AHAA: SPEAKERS AND ATTENDEES DISCUSS THE IMPLICATIONS OF DIGITAL MEDIA
Approximately 500 advertising and media professionals participated in late April in Chicago for the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies' 22nd Semi Annual Conference (April 25 – 27). The conference, titled “The Mutant Latino Conspiracy,” had a strong emphasis on Hispanic digital marketing. Some participants wondered about the reason for this overwhelming emphasis on digital, when more than 95% of the Hispanic advertising industry's sales volume is still done in traditional media (TV, Radio, Print and Outdoor).
However, it also became clear that clients, advertising agencies and media need to innovate to keep up with the media consumption trends of Hispanics. According to Forrester Research, 13.9 million Hispanic adults are online and more than half of those have broadband at home.
According to the Pew Research Center, online U.S. Hispanics are early adopters and users of media, devices and their features compared to the general population.
Currently, only 2% of Hispanic Advertising investment is spent in display online advertising. Attendees agreed that this proportion is bound to increase significantly over the next few years.
Tamara Barber, a researcher at Forrester Research, noted that device ownership is growing a lot among Hispanics. Other results of her research include the following:
• Hispanics are more likely to listen to Internet radio than general market consumers
• Looking up account balances is the most important online activity for Hispanics
• Spanish-language content is a must for 23% of all online Hispanics
• 51% (or 7.1 million) of all Hispanic Internet users are prefer Spanish-language content online.
• Half of Spanish-preferring Hispanics would research more products online if they were available in Spanish.
• Spanish-preferring Hispanics are les likely to engage in online financial transactions due to trust issues.
NAHP: ADVERTISERS AND PUBLISHERS DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF HISPANIC PRINT
Approximately 350 publishing, advertising and content professionals took part in the National Association of Hispanic Publications 22nd National Convention & Expo (April 11-15) in Scottsdale (Arizona). These were the most important points touched:
• Tough First Quarter: Many publishers noted that the first quarter of the year was challenging, particularly the months of January and February. However, a substantial pick up in business was noticeable during March and April.
• Hispanic Community Newspapers fill a void for Readers and Advertisers. The majority of Hispanic publications present at the NAHP fill a void in their communities and neighborhoods. They satisfy the demand for community news and local content.
• The importance of the Internet and of mobile content: Publishers and advertisers realized the importance of moving content online. In a panel about how to write for an online audience. Martin Holguin, general manager of Expreso de Sonora, noted that online content has to be prepared in a different way than content for print media. It has to be fresher, funnier and shorter, Holguin added. Several providers of mobile technology services talked to publishers about the use of text messaging technology to promote circulation and increase advertising sponsorships.
DMA DIRECTOS SHOW: THE PULSE OF HISPANIC DIRECT MARKETING
Approximately 120 participants took part in the 14th Annual DMA Directo Days Conference (April 9-10, NYC).
Large publishing houses like Meredith Corporation and, Time Inc (People en español) as well as list managers and brokers (Estee Marketing, 21st Century Marketing) were present at the show. Agency personnel like Hewlett Packard, The Home Depot, Kraft and The Walt Disney Company, Hartford Life were present at the show. Some large Hispanic advertising agencies, including Zubi Advertising and The Vidal Partnership, also participated.
Stock Imagery Companies (Real Latino Images, Hispanic Shots) marketers told Portada that this year there is a particularly strong interest in the Telecommunications, Sports and Entertainment categories. The Hispanic list market is still mostly a direct mail market. List managers and brokers told Portada that clients ask about e-mail lists but that most of the time they are not ready yet to buy Hispanic e-mail lists.
HOROWITZ ASSOCIATES MULTICULTURAL MEDIA FORUM: EMPHASIS ON BROADBAND
Horowitz Associates hosted its 7th Annual Forum on Multicultural Media at the Hilton in NYC, early March, bringing media professionals together to discuss the latest trends and future strategies for reaching the increasingly segmented U.S. multicultural audience.
The event's keynote speaker was Christina Norman, president of MTV Networks, who said that the key to MTV's burgeoning web traffic is its constant communication with users about their content demands. As Ms. Norman put it, “There's no such thing as having too much feedback from your audience."
Horowitz Associates' vice president of marketing and business development Adriana Waterston gave a presentation on Horowitz's classification of broadband users according to their I.C.E. profile. The profile is a system of categorizing top Internet activities by the different ways in which users use broadband. The criteria are as follows: Information-Gathering Activities: news/current events, online banking, sports scores. Communication Activities: email, IM, social network sites, blogs. Entertainment: online games, online radio, music videos, movie trailers, etc. Hispanic users were found to be very sophisticated users, frequently utilizing features such as SMS messaging, social networking and blogging.
