angeles. Companies are producing new products, sponsoring Hispanic community events and bringing popular brands from Latin America to U.S. store shelves. The momentum picked up last year after figures from the 2000 census showed that the Hispanic population in the United States soared 58 percent in the 1990s, to 35 million. Hispanics now make up more than 12 percent of the U.S. population.
"The census data was a real motivator," said Sharon Griesing, director of media for Ornelas & Associates in Dallas, a Hispanic marketing agency with clients such as Nissan, Bank One and Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.

Not only is the group large, it has money to burn. U.S. Hispanics had the sharpest increase in disposable income from 1990 to 2002 of any racial or ethnic group, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia. To determine how best to appeal to this coveted market, corporations are recruiting Hispanic families willing to have their lifestyles studied for days at a time. They have stepped up their use of focus groups and surveys to come up with new products geared toward Hispanics' tastes. Companies from around the globe last year flooded the national Hispanic market with $2.3 billion in advertising dollars - a 9 percent increase from the previous year, even as corporate headquarters slashed overall marketing budgets in the slowed economy, said Tabin Cosio, a research supervisor with the monthly "Hispanic Business" magazine in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Procter & Gamble, Ford Motor Co. and AT&T spent the most on advertising in the Hispanic market. The ad dollars produce catchy labels and moody Spanish-language television commercials emphasizing home life and family in attempt to connect with viewers emotionally. Experts say there's also been a rebirth in event marketing in Hispanic communities. Finally, companies are bringing foods popular in Latin America to U.S. shelves - in many cases, foods originally produced by American companies and shipped south.

For some first-generation Hispanic immigrants here, familiarity often sells, experts say. Research indicates recent Hispanic immigrants are product-loyal. Therefore, some of Nestle USA's Hispanic products, such as the hot chocolate beverage Abuelita, Maggi bouillon and La Lachera sweetened condensed milk, originated in Latin America.
Products such as Coca-Cola's Fanta and Pepsi's Mirinda soft drinks were sold in Mexico before hitting local store shelves. And Campbell Soup Co. has shipped up three soup varieties from its plants in Mexico to appeal to Latino palates. The ongoing struggle for many corporations is distinguishing their products among Hispanic consumers. That can be tough when, for example, 2-liter bottles of Fanta and orange Mirinda - both fruity, both orange, both 79 cents - sit right next to each other at Food City, a supermarket chain that caters to Hispanics.

Supermarkets like Food City stock shelves with a sea of Mexican products with Spanish-language labels, ranging from fruit-scented air fresheners to pepino - or cucumber flavored - lollipops. That's why it's important to get the message right, marketing experts say. Some Hispanic consumers prefer those messages in Spanish. Others might not
care about the marketing message but look at the price, research shows. Still others are very brand conscious. Getting food and beverage products into Hispanic households is a priority for many companies. Hispanic buying power - the total personal income available after taxes to purchase goods or services - is already larger than the entire economies of all but 11 countries in the world, said Jeff Humphreys, director of the Selig Center and author of the report on minority buying power. Another factor: The average age in the U.S. is 35, eight years older than the average age for U.S. Hispanics. Consequently, Hispanics are viewed to have even more peak-earning years ahead, demographics researchers say.

U.S. Hispanics make at least twice as many monthly shopping trips for groceries than any other consumer segment, according to the Food Marketing Institute. And Hispanic food baskets are 21 percent larger than those of non-Hispanics, said Arizona State University business professor Louis Olivas, author of an annual report on Hispanic demographics in Arizona and the nation.

Source: Hispanic Business.Com

On September 30, the Daily Record published the latest article on the subject. Read it here.